Oceans

I'm sitting on the balcony looking out at the huge expanse of ocean in front of me. Some kind of tanker is moving sleepily in the distance and wave after wave rolls onto the sand below. The view is so peaceful and yet as each wave breaks, I see the huge power held in that water; the strength that is so far from human control.

"He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" Matthew 8:26-27

What kind of man can stop a storm in its tracks? Can walk on top of these powerful waves? Can create this huge expanse of ocean? 

Living by this sea it's so easy to be carried along by daily life and forget to stop and be amazed at it's beauty and power. It's so easy to forget the creator behind it, to walk on and under this amazing blue sky and not see that it "proclaims the work of his hands". And isn't it the same in the rest of our lives? We talk about coincidences, about how things worked out, about our day and we so often are so blind to God's hand behind it all. 

When I was on holiday with my parents a few weeks ago we got to see just a little glimpse of how much the ocean holds; the sharks, the millions of fish of every colour, the amazing plants, the hidden depths. It got me thinking about just how incredible this creation is and about how amazing it is that the same God, who has such power and made such beauty, sent his son so that our sins could be "cast into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Who are we beside the God who made this ocean? Beside his son who calmed these seas? And yet this same God gave his very self so that we could be forgiven.

It's Thursday afternoon and Dulce and I are sitting on her sofa surrounded by a mountain of nappies, trying to sort them vaguely into sizes. We have just come from a morning at the project where I was teaching an English lesson on Weather and Dulce was making a huge chocolate cake for tomorrow's Festa dos aniversariantes (Party for this term's birthdays). Her phone rings and it is Pastor Roberto... "No" says Dulce "please tell me this is one of your little jokes, Pastor"... It emerges that half of the cake has decided to take a flying jump of his kitchen table onto the floor and he arrived home to find his two daughters cross-legged on the kitchen floor tucking in, worried that the fallen part might be wasted! I'm struggling to keep a straight face as Dulce tries to work out how this could possibly have happened,... the perils of large amounts of caramel sauce between the two layers seems to have caused a minor landslide!

A new cot

Soon, with Dulce still lamenting the cake drama, we head out carrying a cot, many nappies, a New Testament and a cuddly toy monkey. We are heading to visit one of the children's families, we've heard there's a baby there but when we arrive child after child seems to appear. There are at least 3 one year olds and a toddler with a mass of blond curly hair. We hand over the cot into which the three babies are soon put, to their delight. The grandmother invites us in to meet Marcelinho. His is 7 but is the size of a 1 year old, lying on a grubby mattress on the floor wearing just a nappy. I stroke his face and he grabs my hand, waves it around, looks up at my face. Marcelinho has Cerebral Palsy, a sister explains. 

 Later that evening I'm sitting on the sofa back at home telling my Brazilian Mum about my day, I can't get the picture of little Marcelinho out my mind. Where are social services? I remember the library of toys for disabled children in my hometown, the flashing colours, the sounds, the things to hold, to learn. There aren't always answers to all my questions but I know that God hears and that he loves Marcelinho and there will be something that we can do, even if for now it is just holding his hand and handing over the cuddly toy dog that my Brazilian Mum has produced. 

Rai and Emily holding nappies for Rai's sister who's soon to be born 

As I arrive on Friday morning there is an excited buzz about the project as everyone gears up for today's party. Balloons are popping all over the place and I head over to survey the hastily repaired cake... almost as good as new! I get my camera out and there is a mad rush of children wanting to take photos and be in them. It's amazing how many headless photos I now have on my camera! 

Dulce and some of the children

Dulce and the cake (pre-landslide!)

It's Sunday afternoon and me, Diana, Erika and Áldria have just arrived at the metro station. We're heading to Camila's house and then going on to church and the girls are getting excited about the escalator up ahead! I was hoping more girls would be coming this afternoon but God knows what He's doing and we have a really lovely afternoon chatting, watching the film and eating lots of popcorn and brigadeiro (condensed milk cooked with chocolate!) I love moments like these, seeing my friends Camila and Élida laughing with the teenagers, talking to them about school, clothes, life. 

Monday morning and the roads are chaos. I'm already running late and the traffic is at complete standstill. When a minibus finally makes it to the stop it is completely full to bursting. I jump on but I'm standing on the bottom step and every time he tries to shut the doors I feel a bit like Flat Stanley. The driver decides to take a different route and avoid the traffic jam, a good idea I think, but the 'other route,' which incidentally misses out about half the people on the bus' stops, is on unpaved roads and is bumpy to say the least. I don't really have a clue where we are but eventually I arrive in Barra de Jangada, very late but on time to catch the end of a ballet lesson. It later turns out that I actually had a pretty good journey compared with most people trying to get anywhere. It was 50 years since Brazil's Military Coup and consequent protests brought Recife to a standstill. In the ballet lesson 6 girls who have been chosen to dance in the project's Easter show are learning their steps. They don't know their rights and lefts which is complicating things but little by little they're getting there and 10 year old Karina, who is new in the project, is over the moon to be dancing! I head off to eat cous cous with the other children before running an art activity making flowers out of plastic cups. At the end of the morning I read the story of The Women at the Well. The children are noisy and full of "he insulted my mums" and "she hit mes" but I'm encouraged that at least some of them manage to answer my questions at the end and recognise that this man is the "Rei prometido", the Promised King who gives living water welling up to eternal life (John 4). 

It's a new week; learning at my theology classes, laughing with friends, planning classes, chatting with my Brazilian family, buying bread at the bakery across the road, skyping home, reading God's word, a day off to sleep, to read, to pray, to watch Call the Midwife. Life here is flying by so quickly, I want to press pause and just sit here on the balcony and look at the sea and take more time to thank God for all the things he keeps on providing.

Sending lots of love to all of you,