Today we left Exu for another city in another state- Petrolina, Pernambuco. It is home to the Reiner’s, but it is my first time outside of Ceara since coming to Brazil. We woke up around 7:00, packed our stuff, and ate a breakfast of French rolls and butter, cheese, goiaba juice, hot milk, and cake. We quickly ate and loaded up, moving on to our next destination which was several hours away.

I went with William and the Reiner’s in the large Panjero, but awhile after leaving town we stopped at a gas station, and Uncle Jim asked me if I would like to drive his car. I eagerly agreed, and a few minutes later I was enjoying my first opportunity to drive in Brasil. He allowed me to drive rest of the way to Petrolina, a full 296.5 kilometers. 🙂

Along the way I saw muitos, muitos (many, many) goats, cows, and donkeys along the side of the road, and I had to pass them cautiously, wary of any that might decide to cross the road as I passed. One time I had to stop for a wild pig and three or four of her piglets as they crossed the road. I also got a little experience passing big trucks and small motorcycles.

It was a fairly good road so I didn’t have to dodge too many potholes. Speed-wise, I never went over 120, and I normally hovered between 90 and 100 (yes, mom, it was kilometers per hour, not miles per hour 🙂 ).

Not only was it my first experience driving in Brasil, but it’s also the longest I’ve driven a manual transmission on a public road. My total stick-shift experience in the past was shorter than my driving time today. All in all, it was the most fun I have had driving in a long time, and it probably will be awhile be for I have that much fun again because the roads in the US are fairly boring (except when we have blizzards).

We arrived in Petrolina and went straight to the Uncle Doug and Aunt Renate’s house. They have two houses right now that sit on the same piece of land. They built a smaller house right behind their original house and have moved into it, leaving the old house vacant.

The houses are adjoined with a single wall that has a door in it. Each of us visitors were given our own rooms in their former house, and we are the last people to ever stay on this property while it is in the Reiner’s possession. The day we leave, the door will be filled in, making a solid wall, and the new owners of the house will move in later this year.

I put my stuff in my room and spent the next hour just relaxing with the others. We ate a lunch of rice, chicken, lettuce salad, and cajuina, and rest of the afternoon was spent resting. They wanted us to be well-rested from a busy Sunday as well as energized for another long week of ministry. William also left on a bus to go back home.

I actually went up to the porch on the second level of the “guest” house and spent the afternoon in my hammock. Danae and Destiny also came up and we just laid there and talked awhile. It was Destiny’s first time in a hammock, so we tried to break her into the Brasilian art of sleeping in one.

In the evening we ate a quick meal of chicken salad sandwiches, chips, and cajuina, and we drove to Juazeiro Oito for the first night of a three-night EBF (Escola Bíblica de Férias), also known in America as Vacation Bible School. Danae and Destiny and I are in charge of the games, and things went fairly well for the first night.

The church is small and not established yet, and it has a small property. We divided the kids into four age groups, but we didn’t have enough room to do all three groups on the property without them distracting each other. So we took the kids about a half-block away to a large open piece of dirt and we did the games there. It wasn’t well-lit, but it was enough for our purposes.

We had about 50 kids total come for the evening. They all live in the neighborhood and just roam around at their own free will. So when VBS started they came on their own, and when we finished, they all left and walked back home on their own in the dark. Back in America, we would NEVER do that. But here, it’s just normal and we go along with it.

It was the congregation’s first time doing a VBS, and they did most of the work, so it was really encouraging not only to be part of it but also to see such a good turnout. The whole program also ran smoothly, so that was a blessing.

Back at the house we went back up on the porch for the evening and eventually we came back down so we could sleep. We were told to get up early in the morning because we were going to a grape plantation. Oh yes…I love field trips!

Today was such a great day of ministry. It started when we woke up, ate a quick snack of bananas, and left the house shortly after 7am. We drove about an hour away to the small town of Ouricouri, the location of our morning ministry.

On the way there we practiced our music for the service. In the back of the SUV, William pulled out his guitar and I got out my violin and we started playing and singing together with the girls. When we had finished practicing our songs, we started playing other songs just for fun, and the Reiner’s joined in with us as we sang “I’ll Fly Away,” “When We All Get To Heaven,” etc.

Oh, it was so fun! Guitar, violin, and various harmony parts all together in one vehicle driving down the road. It was a great way to start Sunday. We arrived at the house where we were meeting for church, and we were greeted by the people at the church. It’s not an organized church yet, and there are only about 10 people there, mostly women.

They prepared breakfast for us before the service, so we sat down and ate with them. We had French-style rolls, ham, cheese, tapioca, cake, grapes, mango juice, and chocolate milk. When we were finished we all went back out into main room and had our service.

Yesterday, July 20, was Friendship Day in Brasil, so we decided to carry the friendship theme over into our Sunday services. Our theme was “Jesus, Our Very Best Friend,” and John 15:13 was our theme verse for the first half of the service. We sang songs and the girls gave testimonies, all that pointed toward Christ as our friend because of His sacrifice for us.

After Danae and I finished playing the trumpet/violin duets that we had played just the week before, I preached my message about studying Scripture from II Timothy 3:16,17.  My premise is that when you are good friends with someone, you want to get to know them better, and we get to know Christ by studying the Bible.

