My Dear Friends of St. John’s & St. Peter’s and Bishop Michael,
Has it really been two weeks already? It was a very interesting and different week with much to share. The people here in Brazil and especially in Pereira Barreto continue to be so warm and friendly that it leaves a deep impression in my heart. They are absolutely wonderful. In fact, some of the most fun moments occur when the Japanese members of the parish try to help me learn Portuguese by telling me the Japanese word for something. You can imagine the laughter when I end up butchering two languages at one time.
Monday began with Sergio and I leading the morning exercises (gathering songs and announcements) for the pre-school. The students have been teaching me their alphabet song and I am now teaching them an alphabet song in English. It is amazing to watch young minds absorb the language. To know that they are learning faster than I am is really a humbling experience.
After being with the children, Sergio and I went to say Morning Prayer together. This has been the time when I really focus on my reading skills. We are getting into the routine of saying the daily office in Portuguese as a way of accomplishing two things at one time: praising God and learning a language.
One of my most difficult transitions is in the form of how the day is structured. Meals here can take several hours. In America, I am used to having the meal at the table and then social time in a living room. In Brazil this is not the case, the social time continues at the table and everyone continues to pick and nibble at the leftovers. It is not uncommon to spend about 4 to 5 hours a day gathered at a table sharing stories from the day and discussing politics and other such things.
After lunch is naptime. The businesses are still open, but they might as well be closed because the streets are basically empty. This is something that is very difficult for me. I am used to having lunch and then getting right back to work. At seminary there are always more books to read or papers to write. If there isn’t work to do, there is certainly a river trail just a few short blocks away or a city to explore and see. The afternoon isn’t a time for resting and relaxing.
The trade off for the afternoon nap is that the day is longer. The people here tend to work later in the day. We like to think of a business day as ending at 5pm, but here 6 pm is more common for just about everything. And then with the exception of restaurants, the entire city shuts down. There is just a more relaxed view of life and time here. Very few things must get done now, there is always tomorrow or later. This is very different from my American understanding of deadlines and fast everything.
Monday evening was a special treat. We went to a unique Japanese community about an hour away. The name of the community is Yuba, and they focus on two things specifically: farm work and artistic expression. In the Japanese artistic culture this is a famous place. Every person in the community is expected to put a full day of work in the fields growing and harvesting food for the community, but in the evenings they are free and expected to work on artistic endeavors. They have painters, potters, dancers, poets and musicians that were plainly visible and I’m sure that there were other kinds of artists present and I just didn’t see them. It was a fascinating communal life.
We were there to see a performance by artists from Japan. The performance included a man who performed with marionettes. It was the most amazing display that I had ever seen. He used a different kind of control board and it gave him such delicate and precise control over his puppets that they actually seemed to come alive. His performance was truly spectacular.
The next performer was a comedian who imitated sumo wrestlers. His physical comedy was simply stunning. The last performer was the best in my opinion; he called himself a vegetarian musician. He took fruits and vegetables and turned them into wind instruments by coring them with a hollow tube. I saw him create about 10 flutes with different kinds of vegetables. He told a lot of jokes that were based on the Japanese language and were not the same by the time that they were translated into Portuguese and then again into English. About the only kind of fruit or vegetable that doesn’t work is the soft or wet kind like a tomato. He did talk about his children not eating their vegetables because they all had holes in them. It sort of adds a new twist to the standard parental phrase “stop playing with your food.”
Tuesday brought an interesting change in the routine. Sergio’s in-laws came for a visit and so I put up in a local bed and breakfast (pousada). The accommodations are wonderful. It feels like I have my own personal retreat space.
Sergio has an interest in Anglican chants, so we spent most of the morning working with some CDs and a book that I purchased for a church music class. After a few hours, he began to get the hang of it and was feeling more comfortable. It will be interesting to see what the response of the congregation will be to this innovation.
