Sao Francisco de Paulo

Dec 17 continued:

We went back to the bus station for our ride to the home of the Branch Presidente, Marcos Milkiewicz.  He is an excavation contractor for construction – uses dynamite.  The ride through the countryside is beautiful and fluctuates between forest and lush green to grasslands covering soft rolling hills.  The area is known as the Garden of the Springs.  The bus dropped us off on the side of the road - almost in the middle of nowhere.  We walked a little ways to get to the little neighborhood (bairro) of small homes built on a hill with some family markets. We will catch a ride with his family to the Branch meeting which starts at 7:30 pm and is over 30 minutes away. 

We visited with the family and watched a couple of men mixing and pouring cement for the floor of the new garage.  Everything here is done by manual labor. 



Marcos’ family consists of himself, his mother that lives with them, his wife Sianara, and children, Indiane, Larissa, Natalie, Spencer, and Lorenzo.  Everyone goes to the meeting.  They usually all pile into one car; but with us going with them, they take two cars.  There is a toll booth on the road to SFP which costs 6$ each direction.  Multiply that by 12$ for each trip at least three times a week, and it adds up.  When D&A go with them, they pay the toll. As seems to be typical, everyone runs late; we arrived at the church about 7:45; no one had a key, so we sat around until after 8:00. A few young kids entertained themselves playing soccor and riding bicycles (bicicletas).     

Ann I walked around the area while we were waiting and took a few pictures of things in the median of the street.

The church building in SAP was originally a doctor’s home and office, and  the church purchased it when the doctor died.  After some time, Ann and I started playing/singing Christmas hymns and members started to come inside; eventually (probably around 8:45), David called the meeting to order.  Neither the missionaries nor Presidente Marcos had shown up yet, so there was no one to take charge.  David talked about why we celebrate Christmas and the importance of it (I didn’t understand a word, but I think that was the subject).  He was able to solicit discussion with the youth who showed up and they sang a couple of Christmas hymns. 

A fun game was played when Larissa arrived.  There were 30 youth and 10 adults who participated this evening (adults included D&A, us, missionaries, Pres. Marcos and wife, and two other mothers).  That is the problem here in Brazil – many children and few adults attend.  Then the children walk home in the dark (and rain), some coming from great distances.  Oft times, Pres. Marcos makes several trips to take the children home. The Christmas lights were all around town as we prepared to go home.  We arrived back in Canela after 11:00 pm.  It was a very rainy, foggy drive home; I was glad I wasn’t driving.  The end to another very long day!