Before Brent's perspective, we all have enjoyed the food and fellowship of the brothers here. Steve, Dan and I all had a wonderful time in the worship service Sunday night in Brother Flavio's church, Faith Baptist Church of Sao Jose.
Now for Brent's perspective ...
I have learned the Brazilian phrase for "What is this?" So, whenever I am with Sacha and Anna and Pedro (their 2 year old), I point to something and ask Pedro, "What is this?" I figure that is what my children did to me to learn the language of English, so that is what I am doing to 2-yr old Pedro to learn some Portugese. I have learned the words for airplane, penguin (the easiest one--it is just "penguin") up, down, shoe, hand, milk, juice, and water, cup. I will be good shape if i ever need some milk in a sippy cup in Brazil and a toy penguin. :)
Last night, our Brazillian hosts took us out to a Brazillian Pizza place called Goldens. This was not a pizza "joint" but a very fancy restaraunt. Customers don't simply order a pizza and share it. The waitors constantly visit the tables with different pizza's and ask if you want a slice. With each different visit by the waitors (which occured about every 30 seconds), our Brazilian host had to explain to us what each type of pizza was. Among the selections were Filet Mignon Pizza (Pastor Viar's favorite), Broccili and Cheese Pizza, 4 cheese pizza, 5 cheeze pizza, Mozzarella pizza, Sun dried tomato pizza, the classic pepperoni pizza and so many more that I can't remember. When we finished with the main course of pizza, we then proceeded to the dessert--more pizza! They brought strawberry ice cream pizza, chocolate ice cream pizza, just chocolate pizza, white chocalate pizza, guava pizza, Strawberry and chocolate pizza, and many more that I again can't remember. Apart from those amazing pizza dishes, a salad bar was included having some uniuqe selections. Apparently a really expensive delicacy in Brazil is "the heart of palm trees." As I understand this food, within the center of certain palm trees is a substance that when prepared had the texture and color of something like tofu but was in a cylinder shape. To me it did not have much flavor. I had some tiny boiled eggs that come from a little bird. The eggs taste like boiled chicken eggs but they are not bigger than a quarter.
This morning Pastor Viars and I taught in Sacha's (Alexandre Mendes ) church. David Selvey and Dan Wickert were at another church. Sacha was one of the top graduates from our first seminary class. I spoke on our purpose in life--being the visible representative of the invisible God. Pastor Viars spoke on the beauty of God's grace. The two topics complimented each other very well despite the fact that Steve and I did not plan it. The Brazillian believers were very receptive. For me, I typically do a lot more interaction with the audience when I am teaching. Obviously that is a challenge in a different language. But with Sacha as the translator, I believe God enabled us to overcome some of the curse of the tower of Babel and minister God's word effective. The Brazilian people came up to Steve and I afterward and gave us many thanks. And they attempted to communicate with us. I was surprised at how much we are able to communicate. ONe of the individuals (Rafael) asked me to make sure I tried chicken hearts if I ever came across them during my time here. Chicken hearts is one of Rafael's favorite foods. I told him I would. Yet, I hoped that I would never come across them.
After church today, guess what?! We went to eat more-just what we needed. Next to Italy, and Paris, I have been told that the area of Sao Paolo Brazil has the world's best food. This time for lunch we went to a "barbeque" place. Its not USA barbeque, with spicy tomato based sauces. Brazilian "barbeque" means grilled and seasoned beef. And, like the pizza place last night, the waitors brought seasoned, grilled, beef cuts to your table on swords about every 30 seconds. Again our Brazilian host had to explain what each one was. If we said, "yes," to the waitor, he would carve off a slice of the portion on his sword and place it on our plate. We had Top Sirloin, Sirloin, Tender Sirloin, Bottom Sirloin, Strip Loin, Rumpsteak, Hump steak, Lambchops, spicy sausage and guess what CHICKEN HEARTS. I have to confess I have a hard time eating something that looks exactly like a miniature heart. But I gave my word. I took alittle piece of the heart-I think it was the bottom left ventricle:). The flavor was not bad, but the texture was not something made for the American tongue. It was rather chewey and rubbery. I did not eat any more. My favorite cut of Brazilian barbeque meat was "Alcatra" - Top Sirloin.
Tonight, the place that David and I were supposed to go and teach at did not have a translator. So, I am staying in my room and resting. Tomorrow we travel into the mountains of Brazil (about a three hour drive) to attend and teach at the Biblical Counseling Conference there. That's about all for now.
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