Flexibility Required

     Unfortunately my grasp of Portuguese is limited and i often miss the details. Rarely do i know what is going to happen with any accuracy. Friday I had hoped to have a day of prayer and fasting. My hostess had run into an American acquaintance in the grocery store (our conversation was in Portuguese but i understood her better than most because she spoke slowly without a Brazilian accent) and i thought i was going over there in the late afternoon. Then i received a last minute invitation to the birthday celebration of a very close friend. But when i would go to his house was up in the air. Finally arrived about seven- thirty in the evening. Eventually there was a blend of relatives and friends. I had a very encouraging conversation with a young man named Thiago. He is a fervent, personable disciple of Christ who has weathered hard times and come out living for Jesus.
   The days tend to blend into each other. Saturday evening we went to the weekly gathering with several hundred people. Vinci believes in and practices the principle of interactive meetings ( 1 Cor. 14:26) He asked if people had things to share with the church. I practice 2 Timothy 4:1-2 of being ready to preach the Word in season or out of season (at any time) so I was given the opportunity of completing the teaching that i had started about seven weeks earlier. My mentor in Christ, Jim Durkin, had taught us this four decades earlier in a teaching he referred to as the purpose and vision of God. To glorify God in everything we do forever through Jesus Christ is the purpose. The three part vision reflects our three primary areas of relationship as Christians. 1st personal with God. 2nd relationship with our brothers and sisters. 3rd our relationship with those who do not know Christ. More specifically 1st becoming like Christ, 2nd unity of the body, 3rd preaching the true gospel in all the world. I offered these deeply held convictions to the saints there.
     Greeted many believers including Lauro, Junio, Juliana, Anderson, Valesca, Paulinho, Bruno & Rafaela, Katerini and met others. A woman i had met the week before gave a powerful testimony of the faithfulness of God in her personal life.
    Afterwards we went and had panceka. This popular food is somewhere between a crepe and a burrito (although my friends insisted that panceka is not a burrito) which is filled with a wide variety of foods according to taste. I confess that i am not optimistic about adjusting to the idea of eating at midnight and going to sleep at one or later in the morning.
    I had understood that my friend Alex's birthday party was Sunday. My new hosts said no, it was Monday. Actually it turns out to be both days with different groups represented. So we celebrated that today, his 50th, with his strong testimony of personal and family restoration.
    The day before we went to the home of a couple called Washington and Georgia, Brazilian Christians who had prepared the classic dish of fish stew which is so popular here. This is cooked in large, heavy black clay pots. At one point i asked Washington the name of the pot. In his response he offered to give me one on the spot. I pleaded no space in my suitcase. He said he would bring one in his next trip to the US. The generosity and hospitality of the Christians here is unbelievable.