Not really a vacation

We've been back just a week now, and already the pace of life is picking up. The weather isn't very conducive to doing anything at a fast pace, however. We are in the throes of a leste, (Portuguese for "east"), the hot wind coming off the African desert 300 miles east of us. The temperatures are in the 90's (32ºC+) in the daytime, which is very rare for us, and at night, the wind is still hot, with the lows in the upper 70's (25ºC+). No airconditioning in the house, so sleeping with the heat and humidity is a problem.

First task this morning was to come to town and get José Carlos, Marcia and Susana to take them to the airport, but it's not really a vacation for them. Marcia is going to Porto, in northern Portugal, for radiation treatments to complete her treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. She finished her series of chemotherapy treatments here in Madeira in August. She'll probably be away for three weeks; José Carlos will stay as long as possible, perhaps two weeks; Susana has to return the 16th to enroll in university classes for the fall semester.

As I mentioned in the last post, we had the day off Sunday. Aurélio preached morning and afternoon, and the music in the morning was provided by three members on guitar. In the afternoon, a couple of the young people in the church, Sara and Raquel, played the piano. Didn't get a picture of them, I'm afraid, but they'll be playing more in the future.

Aurélio's parents were from Madeira, but he and his brother, Orlando, were born in Kinshasa, Congo. Aurélio lives in Mauritania with his Dutch wife, Sitske, and two children. They lived in Morocco for a number of years; now they're in Mauritania. They spent the summer here, so he filled in for me.





Albert, Sandra and Luisa played for the morning services.