It was good to hear some ministry that I was able to understand, even if it was broken up into half sentences. The message was not very long, and even with the interpretation we finished before Luis’s normal class would have ended. This was good thing on this particular Sunday, because Paul had brought his photography equipment to take individual and family portraits of the Saints at the church.
The families lined up, and one by one the photographs were taken. This was the first photo that some of them had ever had taken. For many others, it was the first professional portrait of themselves that they had ever seen. Even though the frames that Paul had shipped still had not arrived, he planed on having the pictures printed and ready for when the package was delivered. As the photos were being taken, I asked Suzete if I could play her soprano saxophone. For the first time in 8 years I picked up the instrument and played a few scales. I was surprised that I remembered exactly how to blow into the mouthpiece and precisely where my fingers were supposed to go. I played “Jesus Loves Me” for Pietro, who was watching me, and then tried “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. Alison Dos whistled along as I played.
I finished with the instrument for the day and then was called outside to get one final picture of all the young people at the hall. After we cleaned up the backdrop, we loaded the cars and headed to the churrasco for lunch. The restaurant was packed, but we finally were seated and had a delicious meal of many different cuts of beef, pork, chicken and fish. The kids were especially fond of the grilled cheese and the pineapple coated with cinnamon. I was exhausted and was looking forward to a nap that would come the minute I got home. After a stop at the drugstore to pick up some cream for a rash that I had obtained during my last trip to the country, I was home and sleeping comfortably on my air mattress out on the terrace.
I woke up at around 5:45 and took the 15 minutes that I had to get ready for meeting. I was still tired and very quiet. Sunday naps are necessary for me, but I don’t wake up very well. Denis interpreted for Paul again, but the pain of my rear end on the non ergonomic wooden benches made it difficult to pay attention. Before meeting began we had a surprise in store for us. The man that Patty had accidentally hired to work on the hall the previous Friday was in attendance and had told Luis he wanted to be saved. While we are not sure if the man obtained salvation that evening, it can be assured that he knew he was a sinner who needed to have his sins forgiven. He had read the tract that he was given on Friday and decided to attend the service that evening.
I found that learning Portuguese was even easier as I listened to Denis translate for Paul. Because the segments of speech were only four or five words long it was easy to pick up which words in English meant what in Portuguese. After meeting ended we had a snack of juice and cookies again, while Paul displayed his slide show of the afternoon photo shoot on his laptop. I took some pictures and talked with Denis and Neto for a while. Neto invited me to go out with him and the young people for pastel’s (meat or cheese stuffed pastries) and to sleep over his house that night, but I hadn’t brought my clothes or medication so I declined. I told him that the next Sunday I would be more prepared and would be more than happy to hang out with the group there.
I found them to be a fantastic group of young people. Even though I didn’t speak much of their language, and came from an entirely different culture than they did they were still willing to embrace me as one of their own and include me in anything they did. This wasn’t superficial in any way. I wasn’t being invited merely because it was polite, but because they really wanted me there with them. It caused me to think a lot more during the remainder of the evening about how I should really be in my heart with other Christians, not just the Gospel Hall folk. Do I really embrace them, or do I see them as a lesser degree than those of us that break bread in an assembly week after week? One thing was for sure, this group of people in the Planalto knew how to welcome people. Not just people who were helping them physically and financially, but even the visitors who came in week after week who barley had a single raies to their name.
We stopped at the shopping center for some gelado (ice cream), which was the best I had tasted since I got here. This actually had the same taste as actual ice cream. I planned on working on my blog when I got home, but my laptop battery was dead and my normal outside outlet didn’t have any power to it. I caught a weak signal inside and wrote my blog for the previous day. I was unable to post it though due to the fact I could not upload the many pictures I wanted to coincide with the article. I packed up the computer at around midnight, which was only an hour and a half after I had gotten home and headed to bed. I slipped under the comforter, confident that I would have no problem falling asleep. Boy was I wrong…
Uncle Mark and A Lot of the Kids Outside the Hall on Sunday Morning
Paul's Family Portrait of Luis, Lillia and Pietro
Suzete and Rodrigo Waking Home
Pietro on the Drum, William on the Guitar and Dudu on the Tamborine
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