Last days in Brazil

We went to an Amazon Indian store this morning.   There were baskets, blow darts, bow and arrows, and jewelry made from seeds.  It was very cool.  We got lots of souvenirs.  We also went to the largest mall in South America for lunch.  This afternoon we toured La Feliz, a home for children who have been taken from or abandoned by their parents.  It's run by a Christian man and his wife.  They have 5 different houses for children, a multi-purpose room and a farm.  It's an amazing set up for the kids.   He has some awesome stories about how God has provided for them.  They have a farm that the kids like to go to.  They can walk there and play with donkeys, horses, sheep, chickens, doves, and an ostrich.  The ostrich's name is Adam, and he dances when you dance.   Tonight we went to a churrascuria, Brazilian bbq, and had meat brought on Skewers to our table.  Some of us even ate some ostrich.  So we danced with an ostrich, then ate one.  Tomorrow we will be going to Sao Paulo to do some shopping before we take off at 9:30.  Cia Brazil!

Differences

Every morning, Greg has started out day with a question.  "What differences do you see between Brazil and the United States?"  We thought it would be fun to share some of those with everyone.

• Toilet Paper:  must be thrown in the trash, not down the toilet
• lettuce must be washed with vinegar water because there is an insect that will bore into your brain
• the moon is a smiley face instead of being a crescent
• the roads are spaghetti, there is no direct route to anywhere
• VW owns the road!  There are so many old slug bugs
• Speed bumps are everywhere
• Street Sweepers are humans
• Trash people run down the road and grab trash out of a basket everyday
• people are very friendly and welcoming!  They will hug you when you first meet them and every greeting includes a hug or an air kiss!
• Traffic cones are shaped like tiered cakes
• Guarrana!!  (soday)
• Full Service Pizzaria
• Full service gas stations
• "r" is pronounced like an "h"
• tiny coffee
• No one eats or drinks on the go
• Very few automatic cars
• hammocks everywhere, most houses have built in hammock hooks
• gates everywhere
• no screens
• everything is open, dining outside
• better orange juice
• Meat all the time
• French fries, rice and beans at every meal
• Fresh meat and bread everyday
• The coolest automobile ever, AKA:  The Kombi!!  (by VW)
• warm weather all the time
• 70 degrees is cold
• things are more expensive, but manual labor is cheap
• People are more important than being on time (time is not important)
• Hot Dogs!!  They have mashed potatoes, corn, salsa, and more!
• Big lunch, small dinner
• There are no driving laws if there are no cameras around (police don't pull you over)

This morning we went to the hippie fair.    It's like a giant craft and shopping fair.    Lots of good food and shopping.  We had our last day of VBS in Gleba.  It went really well!  It was a great way to end!  The kids were excited to make their wordless book bracelets.  We played with bubbles and did face painting.  The kids loved the bubbles so much, they brought bottles back to take the mixture home.  It's amazing to see the things God will use to teach them a lesson.  Jorge was able to make Rebecca's car drivable this morning, but it was hit again.  Just a small scratch, but it's become a little funny.  Again, no one was hurt, just a nice scratch.  This person did not stop, but they got the license number.  We ate at a pizzeria tonight.   Not your average pizza place.  They have about 80 different pizzas, and they bring them to your table.  You just choose what you want and they put it on your plate.  Sort of a buffet, but they serve you.  Many people branched out and had shrimp pizza, anchovies, salmon and more.  Then they started the dessert pizza.  Caramel apple, chocolate and strawberries, bananas and cinnamon and sugar, doce de leite (delicious Brazil dessert), and more!  Everyone ate themselves into a food coma.  Tomorrow we have church and another churrasco (bbq).  We are very thankful for all of the experiences God has given us.  We have all been taken out of our comfort zones and pushed to face personal challenges.  We have seen so much of God's power these last 2 weeks. 

Well, God seems to have a different plan than we do.  Last night, Rebecca's car was hit.   No one was in the car, they were having dinner in a restaurant before the last night of EE training, so everyone is ok!  However, the car is not driveable, and they spent a majority of the night dealing with it, so EE was postponed.  This means that they will not be coming to Gleba today to go out and practice evangelizing, but will have their last class instead.  Our movie night for adults brought in more kids and only about 4-5 adults, we watched the Jesus Film in Portuguese.   One of our big goals in Gleba was to help start an adult church, since it only has a kids service right now.  It seems as if all of our outreaches are switching directions or not going the way we planned.  Please pray that we can continue in the path that God has planned.  Pray that He will show us what we need to do in our last few days here.  We're getting so much work done improving the church, God definitely has a plan for that building.  Everything seems to fall into place while we're working on it.  Pray that we would be patient to wait for God's plan to be revealed.  Pray for Greg and Rebecca as they deal with their car before they have to come back to the States in a few weeks. 

Be flexible!

Today we learned a lesson in being flexible.  Plans changed about 20 times.   For various reasons, we decided not to do evangelistic dinners.  The girls stayed at the church and the boys went out this evening and gave food to a family in need.  The goal for the church is to have the walls, windows, ceiling, floor and outside painted before we leave.  Today we finished the inside walls and windows.  Greg was not feeling well last night, so he went to the doctor today.  This made getting home interesting and stressful for Rebecca.  We are in 2 different places at night, some of us in Gleba and Pastor Jon and Bart are doing evangelism training at another church. 

Please pray for Greg and Rebecca.  They are both not feeling well and have a lot of added stress with 11 extra people to take care of.  Rebecca has been organizing everything, and if one thing gets messed up, it can throw everything off.

Pray for our dinner and movie outreach tomorrow night in Gleba.  We decided to invite some adults to the church, serve dinner, and possibly show the Jesus film in Portuguese.  Pray that we have a good turn out and can share the gospel.  The pastor thinks if we can get 10 people, that would be amazing! 

Gleba Day 2

We hit some traffic this morning, so we didn't get much painting done this morning.   We got the church ready for VBS this afternoon.  That was a little different than VBS in Lindoia.  We have 4 days instead of 2, so we can spread some things out, but many of the kids in Gleba aren't used to sitting still for a long time, so you have to keep them moving.  It went well, but it was tiring!  The kids loved our songs!  So excited we got to learn those from our Lindoia friends and translators!  We are taking the night off from evangelistic dinners.  The local pastor has to be at another church tonight, and we can't go without his direction.  So, we get to have Brazilian hot dogs and ice cream!  Continue the prayers!  We've been very blessed so far, pray that it continues.  Pray for rest on our evening off.  Pray for VBS in Gleba this week.  Pray that kids continue to come and we can reach some lost people.  We will be back to evangelistic dinners tomorrow, so continue to pray for that!  Obrigada!!  (Thank you!!)