Yesterday I found out that a friend of mine is going to go on a mission. I am so excited for her! She asked me all sorts of questions about being a missionary, which I gladly answered. Since that conversation I have been homesick for Brazil, and oddly enough for a strange little insect I was introduced to while I was there – Fireflies!
Its not that I had never heard of fireflies (or lightning bugs) before, but I had never personally seen them until I was in my last area in Southern Brazil. I will always remember that spring night when the sun went down, and all the sudden small flickers of light began to appear. I started giggling like a little girl! I don’t know if I have ever seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. Huge fields filled with hundreds of tiny twinkling bugs, like stars in the sky.
Fireflies became a simple joy for me during my time in that area. I anticipated the sun setting each night, knowing that as soon as the sun was gone they would appear. Almost every night as we walked home I would stop and stand in front of a large field, just to stare and marvel at the perfection of God’s creations.
There was a family who discovered my obsession with fireflies. The 12 year old boy in the family went out one night and filled up a jar with fireflies, which he gave to me so that I could use them as a nightlight (have I mentioned how incredible the people of Brazil are?) I fell asleep that night staring at the blinking bugs.
Sadly, there was no way for me to take a picture of my flickering friends. But the image is forever captured in my mind and my heart. The smell of the humid, spring air, the feeling as the heat of day slips into the cool of night, and the peace and stillness as the fireflies begin to appear, one by one.
Saudades.
Its not that I had never heard of fireflies (or lightning bugs) before, but I had never personally seen them until I was in my last area in Southern Brazil. I will always remember that spring night when the sun went down, and all the sudden small flickers of light began to appear. I started giggling like a little girl! I don’t know if I have ever seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. Huge fields filled with hundreds of tiny twinkling bugs, like stars in the sky.
Fireflies became a simple joy for me during my time in that area. I anticipated the sun setting each night, knowing that as soon as the sun was gone they would appear. Almost every night as we walked home I would stop and stand in front of a large field, just to stare and marvel at the perfection of God’s creations.
There was a family who discovered my obsession with fireflies. The 12 year old boy in the family went out one night and filled up a jar with fireflies, which he gave to me so that I could use them as a nightlight (have I mentioned how incredible the people of Brazil are?) I fell asleep that night staring at the blinking bugs.
Sadly, there was no way for me to take a picture of my flickering friends. But the image is forever captured in my mind and my heart. The smell of the humid, spring air, the feeling as the heat of day slips into the cool of night, and the peace and stillness as the fireflies begin to appear, one by one.
Saudades.
2 comments:
You should of feed them food, and brought them home on the airplane with you, so you could still have them to look at at night. JK Where is your friend going on a mission to?
i was introduced to fireflies when i was younger... they have them all over in the humid places like texas and st. louis.... we used to catch them in jars... it was fun!
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