I continue to be amazed by the architecture here in Brazil. There is a connectedness with nature that we in the United States don’t have. Everything here is open; there is not an attempt to keep nature out, but rather to let the air flow. The houses and buildings are not insulated and most of the buildings are built with large covered patios in order to provide shade. It is a rare site to see an air-conditioning unit; they are too expensive to operate. A prime example is the parish hall for Santo Andre. It seemed like a very large picnic pavilion the first time I saw it. There are small half walls that are about 3 to 3 and a half feet tall and otherwise the building is exposed to the elements. If the people want privacy or to keep the rain out, they must pull down some giant window shades. It is hard to describe, but it is very much a reflection of the environment here. When you have 6 months of very hot weather, the last thing you really want is to limit the flow of air. The breezes are the things that keep things cool.
Wednesday was a fairly typical day spent working with the children.
On Thursday, a parishioner lent me her bike so that I can explore the city and see the sites.
Friday was spent working with my friend William on translating prayers in an effort to create a guide on how to use the Anglican Rosary. In the afternoon we took a bike ride and I had a chance to see more of the city. It really is a beautiful place. People paint their homes in much brighter colors and it really adds a sense of aliveness to the city.
Saturday came very early. I met Sergio at 5am for a bus ride to another city. Sergio had been asked to perform a wedding for parishioners of the cathedral in Sao Paulo who were getting married in the groom’s family chapel. The groom’s family lives several hours from Sao Paulo, and Sergio was the closest priest in the diocese. In the course of a little more than a week, I was privileged enough to see both extremes of life here in Brazil.
This family owned a farm that is about the size of a large Texas ranch: thousands of acres. An interesting fact about these farms is that with each generation, they continue to get smaller. The farm that I visited was in its third generation since it was created. It has been divided in thirds each time the owner passed away and gave the farm to his children. So the farm of thousands of acres was about one ninth the size that it would have been just 60 years ago. The main crop grown on the farm is sugar cane.
The wedding itself was a simple affair; the chapel was not decorated, but there were about 6 people who were taking pictures and videos of the event. It seems that this is a very common way of doing weddings. From my perspective, the camera people were very disruptive, but Sergio informed me that he made it very clear that they were not to come between him and the couple. He was very happy that they respected his wishes.
At the end of the ceremony everyone walked up to the house (read as mansion) where there was a reception line and then a second civil ceremony. The civil ceremony was only attended by a few people, because everyone else had begun the party. It seems that the religious ceremony was the important one; the civil one was something that just had to be done in order to fulfill the law.
The really interesting part took place after the weddings. There was a massive party that went on for hours. The family purchased lights complete with colored gels to give a beautiful effect to the palm trees. There were green and purple lights all over the place. It made the front yard appear to be otherworldly. There were also roses and other flowers everywhere. It was an unbelievable sight. The amount of food and alcohol that was presented and consumed was beyond comprehension. But, the thing that struck me the most was the sheer number of people who had been hired to assist with the party. Between people in the kitchen and those who were acting as waiters, there were more servants than guests – and there were about 125 guests. It was a display of wealth that I had never seen before.
The really interesting thing is that everyone was extremely friendly. The family members were more than happy to welcome someone else to the party. There were no pretensions about my not being in the right class or being an outsider. I was invited and expected to participate.
As the music got loud, I felt a need to take a walk and look at the stars. As I walked along the dirt roads of the farm gazing upwards, I couldn’t help being reminded of the people who are living in the favela of Sao Paulo and are lacking some basic necessities such as running water or a sewer. I was truly struck by the differences between the classes of people here in Brazil. I don’t know how to put this into words because I’m still struggling with it, but for the people in the favelas it appears as if there is no hope of ever making their lives better, and for the people who own the super large farms it appears as if nothing can ever take away their wealth and privilege. I am struggling with the words of our baptismal vows in the midst of what I have seen:
| Celebrant: | Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? |
| People: | I will, with God’s help. |
| Celebrant: | Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? |
| People: | I will, with God’s help. |
When I took those vows, they seemed like such easy words to say. The importance and reality of what I promised is now hitting home in a very powerful way.
On Sunday, Sergio and I traveled back to Pereira Barreto and had a simple evening prayer service with the choir.
I am missing everyone, while having a fantastic experience. You are in my prayers.
Peace,
Patrick