July 16, 2009
Trip to Pedro Juan Caballero
We took our visiting mission team on a trip to the border of Brazil, to visit with some churches there and get to see some of the country. Well, that was the plan, at least. We took the bus there in rainy weather, which meant our windows fogged on the outside and inside and we couldn't see a THING, and then we rode the "middle of the night" bus back home. Oh, well, so much for sightseeing along the way.
We DID, however, see a whole lot of the little border city of Pedro Juan Caballero. It actually adjoins to the Brazilian city of Ponta Pora, so closely that the main street between the two looks just like any other main street, except that one side of the road is Paraguay, the other Brazil. So all the signs on one side are in Spanish, the other side in Portuguese.
We stayed with a lovely host family there, on top of the daughters' hair salon. This meant that we ladies were surprised with a complementary "makeover" and even one of the guys got a manicure. (I left his name out on purpose, so that Cole isn't embarrassed that his friends know he had lovely shiny nails.) The ladies of the home treated us to some typical food from the region, which we all enjoyed immensely!
We spent time with some of the youth of the growing church there. One morning, we awoke to some really loud prayers, and found that a pastor from across the border had come to visit us and invite us to his services. Did I mention that folks in PJC walk just about everywhere? So we started out the "short trip" (they say EVERYTHING is a short trip) that turned out to be a good hour's walk, in biting cold wind that turned into rain. When we arrived, we found it had taken us longer to walk there than anticipated (Allisha's shoes didn't have enough traction for the slippery paths). Service was ending as we came in. The pastor called us up for prayer, gave us a word the Lord had given him for us, and we started back.
As the rains became a downpour, we ducked into another church service along the road. The service was in Portuguese, but I was surprised to find out I was able to translate some of it for our friends. It's a pretty language. The folks in these two adjoining towns speak Spanish, Portuguese, and Guarani. Incredible.
We attended their Sunday service and Saul preached the message. Allisha sang a song in Spanish, and the rest of us gave a quick testimony each. What a wonderful time with our brothers and sisters in Pedro Juan and Ponta Pora!
My husband spent a week end there. he said he went to Brazil about 10 times,lol!
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