After I preached, we sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” because the pastor requested it. Then we ended with “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God” which we sang in both English and Portuguese, and the people joined in with us when we switched languages. Oh, it was a joyous time!

Afterward we talked with the people, got a group picture in the front of the building, and looked at two prospective pieces of property. The whole experience caused me to reflect on the church of Philippi, started down at a river with Lydia and other Gentile women.

First of all, the vision for a church in Ouricouri began in part with a couple women, and most of the attendees are women. Secondly, the house where they now meet has purple walls, reminding me of Lydia, a maker of purple. Finally, the pastor comes from Exu every Sunday with a couple men from his own church to help get this work started. It’s so cool!

For lunch we drove up into the mountains near Exu and ate with a family who goes to church in Exu. The family was extremely hospitable, and just visiting their home was a neat experience. They have a home in town, but they spend their nights at their home up in the hills because it  is a lot cooler there.

They live in a simple house with a couple rooms and a kitchen, and the house is surrounded by several different sources of food. They have bananas, pineapple, corn, manioc root and several other fruits and vegetables. They also have quail (for eggs), lots of chickens, and even pheasants, reminding me of Iowa.

They rarely get water, so they have to gather and conserve whatever they can after it rains. They have big containers that collect the water when it rains, their sink water runs out to the banana plants outside, etc. They use and re-use the water as much as they can to make it last. There they don’t turn off the water to keep the water bill low; they do it because they don’t have much water.

Even in the city of Exu where we stayed, the water supply is only available every few days, so residents have to plan ahead so that they are not wasting water. We were careful to take few and short showers to make sure we didn’t exhaust the supply at our house that weekend. It’s a great reminder to be thankful for the water we so readily have back at home!

Okay, back to lunch. We had rice, beans, cornmeal, chicken, vegetable salad with quail eggs, lasagna, macaxeira, fried cheese, cake, caja juice, guarana, and maracuija (passion fruit) mousse. So many good things at one time! After lunch we sprawled around on hammocks and on the cool concrete floor in the house to rest for awhile.

Later in the afternoon the pastor showed us the new home of a lady in Exu. The lady is only 29 years old, and a couple years ago her husband died. At the time she had two children and was expecting a third one. Her husband had bought land and wanted to build her a house but he died before he could. So with the financial support of many people in the states and in Brasil, the house was built, and it is almost finished.

It was neat to see the joy of Christ in this woman’s eyes and to see how God had provided for her and her small, young family. Situations like this are difficult, but it is SO encouraging to see what God has done.

We returned to the pastor’s house about 2 hours before the evening service, so the pastor took us on a walk around the outskirts of the city. We walked through pastures and along dirt roads, getting a taste of the Brasilian rural life. Halfway through we took guesses as to what time we would arrive back at the house, and I somehow ended up being right on the minute. That gave us something small to laugh about when we returned.

In the evening we went to the church in Exu. We did the same service as we had that morning, except this time I also played “God Is So Good” on my saw right after the message. We had 30-40 people I think, and they really enjoyed the service. Afterward many of the little kids came up to us and said, “Goodje-bye,” in their Northern Brasilian accents.

After church we had supper at the pastor’s house, eating French rolls, cake, grapes, bananas, goiaba (guava) juice, and cajuina. We washed the dishes together and then Danae, Destiny, William, and I sat in the living room area for awhile and talked while Destiny did some fun stuff with Danae’s hair.

William and I let Destiny do some things with our hair too, but before we went to sleep we made sure everything was back to normal. I worked a little on my blog, but I made sure I was in bed in time to get adequate sleep because another big day was approaching!

Today was a sad day for a couple reasons. First of all, it was sad because we left Crato today, my home for the last five weeks. It only took five weeks for me to become fairly involved in several ministries and begin to develop many friendships with both Americans and Brazilians. But the next phase of our ministry requires us to move to Petrolina, so we started in that direction today.

The other reason it was sad was more of an eternal reason, and I will explain in a moment why.

I woke up around 7:00, did my devotions and got ready for the morning, and then I went to the kitchen where Aunt Julie prepared me a tapioca with my favorite ingredients of carne de sol, cheese, tomato, and onion. Danae and Destiny had gone to Crato with Uncles Jim and Doug, and they showed up around the time William and I finished eating.

Our next activity was something I had been anticipating for a long time. We were going to go see the statue of Padre Cicero on the mountain overlooking Juazeiro. Padre Cicero was a man who came to Juazeiro when it was only a small village and started a church there. He won the people over with many acts of humanitarian goodness, and since his death, he has become a highly-revered Brazilian saint.

The main road that connects Juazeiro and Crato is named after him, and images of him can be seen along the road and all throughout Juazeiro. He has become an idol, a dead one, and his giant statue is a place of worship for his followers. Extremists even consider him to be God, and their “trinity” consists of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and Padre Cicero.

Today, July 20, marks the 79th anniversary of the death of Padre Cicero, and it commences one of the annual pilgrimages to this site. Busloads of religious tourists were there, eager to pray at the statue, walk around it, worship in the chapel, and give alms to the poor who gathered along the road.

