Day 1 Overcomers

Greetings from PauauAzul Hotel Brazil. It has been a bittersweet beginning to what we know will be a testiment of God's faithfulness. We are saddened to share with you that Kelly Breedlove, our dear and sweet sister in Christ was unable to make it on this journey with us. We began our department at DFW airport with tears and hugs as we promised her we would carry her work to the people here.

Our flight to Miami was uneventful, however, due to a flight delay when we arrived in Miami we had about 20 minutes to make our flight to Brazil. 13 women ran top speed through over 40 terminals and sat breathless on the tiniest 757 plane you have ever seen. We had a short layover in Salvador and then continued the flight into Recife. Emily shared a story about a young man on her flight who was a new christian that had been working at Disney World in a college program. I too had a young medical student who did the same and she was also a christian. Our other seatmate was a woman Methodist minister and they allowed me to share my Portuguese track and practice my Evangecube.

Upon arrival we discovered another roadblock.....no bags. They assume that when we were rushing from the Miami plane that our luggage did not have time for transfer. So, we are now sitting with very little supplies, a few folks without clothes and shoes and a whole lot of sharing and laughing. We are being "Flexable" as Julie and Cindy kept telling us we would have to be! Exciting times my friends, keeps us smiling.

We were greeted by Pastor Josue, our translators, Valeria who arrived on a plane to also help us and Lucia and his family. They took us to dinner, then to our hotel where we freshened up for the evening. Finally, what we had been praying for arrived and we boarded a bus for the fishing village. We were greeted by a beautiful chorus of young girls and boys who had a welcome sign. They sang some worship songs, shared their hearts and performed a drama of the typical family life they or others experience in their city. It was a dramatization of a mother cleaning, the children not respecting her and the father coming home drunk. Then the pastor prayed and Julie, barefeet and all shared a heart warming tale of the Samaritan women and how we all need a new heart and we want all of them to experience it.

We finally headed back to the hotel and ate dinner. While we were eating a woman approached Valeria, and shared with us that her and her family had noticed that we were different, and they felt that we had the spirit of Jesus with us. They shared their faith and testimony with us. It was so beautiful to see the joy of Christ penetrating a very joyful people. How easy is it for you to approach some random stranger from another country and tell them they've got the spirit! Completely amazing.

Everyone is exhausted and have headed to bed to rest for an exciting day tomorrow. Pray that we find other activities to fill our days while we wait for our luggage. Pray for many to choose a new heart and pray for endurance, faith and love to penetrate us all as we share Christ with others one conversation at a time.

Blessings,

2010 Women's Team