Changing attitudes.......

Yesterday was a busy day here....and the hottest day since we arrived.  Remember we are in the southern hemisphere and so it is summer.....and hot!!!!!

Several of us went to the open market for food.  It was a good time to get avocado again.....still trying to grow a tree from the seed.....not working in water or soil so I keep trying.....don't expect there will be fruit while we live here but hopefully shade.....Also found peanuts in the shell.....so brought them home and washed them.....after they are dried we can cook them in a fry pan and enjoy.....It was a good find....Saw meat but without refrigeration at the open market, I'm afraid to try any of it.....Anyway, at the little grocery store I found several things we have been looking for since we arrived here......butter......wow......$5.00/ 1/2 lb but worth it.....first we have had since we arrived here 32 days ago.....and they had some spices too....now several I'm not sure what they are but I think one might be Paprika so I took a chance.....and finally saran type wrap.....That is great!!!  I have been washing and reusing what others have given when they share something they have cooked.....That has worked fine but now I will have new too..................

When we came here we were told that all the US dollars we brought must be in the large denominations and in the best possible condition.....no writing or marks on them at all, not wrinkled and so on......well, when I went to change money yesterday.....my dollars were rejected because they were printed prior to 2006.....Now I understand the large denominations.....and everything is so expensive, it would not make sense to bring small bills.....but the date of printing?  So we checked our stash and found that 1/2 of the cash we have here is not able to be changed......there is a belief apparently that the dollars printed prior to 2006 are of less value......wow......always learning something new......thankfully one of the ladies was at the shop and could change one of my 2002 bills for a 2006 so I could use it......

Met my language teacher and she is changing our tutoring time to Friday this week.  Whew!!!  Gives me another day to cram more Portuguese into my brain before we meet.  I really hate looking dumb and when you learn a new language you become like a child and make so many mistakes......it is humbling...but the we must be "like a child"........

The drivers are asking for English language classes......all my materials are in the shipment so I am looking on line for downloadable materials to use......I guess we will meet on Sunday morning when most are available......I am going to enjoy the teaching....and it doesn't matter that I can't speak Portuguese since it is an English class.

Yesterday I started reading a Lent series in the Bible.  I found that reviewing Jesus' life and ministry up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday is helpful.......I have always focused on the wonder and joy of Easter and pretty much left the life and situations that led to His death.....out of my thinking..... Dennis Bratcher wrote the following on his internet page:  " I have heard the passage in 2 Chronicles 7:14 quoted a lot: ". . .if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." This usually is quoted in the context of wanting revival or renewal in the church, and the prayer is interpreted as intercessory prayer for others. But a careful reading of the passage will reveal that the prayer that is called for here is not intercessory prayer for others; it is penitential prayer for the faith community, for us. It is not to call for others to repent; it is a call for us, God’s people, to repent. It is our land that needs healed, it is our wicked ways from which we need to turn, we are the ones who need to seek God’s face.

Perhaps during the Lenten season we should stop praying for others as if we were virtuous enough to do so. Perhaps we should take off our righteous robes just long enough during these 40 days to put ashes on our own heads, to come before God with a new humility that is willing to confess, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." Maybe we should be willing to prostrate ourselves before God and plead, "Lord, in my hand no price I bring; simply to the cross I cling." That might put us in a position to hear God in ways that we have not heard Him in a long time. And it may be the beginning of a healing for which we have so longed.

O Lord, begin with me. Here. Now."

That is my prayer......