Tuesday afternoon, Recife

After lunch, we launched the first ever "eye clinic" at Kids Place. Pastor Lescue had hired a bike with a speaker system to ride through Coque favela in the previous weeks announcing the eye clinic. Anyone who needed glasses could stop by Kids Place to pick up a number and an appointment time to return for an eye exam. (We use language like "clinic" and "exam" very loosely, mind you...)

More than sixty people came and were efficiently moved from station to station for various intake and exam portions, and then they were matched with a pair of glasses that (we hope) closely approximated the prescription they needed. Every patient heard the gospel presented and/or was prayed with at some point during their visit. Several people prayed to accept Christ, one woman through tears as she said that she had never heard this story of Jesus before. Praise God. He has been in the business of going through physical needs to get to our hearts for all of time.

Now that we've got the kinks in the system somewhat worked out, we hope to fit another 60-80 people with glasses at tomorrow's clinic! Please pray for open hearts and magically matched glasses and patients!

Henrique and Ellen (photo by David Fisher)

After the clinic, Baby Ellen drew her biggest fans back into Coque favela. How could you resist those big brown eyes?

One family on our team formed an unexpected friendship with Ellen's parents the day before when they couldn't resist holding this precious 9-month-old baby. Henrique and Rita have several children involved with Kids Place, and Rita attends the women's Bible study there when she can. (This is the family that offered their painting as a gift.)

We returned to their home this afternoon with a big pink bag of donated baby clothes for Ellen, and a promise to continue to pray for them when we return to the States. We shared Christ with them and about six children who crammed their way into the house to listen. Henrique and Rita know Christ, but they showed concern that the other children understand the story. Our translator, Daniel, did a fabulous job of following up with the children, asking them questions and drawing them into the discussion.

When we asked Henrique and Rita to write their family members' names down so we could pray for them by name in the future, they included names of their neighbors that they also want us to pray for. They also mentioned that they would like to have a Portugese Bible because Rita's ex-husband tore up the only one they had. We hope to send one home with their daughter after VBS this week.

On the walk back through Coque toward Kids Place, Henrique pointed out a home where the local "black magic" spiritist lives and works. Just across the "alley" (2 feet of mud, random bricks and trickling water), another CCBC family was visiting friends they'd made on their first mission trip to Recife last year. They'd helped repair this family' roof on that trip, and they were eager to renew the friendship and pray with them. I have to think that most Americans say they "might come back" some day, but it must be a surprise and joy for them to see people they've bonded with actually return.

We ate dinner at Kids Place again, enjoying a traditional Brazilian dish followed by American Duncan Hines cupcakes! A great combination. Cupcakes and Coke at dinner (and perhaps a little delirium) made at least one of the vans a lively place on the ride back, complete with top-speed Pig Latin...in Portugese. You can only get this kind of a randomness on a mission trip, people. You really should come next time.

Back at the hotel, some swam and some ventured out to the Brazilian version of WalMart a few blocks away. They have ramped escalators that lock shopping carts in place, and security guards wheeling around on old-school, four-wheeled skates. Awesome. They also have cheap Havianas flip-flops (expensive in the States) and Brazilian coffee for souvenirs. Only at the checkout counter did we realize how heavily we'd been relying on translators this week, and we were lost. We exchanged blank looks and hopeful smiles with the cashier, and eventually exchanged money and shrugs, hoping it all came out alright. We love our translators even more than we did before.

Getting to bed too late once again, but figuring we can sleep at home, we close out another day. Please pray we'll all (especially the kids) have the energy needed to finish strong and "leave it all here" on these remaining days. And please pray God would lead each of us to a specific child we can build a relationship with and continue to pray for from home. 

Thanks! Boa noite! (Goodnight! And trust me, the pronunciation is nothing like the spelling...)