Deus e Fiel!

God is Faithful!

This week I have spent lots of time with Brazilians in their natural habitats!

The family below my apartment had me over for about 3.5 hours of Portuguese vocabulary, sentence formation and dinner (at 10pm)! Oh my gosh it was a hoot!

Two days ago I spent 9 hours exploring the city, on foot, with a new gal friend who only speaks Portuguese! It was such a practical way to get the words to stick in my head. It was important for me to visit many of the places that are central to the African and spiritist culture here. Sorry there are no pictures...it's not safe to use a camera unless in a big group.

At one point we walked down a rusty, metal, spiral staircase into a dark and smelly expanse under a hippie market. I was trying to tell Daniela that I was scared and didn't think it was safe, but she kept motioning that I should come. It turns out that she was giving me a tour of the underground chambers where they used to store slaves from Africa. It was a big sewer-type space with arched canals and a stomach churning smell. I saw 4 other tourist taking pictures and instantly felt better, but found myself so sad for the reality of harsh slavery that has not been abolished for very long in this city.

She also took me to a small museum where several rooms were dedicated to Candomble, a common practice of witchcraft among Brazilians, and especially those in Salvador. The rooms had life size statues of their spirits (gods) and the entrance had an armed guard. We did did a quick turn about the room and left.

This stuff is really, really sad because they are in constant fear and consumed with spells to get revenge on the people they hate, get ahead in business, or to heal loved ones. Every now and then you'll see a little pile of food, a white candle, and/or popcorn strategically placed in a street...and I have come to learn that it's all apart of a spell that someone is hexing someone else with. There is a spot about a 30 second walk from my apartment where they practice these things in the middle of the night. Praise God for His truth which indwells us!

While on a high point of the city we saw a cruise ship docked in the distance and decided to head to that direction since Daniela had never seen a cruise ship before. We got there and could not see it due to tall metal walls, but did get to find out that it held 650 American college students and professors! They are on a 108 day cruise called "Semester at Sea" and take classes in their actual majors on board and receive assignments to accomplish in the 10 countries they plan to visit. Wow!

This week...
Thinking in Portuguese all day is exhausting, but wonderful too. We continue to visit churches who partner with us in reaching the Quilombos, get the Jefferson's new apartment ready for them to move into, intentionally build relationships with unbelievers I see regularly, soak up the language and culture, and we are preparing to receive two teams of Americans in the next month. One will focus on evangelism in the Quilombos and the other will raise a church from the ground up in one week! I love contributing to the ministry with the gifts and skills the Lord has entrusted me with. Thanks for those of you who are praying and supporting our work in various ways!