Manhuacu

Manhuacu is an indigenous name for "Big River," not to be confused with a smaller city with a similar name which means "Little River." I could not tell the difference. Anyway yesterday was driven about an hour and a half from Carangola to Manhuacu, a distance of 77 kilometros, just under fifty miles. ( 5 miles = 8 kilometers) The road is like a winding country road that goes through the middle of little towns and has innumerable speed bumps. They are different than in the US, coming in a series of five narrow ones. The Brazilian phrase for these translates to "break suspension." They are aggravating but my friend tells me they are the only way to slow down Brazilian drivers.
     As usual I did not know what to expect but was praying for someone with the ability to translate. Thank God i was met by a young woman named Juliana with that ability and the willingness to help. My friend MA spoke first, mostly about how he met me in Germany. During the worship a middle aged woman came up  and asked me to read a verse in 1 Timothy 2 in Portuguese. How she thought i could do this i don,t know. She said that if i read it i would receive a present. Later she gave me a brand new Bible. Now what is odd about this is that i had spoken about my desire to get a  bible in Portuguese rather than English and Portuguese with a couple of married friends in a different city in another state. We had discussed the details at some length- big print, word for word etc. So this woman whom i don't know gave me a Bible with the exact specifications that i had wanted. Amazing.
   I have continued to ask the Lord about the ongoing unrest in Brazil. I don't know the people in Manhuacu so am completely dependent on the Lord for what to say. He directed me to speak about His heart for the poor. Earlier that day i had read about conditions in the city of Fortaleza, one of the largest and poorest in Brazil, which is currently hosting part of the Confederation Cup, a warm-up to the World Cup next year. I read about many people who live on the equivalent of one dollar a day.
    So I shared the Word with several hundred people on this subject using the following verses: John 12:8, cf. Mark 14:7, Matthew 26:11, Galatians 2:10, James 2:14-16, 1 John 3:16-18, Luke 12:32-34 & the most powerful of all Matthew 25:31-46. Apparently the Lord touched a number of hearts.