And another four baptisms!

Roberto said that the last two Sundays were a record in the history of our church. We had baptismal services two Sundays in a row! This last Sunday's service was more special, because an entire family came forward to ask for baptism. José Luíz, Sónia, and their children, Loise and Vitor, have been attending for a couple of months, and like Paulo and Sónia from the previous week, they were reached through a Monday-night meeting that was started by football (soccer) players.

Part of the crowd waiting for the candidates to come to the baptistry.

José Luíz, as head of the household, went first... 

...and went under. José Carlos and I decided that we have to fill the baptistry with more water, so we don't have to bring the candidates back up so far! Of course, if we did it every week, we'd be in better shape.

As the closing song, one we often sing at baptisms: "I have decided to follow Jesus...no turning back, no turning back!" Pray for these new believers, that truly, they will never turn back.

Family

They were gone almost before we knew they had arrived. The two weeks that Mom and the others of my family were here went by in a flash. They left Thursday morning on the 6:00 flight, and I got an e-mail the next morning from Jacque saying they were at their house by 11:00 p.m. that same day (with 7 hours difference, that made 24 hours of travel time). But everything went smoothly on the return trip.

Now we're back to the regularly scheduled program. Tomorrow is Sunday, and it appears that it will not be as "regular" as all that. We are expecting another couple to be baptized tomorrow afternoon. More about that after it happens.

In the meantime, a picture or two to record the family's visit:

On one of the last days, we went on tour of the western end of the island. Some of the locals wanted to join us for the picnic:

It was here at Porto Moniz, on the NW corner of the island that I took this B&W picture of my brother, Duane. With his white hair, dark glasses and dark shirt, even the color photo turned out B&W. He's standing in front of a fence made of broom. The gardens and vineyards on the north coast have to be protected from the salt spray from the ocean, as the prevailing winds come from the north. Maybe they protect from more than the ocean's spray. My sister spotted a ripe strawberry on the other side of one of these fences, which also make it difficult to help one's self to the neighbor's produce.

And there was the "official" family portrait, taken on the eve of their departure. My sister Jacque was still learning how to use the many features of her new digital camera. She succeeded in taking some pictures of her own backside, after setting (or thinking she had set) the delayed timer. Even as fast as she is, she was only about halfway back to her designated position in the photo when the flash and shutter went off. As family portraits, those photos left something to be desired, but they also left other memories engraved in our hearts. No wonder we were smiling in the picture. It's a wonder we weren't laughing out loud at Jacque's beleaguered attempts to get "one good photo"--- of all of us.

Baptisms

Four baptized today:

Inês

Susana, José Carlos and Marcia's daughter. José Carlos is assisting me with the baptisms.

A group picture of the four, including Sonia and Paulo. We are expecting more baptisms in the near future.

Bravery is where you find it

The first day we got into town (Saturday), we decided to take the family out to eat. It was about as "out" as we could get. There was a "Bread Fair" sponsored by the Lions Club, which included some of the typical dishes of the island. The seating arrangements were as typical as the food.

And while we're on the subject of food, a lack of appetite was never a problem with any of our family. Here, Duane is "doing Militina a favor" by helping her clean up the dishes...the dessert dish, in this case. He persevered bravely until he finished it all. Brave, brave man.

And we also have been out and around. Here's Mom at the harbor, camera in hand. She's still using film (and has for 70 years or so). Duane expects our family to receive a letter of condolences from Kodak when Mom passes away.  If all the rolls of film she's taken were laid out end-to-end...  

And moving on...and up...  we drove to the highest road accessible peak on the island, Arieiro, elevation 1810m (6973 ft).  Of course, from the parking lot to the summit was the equivalent of climbing up three or four floors, and Mom was not to be left behind. Up she went, and got her picture with Gwen at the summit. Brave, brave Mom.

             

As I sat here preparing this tonight, strange and wonderful sounds came to my ears from the dining room downstairs. Duane and his wife, Jacque and her husband, and Gwen were practicing Portuguese. Tomorrow in the services they'll be singing "His Name is Wonderful" in English and Portuguese. Brave, brave everyone.

They made it!

It took them a long time...years, in fact. Mom came to visit us twice (in 1982 and 1989), and she always wanted to come back. She wouldn't come by herself, so my brother and sisters and spouses said they would come with her.

This picture was taken upon their arrival in Madeira at 7 p.m. today. They were supposed to have arrived at 11:15 this morning, but a short connection at Lisbon caused them to miss the last leg of the trip. Then, wonder of wonders! They were told they had to have paper tickets to continue their trip. Of course, they only had e-tickets. They were trapped at the airport. They were in a bureaucratic limbo. It took the better part of 6 hours to get the problem resolved, with phone calls to the States, and "everybody" at the Lisbon airport involved. When the new shift came on duty in the afternoon, my brother started to explain the situation. "Oh, I know all about you," was the reply. Indeed. The Potter clan had descended on Lisbon, led by Ma Potter, a seasoned gang leader of some 92 years and 9 months of age. After 9 hours in the airport they were allowed to board a plane for the final 1-and-a-half hour flight.

Reminded us of our first flight to Portugal in December 1973. After flying across the Atlantic all night, we landed in Lisbon about 8 in the morning and had to spend the whole day in the airport before arriving in Madeira at 8 o'clock that night. Some things don't seem to have changed in 32 years. Welcome to Portugal.