Brazil #4 Post # 5

Have just returned from a weekend in Ponte Nova ( New Bridge). Traveling any distance by car in Brazil is a challenge but this journey was particularly taxing. In theory my ride was supposed to pick me up by 6 in the morning. My host was supposed to get me up twenty minutes earlier. That didn't work so i got up on my own at 6:12, and exited the apartment 7 minutes later. Went down to the front entrance to discover that the ride wasn't there. He arrived about 6:30. We picked up two other brothers, so the small car was crowded. As i was the biggest, they kindly gave me the passenger seat. Roads between cities are basically two lane (one each way) country roads with rare passing lanes up steep inclines. On these roads one find pedestrians, bicyclists, horses pulling carts, loose horses grazing, ancient trucks that can barely do 15 or 20 miles an hour, ancient cars that can't do much better, and many other cars, some of which can do 100 MPH. ( 160 KPH) The road from Vitoria to Ponte Nova, in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais, passes through mountains and is extremely sinuous. The road goes through the middle of cities, with the traffic making about 10MPH ( 16K. It has numerous speed bumps called "quebrar molas,"( break molars) and zillions of electronic speed checking devices. These roads are not patrolled by police, but these devices take a picture of speeder's license plates and send you the ticket. Going to the city took about six hours including two relatively short stops. Returning took eight hours to cover a little over 200 miles (350K). We had to pass through a village called Pedra Azul ( Blue Stone), which features a very sheer mountain that looks like an isolated tooth. It has a bluish hue. They were celebrating their annual strawberry festival, and, of course, there was no way around. We also had to deal with traffic returning to Vitoria from a holiday weekend. We were in stop and go ( walking speed) for at least an hour and a half. Along the way i saw many miles of coffee bean bushes. These grow on terraced hills, and favor elevations around 3,000 feet. Mature plants are about 4 feet high. As we descended the crops changed but neither i nor my urban car mates could identify these. Further along we saw small groups of cows, and a number of horses. The soil is reddish, which usually indicates clay The actual visit was quite pleasant. I had visited once before, four years ago. My host family then included a very sweet twelve year old daughter. God can do truly amazing things in four years. Now she is almost seventeen, a young woman, but just as sweet. My new host family has a chacara. This word seems to have a large range of meaning, anything from a house in the country to a small farm. This family had two young daughters. One was three or maybe four. While we were eating the midday meal, she got under the table, and tried to tickle me. The older daughter is ten, has studied English for two years, and is one of the rare Brazilians willing to try to speak English with me. The hospitality is extraordinary. One of the new deacons, whom i do not know, invited me to stay at his house any time, and this is not a pleasantry. Others from various cities also invited me The actual event was an ordination service for one pastor and several deacons. The church has doubled in size from four years ago. God is obviously at work. The normal worship service lasts three or four hours, and the two previous ordinations that i have attended were far longer. This time they seemed to make a conscious efforts to streamline things a bit. We did have a wonderful time of worship including an Asaph Borba song. There were eight speakers in all.