Part 2--The Adventure Begins, Rio to Cape Horne!...

Here are a few of my lessons on the way.

January 22, 2011
Lesson 1:
"I am resolved never to stop until I had come to my goal and had achieved my purpose."
David Livingstone

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation"  Jesus Chrst, Mark 16:15

Excitedly I had disembark the plane; I was back in Rio and on my way around the southern tip of the continent.  My jumping off point was Rio de Janeiro, my home for nearly the last five months.  Now however, I had just finished spending a wonderful holiday with my family, and now visionns of pristine waterfalls, icy glaciers, amazing wildlife, and beautiful treking danced in my head like they would a 10 yr. old boy dreaming of the great explorers of long ago.

We left Rio the next day after visiting a few old friends, we made it to Sao Paulo and spent the night with our old friend Andre--it was really good to see him again.  This will be my last night surrounded by the familiar and tomorrow everything will be new.

New?  The word sounded so excited in my head, as if anything will ever be new.  Isn't it interesting how often we use the word, but in all actuality NOTHING is ever truely NEW.  Somehow seeing or experiencing something for the first time makes it so.  There is so much for me to discover, but it is no longer the why (which was my focus in Rio) it has now become the what and more importantly the how that concerns me.  These will be discovered along with the "New" over the next two months!

So what is my purpose?  I am confident that by the time I discover the answer it will already have been accomplished.  And my trip was not off to a great start as I already managed to leave my hiking boots behind in Rio de Janeiro.  The upside to this was that I was able to spend an extra day with Andre, and catch up with Austin at the Argentine boarder the next day.  Andre told me, "If you are in a position where God can teach you--stay there.  The first and foremost important work is the work Christ does in you, not through you."  Thank you Andre, that was lesson #1!