Carangola (2)

Yesterday I had fellowship (communhao) with the saints in Carangola. We went to the home of a banker who is trying to learn English. About thirty-five people came- little kids learning to walk, older kids playing soccer in the back yard, and the famous Brazilian barbeque. i am overwhelmed with the hospitality that I am receiving. It is like i woke up one day to discover that i had been crowned a king. In Christ we are all kings and priests. (Revelation 1:5-6) People keep bringing me things and giving me things. I am asking God for an oppurtunity to give to those who really need them. My friend MA keeps asking me to pray and address people publicly in Portuguese even though my command of the languaqge is on about the two year old level. I prayed for two young brothers who are starting to walk with Christ. My friend Jefferson labored with the barbeque for hours. The Brazilians cook different types of meat, cut it into little pieces, put these on a plate, and then one or more people circulate handing these out. This goes on for hours along with all kinds of other food. I am a big guy, and i know the word for satisfied or enough. I say this to one person and another drops something else on my plate.
    In the later evening we went to Jefferson's house (I think he and his wife Marcia love to cook)and we had another meal. A young brother sitting on my left asked me about the "Great Commision" passage at the end of Matthew 28. Now remember i really can't speak Portuguese and none of these people speak English except my friend MA who is learning. I begin to share my heart on the subject of discipleship. A little while later i looked up and about eight or nine people sitting at the table are listening with rapt attention in a way that i just don't find in the US. I can't imagine American Christians glued to someone who is stumbling through English with a strong foreign accent. I have trouble finding the verb to use let alone the correct tense. But these people listened to me for at least an hour. Towards the end i gave them a little English lesson- to say that Jesus is Lord. I don't think they have rd sound at the end of the word "Lord" in Portuguese but they worked at it diligently. They are also trying to teach me their dialect, called Minerais. What little Portuguese i know is very stilted and formal. They use a word that sounds like the English word "train" to mean thing as in  "That's a good thing." But the word i learned is "coisa". completely different.
     Afterwards they prayed for me on a very personal subject and washed my feet. (See John 13 if you are unfamiliar with this.) They do this differently than i have seen it done in the US. They put your feet in a basin after the socks and shoes are removed. Then they pour/push water over your feet without soap. I have huge feet  ( 13EEE) and three brothers did this together. Afterwards MA's wife, a dear sister who is trying incredibly hard to serve me said  "Your shoe is big enough to be my bed."  It took me a minute to get it but when I did i thought it was outrageously funny.