Natal, Brazil 2007: The B-I-B-L-E, Yes Thats the Book For Me...and Me...and Me...

On Thursday evening both William and Caroline were planning on going with Uncle Mark on Friday morning to scrub and paint roof tiles. However, when I opened my eyes at about 8:15 that morning, I saw William still sound asleep in bed. Mark usually leaves at around 7:30, so I knew the boy had "missed the bus" and would be here for the morning. I worked on my blog for a while, and it was around the same time that Caroline stumbled down the stairs. She had also overslept and had not been awake to go with her father. Aunt Lori and I talked a little that morning about some stuff that had to get done that day and completed before we all left in 10 days. I went about my normal morning routine, until Aunt Lori came in and asked if I wanted to go to Gilgal, the Bible bookstore.

I was in the middle of a workout at the time, and dripping with sweat. I told her I would if she went after lunch, but Caroline volunteered to go instead. I got ready for the afternoon. I planned on going with Aunt Lori for the afternoon for a change of pace. Uncle Mark returned home about 1:00 and told me what was being done at the hall that day. Luciano had finished most of the exterior painting, and was now working on the plastering inside the bathrooms. Damião was finishing the concrete work on the stairs and preparing to tile them during the next week. Uncle Mark had started building one large vertical cabinet for the kitchen, in hopes of finishing it by the end of the day. Most of the others had spent the day washing and painting roof tiles, which was the most monotonous and time consuming task of all.

After lunch, Caroline and William left with Uncle Mark and I headed off with Aunt Lori. In the back of the Gol we had 530 bibles. A shipment of 500 of them had just been picked up that day. We decided to head to the hall and pick up Neto, so we could get the clothing out of his house and begin distribution. Aunt Lori and Caroline got to work labeling the Bibles while I drove Neto and Paula the two miles to their home. As we approached their neighborhood I needed to stop to let a large bull cross the street in front of Uncle Mark's car. We turned and took the same road that the bull was roaming. He meandered in and out of several yards on Neto's street before reaching the end of the road and letting out a loud "MMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".

Neto's house was small, but very clean. I sorted through a box of clothes to pick out the most appropriate clothing for the neighborhood we would be heading into. We had a huge dishwasher box full of children’s clothes and four smaller boxes, two with woman's apparel and two with men’s. After cleaning and organizing the back of the car, we loaded all the boxes, and literally following in the other Gol behind us.

We went to Inacia's neighborhood first, where we distributed a lot of clothing. Many people took multiple items and were more than happy to take the Bible as well. We loaded the clothes on the back of Lori's car, and I turned around in time to see the dishwasher box literally walking away. One of the women had asked Lori if she could have the box, and her grandson had put it over his head and walked toward the house. All you could see of the young lad were his two sandal clad feet on the ground. After giving out about half the clothes, and maybe 40 Bibles, we headed to the next stop. At this point we had only been distributing for maybe 20 minutes or so.

The next area was kind of a "back road" neighborhood in the Planalto. Many women holding babies came out first to get whatever smaller clothing we had left. Neto and I handed out the Bibles. We had a visit from a young girl from the hall named Dudu, and I put her to work sticking more labels on the front of the Bibles and slipping a tract in the pages. We were about 45 minutes into the distribution and almost out of clothes. I noticed a man at the end of the street who had received some clothes, but no Bible. I took off after him, and reached him as he turned the corner unto the main road. I handed him the Bible and turned to head back toward the crowd surrounding the two Gols.

Moments later I heard a commotion and turned around to see two little boys leading a multitude of people toward the cars. We were out of clothes and all we had were Bibles, but that is all they wanted. Before this point we may have given out 100 Bibles, but now people were coming. We gave out about 100 more at that location, and then decided to take our show on the road. Praying all the way down the street, we parked the cars near a soccer field where some young men were playing a game of soccer.

We distributed a few Bibles to passers by, and within minutes they had gone and told their friends and family about the gift they had received. People began running toward us wanting a Bible. We could not keep up with the labeling them with the stickers that had the hall information on it. Dudu and her mother, Elizabete, were labeling while Caroline and Liese stuffed them with one tract each. I passed them out as quickly as I could, but the seven of us could not keep up with the immediate demand. The soccer game abruptly ended, and all of the players came over to get the Book for themselves. A swarm three or four people deep were surrounding Lori's car. Bible's were going faster than I could have ever imagined. Empty box after empty box was thrown to the side of the car as we continued to label. stuff and give out the Bibles.

Some people would want and additional Bible for their son, husband, mother or father, and we would gladly give them one to pass on. I tried to get out of the crowd now and then to snap some pictures of the unbelievable scene that was before me. It was less than 30 minutes before the remaining 300-400 Bibles were completely gone. One man came peddling up on a bicycle huffing and puffing. He told Lori that he had ridden all the way from the other side of the Planalto after he had heard there was Bibles being given away. We didn't have anymore. Every box was empty. Lori prayed while I tore apart the cars looking for the "one that got away". Tucked away in a side compartment of Uncle Mark's car was a single blue Bible. I slapped a label on it and handed it to the elderly man. He shook my hand and smiled at us as we smiled back.

Caroline was crying over the fact that God had answered the prayer that quickly. More people began to run up to us. Then I remembered we had given Luciano two cases of Bibles, 64 in total, to take to his assembly. I got in the car and kicked it into gear. I splashed through puddles, and went over grooves until I reached the hall and asked Luciano for the Bibles. He gave them to me, and I headed back to the location we were just at. Aunt Lori had wound up telling everyone looking for a Bible to come to the hall Sunday night and they would get one. We decided to keep one case for Sunday, just in case, and Neto and I went door to door around the hall to give people the remaining case full of God's Word. We finished around 5:45. In an hour and a half we had given out a car load of clothes, and exactly 502 Bibles. I was extremely surprised, though I shouldn't have been, and greatly encouraged.

Uncle Mark let me drive his car home so I could learn the way, since I would be on my own that coming Sunday. By the time that I got home I was completely exhausted. I did some work uploading and labeling pictures, which has wound up being the most time consuming task of the blog, before getting ready for bed. William wasn't really tired and I was rather restless, so he developed the brilliant idea of letting me use him as a punching bag. He girt himself with a huge purple "reading" pillow and I took a few jabs at him. We laughed for a while before he fell asleep, then I read a little bit before calling it a night myself. There was not much planned for Saturday, so I decided not to set my alarm clock and just let my body wake up on its own...

Aunt Lori with the Gilgal Girls, the Women who Run the Bible Bookstore "Gilgal"