Old friends. Fine wine.

Seems like there should be a quote like that. "Old friends are like fine wine. They get better with age." Since I don't know that much about wine, fine or otherwise, that might not be a good quote to take to heart.

But I did have the chance today to have lunch with Ullisses, my oldest and dearest friend in Brazil. We first met at Mount Hermon of all places, back in 1990, when he was a university student.

Not the greatest photo I've ever taken of myself, but I wanted to have you meet Ullisses. He has been the iron for me as in Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." He has instructed me in the nature of Brazil ministry, having served for many years in leadership. He provides what I call plausible creativity and vision for ministry.

Plausible creativity is that kind of imaginative thinking that isn't just the stuff of dreams, but it brings possibilities into concrete focus with practical ideas and constructive next steps. Anyone can throw ideas around. It´s a rare person who can help bring those ideas to reality.

Two projects on the table for Brazil are in large part due to some brainstorming Ullisses and I were able to do together in São Paulo this past February over a churrasco dinner. The first was his idea to "bring Mount Hermon to Brazil." Having attended our JEMS Summer Conference, he sees the potential of this type of conference having a significant impact on professionals and young families in Brazil.

In a meeting I had yesterday with two members of the Brazil Holiness Church Education committee, they lamented the fact that they are losing young people at a key transition point: from just after university and as they enter the professional rank and file. Ullisses suggests that a Mount Hermon type of conference model/design would be very attractive to this age group/demographic and may encourage many to consider re-establishing their walk with the Lord.

The second project he suggested has the interest and approval of Holiness Church denominational leadership. It is the idea of developing a JEMS Coordinating Council in São Paulo which would work with the LA office in helping to identify churches willing to partner with JEMS, as well as providing support and infrastructure for JEMS summer teams and long-term missionaries coming into the country. We spoke at length this afternoon about possible candidates for that Council.

Yeah, I know. I'm supposed to be on vacation. But at least we met over lunch! =).

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I didn't want to create a separate post for this, but it´s COLD here!! Weather dot com says that it´s 53 degrees at the moment. But the humidity is 82%. Do you know what that feels like?

Think of San Francisco over by the zoo in winter. You know, the humid cold that goes to the bones. Brazilian homes have the added bonus of no central heating. I sorta packed for 80 degree Paraguay weather.

But me, complain? Nah!! I'm just the remote weather dot com guy. ha ha!