The days have been full and now that we've been here a few days we're feeling the effects of not enough sleep, too much sun and a too-full schedule...so tomorrow we sleep in!
We have been meeting daily at 9 for devotional time at the church - I wasn't all that happy with them when I wrote them, but the Spirit has been at work making them meaningful ;) On the second day one of our Brazillian pastors shared that he was working at the ball field when a car passed by on the street; the driver stopped and leaned out the window and asked why we were doing this baseball clinic. Without missing a beat the pastor replied, "Because the love of Christ compels us." No doubt it was not the answer the driver expected - he drove on without comment - but I'll bet he told the story of the unusual answer to someone later that day (wouldn't you?) It was a small encounter, but it left us all feeling as though God was indeed watching.
Today we shopped at the central market - local products of all kinds, full of smells and strange sights (like tobacco sold in long ropes), parakeets, cheeses, coffees, household items, musical instruments - it's quite a place.
At this afternoon's clinic we could see the relationships forming - the kids picking out their favorite instructors, the instructors giving the kids nicknames - ("Miss Sassy" for one of the little ones...) They are teaching them the proper posture to throw by telling them to "knock on the door" beside them (throwing arm up and back)...using a kickball to teach them to run the bases and tag runners...frisbees for hand-eye coordination. The kids are REALLY liking this new activity. It is especially fun to watch kids that play ball mostly with their feet (soccer), try to learn a game that requires using their hands. Right now it doesn't look much like baseball - perhaps we'll call it "Belo Ball"!
After a short time of rest, we met at the church for a soup supper with church members, and then Pastor Andrew, Pastor Kye and Diana joined the Igreja Presbiteriana Missional music team to lead us in worship. They are all great musicians, and we sang each verse alternately in English and Portuguese, which turned out to be a beautiful blend. There were several testimonies: One young Korean woman telling of her experience of being sent overseas from Dallas to care for her mother, who had cancer, and coming to depend on God during that time; a policeman from Brazil spoke of being shot 7 times, spending 3 months in the hospital recovering in both body and spirit and meeting his wife (his nurse!) during his hospitalization - he considered it all a gift from God; a young man who went to his first Bible study in order to date a young woman, and who learned the Prayer of Jabez, a lesson that motivated him to dedicate his life to Christ; and a young Brazillian man, a deacon in the church, who testified about his participation in their mission trip to Haiti and how it transformed his life. He encouraged everyone present to take such a trip, in order to give God the opportunity to work such a transformation in their lives. It was a near-perfect worship experience.
After worship, the young people were still hungry, so about 70 of us went to a local all-you-can eat pizza restaurant! This was definitely NOT CiCi's - they brought different types of pizzas to the table - 4-cheese pizzas, chicken, sun dried tomatoes, argula and pepperoni, banana (GOOD), chocolate - we had them all. They also drink a lot of exotic fruit juices here (did you know the cashew had juice? The nuts we eat are the stems of the fruit - the juice is in the fruit - yum!) Then the Brazillian teens started playing a hand-action game, and pretty soon everybody was in on the act...not to be outdone, the Koreans showed us a "thumb game" with a painful penalty for the loser, so everyone switched to that - fortunately the restuarant was not crowded, because we were the loud crowd! Some of the kids who had been at the camp came to pizza with the friends who invited them - it was a wonderful witness of the kind of fun, fellowship and excitement we can have in the body of believers.
The day finished after midnight and here I am, juiced up on pizza and unable to sleep...we prayed for you all again this morning...more to come, grace and peace to you all
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