do you prefer acerola or jabuticaba?

We may not be in the biodiverse Amazon rainforest but there still seems to be plenty of different kinds of fruit to eat here in central Brazil. Two fruits that are in season right now are acerola and jabuticaba. That is acerola in the photo. We picked the fruit, made sure that there wasn't too many bird droppings on them, and froze them for later. We're told that both fruits can make a mean pitcher of juice. You just throw the berries, seeds and all, into a blender, add water and sugar, and you have juice. We're looking forward to it!

coral...or some other kind of snake?

"Brad, there's a snake by the bookcase!" That's what I heard one evening last week while I was in our bedroom studying. Rebecca was on the phone and spotted our uninvited guest making its way behind the bookcase in our living room. I came out to see this snake, expecting a little guy no bigger than a few inches. I must say I was surprised to see what looked like a coral snake of about 3 feet! Before I could do anything else, I had to go back to the bedroom to get our camera as I wanted to make sure I had photos of this guy. In the meantime, Rebecca jumped up on a chair and continued her conversation on the phone, now giving a play-by-play on what the snake was doing. After I got a few shots with the camera, I notified Curtis, our neighbor next door, and he, too, came and took some pictures. Finally, I went over to the Parkers' house to fetch a machete. Luke Parker informed me that there was a way to tell the difference between a coral snake and its non-venomous cousin...but I wasn't about to take chances. After a few quick swings with the machete (and a little damage to our cement floor), the snake's head rolled to the side. Rebecca and I did go online afterward and found that here in S. America it is pretty near impossible to tell the difference between the coral snake and its imitation.

crossing the line

Did you know that there are still many people groups around the world with their own unique languages that have not yet heard what Christ has done for them? They are unable to go to the local bookstore and buy a Bible in their language because there is no Bible in their language. They need people who have God's Word to be willing to "cross the line." While in the New Tribes training a fellow student gave us this video and it continues to be an inspiration to me every time I watch it. Are we willing to live our lives "crossing the line?"

soccer

Whoa. Soccer is huge in this country! Every foreigner living in Brazil needs to at least once attend a top league professional soccer game here. I couldn't believe that we were sitting in the stands 2 hours before the game and everyone was already going hoarse from yelling. I felt like I was in the middle of total, unrestrained revelry once the game got underway. People were stepping on each other, smokers were blowing smoke in our faces, and everything imaginable was being yelled at whoever happened to be down on the field. Right before the game started, whistles were thrown into the crowd so that we could make even more noise. My ears are still ringing! I kept thinking, "Oh boy, I can't start losing my hearing now. I still have to learn a tribal language! How am I going to learn the tribal language without any hearing?" It was a good time with friends from our local church here in Vianópolis, though, and an excellent peak into a big part of Brazilian culture.

Check out the video below to get a little taste of soccer mania in Brazil!