Rachael seems to be having a good time here. She's been holding the wordless book while Brother Robson from Brazil tells the story. I'm just a bit concerned about her spiritual condition, however, as she was considering converting to Buddhism today. (Just kidding folks!)
She did get just a bit lobsterized on the last day.
In one of the towns we pass through you will see this church at one end of town and this house with a devil mask over the door. Pretty much everywhere you will see houses with crosses painted on each side of the door, but this doesn't mean the people who live there are Christian. I've been told that the crosses are supposed ward off evil spirits. Pray for the spiritual darkness to be lifted.
This particular town was one where Bibles were distributed in the school last year. The great need now is for a church and people who can disciple those in whose hearts God has been working. In fact, one of the team leaders said the other day that every town where we've taken God's Word into the schools needs a church. Pray for laborers.
At one of the schools, we ran into a lady who was cleaning fish on one of the benches. I've spared you the grosser details of what was on the other side of the basin. 
On Saturday, Rachael and I went over to Lu's house and almost had a conversation. There was lots of halting silence and looking through the word list, but we managed to exchange a few pieces of information. When we got back, Joyce asked me if I had invited her to church. I started to feel bad that I hadn't until I realized that I didn't know enough Portuguese to actually do that.
So after breakfast the next morning, I grabbed Lisa, and we went over to see if she would come. And she said yes. After the the service, I got Paul Sr. to help me explain a drawing I had told her earlier that I would show her. She had commented several times about how happy and content I was, and I had said that I wanted to show her a picture I had drawn when I was not so happy. As Paul and I explained the drawing and the story behind it, Paul began to share the Gospel with her, and she received Christ.
I know I'm at the end of a long line of people who have been planting seed and watering the ground, but it's such a priviledge to actually be there when that seed sprouts.
On the day I took this picture, Neni washed clothes and left well after dinner when they were all cleaned and hung on the lines. I saw the places on her hands where the skin had been rubbed raw and the bulging, swollen muscles in her forearms. At that moment, I knew that I didn’t have a clue what hard work really is. I would have quit long before I had any marks in my body to show for my labor.
Update: Neni is no longer just the “laundry lady”. She received Christ at one of the evening services, so she’s also now my sister. Somewhere in between all of that laundry, she made a lovely table cover for me before I left.