My First Blooper

There’s always a danger in trying to show off the knowledge of the language that you don’t really have !!

My first blooper occurred on the second day of Portguese language classes! In the class we were going around being asked our ages, as we were learning numbers. I guess I was conscious that, at 54, I was older than all these young things, so thought I would be clever. (Oh, by the way, our class consists of us “fiftysomethings”, four young girls not too long out of high school, and two Roman Catholic missionaries preparing for Mozambique!!)

On the bus coming over I had noticed that there were seats reserved for the disabled and old people and noticed the word “gravidas" which, in my wisdom, I figured must mean elderly. So when asked, I didn’t give my age away, only said that I was “gravidas”. Only later in the afternoon. Patricia, a beautiful Brazilian lady we had met, told me, when I asked her, that “gravidas” actually means pregnant!! Woops! And double Woops!! Funny, come to think of it, the teacher didn't actually correst me on that one

Let us tell you about Carlos and Patricia. They are from Brazil,. A lovely Christian couple and God has brought them to live right in the Park of the Nations. Just like Ryan and Dana who are American and have two extremely lively girls, Kayla and Rachel. These families are not full time missionaries as such, but in the line of their business, God has seen fit to place them alongside ourselves as Christians living in a dark place. Carlos is away from home three weeks out of four, and Ryan also works long hours and travels a lot. So Patricia has to contend with an extremely lively two year old Isabella, and Dana with her two. We’re praying especially that Anna will have time to help support and pray with these young mothers.