July 9, 2009

Before and After

During our trip to Petrolina and Treasure Island this past week, I had an amazing experience. I was eating lunch with our seminary team at the home of one of the church bretheren. A man and his wife came in the room, and I immediately recognized them as a couple I had met on my very first trip to Brazil, almost 20 years ago. He recognized me as well, and we got to reminiscing about the time we had spent together, specifically a trip to Recife that we had taken with a group of deaf kids.

The next day he came by where we were staying, and showed me the following picture he had taken on that trip:

In case you didn't figure it out, the skinny, nerdy (seriously, the only thing lacking is the pocket-protector) kid on the left--the one with glasses the size of windshields--is me.

The guy in the picture with me is one of the deaf kids, named Jonas. On Sunday night we went to the deaf church, and guess who I ran into: Jonas! It had been 20 years since I had seen him, also. Just for kicks, we decided to recreate the photo.

Posted by Andrew at 3:29 PM // Comments: 2 //
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September 29, 2008

Videos from Camp

Our seminary retreat ended yesterday, and I am gradually getting back into the "normal" rhythm of life. Speaking of rhythm, we were blessed with some great musical numbers by our seminary students this last week. Below are some videos, beginning with a Ron Hamilton number done by our ladies' quartet.

Not to be outdone, the newly-formed guy's quartet tackled an Acapella number.

Next up, the seminary choir singing "Great is the Lord."

Finally, we have this year's graduating class singing a Brazilian chorus, the title of which is "I Want to Do Your Will, Lord." The guy blowing his own horn in the background is yours truly.

Posted by Andrew at 11:00 AM
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September 10, 2008

A Blast from the Past

While staying with friends from "way back" in Fortaleza last week, I was shown this picture.

In case you were wondering, that is Yours Truly on the far left, hat stylishly on backwards, empty Coke can in hand. The picture was taken on Treasure Island in December of 1995. The white-haired gentleman second from the right is missionary Harold Reiner.

Posted by Andrew at 12:44 PM // Comments: 5 //
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July 21, 2008

Late Breaking Video

I just came across a couple videos posted by a camper from last week. The first one is of the "battle cry" of one of the teams, named "Sarrabulho".

These teens REALLY get into their competition.

The second one I was really glad to find. It was of an improvised choir the speaker put together...using an arrangement they came up with as they practiced.

After that service I commented to the speaker how I appreciated the American blues feel to the tune. He said "Yes, we did that just for you." I was touched.

Posted by Andrew at 12:41 PM
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July 20, 2008

Another Video

This one is a "highlights reel" of teen week.

Posted by Andrew at 12:45 PM
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