Brazil 2007 (#3)

Monday morning we were up early and eating by about 6:45. The sun comes up in Sao Luis at some point before 6, because that was the earliest I ever got out of bed and it was already light every time I got up. We met with Michael and the guys and divided up Bibles and tracts. We left the hotel by 8:30 for Sacavem. Once there, we split into teams. Each team had one American, one translator, and one or two church members from Sacavem who had helped set the appointments and knew where to take us. My team was me, Elmo, and a woman named Rosana (which in Portuguese is pronounced "Hosana" which I thought was cool).

Our first visit was with a young mother. Her husband was a at work but she was gracious to invite us into her home. She had been attending a Bible study and was in the process of learning about Christ and salvation. As I shared my testimony and then the gospel she was very attentive. She seemed to have a cognitive grasp of the things I was telling her. She understood that she was a sinner and that her sin separated her from God. And she understood that the only option for the removal of God's righteous anger toward her sin was to trust Jesus. But she was unwilling to do this. She said she needed to think about it some more. I praise God that she didn't just say what she thought we wanted to hear when there was no change in her heart. She said that she wanted her belief to be genuine and heartfelt, which I appreciated. I pressed her a little about the urgency of salvation, but ultimately left her in God's hands for Him to do His work. I truly believe that Malena will come to believe soon, and I pray that God will continue to draw her to Himself.

Our second visit was with another young mother named Anna. She was 18 years old and pregnant with her second child. Like Malena she listened intently and seemed to understand what we had told her. After my testimony and proclamation of the gospel, she indicated that she believed. I know it is sometimes difficult to determine the legitimacy of conversions like this, but I pray that she was genuinely born again and that I will see her in heaven one day.

Our third visit was with an older Catholic woman and her grandson. She seemed a little impatient and bothered that we were there. We kept hitting a brick wall with her as she kept insisting that she was a good person and was not separated from God by her sin. We must have established that truth from Scripture about 3 or 4 times when God interrupted our visit through the vehicle of my digestive system.

I don't know if it was the watermelon the night before or the sweltering heat, but I had to flee the house and find some indoor plumbing. 20 minutes later (or who knows, it may have been an hour later) I was back at the church letting a fan blow hot air on my face. I was done for the day. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the hotel drinking water and sleeping.

By dinner I was feeling well enough to join the group for dinner at a Brazilian restaurant. We ate some GREAT food - fruit juices, fried meat pastries, fried bananas, steak marinated in butter, chicken, fish - it was wonderful. After dinner I emailed home and then got to bed.

It was so satisfying to see people respond to the gospel and believe in Christ for salvation. It has been too long since I've seen this kind of hunger for the good news. Today was a remarkable day.

Brazil 2007 (Part B)

After a good night's sleep in a moderately cool hotel room, we got up and ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I had bread with some strange jelly type substance, a slice of cheese, warm milk, and watery pineapple juice. It was tolerable. For the rest of the week I just ended up eating trail mix for breakfast. Mmm...nuts, raisins, M&Ms...can't beat it.

After breakfast we headed across the street to the Fore's home. They live in a 10th floor apartment owned by the IMB. It was very nice, but no air conditioning. It was shocking how much we have and take for granted here at home. Each of us shared about our expectations for the trip. I'm always hesitant to specify my expectations. I don't know if it's because I'm afraid I'll fall short or because I've often seen God do exactly the opposite of what I anticipate, but either way I told them that my expectations were simply that we would be faithful to proclaim the gospel and clear in our understanding and presentation of it. I fully acknowledge that salvation is God's work in the hearts of men. It is not a decision or a resolution or behavior modification or sin management. It is a supernatural transformation. I can't change anyone or talk them into being born again. I am simply called to tell and invite. The rest is for God. I also wanted for this trip to renew my own passion for personal evangelism.

We ate a great lunch prepared by Cynthia Fore and then came back to the hotel for a quick rest. Energized and rested up, we set out to meet our translators. Cyrus is a young guy who would be translating for me that night as I preached and for Steve during the home visits. He learned English from playing video games and listening to American radio. The first two words he learned in English were "crash" and "burn." My interpreter for home visits was a pastor and English teacher named Elmo. I am fairly tall. Elmo is not. On several occasions I wanted to ask Elmo to sit on my lap so I could put my hand on his back and act like I was a ventriloquist. Yeah, I'm glad I didn't ask him that. When we stood next to each other he said that we were like "Twins" - you know, the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito (except Arnold is fabulously muscular and I am muscle-less-ly flabular). Anyway, the two of us side by side were quite a pair.

After getting to know one another and brushing up on our presentations, we headed for Sacavem. Sacavem is a poor neighborhood in Sao Luis where we worked for most of the week. We ate in a small restaurant owned by some church members. It was buffet style and consisted of rice and beans, chicken, beef, and fruit. It tasted great and the owners were so gracious. After dinner it was off to the church. The church building is pretty small, maybe 25'x50'. Again, there is no AC. During services they open the doors and metal shutters and run electric fans. They love volume! They have some pretty good sized speakers and they crank them. Drums, guitar, keys, and vocals make up their praise band. The musicians are very talented and the singing was energetic. They were so passionate and unashamed. Everyone - young, old, male, female - were all shouting and clapping and raising their hands. I told them later that I wanted to take some of their enthusiasm back to our church. It made me feel ashamed at every time I had sung praise to God half-heartedly. They sang for a solid hour.

I ended up preaching about Jesus' healing of the man born blind in John 9. It was a little awkward at first preaching through a translator. I had to go in bite-sized chunks for the most part. But other times I had to give a whole sentence because Brazilian sentence structure would be backwards from English at times. But we settled in and Cyrus did great. The congregation was very attentive and affirming. They chimed in with "Amens" pretty frequently. I preached for about an hour (actually only 30 minutes, but the translated version was another 30 minutes). Afterwards the team members and the Brazilian church members were all very encouraging. They are extremely affectionate and love to hug. So I was warmly greeted with hugs as the service closed. All in all it was an amazing experience.

After the service we headed back to the hotel. I got to call Catherine and the kids and finally got in bed around 11. What a day.