So, where did we leave off? Oh, yeah, in the early afternoon of December 17th, after I sent out my last message, we took off for the children's hospital on the north edge of downtown. It just so happens that the children's hospital has a steam locomotive that has been preserved on its grounds. I wanted to get some photos of it, since after all the company I work for is in the railroad industry, and I do have some historical interest in railroads anyway. So, we were able to get that done. Then, several friends (including Jennifer Noah, who came "home" on the 15th) took me around town for a little bit of shopping at the end of my stay there. I was looking for a particular music CD that I heard while visiting Gustavo's house, and liked very much. This proved to be rather difficult to find. One of the Christian book stores there volunteered to call another store, because the girl there thought they might have a few copies there. That is what they told us, and so we went off down the street to the other store. We found the store, and we found the CD in the store: that's right, they had just one copy of it. This particular artist is from Londrina, and it just so happens that this is a woman that Jennifer Noah is familiar with. In the first English camp, in 1999, this woman stayed in Jennifer's cabin.

Then it was home to finish packing. Some stuff would clearly have to stay in Brasil, and so I left a small pile of clothes and so forth for which Thomas and Margaret will try to see if they could find good homes. This included things like my towel ( which takes up a lot of space, in that climate wouldn't get dry enough to pack well, and is easily replaced ), work shoes, and a few other odds and ends of this sort.

Thomas Scott called, and advised me not to try to take my luggage to church, as I was originally planning, but instead thought it would be better if the Dormers would simply drive us ( that is, Boulivar as well as myself ) back to the appartment, which was only four blocks away. This seemed like it would work OK, even though the Dormers were going to be at Communidade Shalom Church due to some special music needs there.

At the close of the service at Central Church, they decided to bring me up to the front of the church and give me best wishes from the entire congregation. It was a wonderful close to my time there. We then started waiting for Rod & Jan. However, after waiting until 10 o'clock, without any sign of them, Boulivar and Noèlia decided it was time to take off and get everything. Thanks to the urging of Jennifer Noah, I joined them. We had just enough time to get everything and start a walk to the bus terminal. From the appartment we went directly to Rua Brasil, because there is a little more bus traffic on that street. I later realized this was a mistake; what we probably should have done is grab a taxi from the taxi stand on Duque de Caxias a block from the appartment, but that I didn't think of that. Although moving that much luggage on foot was difficult, we did manage, until a city bus showed itself to be coming, then we slowed down and get on the city bus.

Now, the buses in many areas of Brasil have turnstyles and fare collectors on them, and that is how the system in Londrina is set up. However, there were so many people inside the section of the bus beyond the turnstyle we could not get beyond the fare collector and into the section of the bus for paid passengers. It would have been better had we been able to do so, for we could have gotten off within a few blocks of the bus terminal. Unfortunately, we could not get off until after we had paid, which had to happen at the city bus terminal. Noélia's joining us started to prove valuable at that point, as we each had to go through the turnstyle to pay. Having the one extra person allowed two of us to move the baggage, in rotating shifts, through the front door of the bus while a third person was paying and going out through the rear door. The distance between the city bus terminal and the long distance bus terminal isn't that great a distance, but it is enough that you wouldn't want to walk it with that much stuff. So, we then went downstairs to the buses headed that direction. In the process of going downstairs, Boulivar simply disappeared for a few minutes, which caused Noélia some confusion, but somehow he managed to get downstairs to the first level of the city bus terminal without us seeing him. So, we waited for the 10:30 bus to the long distance bus terminal. It came reasonably close to on time, and we were off again. When we arrived at the rodoviaria ( the long distance bus terminal ) the city bus drove an almost complete circle around the place before finally coming to a stop at the gate reserved for it. Since it was very close to our scheduled time of departure, we then made haste to the departure gate. We met David Roof about halfway across the terminal, and he helped us with some of the baggage. It was then that we learned that Rod and Jan had had car problems somewhere between Comunidade Shalom and Central Church. However, when we arrived, the bus to São Paulo had not arrived from its originating city yet.

