A- Team (2)

     Wednesday the A team (apostolic) went to another city to a group of brothers numbering eleven. We were the A team of 20 and about 20 more from TF. These believers labored to feed our group. We were using what appeared to be an abandoned school. We had times of sharing, prayer, worship in varying informal groups. Among the A team is a couple, Bruno and Rafaela who minister somewhere near Belo Horizonte, MS. In her own words Rafaela is a clown. They are in their mid 20's. She is one of the most outgoing people i have ever met. At one point she asked me to teach her English grammar. "How much time do i have?" "One day," she replied. She knows virtually no English. I quickly realized that although I have a good sense of English usage I don't remember the rules and don't know why things are so. By the grace of God my friend Gilberto who has just returned from a year in the UK to improve his English, has a good sense of why. He has helped me a lot already.
   At some point in the afternoon we wandered to the town center, a tiny park. We began to worship, and pray, and, as curious people came to see what forty people were doing in their town, some of our number spoke with them. I suspect this wasn't too far apart from what people in NT times experienced when Paul & his companions arrived. As i don't have a command of the language i prayed. At least two people received Jesus and i saw contact info exchanged so follow-up could occur. A brother who lives in Canada said how wonderful if we could replicate this in North America. At one point a brother named Clovis, a superb dancer, was leading about twenty people in a conga line through the park.
   Eventually we went to a restaurant on a side street owned by one of the people. When i say restaurant think little plastic tables and chairs, a dirty white color, room for perhaps ten people to dine, and nothing fancy of any kind. How did our larger group eat? No problem. The brethren set up the tables and chairs in the street along the sidewalk leaving a narrow lane for cars to pass. After awhile people bearing serving trays with tiny pieces of fried chicken, polenta, and French Fries came out. The first and second trays were quickly devoured. I didn't know if these were appetizers or the main course. Usually i don't know what is happening. They kept bringing out tray after tray. Finally i pushed my chair away from the table so as not to consume more.