To Rio Eventually

“You don’t know how much this time has meant to me. The message you shared truly touched me.” That’s one of so many heartfelt thanks we’ve received here in Brazil. Likewise, I’ve come to realize that they don’t know how much this time has meant to us. We were glued to Mutum. The pastor and his wife, many of the church members and youth were all praying that we’d stay another week and not go to Rio as planned. Philipp (our swiss single guy) had an entire fan club of single young women from the church. Some were even fasting and praying we’d stay. MaryGrace was even proposed to by a 14 year old we met at the school! It was hilarious. And we had an invitation to go to nearby Caparao with the pastor’s family to minister and visit the mountains. Still we had already packed and planned to go to Rio. But then there were problems. Because of a miscommunication with YWAM Rio, the projects we’d planned to do had been cancelled. We could go, but the cost would be high and our budget was low. Plus, what would we do there? So... we prayed and decided to stay the extra week. The extra time allowed us to finish our door-to-door discipleship visits and spend more time with our family and friends there in Mutum (and Caparao). Caparao was like an oasis. We had an excellent meeting at a church there. After the service a doctor from the church was so grateful for our ministry that he paid for us to tour the mountains and waterfalls in a 4x4 truck. A week later we finally said our goodbyes. The maniac bus driver seemed to think he was in a Formula 1 race. My lovely wife puked twice. Here in Rio I spoke at the church that our hosts pastor. They’ve been wonderfully hospitable and shown us around town. Tomorrow I fly with Quezia and Daniel. On Thursday the pastor’s family will take MaryGrace and Philipp to catch their plane. Till then they’ll “suffer” on the beaches and in the tourist/shopping areas of Rio. Outreach isn’t all work and no play.