We first visited this other family from NTM in 1983, Dad had made radio contact with them, had known them from our church. They lived north of us, and we travelled 3 days across Mato Grosso to find them. My brother, the author, said he'll write a book about those three weeks sometime . . .from all our different perspectives. Anyway, my other brother bought a little parrot from a native Brazilian for $2. It had been plucked for it's feathers for crafts to sell to visitors. It was tied up in string all around it's legs, cutting into him. The remainder of the trip my brother carefully cut away all of the string, and the parrot formed a lasting bond with him. Mom taught him to sing English songs, which delighted our church people. His favorite was "it's a happy day . . .and I'm living it for my Lord". Except he could only sing "Lord," in this bizarre high-pitched crooked way. Eventually they gave little Caramba away, and we like to think of him bewildering Brazilians with singing "Looord,"
We were enchanted with the NT view of boarding school, and thought we had been getting the short end of the stick by having to live with parents. That was the first we heard of Via.
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