Day 3 in Rio

Today started off with a birthday. We got on the bus with decorations and sang Happy Birthday to Janell.

Then, we headed to the church.

One of the projects they're trying to take on is to convert the area right next to the church to a basketball court. On Sundays, people will be able to park on it and the rest of the time they'll be able to play basketball and volleyball. The church is surrounded by apartment complexes and they need to be able to offer healthy alternatives to the young people in the community.

Some of the children connected with us immediately...Errr, really Betty Wiseman. Kids are drawn to her. She can carry on a conversation with anyone and everyone.

The format of the service itself was not much different than an American church service: singing, responsive reading, and a message. Even the songs that we sang are familiar praise and worship songs that we sing, but in Portugese.

The biggest difference, though, was that it's much more laid back. People come and go as they please. They are not as up tight here. Time doesn't care the same weight. They're more concerned about people and relationships.

I think my favorite part about worshipping with them, though, was remembering Romans 14:11:

For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God.

Together we would proclaim "The Lord is King" in our own native language. It made me wonder what heaven will be like. When every tongue does confess He is Lord. -- Or even, at Pentacost in Acts 2

Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability for speech. There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were astounded and amazed, saying,[a] “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that each of us can hear in our own native language?

v.4-8

After church, they had prepared lunch for us.

Complete with birthday cake for Janell and the Pastor (he was celebrating his 71st).

After lunch, we went to their church plant, where we'll be having the clinic all week. They lined the streets, cheering for us when we arrived.

Those that have been to Brazil before were amazed by all they had been able to accomplish in the past year. The work they did last year was so successful that they needed a new building. That was going to be a project for this year, but instead, they couldn't wait and did it all by themselves.

We didn't stay long. We left and headed to another hippie fair.

Similar to the one we visited alst night, but much, much larger. I made a few purchases. But, I think we all found that this group wasn't as willing to budge on their prices. I quickly learned "Cuanto?" Which means "How much?" They'll usually tell me the number in Portugese and I'll have to clarify in English. If they don't know English numbers, they'll go as far to write it out, or type it out on a phone or calculator.

After the fair, we came back to the hotel for our team meeting. We discussed logistics for the clinic, counted vitamins, and helped divy up supplies.

It was a great day, I think we'd all agree that after we've all spent a couple days resting and shopping we're ready to do what we came here to do.