We drove all the way through Juazeiro, up the moutnain, and parked along with all the buses at the top. In the parking lot, four little boys ran alongside our vehicle until we were stopped, and when we got out they asked for gifts. Uncle Jim had brought along some cookies to give to them. The pilgrims can expect to receive good favor from Padre Cicero when they show kindness to them.

Along the way up to the statue, I took pictures of all the vendors, beggars, and pilgrims that we walked past. As Uncle Jim told us, it was all a big money-making business! Rows of shops lined the road and walkways, offering all kinds of items. Some of them sold fireworks, and as we listened to them explode, we learned that pilgrims will set them off to alert Padre Cicero to their presence.

Are you kidding me? These people are SO blind! If he is God, he doesn’t need little bombs to know that people have arrived to worship him!

We got up to the statue and Uncle Jim, Danae, Destiny, William, and I walked around it, taking lots of pictures along the way. I was SO sad to see so many people ignorant of the truth! I was especially sad to see little kids in the arms of their parents. They will probably grow up believing things that are not true because they won’t know any better.

I switched my camera to the monochrome color setting (black and white) because it was the best way I could capture the emotion of the moment. This place was filled with nothing but hopelessness and twisted business tactics.

We slowly moved around the statue, and at the front, devout followers walked around Padre Cicero’s staff three times, hoping to have their wishes granted. Uncle Jim asked someone why they did it three times, and someone said that it was because they could ask for Padre Cicero to answer one request each time. Uncle Jim asked why they didn’t do it four times, and the pilgrim replied, “That would be asking too much of him” (or something along those lines).

Next we moved to his house where people were singing and taking part in communion as we walked through the chapel area. In one room people drank out of big pots of “holy water”, and the other rooms were filled with wooden body parts and pictures of people with gross injuries and such. Supposedly all these people were healed by Padre Cicero.

As we finished and walked back to our car, I looked at all the people selling things and I thought, God doesn’t even want to be worshiped this way! Faith in God is not a business, but so often in life, religion is a business. Christ overturned the tables in the temple because people were turning the sacred rituals into a business.

I was struck with the truth of 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” It just took on a new meaning for me as I watched money destroy the lives of so many people.

Back at the Leonard household we ate hot ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, and caju juice. Lunch was fairly quick, and right after lunch I had to pack up all my stuff for the next week and throw it all in a bag. I got most of my stuff in my bag, but of course I had lots of accessories like my violin, handsaw, camera bag, water bottle, and books to read. I looked like a girl with all the stuff I was bringing along.

That afternoon we only traveled a couple hours away, arriving at Exu. We stopped at the home of a pastor and his wife, and William, Danae, Destiny, and I moved into their home to stay for a couple nights. After unloading our stuff, we went to a local museum in honor of Luis Gonzaga, a famous musician in Brazil’s history.

Gonzaga is known for his accordion playing, and he lived in Exu at the location of the museum. So it was a really fun visit for me! We saw several different accordions, toured Gonzaga’s house, and heard a few different things about his life. The man who gave us a tour of his house (one of his close relatives) even took us to a room in the house that people normally don’t get to see (Gonzaga’s gun room).

Brazil is currently celebrating the 100th year anniversary of the birth of Gonzaga. I really wanted to play one of the accordions that was on display! But looking at everything was good enough I suppose.

That evening we left the girls at the pastor’s home with  his wife, and the guys walked with the pastor to his church property a couple minutes away. The men of the church were having a churrasco, and we were invited to join them and eat with them. Uncle Doug also gave me the opportunity to deliver a devotional Bible study.

So I spoke about the body of Christ from Romans 12, and William translated for me, his first translation experience. It was the second translator I’ve broken in this summer! That’s a privilege for me. I really wanted to challenge the men to be leaders and work hard to serve the local church since they are the key to building a strong foundation as it gets started.

We ate rice, vegetables, churrasco, and lots of pop…Coke, and three different varieties of guarana. We had just finished our first round of churrasco (mainly beef and chicken) when the guys decided we needed more meat, so a couple guys went to get some linguica (sausage)! But we still had lots of beef and chicken left on the barbecue. So we basically kept eating more and more meat, and oh, it was so good!

Back at the pastor’s house worked on putting together an order of service for the next day, complete with music, testimonies, and a sermon from me. We mostly figured out what to do, and I basically made the final decision on arranging the program into a unified theme. So off to bed it was with a huge day looming.

It had started out as a sad day, but it ended on an exciting note because ministry has a way of bringing about happiness. We are sure getting our fill of ministry right now!

This morning I woke up around 7:00 to go running. I thought about going earlier when it was cooler, but when I woke up around 6:20 and saw that it was really cloudy, I decided to sleep a little longer because I figured it wouldn’t get too hot with the sun blocked. Fortunately, I was right!

Unfortunately it was a little humid due to rain during the night, but it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t near as humid as Iowa is during this time of year. I didn’t want to run for a whole hour like yesterday, so I decided to work on my anaerobic fitness (instead of my aerobic fitness) and do some sprints up the road on the hill. I ran up the hill and back down five times, taking a short break between each one. It was quite the workout.

I did my devotions in the first half or Acts 20, took a shower, and went to breakfast. This day I got a yummy hodgepodge of breakfast foods: granola with coconut yogurt, fried cheese with guava jam, papaya, and hot milk. It was really tasty!

