Saturdays in São Paulo
This morning I had to be at the church by 8 a.m. The pre-adolescents were leading the prayer meeting and as one of their leaders I had to be present. I played keyboard for the two worship songs. Only two pre-adolescents came (they have a hard time waking up early). When I left the house it was chilly and foggy. I could see my breath but could hardly see more then 10 feet in front of me because of the fog. Now it´s sunny and clear and has warmed up some. The prayer meeting went well even though only a few people showed up. On the way home I stopped at a padaria (café) and had a sweet roll and some coffee while sitting in the sun. I like Saturdays. The whole city seems to have a different rhythm. There is less traffic and the pace of life seems to slow down, or maybe I am finally learning what it means to enjoy Sabbath.
The home visitations yesterday also went well. Thank-you for your prayers. In the afternoon there was no one who could go with me until around 4:30 which was quite frustrating. I almost decided not to go but fought against the feeling and its a good thing too. On the way into one house the mother of one of the boys asked if I spoke English. When I said I did she asked if I could stop by after and Tati (my friend and tour guide) and I said we would. Its a good thing we did too. Amauro has two boys. Caici and Yuri. Yuri is bedridden with a disease that has left him mostly paralyzed. Yesterday his mom took him to the hospital and they installed a feeding tube into his stomache so he doesn´t have to continue eating through the IV. What the doctor didn´t do was explain how to use the new tube and its acessories. She did show Amauro the basics but then left her with the kit and instruction book in English telling her to follow the pictures! Since many people in Vila Andrade can´t even read in Portuguese how was this mother supposed to figure this new equipment out? The pictures by the way were not at all instructive. So Tati and I sat down with her and I translated the manual as best I could. She can read in Portuguese and one of the booklets that came with the kit had a small Portuguese section that I helped her find. I felt so out of my element as I read that manual. I am not a doctor and Yuri´s incision around the tube looked red and inflamed. However, Tati and I both felt like we had been part of a God moment as we were able to explain the basics and put Amauro´s mind at ease.
Please pray that Yuri´s new feeding tube will work out for him and that he won´t develop any infections or have complications. Since these are people who don´t have many means they can´t afford complications and the cauterization of the incision will only take place on July 22 which leaves a lot of time for infections to set in. Their house seems fairly clean but this week I saw a dead rat on the way to church so that should give you an idea of the environment these people live in. Giant rats known as 'ratãozão' are common and one of the little girls from the project used to have some that slept on the wall above her bed (the house had a big space between where the wall ended and the roof, but has since been fixed). The director of the Compassion project canceled class on Wed. afternoon because she found lice on the table while she was eating lunch so on Wed. afternoon the kids were supposed to go home and take care of that problem (those who had it). Sorry to be so descriptive but this is the reality here. I thank God he gave me a strong stomache and that up until now none of these things have been overly shocking to me (I just hope I don´t have a run in with one of those giant rats, don´t think I´d take that too well). Keep those prayers coming!
The home visitations yesterday also went well. Thank-you for your prayers. In the afternoon there was no one who could go with me until around 4:30 which was quite frustrating. I almost decided not to go but fought against the feeling and its a good thing too. On the way into one house the mother of one of the boys asked if I spoke English. When I said I did she asked if I could stop by after and Tati (my friend and tour guide) and I said we would. Its a good thing we did too. Amauro has two boys. Caici and Yuri. Yuri is bedridden with a disease that has left him mostly paralyzed. Yesterday his mom took him to the hospital and they installed a feeding tube into his stomache so he doesn´t have to continue eating through the IV. What the doctor didn´t do was explain how to use the new tube and its acessories. She did show Amauro the basics but then left her with the kit and instruction book in English telling her to follow the pictures! Since many people in Vila Andrade can´t even read in Portuguese how was this mother supposed to figure this new equipment out? The pictures by the way were not at all instructive. So Tati and I sat down with her and I translated the manual as best I could. She can read in Portuguese and one of the booklets that came with the kit had a small Portuguese section that I helped her find. I felt so out of my element as I read that manual. I am not a doctor and Yuri´s incision around the tube looked red and inflamed. However, Tati and I both felt like we had been part of a God moment as we were able to explain the basics and put Amauro´s mind at ease.
Please pray that Yuri´s new feeding tube will work out for him and that he won´t develop any infections or have complications. Since these are people who don´t have many means they can´t afford complications and the cauterization of the incision will only take place on July 22 which leaves a lot of time for infections to set in. Their house seems fairly clean but this week I saw a dead rat on the way to church so that should give you an idea of the environment these people live in. Giant rats known as 'ratãozão' are common and one of the little girls from the project used to have some that slept on the wall above her bed (the house had a big space between where the wall ended and the roof, but has since been fixed). The director of the Compassion project canceled class on Wed. afternoon because she found lice on the table while she was eating lunch so on Wed. afternoon the kids were supposed to go home and take care of that problem (those who had it). Sorry to be so descriptive but this is the reality here. I thank God he gave me a strong stomache and that up until now none of these things have been overly shocking to me (I just hope I don´t have a run in with one of those giant rats, don´t think I´d take that too well). Keep those prayers coming!
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