November 6, 2010---SETTLING IN

Today was so relaxing, I can hardly remember what I did, mostly reading, walking around the town, and talking with some very interesting people and listening to their healing stories which were inspirational. I’m getting to know my traveling mates, Gordi and Cherie, much better and am grateful they are with me during this big adventure. It’s fascinating watching the changes in their faces as the days progress. They each look ten years younger. Being relaxed and happy is the best cosmetic. 

Local hang out with fabulous tropical fruit smoothies

I never tire from hearing people talk about their experiences of their healing from "untreatable" and "incurable" conditions. There is the young man from Vermont who had a glioblastoma--the most deadly, aggressive type of brain tumor. His tumor was considered inoperable. He was given a shunt for palliative care to take off some of the pressure in his head. After coming to see John of God a couple of times, his tumor disappeared, as documented by his follow up MRI scan. He ended up staying in Brazil and married a Brazilian woman who works with John of God at La Casa.


I spoke to one of the trip guides, a man named Bob from California, who takes groups of people down to Brazil several times a year. He first came to see John of God 12 years ago because he was near total blindness from a rare, progressive eye disease. After 5 visits, he had total restoration of his eyesight. As you can imagine, I was heartened by those words, although I know that each person's healing path is unique to them and cannot be compared.


An elderly woman from South Africa staying at our pousada came to breakfast one morning uncharacteristically happy, beaming with a smile that lit up her whole face. She said that she had been in excruciating pain for the past six years from an orthopedic procedure that had gone badly. After her "invisible surgery" she had become free of pain and felt as if her spine had straightened. Her traveling companion claimed she had become taller by an inch or two. 


A few years ago a reporter from ABC, John Quinones, followed five people who came from different places in the world for healing. One had an inoperable brain tumor, one with ALS, a woman with breast cancer, a young woman who was in a wheelchair--paraplegic from a car accident when she was 16 years old, and an older woman with severe allergies. The follow up, a few months after their return home revealed the following: That the man with the inoperable brain tumor showed by follow up MRI that the tumor had shrunk considerably. (It ultimately disappeared completely) The man with ALS showed no improvement on the physical plane, but he had made peace with his condition and felt that the experience with John of God had prepared him to face his inevitable death. The woman in the wheelchair was able to stand up with the help of railing and take baby steps for the first time since her accident. The woman with breast cancer had a follow up procedure which showed that the tumor had not improved, but, nevertheless, she was in a state of complete peace and optimism. And lastly, the woman with allergies said they were still there but much improved. This sampling is a realistic representation of what happens here.