Within a few minutes it did, however. Mel Noah, the field director of the Brasil team of missionaries said a prayer for our travels and a praise for our times together ( both in English and in Portuguese since I wasn't fluent in Portuguese, and Noélia wasn't fluent in English ) and we were on our way. Once again, having Noélia along proved to be extremely useful, for getting out of the turnstyle and onto the intercity sleeper bus.

Before I left, Mel told me to find out when Frank was coming down next, so that I could visit again soon.

Although the trip from Londrina to São Paulo was conducted at night, the sky was beutiful, and the windows large enough to enjoy it. The seats were comfortable, and it was wonderful to be able to travel in such comfort. We arrived in São Paulo about 5:30 in the morning.

The Rodoviaria in São Paulo is part of a larger station that has metro and suburban electric trains running into and out of it. Boulivar went off to find his girlfriend, who was arriving from some other location, and Noèlia and I went off to buy metro tickets. We then waited for Boulivar. At last, Boulivar and Andrea appeared, and we all piled onto a metro train. Once again, going through the turnstyles with luggage proved to be an adventure. After some considerable distance, we all changed trains to a different route, and we continued our journey for a number of stops. At about 6:30 in the morning, and two stops from the end of the line, Noèlia left us for her journey to her parents place, which would involve transferring to two different city bus routes, and another two hours of travel for her. We continued to the end of the metro line, then got on a 20 passenger bus that looked a little like a mini-van on steroids, complete with a sliding side door, and off we went again. Once again, we paid a fee and went through a turnstyle on the bus. We wound around on a number of narrow streets for perhaps 30 minutes, and were finally left off about two blocks from Andrea's parents house. Thankfully, at this point it was all down hill from the bus stop, and we spent the rest of the day in repose, relaxation, and recovery at her parents house.

I called Continental in the early evening to see what the story was about the flight. After all, there could be weather related problems. They said that their 11:55 flight to Houston should be right on time, but advisted me to be there 3 hours early. So at about 8 o'clock, we piled into their car, and drove to the airport. Thankfully, they live reasonably close to the airport. We found an imense line waiting at Continental, that stretched all of the way back into the outer reaches of the waiting room. However, Boulivar, Andrea, and her mother were kind enough to wait in line with me until we got to the very last portion of it, in the roped off area. They bid farewell to me and I was on my own. Then came the line waiting procedure. Continental has its line in São Paulo set up so that they have desks throughout the roped off portion of their ticketing and baggage check area. The first thing they do is ask the standard security clearance questions. Then you do get some boarding pass paperwork. Then you progress to the next section of the line. Here, they have you fill out your baggage identification stuff. Then, they have a desk for the airport departure tax. They quickly determined that this fee was not included in my payment to the travel agency, and so I would have to pay. I didn't have the required Brasilian money ( about R$60 I think), so I had to pay in American. The problem here was that to get enough American money, I would have to get the money in my wallet that I keep under my clothes, so I wound up undoing some clothes in order to pay this fee. That's OK. I re-dressed while I was waiting in the next line, which was for the actual ticket counter and baggage check. This was the quickest part of the whole process, and then I was again on my way to the terminal. So, I then waited in line at the passport exit stamp line, which is where they mark your passport and collect the exit papers. Then, I waited in line again at the x-ray machines on the way to the terminal itself, and then from there I went to the terminal. I arrived there a bit early, but I didn't want to stop anywhere just in case there were more lines to wait in. There were not many chairs to wait in, and so I sat down on the floor with my back against a pillar. Besides, since I was going to be sitting down for the next 9 and a half hours, I needed to sit in something other than a chair position.

