Sick as a dog...

Well I know it's been a while since I've posted anything and sorry about that. But it's kind of been a roller coaster the past couple of months. Trying to deal with homesickness and loneliness hasn't been easy but Jehovah and some good friends have been helping me out in that respect. Also every once in a while I've heard from some of my friends back home! Though it would be nice to hear from you guys more often... *hint* *hint*....

From left: Eros, Juliana, Chris W

As the title of this post brings out I've been sick for the past few days. Honestly I have no idea where it came from. On Saturday a group of us went out in service in Guarapari this past weekend. Guarapari is a city about an hour outside of Vitória (where I live). It's a beautiful city and the beach is so much better than Vitória's as you can see in the pictures below. Usually around this time a lot of people from Minas Gerais (the state to the left of mine) come down here to visit and the majority of people at the beach were Mineiros (people from Minas Gerais). We were able to find some foreigners in our ministry that day and later in the afternoon we spent some time with some friends of Chris W. They invited us to stay for lunch and dinner and for dinner they had brazillian barbeque (churrasco). Now here I got sick off of something. I can't figure out if it was the alcohol (it was pretty strong stuff... I wasn't used to it), the food, or something else that day. But something didn't go well with my stomach. So that took me out for a couple of days and really today is the first day I've been able to enjoy eating something. But today was a good day for another reason as well. I had made an appointment to do a return visit on this Chinese man at the mall this afternoon. When I got there I took a few moments to prepare off to the side. I was using the Good News brochure in chinese on my tablet and was trying to make sure I understood what the paragraphs were saying in my language before I went over it with him in Chinese (I'm going to have to start learning another language folks... smh). I had him read the paragraphs and then we discussed them a little bit. Though the discussion turned into the direction of his family and life here in Brazil and basically I just listened. I got to hear a little bit more about him and his family and what he's concerned about which of course is what we're trying to do anyway. We chatted for like 30-40 minutes and then he had to go to back to work. (he was on his break... you see he told me to come around a certain time which evidently was around his breaktime...) And I told him I would be back when I get back in town the following week. So the next time I'm going to be going back with something a bit different. Probably less on doctrinal matters and more on something based on what he's concerned about.
Also later on I was able to have another cool experience. I was on my way home and I walked past this hotel in my neighborhood and I noticed this guy sitting outside smoking. I knew by the way he looked he wasn't Brazilian but I wasn't sure about approaching him. However as I walked up past him a bit I figured I would go back and try to iniciate something but then when I turned around I noticed another guy there so now there were two guys. I was kinda nervous but I said a quick prayer got two tracts prepared and went back. I asked them if they were from around here and that's basically how the conversation started. They were both from Norway on business and the next day one of them would leave out on a ship for another destination. I got to tell them a bit about myself too and how I was here studying at the University. Then before leaving I got to leave both of them tracts which they both accepted. So it was a nice way to end the day don't you agree?
Well I'll stop here but I should be writing a bit more soon. Tomorrow I'm heading to Rio Grande do Sul (southern state in Brazil) where I will be meeting up with some friends who are doing some seldom worked territory in that state. I'll be sending experiences and pictures of course. Talk to you guys soon! Please keep in touch so a brotha don't feel like his fam forgot about him...

Sincerely,
Chris