J. Randal Matheny

I walked across the plaza and down the street to lunch at the Chinese restaurant where I sometimes eat when at the Snuggery (my office). As I was eating the glazed banana that comes free with the meal, I noticed I'd forgotten my billfold. I had remembered to scoop up some change on the shelf, in case I needed it, but the big notes got left behind.

The Oriental couple who run it don't speak the best Portuguese. So I spoke slowly to make sure the lady behind the counter understood what I was saying. I offered to leave my cell phone as guarantee. But she waved me off, and though I didn't understand all she said, her meaning was clear, not to worry, pay later.

So I hoofed it back to the office, pulled out the R$12 (about US$5.25) for the plate and juice, and trucked it back down the street to pay my outstanding bill. She was very kind about it.

This handout is for a meeting with the Mt Juliet congregation's missions committee, 5 Sep 2013.

The latest and greatest GoSpeak missions ministry report is now online here.

Another prayer is up, based upon (is it good to say, inspired by?) an eighth-century prayer by an unpronounceable name. (The whole line got linked, a bug in Posthaven, but the easier to click upon.)

Soon, as in today, maybe, another Corollaries segment on TFR. Keep clicking.

Say a prayer for a friend today who is facing a tough moment. All I can say.

The Maiden had an interview yesterday at a Big Name Company and goes back for another on Monday with the HR head. Looks like the Monday interview may be a formality to wrap things up before she's admitted to the position. Pray she'll get it if this will be good for her and good for the kingdom.

I thought I had plugged it here, but apparently not. Go read my article on Biblical Notes, "Should evangelism include mention of the church?" Phil Sanders said it was well written, so I guess I got a star.

I mentioned in my report (see first paragraph) that, inspired by (oops, prompted by, maybe?) a Mashable report on creative uses of Pinterest, I got creative with the board "Mission Needs." Perhaps the greatest inspiration were ... tires.

Also in said report, mentioned acima (pics on personal blog), we fixed — we hope — a bad leak problem in a wall of the house. Not mentioned in the report: we had mushrooms growing in the corner of our living room. But the idea of starting a profitable mushroom farm never occurred to us.

More protests today, I'm told, in town and across the country, a general strike of sorts. I've had my nose to the grindstone and cleaning up all the blood and cartilage from that that I hadn't heard until The Missus called to warn me this morning. The restaurant where I went for lunch was closed, presumably because of the demonstrations, so I did an about-face and munched on cheap Chinese. All is quiet around us here. Downtown and spots on the interstate Dutra are percolating, say reports.

Protestors have blocked off the access to the São Paulo international airport. No vehicles are getting in or out, apparently, according to the Estadão website. Police have started shooting up in the air. Three vehicles were attacked. How far will this go?

There were protests yesterday and today here in SJCampos, most downtown and around the Dutra highway. So far, all is quiet in our part of town.

And Brad Pitt has cancelled a trip to Brazil because of the protests. So there.

Um novo e misterioso estrondo assustou os 280 mil habitantes de Taubaté na manhã de ontem, quarta-feira (14).

And he was famous, performing in the Barretos rodeo. Supposedly had the largest horns in Brazil.