Natal (2)

Saturday we had the reason for my being in Natal, the ordination of three elders/pastors. Unfortunately I do not know these men personally. In theory we began at 7, actually closer to 8. The church had rented (?) a function hall and we sat six or so to a table. Instead of the ubiquitous white plastic chairs that I have seen all over Brazil, we had white hard wooden chairs. Samuel, a brother from Ponte Novo in MG, facilitated worship. Along with the usual guitars and drums, one brother played a small horn. Nice!
    A skit followed. This was mime i have seen before somewhere with six or seven people. One is a human, one plays Jesus, and the rest are tempters. Then at least ten different people shared their connection with the formation of the church or gave a testimony about this. Unfortunately feedback and amplification from microphones makes it difficult for me to understand Portuguese. Prior to ten the main speaker began and spoke for at least an hour and a half. Finally there was a time of prayer for the three brothers.
    I had not eaten since two, and am grateful for the discipline of fasting because we did not eat until midnight. Afterwards there was fellowship and i did not get to bed until almost two in the morning. The previous afternoon i met a man of eighty-seven years. He quoted a number of verses to me from memory in Portuguese. He had come with other brothers who went into a meeting so out of respect I sat with him the entire afternoon. He did not move from his seat, did not want anything to eat or drink, made little conversation but finally jumped up like a goat when the time to depart arrived.
     On Sunday my host said we are going (somewhere) and you can wear shorts. This turned out to be a barbecue with seventy-five people from several churches out in the country. Unfortunately I had a close race with flies to see who would eat my lunch. I am finally able to have basic conversations with people in Portuguese if I can do this one on one, and if they can supply a word or two in English once in awhile. I had a nice conversation with a brother who had learned English working in a restaurant catering to tourists in Lisbon, Portugal, and another with the wife of a friend of mine who is learning English.
   In the evening we wandered around the city and eventually came to the house of one of the leaders (yesterday was Father's Day in Brazil) for another meal. His eighty-eight year old father was there, lean in body and clear in mind. Unfortunately my brain was fried from many hours of concentrating on Portuguese so I went home early.