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.
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 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.
Not one, not two, but three languages were being taught in both directions between Charles and Jonathan.
Hit a good bump on the way home, and the spare tire fell down, so we had to stop for that. Isn't Phillip's hat just lovely?
This was the first high school we went to. We spent an afternoon and a morning there, and it was truly a blessing. Besides the Bible distribution in the classes, we gave out dozens of tracts as the students were moving around from class to class.
In the morning, I got left behind with the boxes while the rest of the team took them to the classes. It wasn't long before I was surrounded by about 30 kids all curious about the white lady and the boxes. As soon as I told them the boxes were full of Bibles, they all wanted one. It about killed me that I couldn't just crack open a box and start passing them out right there. The hunger in some of their eyes was obvious. I had a good time laughing and cutting up with the kids. One guy told me he was Elvis Presley. Eventually, they all ended up with tracts and began to break up into groups of four or five and sit down to read them.
One boy in particular seemed especially interested in having a Bible. He was in 12th grade and told me his name was Patrick. I quickly asked God to get that kid a Bible somehow along with the group of girls who had sat down right next to the boxes. Later, I did see that Patrick had gotten a Bible and was grateful for that. A bit later he came back and gave me the tract that had just been given to him not too long before with his name and address on the back and a check mark in the box indicating that he had received Christ.
Patrick is one of about 40 or so kids who returned their tracts to one of us while we were still there. Pray that these kids will grow in their faith and pray that they will follow Jesus all the way into eternity.
Update: Someone (not me) actually got a picture of Patrick. That’s him on the end of the bench reading a tract.
