The Color Purple

A famous movie starring Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah.

Also, words to describe our new home!  Here is the before and after:



Ok so here's the skinny:  Things were not working out with the previous roommates and we were stressed about finding a place of our own for the remainder of our stay.  One day, Ben pays a visit to Edite and Franca.  If you're following the blog, you know that they are an older couple who own what is now the old Kingdom hall and live in the green house next to it.  Well they started chatting about the meetings and so on and Ben asked them how they would be getting to the meetings now that the KH had been moved to a section of town that is a good 35 minute walk from their house, slightly uphill.  Now mind you, Franca is 91 and Edite 70, both with bad legs and health issues.  They told Ben, "We don't know!  We have a car but neither of us drive anymore.  It's too far to walk each way..we just don't know what to do."  Ben quickly explained that he had obtained an international driver's license before we left and that he'd be happy to drive them - which means we wouldn't have to walk either, yaye!  They were so thrilled that they not only accepted his offer but in exchange, made us promise to use the car whenever and for whatever we wanted provided we put gas in it.  We excepted the offer in return and hence, our previous post about a trip to the beach!

A friendship formed quickly between the four of us and before we knew it they were begging us to move into the old KH that now sat empty.  They explained, "We're lonely and would love having people nearby that we trust.  We have an extra oven (naturally), bed, sofa, dresser, table and plenty of kitchenware!  Please consider it!"  The only hitch was that it would require a bit of effort on our part to make it home.  We needed to do things like minor wall repair, installation of a shower in the bathroom, cleaning, painting and of course a few purchases.  It was hard to know what to do because we knew this would take away from service for a bit but we had only a few days to prayerfully consider it as we had sort of an informal contract with M&F that would soon "renew" for the next month.  One day on our regular, much needed escape to the Bakery, we decided it was worth the effort and made the decision to move.

What an incredible blessing it's been!! Both for us and for Edite and Franca.  More about that in a bit, but here's us working on the place:

Ben showing off his cement wall patching skills in the bathroom

Unbaptized publisher Francisco installs shower register

Finished bathroom, what a beauty eh? ;)

This is an extension of the kitchen and bathroom?  It's our sink for both rooms.  However, how to make it look decent...... this is what we came up with.  That, and we only had a little paint left haha.

Hanging an old door Franca had as a shelf

Helpers :)

Making a room divider requires: two sheets, a large stick, nails and cord.

The above punch list plus the purchase of a hutch for the kitchen, a used refrigerator and a fan, this is what you get:

We have so much peace here and are much happier and more content in our assignment.  It also feels good to to have Franca and Edite remind us each day what a blessing it is for them to have us around.  Several times a day we wander over to their place to use the internet (another bonus!) or to play dominos or just to say hi.  When Franca's children call, who all live in Sao Paulo, he tells them that he has new children living with him.  He puts his hand over the speaker part of the phone and asks me every time, "What State are you from?" and I tell him, "Massachusetts" and when he gets a panicked look on his face and goes silent I tell him, just say "Novo Iorki" = New York.  Seems like the whole world knows how to pronounce New York :)

Franca was in the world until 13 years ago.  Not only this but he was heavily involved in Spiritism.  He is the only one in his whole family who got the truth and does the best he can despite not being able to read.  Idite also was in the world most of her life but is very educated and has gone 150% full speed since she learned the truth.  Ten years ago they met each other (in Sao Paulo) and decided that together, they could accomplish some good here - where Franca grew up and owned property - so they moved here.  They were the first witnesses in Sao Sebastiao and pioneered together for a few years.  In reality, Franca accompanied Edite as she witnessed to everyone possible.  He would hand out tracts and say the prayers as they covered the territory and conducted studies but it was Edite who did all the teaching.  Now there are 21 publishers, most of whom studied with Edite.

Because of age and health, they are both limited as far as the door to door work.  But still, not a day passes when Edite doesn't have a student here to the house :)  Here is our dear sister teaching one of her students AND her husband to read and write portuguese using the society's tools:

We are so thankful that Jehovah brought the four of us together.  What a blessing it's been to know them.