After a little over an hour, they started boarding the plane. It was good that I was there, because they never seemed to actually announce the fact that they were starting to board. Instead, everyone just sort of piled on. So, I waited in line again to get through the boarding gate. Then, once through the boarding gate, they had us wait in line again, where they asked us the set of security clearance questions again, right there in the middle of the walkway between the airport and the plane. That set of questions completed, I went and waited in line again where people were actually getting on the plane. I then took my seat for the 9 and a half hour trip to Houston. The flight was uneventful for the most part, except that we had what seems to be standard turbulance problems over the middle of the Amazon to the northern edge of Colombia. This seems to be a standard location for this, and I think it must have something to do with the wind currents from the Amazon hitting the Andes or something. Every trip I have had to Brasil seems to hit turbulance about there. It wasn't too bad, and besides I don't really mind the turbulance that much. Its a little like being on a roller coaster. The problem I had on the first flight to Brasil that I had was that horrific 11 and a half hour flight out of Los Angeles just seemed to take forever, and by the time we reached 10.5 hours for the first time in all the time I have flown I felt physically tired from the motion. However, having only 9.5 hours to fly makes a big difference in my opinion.

Then came the 6 hour wait in Houston. By the time I left I think I had memorized the CNN television loop that they have running in that airport. They boarded the plane and we were off again to Portland, this time for only a 6 hour flight. There was some pretty nasty weather all over the east, and there was a huge snow storm that had gone south into Georgia, and caused the Atlanta airport to be closed, virtually shutting down all of Delta airlines. Texas, however, didn't have any problems, though it was a bit colder than normal.

However, there was a fierce headwind fighting us the entire way to Portland, so we arrived a little late. Because of this wind, they also had us approach the airport by flying north to about St. Helens, and then coming down in Portland from an approach that had us go over the middle of downtown Vancouver, Washington. There at the airport to greet me was half the Petrequin Clan, plus Dave Petrequin's girlfriend Carol. As is the normal procedure at Portland, they didn't ask to see the baggage claim tag, so grabbed my checked bag, and went to the car. We arrived a little late, due to the fierce headwind that we were fighting the entire distance from Houston to Portland.

Perry Petrequin and his family are getting ready to go on the missions field to Belize, and in fact they start driving there tomorrow. Its a 10 day trip down through Texas and Mexico to there. So, they left to continue making their arrangements, but Carol, Dave, and I went to a restaurant to have dinner together. We were soon joined by Tim Beltz, who was on the missionary team in 1998 that introduced me to Brasil.

By the time we were done with dinner and I was home, it was about 2 in the morning Brasil time. Therefore, my plans to call people and let them know I had arrived safely would have to be delayed until the next day. I did, however, leave a message on the answering machine at work, letting them know I arrived also.

I spent yet another day in recovery and relaxation, and then called work about 3 in the afternoon. As usual, they were desperate for help, and they asked me to be there tomorrow if I could do it. So, soon I was thrown back into the routine of work ( such as routine goes at that place, which is severely irregular ). That evening was the company Christmas Dinner, and the following evening I was invited to go out with a bunch of special friends from my University days.

The president of the company talked to me for a little bit, and wanted to make sure I wanted to return, or what. I told him that, while I am certainly interested in going to Brasil again, here is where I am now. The interesting thing he said was "Let me know when you want to go back, and we'll figure out a way to work it into your schedule." The problem, of course, is that if we are going off of what I really want to do, I would not have come back. However, the reality of the situation is that money has to come from somewhere, and right now somewhere is this particular location.

Speaking of money, there was both good news and bad news in that department. The good news was that I had built up a lot more extra hours than I had previously thought, and I wound up being paid into early October or so. The bad news was that the US stock markets had not done particularly well while I was gone, and I wasn't here to manage my account, so that in theory I have a lot less money now than I did before I left. I'm still not sure exactly how much the drop was. Quite honestly, this doesn't concern me too much. I'm not glad that its gone, and when I first looked at the statement I was a bit disappointed, but the fact is that the "money" that I have in there seems so untouchable because it really doesn't seem like it is mine. Its not as if it were in a bank account where I can just withdraw the money, or write a check and pay for things. Sure, it's "gone", but how much of it was really there to begin with? Praise God I have a reliable job. There are some that live and die by the money they have on the US Stock Market, and I am glad that I am not 100% dependent on that, as some are. However, of all the costs associated with my being gone, I was not expecting the lack of my oversight in this area to have such severe consequences. I suppose that I could get all upset at God and ask why on earth, when I spent so much time devoted to him in Brasil, did I come back to find I had so much less money than before I left? On the other hand, why do so? God can give the blessing, and God can take it away. The market is a fickle thing, and I could wake up tomorrow and all of it will be gone, or I could wake up tomorrow and there could be a $100,000 gain. It is what the stock market does, and complaining to God about the losses is only a matter of ignoring the risky nature of this particular animal. I'm starting to learn to praise God for the increases, and tolerate the losses as a natural thing.

