Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Brasil, Day 5


Today is our last day in the village of Indaiabira.  It will be full.  Our 3rd day of VBS here, which will have over 300 hundred children, and our 3rd day of evangelism and visitation, which is key to impacting the area.  This afternoon, I will lead the local church in a dedication service of their new facility.  The construction team has been working on benches (pews) that will be used for the fist time in their new building.  We will participate in the Lord's Supper together then I will charge the church with its purpose in Christ and culminate it all by asking the members of the church to come forward so we might pray over them.  Tonight will also be our last evangelistic service in this village.  No doubt the gymnasium will be full. 

The pastor here is named, Wilson, a relatively young man for such a crucial task, but well supported by his love for Christ and the people. When he first saw me on Saturday evening - he did the very same thing that he did when last he saw me in  the summer of 2008 and asked me to promise I would come back - he kissed my cheek and cried the tears of a pastor.  Needless to say, I love Wilson very much and am honored to be back with him.  

Attached to this post is a picture of a family and pastor with whom I visited yesterday. They live very far out in the country. No internet, very little money, reached via roads often impassable by car or bus when after rains, but loving people and proud.  When she (the elderly woman to my right) heard that we were coming - via a 'runner' who ran to her home to tell her - she went into the house to shower and clean herself.  I sat at her table and drank coffee and ate some of the sweetest bread I have ever enjoyed - her very best - and thought of Jesus and the joy he knew in being with people who were glad to see him.  There is nothing more sweet than fellowship with the saints of the Lord.  Amen?   

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