Take me too

When I had dogs, I got used to the idea that they had sort of a "sixth sense" and somehow always seemed to know when I was planning a trip away from home. Even before I got my suitcase out, one or both of the dogs would be hovering in my room.... and once I started packing, Zola or Kylie would climb onto the bed and lie down next to the case.

I didn't expect the same thing with cats, so I was surprised this past weekend when all three of them appeared in my room and watched with interest as I put items of clothing into my suitcase. At one point, I turned around and found Tobi lying inside the case, amongst all the other things that I was packing to take with me. The rain was pouring down outside, and the cats had wet fur, so I closed the case to keep them out. This did not prevent Tobi and Teddi from taking up position on top of the case and continuing to stare as I added more items to my luggage. Well, it may be true that they have passports now (see here) but this wasn't the time for them to begin their world travels; they had to stay behind with Gabriela and Ada when I left on Sunday morning for my trip to Brazil.

The warm sunny weather here in Caraguatatuba (29 degrees this week) was a pleasant respite from the many weeks of rain that we've been having in Spain, and yesterday I took the opportunity to walk down to the sea with some friends from East and West Africa. Our leadership meetings began last night, though, and sitting in a cool, air-conditioned room all day means that we're not really conscious of how warm and sunny it is outdoors. Our schedule is fairly intense, because we have a number of leadership issues we want to pray about and make decisions on this week, before our international conference begins at the weekend. We're about twenty people in these ILT meetings, but we'll be a group of around 200 people next week, and as many as 400 people this weekend, when a large number of Brazilians join us for the opening two days of the conference. Thanks for remembering us in prayer as we seek the Lord and spend time in discussion and prayer this week.