08 Dec 09 Liberdade
There is a place in SP called Liberdade (Liberty) where many Brazilian/Asians live. On Sundays they have a fair and people come to sell their goods. This Sunday we went down to Liberdade to have lunch at a great Chinese restaurant, and afterward Bethany went with her friend Karina shopping through the fair. While waiting for the girls, Joey and I came across a concert! It was a really great day to be in Liberdade.
Also, (Barnes will like this) while at the restaurant, there is a place to watch the chef make noodles with his hands. People crowd around and watch him do his magic. I thought I heard this guy speaking English, but then I noticed his white Reeboks and knew he was American. So, I approached he and his wife, introduced myself and asked if they were Americans. He said, “I am from Raleigh, North Carolina. Where are you from?” To which I responded, “I’m from Kentucky….hey, did you see that game yesterday.” OHHHHH. Then, he responded with a curse word! It was really funny…at least for me it was. The cool thing is, Bethany had the camcorder rolling for the whole thing. You can see it here.
Here are some pics of our Sunday afternoon:
Chris waiting
Colby ordering
Colby using chopsticks
Bethany not using chopsticks
Dude in the middle was my North Carolina friend!
Karina, Bethany and Joey. You can see the fair in the background.
Black trench coat, headband, and no shirt (of course).
Dude sleeping in the middle of madness.
The concert Joey and I found!
As you can tell, Joey was pumped about the concert.
LIBERDADE!!
04 Dec 09 The Mortadela
The other day my friend Chris and I went to the market at Vinte Cinco de Marco to try a famous sandwich here in Sao Paulo called the Mortadela. It was kind of like a giant bologna sandwich. The Mortadela was good, but later that day we had lunch with Gui near Republica. Gui took us to a restaurant that sold Lanche de Pernil. This sandwich was like a pulled-pork sandwich and was incredibly good. Vinte Cinco is a crazy area where tons of vendors come and sale goods. Many times you will see the police raiding some of the vendors. For what reason, I am not sure. Once I got caught between the police and the vendors and found myself running from the police for no reason except that everyone else was running.
Here are some pics of Vinte Cinco and the Market. Also, here is the beginning of a show I really like called No Reservations. The guy experiences cultures through food, and his show can be fun to watch. In this episode, he goes to Sao Paulo and the first thing he tries is the Mortadela.
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| From website_photos |
The Mortadela
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| From website_photos |
This dude was an incredible statue. We had to give him some money.
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| From website_photos |
The back of Chris’ head.
30 Nov 09 What It Is
I have a few more pics from the past couple of weeks. Let me just say that Thanksgiving did not feel like Thanksgiving, but I was still thankful. And we ate traditional Thanksgiving Day food, which was nice. I really need to start listening to Xmas music, so I can muster up some Xmas spirit. BTW, Xmas, is not bad. Christ spelled in Greek is Χριστὸς, so anytime you see Xmas, Jesus is still there. And Brazil doesn’t really have a problem saying Merry Christmas like the US. No one is really arguing over that…at least not to my knowledge. Ok, on to the pics.
(this is my friend Victor. This dude is very cool. He was just chillin, but I found his position a bit odd, so I took his picture without permission)
(A picture of my GPS as I was going to meet a friend at Starbucks)
(This is a picture of my twin. He was chillin at Benjamin Abraham Bakery. Sometimes on Wednesday mornings I meet with some guys that are learning English. We talk about a lot of stuff 
and these guys are really cool.)
(Here is one of my friends. He teaches English and he is always a great conversationalist.)
I’ve been meeting with a friend for lunch once a week near his place of employment…which is near a bunch of craziness. We talk about things from existentialism to the meaning of the word “stud.” Isn’t that right Gui!! Gui is a true burly man and one of the smartest guys I know. I always have a great time talking with Gui, but afterward, I like to walk around all the craziness. Here are some pics of this area.
(paralelipipedo is the name of the rocks. At least that’s what i’ve been told…that is a cool word)
(OK, dude with the long beard is preaching, but most importantly he is smacking his Bible at about 150 decibels. No one was listening to him, and I felt bad for getting in his face and taking a picture, so I took a sneaky picture and didn’t feel bad about taking it.)
(Items for sale on the ground. Notice the tarp underneath. If the police come to make a raid, they can swoop up their stuff in a flash and make a run for it. I’ve seen this before!)
(Jersey’s for sale)
(Praca de Se or Se Park, and the Se Cathedral. I think that is a statue of St. Paul-Sao Paulo)
(Guy performing tricks with a soccer ball)
(Praca de Se. People love to come here and preach!)
(A lot of homeless people here. Notice the guy sleeping under the tree.)
(On my way down to the metro. Check out the guy taking a nap.)
(I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’m going toward Jabaquara.)
(waiting for my bus)
(inside the bus)
(Thanksgiving Turkey)
(Thanksgiving Dinner with American and Brazilian friends.)
17 Nov 09 Two Scoops of Reasons
On Wednesdays I meet with students from a university downtown. (BTW, it takes me an hour and a half to get there. UGH!) But it is worth it, b/c the students are really cool and we have great conversations. These students are not Christians, but are interested in learning about Jesus. We just went through the book of Mark studying the life of Jesus. At the end, I made them face the decision that this Jesus we just studied has to be on of three options.
