Lesson Number 1

One unmistakable fact about Salvador is the heat. This was not unexpected. We were told it would be hot here, but this HOT?! It is amazing how hot 80 degrees Fahrenheit can feel. I grew up in west Texas with 114 degree summer days, but this is hot. And it is not just hot during the summer, but during what the locals call Fall, Winter, and Spring and what we call not AS hot, the rainy season so at least it is not hot ALL the time, and getting hotter AGAIN. So I will say that adapting to a humid hot climate with very little seasonal variation was difficult for this west Texas guy, but I seem to be adapting. I am even concerned that this winter (your summer in the Northern Hemisphere) I may get cold once or twice and in a way that is a relief.

This year has brought with it great blessings of friends, growth, laughter, language, and appreciation. It has also had its share of struggles. There are always times when you are starting out somewhere new that you wonder if it will ever be home or like a place where you belong. Even in the States when you move you have to make new friends, find out where to buy groceries, watch movies, grab a quick bite to eat. Ever thing seems a little strange at first, but after a little bit you start to learn where things are, you start to develop friends, and before you know it you have even picked up a little bit of the local dialect and can understand most of the signs by the side of the road or the local TV commercials. You start to feel like you belong.

No matter how much I try to blend in I will always appear a little out of place here thanks to my white skin that doesn't really tan and my red facial hair. Thankfully though we have started to find our place. We can speak well enough to communicate in a way that allows our personalities to be seen. We have new friends and people we look forward to getting to know better and when you come to visit I can even take you to a couple of good places to eat. Just as our bodies have started adapting to the heat of Salvador we are adapting to life here as well. We no longer feel like short-term visitors. Salvador is our new home (or at least our current station on our journey to the lasting city). So what have we learned? I don't know if it is what I have learned as much as what I have experienced due to the grace of God that with God's help adaptation is possible even when the place is hot and sticky, has odd food, looks completely foreign, and you cannot understand a thing people say most of the time. God is with us and with His help we will not only survive, but live. He is our constant and that makes all of the other changes livable.