Welcome home!---The good and the bad

We were in the Algarve until Monday, when we took the train to Lisbon. During the previous week, I had been receiving phone calls from Madeiran radio stations and newspapers who wanted my comments on the elections. This week, the interview requests picked up. The interest of the local media was as high as it was in the days immediately following 9/11, when I was also interviewed a number of times. While we were on the train, the local TV station called, asking for an interview, but I explained we were travelling and would only arrive in Madeira on Wednesday afternoon. In the end, the TV set up an interview at my office for 6:30 yesterday afternoon. Our plane landed after 5:30. Bro. Albert met us at the airport, dropped us and our bags off at our house, where I grabbed the office keys. We jumped into the car and took off for town to get to the consulate in time for the interview. Following the interview, we had a prayer meeting at the church, and then we had an appointment at 10 p.m. to talk with the people at the restaurant where we're planning to have a Thanksgiving meal for the American community...we got home at about midnight.

Good to be home (1)--the computer works

I never did figure out what the problem was down in the Algarve, but after my last posting, the computer went down again. (I suspect there was something strange in the wireless network I was connecting to.) When we got to Lisbon, I was able to use the wireless network at the Seminary, but it isn't a strong, stable connection in the area where we were staying. The computer was working, but the network was not always co-operating.

I spent Election Day at the Embassy taking care of pending matters, none of which had to do with the elections. When I got back to our room about midnight, after spending time with students and the director of the seminary, I tried to log on so I could see what was happening with the election results. (It was only about midnight here that the first polls were closing on the east coast.) I didn't plan to stay up all night to follow the returns but I would have liked to have heard a bit of news. Guess what? No internet! (There's no TV in the room, so that option was out, too.)

When I woke up the next morning, the internet was still out, and it was a reporter for a radio station who called me at 8 a.m. to get my opinion on the election who informed me that Obama had won.

Well, we're back home now, and the computer is working fine, and the internet connection is fast and reliable.

Good to be home (2)--the church welcome

Last night was prayer meeting. There was a good number of members present, and a couple of newcomers who are planning to join the church. (More about that in future posts.) All went well in our absence; God blessed the music ministry and Bro. José Carlos's teaching and preaching ministry, but everyone was glad to see us. And we were glad to see them. Hugs and kisses all around...it's good to be home.

Good to be home (3)--Another sort of reception

As I mentioned above, we had to drive straight to the consulate to make the interview appointment, and I parked in my reserved parking space in downtown Funchal. It was late evening, little traffic on the two-lane, one-way street where I park. I had to get something out of the back seat of the car. Suddenly I heard someone yelling at the top of his lungs, and I realized a car had come down the street, and instead of moving over into the left lane to get past my open door, the driver preferred to make some very unflattering remarks at full volume, letting me (and anyone else on the block) know his snap judgment opinion of my character and background. He felt obligated in no uncertain (and unrepeatable) terms to establish his inalienble right to the lane of traffic. I hadn't been in town 30 seconds, and there was no doubt about it: yep, we're back home.

Ill in the Algarve

We were home barely two days and on Tuesday we were off again! There were a few matters that had to be tended to in the consulate after my three-week absence, some of which will have to be dealt with at the Embassy in Lisbon next Tuesday before we return home on Wednesday. (The fact that next Tuesday is Election Day and I'll be in meetings at the embassy that day is pure coincidence. No major crisis is expected...and certainly none that I could resolve.)

Headed south

The Algarve is the southernmost strip of Portugal, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the Spanish border on the right. Click here for larger map.

We spent Tuesday night in the Lisbon area and came by train to the southern coast of Portugal to speak at various meetings arranged by the Baptist Church of Portimão, for their 25th anniversary. Wednesday night I preached in Portuguese and Thursday night in Russian at the weekly Bible Study for Russian-speaking immigrants. Last night I spoke at the city library conference room, on the topic "Evangelical Faith and the Integration of Peoples." Tomorrow the church's main celebration will be at the City Auditorium, where I have been asked to speak once more.

After the service and lunch tomorrow, we'll go over to Faro (see map) and spend the night with Bro. Neilson Amorim and his family, missionaries our church has supported for the past 4 or 5 years.

Strange Illness

As soon as we got down here to Portimão Tuesday evening, I had to deal with a strange illness. Not Abbie's or mine, but my laptop's. It refused to start up. Actually it would start up and at some point I would get the BSOD---the Blue Screen of Death. If you've never seen it on your computer, it's a lovely color and a terrible sight. The instructions say to restart the computer, or start in Safe Mode...I followed all the instructions but to no avail. I decided to take it to the computer technician at a nearby shopping center. He turned on the computer and it worked perfectly! Now, isn't that just like your child? He throws up, has a fever, coughs and hacks, nearly chokes...until you get him inside the doctor's office and he's perfectly fine. The car makes a funny noise...until the mechanic gets in and test drives it, and there's nothing wrong.

Confused, but relieved, all I could do was bring the computer home on Wednesday night. Of course, when I tried to start it up here that night, BSOD, BSOD, BSOD. I resigned myself to taking it back to the computer technician on Thursday morning, saying, "Ahah! I knew there was something wrong!" As I got ready to pack it up yesterday morning to take to the repairman, I tried one more time, just to be sure. Of course, that time it worked fine, and has for two days. While I'm glad it's working, I wish I knew why it didn't work for two days.