Reminders of the Past

When I returned to my trailer a few days ago I was reminded of a day about 8 1/2 years ago. It was the summer of 1998 and all of Brasil was racing to prepare itself for the opening match of the 1998 World Cup in France. As the defending champions, Brazil opened the tournament playing one of the teams in their pool, in this case, Scotland.

The rules of the mission were not as clear about the World Cup as they are with some other topics. With a new mission president (he had been there less than one month) and the excitement of an entire nation, I think some of the missionaries bended whatever guidance we were given. My companion and I decided to return to our apartment and spend the time catching up on letters home and some personal study.

As we walked to our apartment I continued to notice people outside their houses adjusting their satellite dishes. Most Brazilians have television and no programming is more important than a game of the Selecao. What was remarkable about seeing Brazilian men adusting their satellites became hilarious when I started to see some of the contraptions the men were using to mount their satellites to achieve the best signal. One in particular was a satellite dish mounted on four pieces of bamboo strapped together. It was rediculous to see how this guy had put together this contraption for his satellite dish. We smiled and gave him the thumbs up. Brazil won that night and I think the entire country was partying.

This brings me back to a couple of days ago and me arriving at my trailer. After spending a few thousand dollars to get a better, faster, more reliable internet connection, a few of the guys/girls in the unit recieved the satellite dish and other parts. We are as determined to get a better internet connection as the Brazilians were to see their beloved team play. The next step in the process involved setting it up and pointing the dish in the right direction. After attempting to mount the dish using a couple different methods, the group decided on mounting it to a modified 4X4. This is what I saw when I arrived at trailer. Though it wasn't bamboo, it reminded me a lot of that day in Brazil.