–A liar
–A crazy man
–The Son of God
Now, Jesus said he was the only way to God. Jesus said he would die and rise again. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. These are incredible claims. Also, Jesus healed people, exorcised demons, walked on water, fed thousands, was killed, was resurrected, and really ticked off the religious people. Now, these things happened or they didn’t.
So, after asking them, who do they say Jesus is…one person responded that they did not have to choose one of the three options. This person said, “I believe Jesus never existed.” Wow. So I asked, “Did Socrates exist?” The response was amazingly “no.” What in the world?! I said bro, these guys existed. The questions are who were they, and what did they say, and what did others say about them? This student thinks there are no answers in life, and that we will never know truth. I could go on and on with how our conversation continued. It was actually quite interesting…especially when he said there are no absolutes, to which I responded, “the statement you just made was an absolute.” Truly, logic was in the back seat of our conversation.
So, this week, I have been building up some what of a defense for WHY I believe the Bible. As Christians, we should always encourage logic and reasoning when others are searching for truth. I’m not afraid to discuss all religions or beliefs. To not allow myself in the discussion of other beliefs would mean that I am afraid of truth. Many cults do this. They want their people to take their message to the world, but if anyone starts reasoning or asking deep questions of their faith, they are taught to move on to the next person. These people are afraid of truth.
As Christians, we should not be afraid to discuss and reason with people who may ask difficult questions of our faith. This is a good thing. I don’t just believe the Bible cause my momma told me it was a good book. There are reasons why I believe the Bible and not the Koran, nor the book of Mormon, nor other spiritual books. So, that is what I will be doing tomorrow…giving my reasons for trusting the Bible as a reliable source for knowing God.
15 Nov 09 Embu
Today we went to Embu with our friend Sean. Sean is here for one semester. He returns home in December. Sean is a college graduate, but unfortunately he is a Duke fan. This should tell you something about our education system. How can a guy who went to Georgia University, and grew up in Georgia be a Duke fan? Some things are a mystery, and we will never know the answer.
Here are a few pics from Embu. Embu is a little neighborhood/city in the city of Sao Paulo. Many artists sale there paintings here, and many people sale things they have made. It is a really cool place, and it’s fun to haggle with the sales clerks.
Also, sometimes signs here in Brazil are in both English and Portuguese, and the English can be off a bit.
It is amazing how the faces of people lit up when they saw Joey. Seriously, the Brazilians LOVE Joey!
We randomly ran into this band that played for a Festa Junina Party at our church back in June. I’m mean, this city has like 20 million people, so randomly seeing them again was pretty cool.
Joey and I rested by sitting on the steps of an old Church from a Jesuit Mission many years ago.
I thought this was a cool place to take a picture.
Well, we had a blast, and Sean was very patient to walk around with us for several hours. The weather cooled off too, which made the trip really nice. Ate mais (Until more)!!!
13 Nov 09 Lame Blog
So, I know this blog is slow…incredibly slow and lame. I was thinking of some ideas to make it fun for me to post stuff, but then I just went on with my day and didn’t post anything. Maybe I could just write what I do each day or stuff that happens, in a small paragraph. I don’t know, maybe I could get other writers to post stuff. That would keep things hopping. Or I could write stuff like, Brazil had a major black-out, but we all have a major black-out in our hearts…but that would be incredibly cheezy and unoriginal. So, I don’t know. I’ll think things through, and probably take another month before I post something. Tchau….You know, I think I will try to post little snippets of stuff going on here.
24 Sep 09 Bees video
OK, the footage isn’t that great, but here it is. You will see Bethany looking worried and holding Joey making sure none of these angry bees touched her little boy!!HA Eventually she put him in his crib where he has a mosquito net…Quick thinking!
Also, our house has become somewhat of a zoo. I had to kill a really big spider to calm Bethany’s nerves every time she saw the giant web. We have a possum that frequently waltzes past my office window and onto the roof. And lately, we have noticed giant slugs going up and down the front wall of our house and onto the roof…I need to video that for you. Those things are amazing.
24 Aug 09 Bees
I was reading the Bible in my office and Joey was with me, in his little “Johnny Jump Up”, and I noticed some bugs flying around outside. Then, one of the bugs flew inside and I realized the bugs were bees. So, I did what any man would do. I killed the bee in my office. Then, I noticed in the living room, another bee. I stepped into the living room and then I saw HUNDREDS of bees in our little patio area.
Wow, so, I swooped up Joey, started yelling for Bethany who was in the bedroom, and we began closing all windows and killing the few bees that had entered our home. I started a fire in the fireplace (I thought maybe the smoke would make them leave), or they would just move on. I then did what most people do today and grabbed my camcorder to video tape the bees. When I get a chance I’ll upload for you. The majority of the bees moved on, but even as I write this there are several bees outside!!
21 Jul 09 For Barnes
We finally have settled into our home. Since being in Sao Paulo we’ve been without the internet for about 5 weeks and we’ve had several weeks of teams and visitors. Now that things have settled a bit, I will try to do better with posts and pictures and stuff. Thanks Barnes for always keeping up with us. I really appreciate that! Ate mais.
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07 Jun 09 Thank You
Mom and Granny arrived here a couple of days ago and brought us tons of gifts from family and from churches back home. Thank you so much Walnut Memorial Baptist and Sugar Grove Baptist for all the great gifts. We feel so blessed to have such great people back home praying for us and helping us.
