Arrival in Aracaju

Wow...what a journey it has been. I left my house at 8 a.m. Monday morning and arrived at the hotel in Aracaju around 12:30 p.m. Texas time on Tuesday. 5 towns and 5 planes finally delivered 30 of us safely to Aracaju where we were greeted by a band of our brothers and sisters from the church here including Randy and some others from Lubbock/Sunset also. I'm not sure you ever enjoy a shower more than after going more than 24 hours without one. I was blessed that my fear of being cramped in a plane was relieved at the last second before boarding and some good brothers and sisters were kind enough to give up better seating on some of the flights in Brazil. It was an answer to prayer. Sleep was short and not often usually existing in 20-30 minute naps totaling less than 3 hours. I'm now hit with the fact that it will be more than a week before I see my precious family again and that is hard to think about. Enough of the whining.
Aracaju is in the dead of winter meaning it is 85-90 degrees and very humid. The hotel is nice and a mall is nearby where we ate tonight. Being winter, it gets dark between 5:30 and 6:00. Aracaju is an interesting town filled with high rises in some areas, poorer housing in others.
What has struck me the most so far is the joy the Aracaju brothers and sisters showed when we arrived. Each of them came around to all ofus introducing themselves and giving us hugs. They quickly helped with luggage and many rode on the bus to the hotel with us singing songs that sounded familiar in tune and sung in Portugese. It is quickly evident that this will be a tiring but uplifting and exciting week. Tonight we met and were given t-shirts we will wear while singing or at VBS advertising the School of the Bible, sang and prayed for a successful time evangelizing and glorifying God.
I thank God for safe passage to Aracaju and continue to pray for our safety here and our journey back home. I also pray, and ask you to join me, that hearts will be touched and hearts will be changed - that Jesus and His majesty will be made known and that more souls will be added to the kingdom through our efforts. May God bless us and the people we can touch in Aracaju this week.