We had one last missions session with Uncle Jim, and today we talked about finances in missions. Branching off from that, we talked about various types of missionary strategies for being supported on the field. We were able to talk about several good concepts related to missionary finances.

Next we had our second and final meeting with Uncle Byron, and once again we laughed for at least 30% of the time. He was just so funny! I have been so blessed to spend time with so many fun men this summer. From Stephen to Uncle Jim to Renato Costa to Uncle Byron to Uncle Doug…most of the time it is just puns and smart remarks, but that is the kind of humor I love, so I have been constantly laughing this summer. ALL the good medicine for the soul!

Lunch consisted of lasagna, rice, garlic bread, and grapes. We left shortly after lunch to go to the Expo Crato, something similar to the county fairs in Iowa with which I’m familiar. The exposição is located in Crato and attracts many visitors all day long. They have several farm animals on display, lots of food stands, and many informational booths.

We looked at a lot of the cattle, watched sugar cane being processed, and watched a short video that told us about the Cariri valley. They also had lots of farm and construction equipment on display, and among them were the familiar John Deere tractors that made me proud to be an Iowan. Yes, even Brasil has quality farm equipment. 🙂

After looking around we went back to the entrance where we looked around at all the things that were being sold there. One lady was selling necklaces that had grains of rice in them, and she would write up to six names on one grain of rice. Uncle Jim ordered a couple of them, so I watched  the lady inscribe the names on the rice for him. I’ve seen these things on TV on the Travel Channel or something, but I’ve never seen it for real, so it was neat to see.

At about 4:30 we finished and drove back home. At night the Expo is a place where believers should not spend their time because it almost becomes a huge nightclub with lots of drinking and worldly music. The Leonard’s said that it gets so loud that the animals have a hard time sleeping through it, so by the end of the week they are exhausted and not much fun to go and see.

We spent rest of the evening relaxing and preparing for our trip the next day. Friday was our last day in Crato and most of the next week will be farther south in Petrolina. For supper we ate leftover pizza from the Hope Encounter, mixed vegetables, and cajuina.

Now I cannot keep telling the Brazilians and the missionary kids that pizza should not have ketchup and mayonnaise on it unless I also try it myself, so I did. I put both condiments on my pizza and swirled them together. The result…was less than satisfying. It wasn’t nasty, but it wasn’t that great either. It tasted more like a hamburger than it did pizza. So now I can officially say that it’s weird. Pizza has enough tomato sauce under the cheese- leave off the ketchup. Mayonnaise…ugh.

After supper we had one last Rook game. We taught Destiny and William how to play, and we broke them in with five rounds of five-hand Rook. Beth came over to watch so that she could also learn how to play, and it was an enjoyable night of fellowship. After the game, Danae brought out her laptop and William grabbed his guitar, and together with Destiny and Beth the four of them sang several songs in Portuguese and English.

What a great way to end the day and to end my five-and-a-half weeks of ministry in Crato and Juazeiro! I’m sad to leave, but I’m also excited to move onto the next phase of ministry during this trip. Saturday we travel to Exu, Sunday we minister in Exu and Ouricouri, and Monday we head several hundred kilometers to Petrolina where we will spend our last week together.

For the first time in two weeks I woke up and went on a run. I slacked off way too much the last couple weeks, so today I made sure I woke up early (6:30) and got in a good run. It’s so easy in life to stop doing the good things, and once you stop, it’s hard to start doing them again!

It was by far one of the most enjoyable runs of my time here. I decided to push myself much more than I had so far, and I ended up running 10 kilometers without stopping. But what made it enjoyable was that I spent the whole run talking to God. For about an hour I tried to thank God for as many things as I could and offer up a few requests.

Lap after lap around the seminary I thanked God for so many different things, and it kept my mind off the exercise. I just kept going and going because it was refreshing rather than tiring. One of the best 10 kilometers of my trip.

For breakfast we had baked oatmeal, papaya, and hot milk. After breakfast we had our third missions session with uncle Jim, our second Portuguese lesson with Aunt Renate, and our first camp counselor meeting with Uncle Byron. Well, it was actually more of a comedy session with Uncle Byron.

Yes, we learned the things he had to share with us, but we spent SO much time laughing! He made joke after joke after joke, and he also told us about all the gross processes that are used to make the basic foods we eat, and it was just hilarious!

We eventually made it through everything he had prepared for the morning, and we had about a 10-minute break between our meeting and lunch. We got rice, meat and beans, green jello, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Oh man, that lemonade was so good!

After lunch we all met on the porch to discuss our responsibilities for a “treasure” hunt, one of the activities for the English retreat today. The teams of students are going to go around finding us and doing different English-related tasks for us. I get to have every team count to “50” in English.

The afternoon flew by, and before I knew it, we were at the Hope Encounter with our scavenger hunt fully underway. When we got done with that our teams practiced our skits (about the importance of learning English) some more and then we played “I’ve Never” some more because it was a popular game on Tuesday.

Uncle Jim’s mom also came to tell us about her 50  years in Brazil and how God blessed her ministry. It was great to see her pictures and hear her testimony of God’s goodness in her life for five decades. It was such a blessing.

