Hey sorry for the absence

I know it has been several weeks since I posted on here, and there is no excuse but I have been busy. For some of you you might want to sit down for this, but I have been preaching here the last couple weeks. One of the families here went on furlough and they needed someone to full in for a couple weeks and I was asked. I agreed. Now for the real shocker I even volunteered for a few extra weeks. Yes I know. I do not enjoy being behind the pulpit, but there was a need to be filled and that is why I came here so I filled it. I just hope that it is adequate and I do not bring their church crumbling down as the rush for the door proceeds ;) . It has been interesting having to preach through a translator, because if I even thought about preaching in Portuguese I would probably choke on my own tongue trying to pronounce everything. The one bad part about preaching is that I no longer have as much time to study Portuguese so I have noticed a considerable decline in my learning curve. :( but it is only for another 4 weeks and then hopefully I can get back to learning the language in full swing. I actually made it out to the beach two weeks ago and it was beautiful except for the fact that under the amazingly peaceful surface of the ocean tides coming in are these horrendously sharp rocks scattered around in the nice soft sand and ended up with a slice in between my big two and next toe on my left foot and several small scrapes and puncture wounds on my right foot. But other than that it was a pretty amazing time. the scenery was beautiful and even got to see a few dolphins playing in the ocean. I also celebrated my 33 birthday a little early last night with about 25 people from the school and church I have been helping with. It was a fun night that I would not mind repeating angain with maybe just a little more help next time. I got shrimp to grill but unlike the nice supermarkets in the states they come whole here. So the process of cutting off the heads, shelling them, and cleaning them took quite a bit of time. not to mention that these lived up to their name as shrimp. But I grilled them just the same. Also got a hunk of loin and butchered it and cleaned it up then cut it into steaks and marinated them along with some chicken and sausages. I made German potato salad, fruit salad, and cheese cake. All in all it was a good time had by all, and come to find out that smoke behaves the same south of the equator as it does north of it. It finds you no matter where you try to run from it. So as soon as my non-smokers smokers cough quits all will be better. OH and I really miss my Kingsford Hickory Wood Charcoal :(. Well hope you aer all doing well and see you in another 2 months back in the states. Tchau.