Apostolic team

    Previous arrangements led to my being picked up at the Vitoria airport by by a 15 passenger van (Thanks, Edinha) full of brothers and sisters with whom i will spend the next week or two. Vinci had assembled an apostolic team of Brazilians and Portuguese believers, some serving overseas, a fascinating blend of gifts and personalities. Some I knew from previous encounters while others were new. The theme of apostolic teams is something i have studied Biblically, hoped, prayed and waited for, and never seen in the US despite every effort. Now i am participating in a dream come true.
     Tjhat evening we traveled to the northern end of the state of Espirito Santu, to a group of perhaps fifty adults. Our group is twenty in all including a two year old. I have not heard such ear splitting sound since the '60s. After the worship vinci generously introduced the entire team and about brothers shared. About midnight (not unusual) we had a meal, and eventually were seperated into groups of varying sizes to go to private homes for the night. I had a room with two brothers, Pedro and Anderson, from Portugal.
   The next morning, Pedro, who shares my desire for some regular exercise, and i took a walk  Porto Alegre has a number of people of northern European descent whiles ES has more of southern European descent. I suspect this may account for some of the cultural differences. Bahia, where i am as i write, has many more of African descent.
     Eventually we gathered ourselves together and drove to Texeira de Freitas, a city of about two hundred thousand in Bahia, which translates roughly to Texas Brothers. Here i was joined with two young brothers, Juan, whose wedding i had attended two years ago, and Chris, a cousin of my friend Gilberto from Sao Paulo.