For supper we ate pizza, and Uncle Jim explained to everyone that  we don’t pick up our pizza up with a napkin and we don’t put ketchup and mayonnaise on our pizza. However, as I walked around taking pictures, I laughed as many people still used napkins to pick up their food. About the ketchup and mayonnaise on pizza…that’s just weird and I don’t understand it.

After supper we had the presentation of each team’s skit, some more songs, and the last presentation of the story of hope by Uncle Byron. Beth Willson took some time to tell everyone about her life as a missionary kid and how she lived in two different cultures. She then talked about the food in America and many of the unique things we like to eat.

When the night finally ended, we went through the whole ordeal of saying good-bye to everyone and taking pictures together, just like we did at the end of Semana de Musica. Some of these people were even at the Semana de Musica also.

It was sad all over again to say good-bye to many new faces, some of which had become good friends over the last couple weeks. But alas, it had to be done. 🙁

William, Danae, Destiny, Beth and stayed awake until midnight talking about different things, mostly relating to missionary life in Brasil. It was nice to hear the perspectives of the MKs about their experiences and thoughts on life. Eventually I went to bed, waiting for the next day to come and sad that the Hope Encounter was done.

After the normal routine of waking up and eating breakfast, we had another round of classes, this time only with Uncle Jim. He talked to us more about missions in Brazil and the theology and philosophy of missions in general. Some of these things I remember from my missions classes, but other things were new, and even the old stuff was good review. It’s always exciting to hear how God works through people to do spread His Word.

Lunch came and went and so did rest of the first half of the afternoon as I rested a little, did my devotions in Acts, and got some more songs ready for the Hope Encounter. I also put together a short PowerPoint presentation about the instruments I play since I was given the evening slot to share about my music.

We began Wednesday’s issue of the Hope Encounter around 3:30 with the classic mixer game in which participants find people who have done certain things and get their signature.

I taught them the backwards version of the Alphabet Song, thanks to Beth Willson who suggested it and wrote it out for me. After the next installment of Bible stories in the Hope book, I also taught them Father Abraham, and that was a good song to get their energy level high.

Uncle Jim, Danae, William and I did a short skit that Uncle Doug wrote, and it illustrated the importance of knowing English. We also broke up into our five pre-assigned groups from yesterday and tried to write our own skits about the importance of learning English.

I found out that my group was not the most motivated one when it came to doing things like this, but eventually they came up with a skit that we could do. There was quite a bit of prompting on my end, but they finally figured out what to do. It was good for me to have a group that needed me to push them.

We had a good amount of free time before supper, so Danae and I played the card game called “Set” with some of the Brazilians. I haven’t played the game since I was a young child in school, but I quickly rediscovered how fun it is. Soon we had several Brazilians calling out “set” and laughing as our competitive sides revealed themselves.

Uncle Doug really wanted me to play the musical saw during my presentation, but I didn’t bring my saw with me. So, he went to a hardware store and bought a handsaw! It was only a little longer than 2 feet, but I told him I would go ahead and try it to see if it worked.

Right before supper when everyone was just busy talking, I took the saw outside and tried it out. It worked! Pretty soon I was pulling melodies out of it, and the saw turned out to have a decent range. I was so excited to have another instrument down here that I could play, especially one that is so unique.

For supper we ate American hot dogs, carrot sticks, and macaroni ‘n cheese. As previously mentioned, Brasilian hot dogs are sliced and mixed with other things before they are scooped into a bun, so this was a really new hot dog experience for some if not most of the people. I got the impression the night before that people weren’t big fans of the Sloppy Joe’s, but they seemed to like these.

After supper I had the opportunity to give my presentation about my instruments, and I concluded by playing my saw for them. They absolutely loved it, and so did I. That instrument is a great combination of easy and fun.

When we finished the day’s activities, William and I spent some time talking to a brother and sister as they waited for their ride. The girl spoke really good English and the guy did a good job of using what he knew. We had a really good conversation about church and the gospel and biblical standards.

Once again a couple girls had to wait a little longer for their transportation, so they came with all of us back to the sitio and we played “Set” for a long time. I worked on my blog for awhile after they left and tried to go to bed at a decent time because I wanted to run again in the morning. Another great day in the books!

We woke up and had a great breakfast of cinnamon rolls with some of the leftover frosting from the cookie-decorating on Friday night. I took SO long to eat my breakfast. Frosting is SO yummy and I put SO much on my rolls, but I also took time to enjoy them, so it took awhile to finish my two.

This morning was the first of four days of classes with Uncle Jim, Aunt Renate, and Uncle Byron. Today we got an overview of the theology of missions as well as an introduction to missions in Brazil with Uncle Jim. Aunt Renate then gave us some Portuguese lessons, teaching us the alphabet and the pronunciations of the letters.

After four weeks, I have already learned a lot about Brazilian missions, but it was good to sit down and hear more about it. I have also learned a lot about Portuguese, but it really helped to finally see the alphabet and hear how to pronounce words correctly. For awhile, a lot of my struggle to understand Portuguese was caused by by ignorance of Portuguese pronunciation.

I’m looking forward to three more days of classes! We also laugh a lot during these meetings because all these missionaries have such a great sense of humor.

