Friday, February 19, 2010

Day 2 Gloria De Deus

We stand in awe of You Lord Jesus! What an exhausting, yet empowering Day in Christ. We began our morning with a devotional; singing and praising God for always being here for us. Pastor Josue joined us and shared a word about the home life situations of the women attending today. He shared of their poverty,abuse and promiscuity, children as young as 12. This set our hearts on God's plan for each woman and our role as we headed out the village.

When we arrived we enjoyed the amazing music from Waska and the worship band. They truly move you with their love for Christ and passion for their own people. It is humbling to see such community.

We broke up into small groups and shared with each woman about our homes and our biggest fear and then they shared their own. It is unanimous that women are completely universal, suffering and fearing the same things in our lives even thousands of miles apart. They feared violence and for their children. Can you relate?

We gathered for Jenny's testimony and were touched by her honesty and faith. We then took a break for lunch.

When we returned the women from a few of the small groups allowed us to visit their homes and bless them and their families. They opened their hearts to us and we felt warmly welcomed and blessed to be allowed into their place of rest. Most of the husbands were home and we were able to pray with them present. One woman Julie had prayed for last year for a new addition to their home, because their entire family was sharing a bed. This hear Julie remembered and noticed the wonderful new addition. What an amazing testimony to God's answer to our prayers. We will visit the other women tomorrow and we know we will be blessed and humbled again.

Our bags had arrived at the hotel, praise God, so we headed back to prepare for our evening, excited that we can do some of what we planned. When we arrived back they were worshipping. Such joy filled their hearts, a joy I wish we saw more often in America. They performed a dramatization of the washing of the feet of Jesus, while they sang a song. Truly spirit filled.

We broke up in small groups and created mirrors; our activity we would have done the day before; that shows their reflection of the Gloria De Deus, the glory of God. They enjoyed is so very much; each showing their amazing creativity and the diversity of each person. They also made ice scream and that was a complete scream. They were shaking in every which way and laughing.

Barbara shared her life changing testimony. What an amazing transformation story; showing God's love affair with His people.

We thank you for your prayers for our bags, and for our safety and health. Keep praying as we end our time in the village tomorrow for heart change and pray that each of us plants Christ in their hearts for others to cultivate.

Abregado! (Thank You) The Glory of God was seen here today!

Brazil Team 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

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