SUNDAY JUNE 17, 2007
MINISTRY UPDATE

Hello friends. I'll explain the photo below. I have been so slow about updating the site in the last few weeks. There has been much going on. I have been traveling a little more than usual, I had a church camp to do in Tennessee, and I went to Rio.

My reason for coming to Rio this month was to begin work on a health clinic that we are establishing here. This has been part of the dream from the beginning; it is at last coming to pass. I will be posting more about it as time goes on. At this point I will say that we received a special gift to get the clinic room remodeled and furnished. We are building the the clinic in memory of two very special people in my life -- in the next couple of weeks I will have a page here describing this new project in full.

In the photo it looks like I was beat up, but it was nothing so exciting. As I was leaving Memphis last week, I noticed that my left eye was itchy, but I didn't think much about it. By the time I arrived in Rio (about 20 hours later) it was completely swollen shut, and the other eye wasn't looking good either. I tried eye drops and cortozone, to no avail. Fortunately, I had set up a meeting early in the week with Dr. Felix regarding the establishment of the clinic, and when he saw me he immediately prescribed a medication and told me rather urgently to get it filled. (He also scolded me for my attempt at self-medication, wanting to know who in the world thought Visine would solve this problem. When I said, "it was my idea" he said something along the lines of "hmmmph" and wondered out loud where I went to medical school.) The medication worked wonders; I'm my same old ugly self again, without the swollen eyes. So I guess you could say that I was the new clinic's first patient.

Ana Claudia's birthday was the first week of June, so the students surprised her with a party last week. They surprised me too; I didn't have the camera with me for photographs. All the students from the English classes and some from the computer center came to sing Happy Birthday to her. We had a great time. Congratulations, Ana, on another year.

We've also started music classes in our classroom on Wednesdays and Fridays in participation with another ONG. They provide the teachers and the instruments, we provide the classroom. I met with the director of the ONG last week and talked about their progress. They are teaching violin, viola and cello. They have space for 16 students and currently have 12 enrolled.

I'm preaching in Catete Sunday night and in Morro Azul next Thursday night. The church in Morro Azul is doing well. Leda, one of the leaders there, told me recently that they have baptized 15 new members this year, and have several more new members waiting to be brought into the church.

It is almost winter time in Rio, which means the temperature dips into the lower 80's on many days. People here are wearing coats and sweaters; I'm still comfortable in a t-shirt.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 27, 2007
JUST ANOTHER DAY

A 13 year old boy was murdered in Morro Azul over the weekend, presumably by trafficants. Yesterday the police entered the favela in an armored vehicle, dressed in combat gear, with guns drawn. They were there to gather evidence and ask questions. Since these events often lead to trouble, we suspended classes for the afternoon. The class meeting at the time was Beatriz' English class with children. When she saw what was happening, she took the kids down to the computer center (a safer room) and waited with them there until it was OK to send them home. We had classes today without any problem.

The conflict here is not as bad as it is elsewhere. In a much larger favela called Alemao (named after Germany), more than 1000 troops entered this week in an effort to take complete control of the favela. Police reported that 19 trafficants were killed. Children in this favela haven't been able to attend school in several weeks because of the violence, and many churches have had to cancel some meetings. So the situation in our community is mild in comparison.

In two weeks Rio hosts the Pan American Games; hundreds of thousands of international visitors are expected to arrive in the coming days.