Happy are the people whose strength is in you!* whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.
Psalm 84:4












By the end of the day, it had been almost unanimously decided that today had been the most eventful. It began with the consecration of the Santa Teresa Project, a school setting providing education to prepare less privileged kids, typically from the streets, for entering the job market. We met many old friends at the ceremony, including Bishop Celso and David from the English Anglican church, as well as some new ones, such as Ben Gilbert, who was the main founder of the project itself. Although most of the service was in Portuguese, it was still very enjoyable, especially singing the hymns. To top it all off, all of the kids already enrolled in the program stood in the front and held up four signs in English welcoming “our friends from the Diocese of Atlanta.”












When we returned to the convent, we were blessed with the arrival of Donna Mitchell and Laurie Burlington, thus completing our pilgrimage group. The rest of our trip was taken up by a cable-car trip to the top of the Sugar Loaf, the famous 600-million-year-old 396-meter rock located near the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Although it was probably the most touristy thing that we have done so far, the view was beautiful, we were with six of our new Brazilian friends and every guy’s dream finally came true: there were dozens of monkeys living in the woods at the top of the rock! This was, of course, by far the highlight of the trip.
















Although our day was very busy, there was still plenty of down time, and it is in this down time that I am beginning to see more and more how our relationships with the Brazilians are growing. At lunch, we talked like old friends, and afterwards Charlie and I played a Brazilian card game with Rafael and Nilton that we had learned many days before. At a gift shop at the base of the Sugar Loaf, Luiz saved us by stopping us from buying overpriced souvenirs, telling us that we could get the same items for half the price in the markets on Saturday.

During the day while at the convent, I managed to find time to do my laundry. Although this hardly seems like a task worth mentioning, it was an adventure all its own. I hand washed my clothes before dinner and am proud to say that not only was I the first male to take a stab at this task, but the first person in the entire group. I guess I’ll have to wait until they dry tomorrow to see if I did a good job or not.

Our day concluded with our ritual Compline, but this time it was on the roof area of the convent. As we sang through the rounds of our ritual hymn in the pitch black, and moved on to the service with only dim candlelight to guide us, I began to realize how everything about this journey had grown on me. I found that I didn’t even need that dim light to sing the hymns and participate in the service. It had become a part of me, as had everything around me. It seems like so long ago since our first meeting with our Brazilian friends right there on that very rooftop. I have grown very accustomed to the city and the people around me. I feel like I’ve lost track of time, and there is no end in sight. But then I look forward and realize that there is an end in sight, and it is only three days away. It’s still a hard concept to grasp. I prefer to continue living in the eternity of the present, and to try and keep it with me wherever I go, be it in Brazil or eventually back home.
-brad cox