When we were finished, I spent some time finding songs for the Hope Encounter. I needed songs that were simple and repetitive so that they would help the people with their English. But I also tried to make it a good mix of some fun songs and Bible stories too.

For lunch we ate rice, beans, pieces of beef, macaxeira fries, and some vegetables which I don’t recall. After lunch I compiled my list of songs into a PowerPoint with all the lyrics. At 2:40 we went up to the seminary to welcome people as they arrived for the Hope Encounter which was scheduled to begin at 3:00.

The Hope Encounter is a three-day English retreat for any and all Brazilians who want to learn English, just as the Semana de Musica was for any and all Brazilians who wanted to learn more about music. We start at 3:00 each day and go until 9:00, but we have packed the program with lots of activities, American meals, and stories from Scripture about God’s plan of redemption.

We have around 70 people signed up, and we figure that most of them are unsaved, so it will also be a good opportunity to share the gospel. They each get one of those Hope books that I brought with me on the airplane, and Uncle Byron will go through the entire book over the span of six sessions  during these three days.

People slowly trickled through the gate , and we helped direct them up to the cafeteria. Some of them spoke okay English, and some of them are just beginning to learn it. I think they started around 3:30, and by 3:50 I joined the group at the dining hall as they listened to Uncle Byron tell the story of hope.

The first game that we did was a picture scavenger hunt. Everyone was divided into five teams for the week, and we had to go around and take pictures with different things around campus like the SBC sign, a dog, and a basketball hoop on the court. We also taught them how to play “I Have Never” and we had an absolutely amazing time playing that game.

With the help of some of the others, I taught the group how to sing the Bible Alphabet Song, God Is So Good, and  Row, Row, Row Your Boat in a round. It was a lot of fun, and we heard the people singing the songs later, especially Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

For supper we introduced the Brazilians to Sloppy Joe’s and carrot sticks along with chips and cajuina. Uncle Jim tried to explain to them that in America we don’t use napkins to pick up our sandwiches (or any other food) and that Sloppy Joe’s are messy, making it silly to even try.

But the custom in Brasil is to use napkins to pick up their food so that their fingers stay clean. So it was really funny to walk around and still see people grab their Sloppy Joe’s with napkins and try to eat them that way. Hahahaha, they had such a mess on their hands- literally!

Following supper we played more games, had another Story of Hope session, and sang some more songs. Afterward we hung out with some of the students and just enjoyed talking to them in English, helping them learn more grammar and vocabulary. A couple of the students had to stay around for an extra hour, so we talked with them for awhile after everyone else was gone.

It was a great day because we got to do the people a favor by helping them expand their knowledge of English. At the same time, we also learned a few Portuguese words and tried to practice what we knew with them. In the end it was a blessing to be able to communicate with them as we both learn new languages.

Most importantly, the gospel was presented to everyone. Two more days of this blessing!

Monday was a really busy day. After a breakfast of granola, coconut yogurt, and milk, all five of us in the house went shopping to get some more things for the three-day Hope Encounter.

Aunt Julie and Jennifer went to Atacadao while Uncle Jim, Danae, and I went to Juazeiro. We picked up several items at the shops in town and then we came back and went to Assai, the new grocery store across the road from Atacadao. There we purchased, some chips, spices, and some  doce de leite for Danae and I to bring home.

We tacos for lunch, and around 2:00 we had rest of our Aventura Brasil team join us at the sitio. Byron Atha and his son William (who was at the Semana de Musica), Doug and Renate Reiner, and Destiny Gates drove in and we all went out to meet them.

The Atha’s are missionaries farther south, and we will spend more time with them next week. The Reiner’s are also from farther south, and they have done a lot of the work in organizing the Aventura Brasil program. Destiny is a high school student from one of the Reiner’s supporting churches in New York, and she arrived in Brasil just a couple days ago by airplane.

We let the group eat lunch while we sat around and talked with them, and later in the afternoon we had a group meeting to make plans for the Hope Encounter. We assigned responsibilities, decided on activities to do, and made the final plans for meals. I get to lead the singing and help with some of the other activities, and of course, I’m going to take pictures! 🙂 Wednesday night I also get to spend a few minutes telling everyone about the different instruments I play.

For supper we ate Aunt Julie’s retirment chicken turnovers, fruit salad, broccoli salad, and flan for dessert. Shortly after we headed up to the cafeteria on the seminary campus to scope out the place and decide how to set up for the English retreat. That task didn’t take too long, and soon enough we were back down at the house, preparing for bed.

My devotions today were in Acts 17. One of my favorite “short stories” in Acts is that of the Bereans and their fervor for the gospel. They didn’t just take Paul’s word for it when he preached. They took the time to study Scripture on their own and interpret it with the help of the Holy Spirit. I need to always have that same attitude toward the Bible.

Well, rest of the team is here and exciting days lie ahead! Aventura Brasil (the second half of my trip) has officially begun, so here we go!

Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (NKJV). Today was one of those days when I saw both themes in action. It began with much rejoicing, and most of the day was that way, but it ended in sadness.

