Miscellaneous Missionary

It was a week for history this week. Most people here had an experience that will be once in a lifetime for them. Snow fell heavily across the country starting on Saturday and throughout Sunday. Roads were covered in ice and snow. The countryside was white. Children ran outside, built snowmen, and threw snowballs. For the northern part of the country, this was a rare occurrence. But this area has not seen snow since 1982. The snowstorm kept rumbling on south, though, and the coup de grace (I know it's French, not Portuguese) was that for the first time in 52 years, snow fell and accumulated on the ground in the country's capital, Lisboa (Lisbon). Everyone was raving about how cold it was, and few were able to make it to church, due to the cold and snow. For me, it felt a little like a Nebraska January snowstorm: it came, it blew and dumped, it melted. However, for the Portuguese, this is extremely rare, and they were so excited that they covered no other items on the newscasts.

I had another experience of note this weekend. It is culturally normal for children to stay up all night before their birthday. At midnight, the family and assembled guests sing “Parabéns” (happy birthday). My neighbors introduced me to this custom when they woke me up with their singing. They then proceeded to have a party for the rest of the night. It could have been aggravating, but I took it as an opportunity to learn more about the culture.

This week we have semester exams (that's finals). It is rare to me to end a semester after Christmas, but they do things differently here. Please pray that all will go well.

I had more opportunity for conversation this weekend. Praise the Lord for providing gracious Christians with whom I can practice and fellowship at the same time.

# posted by Arnie Johnson @ 3:41 AM