Perspectives: DAY FIVE - Time for Church

Sunday morning we awoke to heavy thunderstorms in the area. The day also brought the opportunity for us to attend Pastor Latham's Igreja Batista Central (Central Baptist Church) here in Gravatai' Brazil. Fortunately, the rain tailed off just when it was time to leave for church.

While at the church, the attendance was a little down due to the holidays and the weather. It looked like there were around fifty people there. For Sunday School, Brother Moyer taught the English class while all the Brazilians broke off into traditional classes by age designations.

The congregational singing here has been amazing. The church is not blessed with instrumentalists like we are used to but they sure do love to sing. Each person sang with a lot of volume and emotion, I would just call it passion. It is very moving to see and be a part of the church we have been hearing about for many years now.

The Herberts played some beautiful music and later, the California group and the Kansas group all sang Amazing Grace together for the church. Once again, Americans singing to the Brazilians made everyone cry. Wow, speaking for all of us, it was hard not to cry when we saw their emotional response.

For preaching time, I had the privilege to preach to Brother Latham's people. This is the second time I have preached with an interpreter. About five years ago, I preached in one of the Russian churches in Sacramento. This time, of course, it was interpreted in Portuguese. The message was about our God who can not lie. It was mostly evangelistic and we were hoping a few of the people who were visiting would get saved. The people were responsive as Brother Latham closed out the service.

One more member of the ministry team you may have noticed in some of the pictures is a young man named Erik Aleckson. Eric is 24 years old and is from Braham, Minnesota. He arrived the same day we did and is planning to spend three months with the Latham's helping in the ministry. After we leave, his primary task will be to run a basketball camp for the young people here. He is fine young man and we have enjoyed his fellowship very much.

Sunday evening we were able to eat in another home of one in the church family. Ilma has been a widow for about ten years. Her husband died from complications with diabetes. She prepared a delicious meal of chicken and rice, black beans and a few other sides. Another popular Brazilian food item is tapioca pudding which was available in two different flavors. We have found that rice is definitely one of their diet staples which makes us feel right at home. Ilma has an eligible daughter, Bia who is a school teacher and looking for a husband. Her son Dioni turns 18 this week.

Monday starts the big production in the public schools and you are going to get a real kick out of our makeup. We will have to take a poll who do we most look like, clowns, geisha's, two-face from batman, or the rock group kiss We will be performing three times tomorrow to about 800 students. Thank you again for your prayers as we go into these schools all during the week.

Lastly, thank you for praying for Rachel. She seems to finally be getting better. Other than Rachel's allergic reaction, we are all feeling fine. Please pray that it will stay that way!