Danae and I practiced our trumpet/violin duets sometime after 7:30, and they sounded good! We quick ate breakfast altogether, and I cannot remember what we ate. I know we had papaya, but I don’t remember what else we had. Oh well…

We went to First Baptist and Danae and we played during communion as planned. Aunt Julie also accompanied us on the piano. The pastor also gave us hymnals so we could play along with the congregational singing, and we had a great time doing that. I hope it was a good ministry to everyone else as well.

One of my favorite things to do is play for churches, especially when they sing, so I was doing one of the most basic things I love doing. It was a privilege to also play with a church during its anniversary celebration.

We had communion and then we broke up for Sunday School, and this all took about 2 1/2 hours. Actually, we went from 9:00 until a little after 11:00, but the announcements at the end of the service easily took at least 20 if not 25 minutes. Here in Brazil, they save many of their announcements for the end of the service and give them to the people all at once.

One of the interesting things about this church is that it is going through a building expansion right now. It is in its third sanctuary expansion, and currently people sit outside during services because it’s so full.

The church adds on by building a newer, bigger building over its existing sanctuary. Once it is completed, they quickly tear down the inner building, and they finish the new building. So right now there is a structure around the present building, but they are still meeting inside the old one!

Soon after Sunday School ended we went home (no separate morning service) and got lunch ready. We had great-tasting ham, cheesy potatoes, bread with butter, and peas. Mmmm…SO tasty!

In the afternoon I transferred my belongings to the other house and traded rooms with Danae. When rest of the people arrive, they will stay with me in the house, and the girls will be in the room that I used these past few weeks. I took a short nap after I moved my stuff and then we went to see the statue of Mary being constructed nearby.

I mentioned a long time ago that a large statue is being constructed on a hill overlooking the seminary property, but it was halted because a construction worker fell down and died, and the statue was also found to be wrongly financed with government money.

Uncle Jim took me and Danae up to the site to see the progress of the statue and to take pictures. It was so sad to see the ignorance of the people! The statue is constructed by making huge concrete molds plaster molds, covering them with a layer of fiberglass, then cutting the fiberglass pieces off the molds and fitting them together around a tall concrete framework.

As we looked on and took pictures, men unloaded large pipes from a government truck. Supposedly the statue is on hold, but they are obviously hard at work on it, still using government resources to complete the project.

We walked around to the front of it to see what kind of view the Leonard’s would have of it from their new house after it is constructed on the property by the seminary. Uncle Jim walked up beside me and said, “I wish God would somehow put an end to this idolatry. This is ridiculous.” I could feel the sadness that he vocalized as he emphasized the last word.

Back at the Sitio Alegre (the group of houses where the Leonard’s live next to the seminario), we rested a little more, ate a supper of grilled cheese sandwiches, and prepared for the evening service. Uncle Jim suggested that I bring my violin again just in case they want me to play in the evening service.

We got to First Baptist and the pastor actually asked me if I could play the piano for the service- prelude, congregational singing, and postlude. I enthusiastically agreed and then I wondered what I was doing when he gave me the two congregational selections. They were two songs that I had already sung, but they were still new and unfamiliar for me.

For the prelude I played a Ron Hamilton song that I was totally unfamiliar with, but the pastor really liked it. The congregational singing went really well considering how much sight-reading I had to do, and for the postlude I played When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, adding to the theme of Christ’s return.

Afterward we went outside and ate cake and drank cajuina with rest of the church people, celebrating the church’s anniversary. Danae and I said good-bye to some friends from the Leonard’s church because it was our last Sunday here and then we went home.

As we pulled into the Sitio Alegre, I found out that a relative of someone we know died earlier in the day. Once a healthy, normal boy, this young guy had an unidentified disease that slowly deteriorated his body until he just died. The visitation was that evening and he was going to be buried the next morning.

So I went with Uncle Jim to this young man’s house on the other side of Crato, near the mountain up which I had hiked earlier in the week. We entered the small home, and the mother met us and talked about her son. The boy lay in the casket, completely filled with white flower petals and surrounded by a couple candles and some pictures of Mary and Jesus.

Many family members were there, and they all gathered around when Uncle Jim read some Scripture. He spent most of the time just listening to the mother talk, and before we left, he prayed for them.

Uncle Jim believes the boy was saved, based on his testimony during the few times he visited. The boy always told his mother that he trust God and that she needed to have the same kind of faith. Hopefully his death will lead to the salvation of her and others in her family.

It was a sobering experience, as is any death, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to go see it. After arriving home I swatted some mosquitoes and headed to bed.

1:30am- The guys are sleeping outside in our hammocks and it starts sprinkling on us. The sky had harbored storm clouds all day long on Friday, but they did nothing more than float overhead. Well, now they were slowly falling on us.

It was a light enough rain that I wouldn’t have minded to just keep laying there huddled in my blanket, but pretty soon we were taking down our hammocks and carrying them to the porch after all. Within a few minutes we were laying down again.

5:30am- Oh, how thankful I am that we moved! It was raining hard now! I was on the edge of the porch, but I was able to keep dry. Only a few more inches and I would have been soaked. 5:30 was still to early to be waking though, so I fell back asleep.

