"Cheeseboogie"

Regina, the hostess of last night's small group.


The land that Patti & Georgia's church is about
to build a bigger sanctuary on.

I've been in Rio with Patti (formerly of HFBC) and Georgia since Monday. I will be here for 2 weeks total. I have been to 3 small groups, youth band rehearsal and Bible Study, morning prayer meeting at the church, errands around downtown to work out document details related to the new sanctuary they are building, and a fine arts museum.

I am enjoying the fellowship of both of these sisters in Christ and all of their wonderful church members and friends! I am starting to understand Portuguese much better and can generally follow along in small group discussions. The dialect of people here in Rio is much different from that of Salvador, so I am thankful to be exposed to both. Georgia has begun to speak to me in Portuguese and then translating for herself in English while we are out on errands. Last night I got a silly bug at the cash register of McDonalds and just could not stop laughing histerically long enough to say I would like a "cheeseboogie". I was kinda embarrassed but made everyone around me laugh too. Did I mention we had dinner at 11pm last night? Our schedule often ends around midnight so dinner can often be very late.

Yesterday Georgia told me all of the details of how they surveyed the neighborhood to find unbelievers 10 years ago. Patti and Georgia drew the roads and marked the houses where unbelievers lived and then returned time and again to those who welcomed them. The first meetings, in 1998, began on a plastic tarp in a street where they invited people on a loud speaker (they use these for everything around here).

As I meet their friends and church members, Georgia often tells me the persons testimony too. Most are new believers and have had extreme life transformation since meeting Jesus Christ! These gals spend all of their time discipling people, and God is showing me the bundles of eternal fruit that are produced by His Spirit through lives that are not spent on self.

I look back over my last year or two, and though I did many good things, I am so sad about how much time I spent on myself "having fun" when there is truely no greater fun than denying yourself on behalf of others' souls. I keenly remember the new believers, unbelievers, and desperate believers I could have easily made time to impact with the truth of God's word...but instead I had "fun"(and it was only fun for a moment and then over). I'm not feeling guilty, just letting myself be changed! Praise be to God! I also keenly remember those of my friends who were not at everything because they were recharging or ministering somewhere else. I am so thankful for their example and commitment even though often left out of inside jokes.