i am currently in brazil and have been all week. i am here with cms and have been at a gathering exploring what pioneering looks like in the context of latin america. it's my first visit to this part of the world having never been to south or central america. i always love the first impression of a new place - we landed in the the evening - this is the shot from the car park as we came out of the airport with the sun setting over sau paulo.
the gathering has been in spanish, portuguese with someone whispering translation to me in english. there are people here from several countries in south and central america and the latin diaspora. it's been a great week and the people at the gathering are doing really inspiring pioneering at the edges. i am here simply to be alongside and share from our experience over the last twenty years or so. it''s really been a design lab with flipcharts and scribblings on pieces of paper filling all the walls pondering how to take things forward here, catlyse more practice, build movement and so on. it reminds me of when we dreamed up pioneer training with a group back in 2009 in similar fashion and look what happened as a result of that! i have taken as many photos of flipcharts as anything else... the gathering is in indaiatuba, a city a couple of hours from sau paulo but we've mainly been in the venue. i will no doubt share a few photos when i get back but it's been pretty full on with the work side so i have not got out and about a lot. of course it is also lovely to get some sun :)
today we head to vittoria to visit a couple of projects. i have been invited to preach at a church there on sunday so pondering what to do for that but looking forward to it. then sau paulo for a night before flying back to land in time to see harry perform at the royal albert hall that evening. this will be the third time in a row i have flown back from the americas and gone to a gig in the evening so i seem to have created a tradition for myself.
when i was a kid everyone loved brazil football shirts with pele on the back. so it was fun to head out and be with some others who were after brazil shirts - the magic is still there clearly.
we visited a project in the park here and it gave a chance for a group photo on top of a huge skate park half pipe. i like this shot with a lad on roller blades in the bottom of the shot. i am not in the photo btw because i am taking it!
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