Thankfully, my actual job seems to be producing more work than ever, and so it does not seem like I have any need to worry about lack of money to live off of for the time being. I even wound up working for about 9 hours yesterday ( Saturday ).

On the first Sunday back from Brasil, Christmas Eve, Julie Keller and William joined us all in the Valley View church. They were not supposed to be there until later in the week, but the airlines changed their flight schedule, and they were able to get a different flight. It is a good thing, because they were originally scheduled to go from São Paulo to Newark, New Jersey, then to Houston, and then to Portland. This would have added an extra 8 hours or so onto the already long trip. William expressed a little astonishment that, after arriving in Houston, he still had to get on a plane and travel for 6 hours - in the exact same direction. "That's more than half the flight to São Paulo!" he said. I can't possibly imagine what it would have been like under their original plans. Praise God they only had to do the normal travel difficulties, and not something insane like what the airlines originally wanted them to do.

Julie and William and the rest of the Kellers also were at the 11:00 pm Christmas eve service. William didn't even look that tired, despite the travel time, until I had the misfortune of reminding him, when the service was over and we were all talking afterward at about 12:30 in the morning, that if he were home in São Paulo, it would be 6:30 in the morning, and he would now be on his way to work. After realizing that, he looked a lot more tired ( OK, so I have a bit of a mean streak, OK?).

Avie gave me an envilope containing U.S. $300. She said this was left over money for the Brasil trip that the Valley View church had raised. They weren't quite sure what to do with it, but decided that since I was the one who spent the most time there, that I should be the one to decide what to do. I got it into Julie's hands before she left this morning. After all, the money was raised for Brasil, and to Brasil it should go. I already know what I would like to see it used for there, and will be communicating with some of you later on about that.

Julie and William apparently enjoyed the time they had here a lot. The Keller clan apparently kept them both quite busy, and also they are returning with a bunch of stuff for people there, particularly things that David and Conce Roof need. I wanted to send more with them, but alas they just didn't have the space, or the ability to explain anything more to customs either.

Avie invited me to her house on the evening of the 19th, for a general Brasil get-together. With Frank Gorsline being at the Oregon City church, we have an awful lot of Brasil survivors in this area, and so I asked her if it would be OK to invite the rest of the people I know who have been there. She said that was just fine with her. I'm hoping that I have my slides developed by then.

Two days ago, during a rather dead period of time at work, I got into my BOL e-mail account, and found that Elismara, who attends the Central Church, sent me an electronic greeting card. It was wonderful to hear from her. She doesn't speak a whole lot of English, but she and a number of other people have been wonderful friends despite the difficulties in communication. My thanks to all of you for your support in various ways, weather it be through prayer or friendship or the financial help that was given to the Valley View church to help that team come. God is doing a wonderful work in Brasil, and I was very glad to be able to see some of it this year. I hope that I can soon return and see what else is happening.

Now, a word to some of you about sending me e-mail: I have somehow turned into a collector of e-mail addresses. I have my old University account, plus the account at work, plus the account at a non-profit organization I do some things for, plus the BOL account. Of all these addresses, the one that I can access the most reliably while I am here is the University account: this is glennl@***.**.edu I know that Gustavo has said that he has trouble getting mail to go into this account. I don't know exactly what this trouble is, but people are still sending me mail there, and in fact Rod is one of the ones who sends me mail there. I will check the BOL e-mail address from time to time as possible, but for now, the one that I am able to check for messages the most often is the one above.

If I have forgotten to send this message to anyone, please accept my appologies.

15 minutes to go, and it is Happy New Year time here. In Brasil, of course, it is almost 6 in the morning, and the sun is starting to come up. A New Year is Dawning for You, as I write this to you. May God bless you all richly in the coming year - in all of the ways that truely matter.