Living and loving in Natal, Brazil

So I'm a little less than three days away from leaving and I'm still successfully pretending that I'm not. I knew my departure would be bittersweet, but after spending a delightful weekend in Abilene, saying a final goodbye to my friends, it feels more bitter than sweet. I know that will all change on Tuesday, when I step out of the baggage terminal at the Natal airport and see everyone (a busload, apparently.) Then it will, once again, be more sweet than bitter.

I heard from my friend, Sergio, who has been acting as a sort of secretary and message relay-er this summer as I've prepared to leave. He let me know that I will spend next week with the two women missionaries finding my apartment, and then I will spend the week after that getting my reading schedule ready, determining my group class arrangements, fitting in my Portuguese lessons, etc. He is very on top of things and it really helps to know that he will be there to help me get my feet on the ground! He made clear that I must wait for him to get there so he can fill me in on all of the readers, what he knows, who has been visiting the worship services, etc. I couldn't be more thankful! He also told me that next weekend the church will be spending the holiday weekend together (Brazil's independence day is Friday, Sept 7) at Genipabu, a little beach town about 30 minutes outside of Natal. I am looking forward to getting to spend that chunk of time with the church members so quickly after I get there! As I've said before, God's timing has been so perfect throughout the entire preparation process, and I have no doubt that this, once again, is part of His finishing touches.

I don't know when I'll be blogging again...perhaps a late-night freakout on Sunday, or maybe sometime next week letting you know I've safely arrived, or maybe sometime two weeks from now saying "yeah, I'm here, but I'm having such a blast I haven't had the time to blog!" Let's hope for that last one. It's the happiest.

Thanks for those of you who are leaving comments! For some reason Blogger didn't notify me when people were commenting back on my earlier posts, but now I've seen them all and hope that you will continue! If you check here you can see a comment that was left from one of my future readers in Natal. Gotta love the Blogosphere! Thanks for reading...