Nearing the completion of our first full day, Im listening to John Mayer's "Free Falling" playing in the main gathering social area of our house. The tempo of tonight's Welcome Party has been one of the best dance parties we've seen with songs progressively moving from Grease Soundtrack to ChaCha Slide to Brazilian rap and Justin Beiber. We've all danced the night away here and just concluded at Futebol game under the lights (only two American bleeding feet...of course the Brazilians either had thier prime party shoes prepared to play if the opportunity came or were able to tough it out without any blood :) The Welcome Party had a dual purpose tonight - 1) to Welcome the Americans to town for their week of missions and 2) to gather the community of the Church and those who are "investigating" in a social setting. Id say based on the past 5 hours, it has beyond served both purposes.
This morning we got up and went about 20 minutes away to an orphanage home where we played Futebol literally all day. We were unable to communicate with most of the kids directly ourselves, however the volunteers from the Church who were fluent in English helped to translate some conversations. One of our girls pulled out some scripture and shared the Gospel through a translater to three girls ages 10, 10 and 12. These girls said they would be interested in talking when we come back on Tuesday, so please pray for another open door to share with them. The boys were AWESOME at soccer - dribbling around us in circles and making us dizzy...however we were able to hold our own at points throughout the day and we actually won the "official timed" match by a golden goal in the last second between us girls and the older boys.
There were about 70-75 kids there today - all have come from at-risk situations in the streets and are now cared for through an orphanage program. The Church does "VBS" style outreach programs with them and we were there to help, dance and give piggy back rides as needed, as well as play a LOT of futebol. Going into the morning, we meditated on 2 Corinthians 2:3-5 that says: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified...my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirits power, so that your faith might not rest on mans wisdom but on Gods power." Also 1 John 3:18 which says: "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
We have a language barrier present here...while we could look at it as something to "overcome", it should be considered as a blessing of opportunity to witness Gods power at work through our actions and love. We are foolish to thiank at any point that OUR words are of value - words and same-languages are definitely a benefit and "pro" to sharing the Gospel, but words or no words, and "fruit" and furtherment of the Kingdom here will be by the Spirit of God alone. We are blessed to be a part of His futhering of His Kingdom and the bringing of Heaven to earth.
Pray that our actions would speak louder and clearer than any words we could ever speak. But pray too that our Portuguese would be sharpened an refined throughout the week to speed the process and aid in relationship building with the kids and Brazilians who we meet!
Tomorrow is the Hippie Fair! We will be going into town to a market where everything is "authentic Brazilian made" and then touring some in the afternoon.
Thanks for your prayers - we are having a blast :) Miss you all!
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