I had a computer crisis in Mexico.  If you’ve already read about it, you know I was rescued by two computer techs who I called Jesús and Espiritu Santo.  I needed a miracle.  In my mind, one computer crisis on a trip is one too many.  But, I received the miracle in Spanish that I needed.

Apparently, the computer gods felt differently about the number of problems I needed in my life.  I had another crisis.

In Mexico, my external hard drive failed.  It was a back-up.  I still had my main computer at home and a couple other back-ups.  That problem was an inconvenience, a really awful inconvenience, because I use my files so often for so many different projects going on in my life.  But, nothing completely irreplaceable was lost.  And, as it turned out, nothing was lost at all.  Thank you, Jesús!

The situation in Brasil was different.  I took my memory card from my camera and placed it in my computer to get some photos for my blog.  When I put the card back in my camera, I got a message saying that the card needed to be formatted.  I knew that was trouble.  I tried the card in my computer and my camera a few more times.  I got the same message over and over.  No, I didn’t format.  I think I’ve done that before.  This time, I decided I needed more help, hopefully divine.

My first thought was to ask Jesús about more help.  That’s always a good thing to do.  But I was weeks away from a return to Mexico.

In Brasil, the natural person to turn to was Alisson, one of the people who first met me at the airport upon arrival.  He (yes, Alisson is a guy’s name in Brasil) had already helped me with a few minor computer issues.  He may work in the family restaurant, and I’m trying to get a recipe from him, but all of his friends consider him the “go to” person in time of technical needs.

I explained that the names Jesús and Espirtu Santo were already in use.   There was only one name left in the Trinity and I needed a miracle from Deus.  He didn’t bat an eye.  I might have been under stress – terribly – but he knew what to do.  I didn’t know how to describe my problem in English on a Google search, but Alisson knew what to look for in Portuguese.

It was not a snap miracle to pull off.  It was a huge amount of photos that I know I should have backed up.  I’ve just been insanely busy while in Brasil and I never found the time.  Lesson learned.  Not only was he able to recover my photos (obrigado, Deus), but my friend gave me another piece of advice.  Did you know that you can put a second memory card in a camera and make an automatic back-up?  I had no idea that kind of technology existed.  It’s another technical miracle in my mind.

And, I thank Deus for every miracle and blessing that comes my way.