Pot of Beans!

On Thursday, we had our first reading sessions. Mine went great! I love my readers already! I have had 8 sessions so far with 7 tomorrow. Most of my readers do not have religious beliefs, although they say they do believe in God. One guy is agnostic. So I am thankful that I have the opportunity to introduce them to Jesus. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in their lives these next 5 weeks! I have a lot in common with several of my readers. Most are students at local universities.

We have had a great weekend! Friday and Saturday are our days off. Friday we exchanged money and went grocery shopping. Everything is, of course, in Portuguese, so we had a fun time trying to find what we needed. We only did so thanks to Bob, our Brazilian friend and guide and our Christian brother. He has been such a blessing! Friday night we were invited to a surprise birthday party for one of the church members. Bob taught us to say Para Bens (i have no idea if that's how you spell it), which is Happy Birthday in Portuguese. To us this sounds like pot of beans, so that's what Brian kept saying. Pot of Beans!

Saturday we went to the beach with Bob. I learned that it is vital to wear sunscreen and reapply it every hour. I did not reapply it however, so I have a pretty sunburn on my legs. Other than that the beach was great. We tried "surfing" but it didn't work out too well. Haha.

Last night we joined the church members for an evangelistic event they had here at their church called Amor Incondicional (Uncondicional Love). They called everyone they knew and invited our readers. They had several non-Christians here. It was really cool to hear them sing in Portuguese. They sang their version of Prince of Peace, which is pretty different from ours. They do not sing parts, so they sing all of the parts all together, which completly throws me off. I did attempt some of the songs in portguese, but not very well. A guy from the church in Forteleza, a city about 2 hours away, came to speak. He talked about the story of the prodigal son in Luke, but I'm not sure what all he actually said. I didn't understand any of it. It was really cool just to be there with them.

The church members here are absolutely wonderful! Half of the church is about my age, give or take a few years. Many of them became Christians through LST, which is an encouragement to me. They have been so helpful to us, especially Bob. He takes us everywhere and spends each day with us. He is our guide and interpretor since he speaks English and Portuguese. He also speaks some Spanish. The missionaries are great! We have been so blessed with wonderful people and a wonderful church to be part of. The body of Christ here is really living out the mission and message of Jesus. I am humbled, honored, and grateful to part of that.

I am estatic about worship tonight. Every Sunday afternoon, we have a devotional here at the church building in English. Brian and Craig are going to sing some English praise songs and give a short devo. Then we will have Bible class and worship in Portuguese. I'm so excited!!!!

I'll post again in a few days. Please pray for our reading sessions this week. I know God has great plans and is going to work powerfully! I just pray that we can be an effective channel for Him to do that. I love you all! Until next time....

Adeus from Natal