8:00am- I woke up, and all the other guys were gone! I walked into the house where everyone was getting ready to eat breakfast. Danae told me that some of the girls had been up since 5:30 waiting in line to use the bathroom. Eita! I can’t even imagine…

For breakfast we ate French rolls with scrambled eggs, papaya, bananas, and hot milk. After breakfast we all sat down on the porch and Uncle Jim asked the kids what they had studied from their devotions that morning and how it applied to the themes we were emphasizing over the weekend.

Next up was a game of “killer ball”, a version of dodgeball that isn’t actually as violent as it sounds, and they absolutely loved the game. I took pictures during the first round as Uncle Jim dominated the game, and I joined in for rest of the rounds.

After awhile we went into the house for a break and enjoyed cheesy muffins and pineapple juice that Aunt Julie and Danae had prepared. It was getting to be a fairly hot day, so we cooled off on the porch, ate our snack, and then pulled out some table games like UNO and Rummikub.

As I was finishing up my game of Rummikub, almost everyone else had gathered out on the lawn to play Ninja. I think the game was imported by a church from Rochester that had brought a group down to work with the Leonard’s a couple years ago. This was the same group that helped do some electric work in the chapel.

I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Ninja, probably because sometimes it seems like it’s overplayed, but it’s still fun. So I jumped right in, and boy did I have a fun morning! I won the first two rounds I played, and Danae came outside in time for the third round.

Unfortunately I had a brain lapse during the third round and wasn’t even paying attention when the person next to me got me out. But it was okay because Danae eventually won that round. I won the fourth round, and by this time everyone was afraid of the “Americanos”. So what did Danae and I do? We joined forces to eliminate the opposition, of course!

Halfway through the fifth round we had to stop for lunch, so we reluctantly laid down our arms and went inside. Lunch consisted of rice, beans, lasagna, bananas, and pop.

When I went through the line I teased one of the guys who had been teasing me as well. He got his rice and before he could put the beans on his rice, I was using the rice spoon to sweep half of his rice onto my plate, causing him to burst out laughing. Then when we sat down and got a chair for himself, I was already sitting so I set my feet on his chair as a foot rest and thanked him in Portuguese, causing him to laugh some more. It was so fun!

Following lunch we all sat down and shared what we had learned over the weekend together, so each person had a chance to tell us how God had challenged them.

All these kids have been in the church’s Bible club, so the last thing we did was a game of charades, demonstrating a story from the last semester of Bible club. The boys formed a team and the girls formed two teams, and we gave them a few minutes to decide what to do. Uncle Jim, Aunt Julie, Danae, and I were the judges.

The guys re-enacted the story of Israel in the wilderness, and the funniest part was when “Moses” hit a rock (the ones we brought back from the quarry the other day) and water came out of it! The boys had pulled a water hose around to the rocks, and when Moses hit the rock, another boy turned on the water! It was SO creative!

Both girls groups chose the story of Samson and Delilah, and they also did well re-enacting the story. It was so funny to see everyone wrapped up in blankets and hammocks to imitate the clothes worn by the people of days gone by.

At about 2:00 we wrapped things up, took some pictures together, and returned the kids to their homes. It was kinda sad to see them go, but man, we were exhausted! I guess that means we did our job!

Danae and I rested a little and then we received word that we would be playing music at a church in the evening. First Regular Baptist Church in Crato celebrated its 65th anniversary, and to commemorate the occasion they had a conference with the theme of Christ’s return. They invited their six daughter churches and church plants from the city to join them for the weekend, and the Leonard’s church is one of these congregations.

Well, Danae and I were given the privilege to play our instruments for them, so we practiced a trumpet piece that we had been preparing, and I also practiced my favorite piano arrangement. For supper we quickly ate some grilled cheese sandwiches and then off we went!

Danae played the offertory and I accompanied her and then I played the postlude. In these churches, the prelude and postlude are an important part of the service, not just filler music as people are entering and exiting. The service begins, and the prelude is a time of meditation.

At the end of the service, everyone sits and listens to the postlude and then they get up and leave. This is one cultural difference that I personally think is much, much better than how we do things in our American churches. It’s rare to have people in a church who can play music like Danae and I, so people appreciate it more. Back home, we are spoiled with good music and we mindlessly hear it in the background as we file in and out of our pews.

Another neat experience was watching the baptism of twelve people, nine from First Baptist and three from one of the daughter church plants. I always enjoy watching baptisms because it’s a good indication of a growing church that is reaching out to the lost!

The special speaker for the weekend is the pastor of the church in Iguatu that I first visited when I came here a few weeks ago. He spoke from 1 Thessalonians about how believers should live in these last days as we anticipate the coming of Christ.

At the end of the service, the pastor asked Danae and I to come back and play in the morning for communion. He asked us to play a trumpet/violin duet as the elements were being served, and Danae and I excitedly agreed to this unique endeavor.

The pastor is actually one of the most if not the most musically-trained person in the church. He plays the piano well and sings extremely well, so it was a privilege for them to have Danae and I there for a couple days, playing some music that the church never gets to hear.

Back at home Danae got busy on her computer, arranging three simple duets for us to play. I told her to do whatever she wanted for the violin part because I figured it would be just fine. She’s a music major and has learned the basics of violin, so she knows what she’s doing. Especially for communion, the music only needs to be simple and meditative.

I went to bed for the last time in that room, enjoying my air-conditioning for one last night…