March 2005
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Dear Friends,

ITEBA, the school where I teach, has made a big move from its traditional downtown location to a large house far north of the city center. No one knew for sure how this would turn out. But it seems to be working great. We have a large number of new students, and from all appearances they’re highly motivated and energetic. Virtually all of them are enrolled in my “Introduction to Theology,” and they act as if they genuinely want to do Brazilian theology, that is, theology that makes occasional leaps skyward but always returns to earth and is rooted in the life of the people. I also have a large group of students in Hebrew I. Some may struggle, but most will be reading the Joseph story in the original before this semester is out. The third course I’m teaching is “Emerging Theologies,” intended for advanced students. The emphasis is on practical theology, especially on diakonia as the real mission of the church, diakonia being understood as the gospel incarnated rather than just proclaimed. The students are doing oral presentations in which they describe and analyze justice issues (of their choice) in Brazil and then respond to these theologically. And finally, I’m teaching English twice a week to a small group of ITEBA students and staffers.

The state we’re in here is Bahia. It’s a very large state and is both geographically isolated from states to the south and quite different from them culturally. I’ve found that it is impossible to work here very long without realizing that what is standard or normal in the southeast or south of Brazil is not standard or normal here in Bahia, which has its own rules, its own ways of doing things. And these rules and ways are, of course, strikingly different from what you’d expect in, say, Chicago or Sao Paulo. It took me fully seven months to accept the fact that Bahians are going to do things their way, no matter what, and that their way does actually work. Maybe you can tell that this was not an easy lesson for me, but now that I’ve finally learned it, life here is a lot more pleasant for me.

Let me close with a word about ITEBA. It’s doing a terrific job under difficult circumstances. Many gifted and eager students who could not afford post-secondary education were it not for ITEBA are developing into church leaders, community activists, and scholars because of ITEBA. It continues to need and deserve your strong support. Specifically, library acquisitions are an area that really needs funding. Too much of the library is in English, not enough in Portuguese. This is a way you could really make a difference.

Yours in Christ,

Bob and Keiko Butterfield

P.S. During Carnaval (February 4-8), Salvador was full of tourists from all over the world and full of exotic viruses too. We both caught one of these and were deathly sick for three weeks but are now recovered. Keiko is happy to be back doing her morning Tai-Chi in the park with some sixty other enthusiasts.

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 44