Brazil Visit 5, Post 2

Takes a little longer with each trip to adjust. Slept a lot on Saturday. Weather turned warmer, probably close to 90F today. was blessed with the opportunity to visit the little church plant in Salto Pirapora this morning and share the Word of God. The name of this city refers to a type of fish found in its streams which is then salted, or was. The group is small with about five men, ten women or teenage girls, and about fifteen younger children. I had been asked to speak on the theme of women as Brazil celebrated International Women,s Day today, which we do not have in the US. After a few introductory verses showing equal worth and value for women, we looked at the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel chapters 1&2 noting her perseverance in prayer, humility, that she kept her promise to give her first born to the Lord should He give her one, which meant that she would see her son only once a year, and the nature of her prayer recorded in chapter 2, verses 1 to 10. That this prayer, one of very few from a woman in the Bible, was recorded for all future readers, is a great honor for Hannah. What is further remarkable is that nowhere in this prayer does she ask God for anything. The entire prayer is proclaiming who God is and what He has done. Saturday had lunch with two of the young guys who are renting the little studio apartments in the back. One was born of Brazilian parents but lived most of his life in Greece, returning to Brazil three years ago. The other seemed to know quite a lot about animal husbandry, of which topic the conversation revolved. I got the gist although not the details with 4 guys speaking quickly at once. Tonight i watched a video of a different church in the same city that my host was the pator of. I am a little confused with the chronology. Am reading a book edited by Ravi Zacharis consisting of essays by his staff, titled "Beyond Opinion." Heady but valuable stuff. Can't help contrasting it with the people today about whom James wrote in chapter 2, verse 5. "Listen, my beloved brothers, how is it that God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of this world to be rich in faith, and to inherit the kingdom that God has promised to those who love Him."