The First Day of the Campaign

Today was our first full day for what we came to Aracaju for. It was an early start for a group that went to the church to put on a VBS for 53...yes, 53...kids. All reports were that it was awesome and the kids were thrilled. There were also a number of comments about how well-behaved they were when compared with our own VBS in Decatur. It was truly a blessing for those children. The rest of us went to the dowtown area which is filled with little shops and people walking up and down the streets. We went to a couple of different areas battling the wind and stereos blasting from one of the stores to sing songs primarily in English (one in Portugese) while several of our Brazilian brothers and sisters handed out flyers and talked to people walking by. The Brazilians seem to enjoy singing as many stopped and listened often clapping or giving a thumbs-up after the songs. It was hot and very humid so we battled that along with tired feet and backs before going back to the hotel and mall for lunch and a short rest. All of us headed back to the downtown area after lunch to sing more. It seemed we found more receptive souls in the afternoon and our Brazilian bretheren were excited about the response they got. When we arrived at church tonight, Idalicio told us they had already received several calls from people wanting more information on the School of the Bible program. Hallelujah.
Church was fun. All the songs were sang in Portugese and most were songs we sing. Once we picked up on the tune, we sang along in Portugese. I spoke on Servant Leadership. It was my first time speaking with a translator and it was challenging. I had to speak one sentence or one brief thought at a time and it was hard to keep my train of thought. Another opportunity to work out of my comfort zone for God! It was an awesome hour of worship and I'm looking forward to more over the weekend.
Tomorrow we leave for the retreat. We will be staying at a camp compound for the next 3 nights - no air conditioning, no putting toilet paper down the toilet (yuck), no creature comforts but there will be plenty of bonding with our hosts and glorifying God. I know it will be a wonderful and uplifting encounter.
This will be my last blog for a few days. Hopefully I'll be able to post again on Sunday night or Monday before embarking on our return journey late Tuesday into Wednesday. Please keep us in your prayers.