Congresso and Real Life

            About the Christian Congresso (4 day encounter of the churches in the Northeast of Brazil) this year, I could tell about seeing old friends, seeing how they are growing spiritually and in number, and being encouraged by their fighting for Christ, about my class on how to be more like a man after God's own heart, of course, based on the life of King David, but life hit me and the rest smack in the face.

== WARNING! GROSS CONTENT! CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK==

            The last night of the event, the fellowship was great so I went to bed around 1:30 a.m. but checked on my son before lying down.  He was wet and stank!  Feeling around in the dark I figured out that he had thrown up all over himself, and he had a fever.  I got him up, washed him, changed his clothes and turned the mattress over to the dry side and put him to bed again. Around 4:30 a.m. someone else started throwing up, loud enough to wake me.  I checked my son again and he had thrown up again.  I was so tired and not feeling so great either, and since he didn't have any more clean clothes or mattress and especially since he didn't have any qualms about sleeping in that mess, I just left him.  It turned out that myself had my own problems with puking and diaherrea. Not a pretty picture.

Morning came and brought with it over 30 people puking and aching all over. We later figured that around 90% of the 150 participants got food poisoning. They say they haven't food poisoning this bad at a Congresso since Salvador in 1989.  What a way to end a great event!

But it wouldn't end! I had stomach problems for the next 11 days.  I ate plant leaves (not just any kind, but those recommended by others), teas and took medicine.  Nothing worked.  I traveled and taught a four day course, while feeling like making emergency runs to the bathroom – rough, but I survived.

I was talking to Raniere, here in João Pessoa who told me that his stomach problems from the Congresso stopped when he ate two hot dogs.  I went out and bought two of the greasiest chicken paddies deep fried in oil. I do not know what happened inside my body after eating these two "balls of medicine" but I have not had any more problems since.

This is where I should share some new spiritual depth that I have found in this experience, but besides being able to wear a "I survived the Congresso of 2012" t-shirt, I'm still looking.