Night on the Town

Last night was my first time to really "go out" with friends and just chill. My new and dear friend Nicole (Nichol-e) invited me to join her, and friends, at an outdoor seafood place for dinner and then meet her parents, watch a movie, and "spend the night".

Laughter
I enjoyed watching her 8 friends talk and laugh for about 3 hours, and had a few delayed (after translation) laughs of my own. I have noticed while living in Brazil that I have a real need for laughter. I discovered it after about a month of being here (without one instance of hard laughter that I can remember) and I talked to my former roommate and laughed my head off as she told me about killing her first roach (I was the designated roach killer in our apartment) and how she felt like it was a moment of crossing over from adolesence into adulthood. Laughter is soooo much richer when you are starved for it. I guess anything in life is. I'm so thankful for all of the simple pleasures that the Lord created for us to enjoy!

Quick, give me something to wash this down!
For dinner I had a large crab brought to me on a plate. His eyes, mouth and hairy legs took me a bit to get past, but once I learned the art of breaking his legs off and pounding the shell with a small mallot, the tender, tiny, flavor-filled morsels of meat enriched my day! I also tried a disgusting shellfish that would have lasted as long as a piece of Wrigleys chewing gum had I not forced myself to swallow it. It looked so disgusting that the whole table of guys and gals had to pound their fists on the table in unison to rile me up for the slurp.

Deep Fellowship Over Breakfast
This morning I had breakfast with Nicole's parents. Her father is a pastor of about 2000 Brazilians that gather in various homes on Sunday nights for worship and fellowship. He and his wife grew up in traditional denominations but never knew Christ. When they met and were transformed by Him, they were not able to continue meeting where they had been, and began meeting in someones house (shunned by their families and friends), longing to simply live as Jesus did, led by the Holy Spirit and grace. Each disciple has a discipler and they long very much to be renewed by Christ day by day, for His name's sake. I do not praise this family, or exalt their way of meeting over other options we have, but I am SO encouraged by the purity of their love for God, the sincerity of their devotion to His ways, and the zeal of their service. I would have talked with them all day if I could.