Greetings from Brazil,
This morning we had an equipping session to prepare us for this evening at Casacadura. We are being ministered to as we prepare to minister to others. Please pray for me as I seem to be having submission problems of some sort. I need to be still and listen to God but I am in too much of a hustle/bustle mode. Things are going great as this morning we worked on discernment of spirits and whether problems are spiritual or relational. It was a very good learning session. I hope to be able to see into people to help them heal. There are several of you at Grays Chapel that are good at discerning and I hope to join you. I can envision Emma as she is quiet and listens for God to speak and then she knows what to say and it is of God. When we practiced I realized the need for my inner being to be silent and let God do the talking – kinda tough for a noisy mind like mine – but not impossible.
We rested this afternoon in anticipation for a late evening at Cascadura. We had an early dinner at 4:30 and left for the church at 5. It took about 1.5 hours in the Friday evening rush hour traffic to get there. I would hate to need to drive here. Traffic here makes downtown Charlotte look like a drive in the park. There are cars, busses and motorcycles everywhere. The motorcycles weave dangerously in and out of traffic – if they can have 6 inches on each side they will dart between cars at 50 Kilometers/hour. There are people wandering in the traffic on the expressway selling cookies, popcorn and other assorted items. These are the poor and this is the welfare system in Brazil – being allowed to sell stuff on the street and in the traffic to make money to survive on. When we go places in the bus we shut the curtains on the bus because the police will sometimes pick on busloads of "rich" Americans (good source of income from fines). The bus is very comfortable, but it is just plain gray so as not to draw attention to it. Also in some of the poor neighborhoods we pass through it is impolite to stare but it is hard not to there are many unbelievably poor neighborhoods. The majority of the neighborhoods are rundown – the people seem happy though. There are a lot of dogs roaming around and no one regularly cleans up after them in the streets. At night you can hear 40 or more dogs barking at a time. (I just heard a horse drawn cart pass by the mission) The general rule is if there is a wet spot in the street do not step in it because it is likely where sewage in seeping to the street. On some streets you can smell the sewage.
There is a clinic on the uppermost floor of the Mission. We brought a few supplies like Tylenol and Neosporin and they are excited to receive such small gifts. I take for granted how valuable a tube of Neosporin is but when you have nothing, it is a valuable medicine is helping keep infections under control. They do so much with so little here. The mission feeds about 3000 meals a month. They used to serve 5000 but they do not have the money to serve so many meals now. One of the employees here at the mission came as a recipient in the food line. They discovered she had skills that were needed at the mission so they have hired her. She has 3 children - 1 boy and 2 girls. The children were suffering from severe malnutrition when the mission started feeding them. He son actually suffers from brain damage from being malnourished. He has been put in a special school for the mentally handicapped. Her two daughters actually sing in the worship services at the mission now. This is truly a wonderful place where God's Love and Blessings abound.
We went to Cascadura this evening. The service was supposed to be at 7 and they casually sauntered in and began about 8. It was a wonderful spirit filled evening. The Brazilians like to "party in the Spirit" There were several team members dancing with the church members. The song we sang were American songs sung in Portuguese but we could sing the word in English because they sounded the same. After the service most of the people came forward for prayer – they were so eager to receive the blessings God has for them. We then were treated to a late evening snack of Portuguese treats and this was nice to get to experience their food for a light fellowship meal. There was fresh mango, grapes, pears, Cheese, ham and cheese sandwiches, ham salad and egg salad along with some tasty desserts.
We have all been blessed by our trip so far. I told Lynda and Teresa not to hit their heads on the ceiling while they were floating. Tom is reminiscent of a 6'2" Charlie Cilly. I felt a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit while we were praying. Virginia and Joy are having a great time too. I think God is ministering to us all. We came to minister and we are the ones receiving the ministering to. God can be funny that way sometimes. Well it is 12:30 now and Neal and I are almost ready for bed. It has been fun to get to fellowship and worship with Neal again. God is making him into an amazing man of God. Well I love you all and will probably not write tomorrow because we leave at 7:30 AM and I hope we will not be finished praising and worshipping before 11:30 PM Saturday night. May God Bless you all and I wish to extend a special thank you to Emma for her wonderful prayer she sent us today – Thank you, Emma Bruce.
Hello my fellow Christians,
Greetings from the city of Niteroi, Brazil. On Saturday we had a wonderful day of worship. We went to the church at Cascadura on Saturday we arrived at 8:30 for services to begin at 9. (We left for Cascadura at 7:15). In typical Brazilian fashion we did not start until 9:45. This was fine though because it gives us a chance to pray and fellowship before the services begin. To begin the morning session Virginia Smith gave a wonderful testimony on The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life. Then Tom Uber did an excellent job on speaking about the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Adoption. They both had such great emotion in their talks. During the morning session we had a normal ministry session. We just anointed the people who desired prayer. After this anointing Roger Yoder spoke about the Spirit of Truth and we finished the morning session with a prayer tunnel. The prayer tunnel was very well received by everyone in the church. After lunch Neal started the afternoon session with his talk on The Spirit of Holiness. Lynda spoke next on the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Love. Lynda had everyone in tears with her wonderful testimony of Love. After Lynda's teaching we had the team line up in the front of the church and then we embraced everyone who came forward and told them that God loved them. They were so receptive to receiving God's Love – one gentleman hugged Neal for probably 20 minutes. Afterwards I gave the talk on the Power of the Holy Spirit. I was worried that my talk was to bold but it ended up being appropriate – Praise God. We then lined up behind the altar and had people who wanted prayer came and Knelt at the altar and then we anointed them and prayed for healing or any other need they had. We ate a delicious supper at the church (lunch was excellent also). After dinner Teresa gave an emotional talk about prayer. And Joy amazed us with her speaking abilities in her talk about Unity. Pam Lipka finished talking about the Spirit Guidance. At the close of the evening we had a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer. We arrived back at the mission late and Tom and I stayed up until 1:15 AM talking and Praising God. (Neal and I were up till 1:00 AM the night before.
On Sunday we had a normal church service. Afterwards we prayed for the people again. It was wonderful. We were about finished praying when an elderly lady came forward and wanted prayer. I prayed for her for probably 20+ minutes. I know God was speaking to her and if the lights had not been turned out and they were waiting to leave she may have been there longer (He was speaking to me powerfully at the same time – I was disappointed that we had to leave). Neal prayed for a young boy's hands that were deformed from birth. Neal poured his entire bottle of oil on the as he began to pray. The Spirit spoke to Neal and he realized that the young boy hands may not be healed but he would use his special hands to glorify God and that is what Neal prayed for. The boy's father came and talked to Neal about his son's hands and he said his son would lay hands on his brothers and then they would be healed. So he did have special hands! The young man laid his hands on Neal and prayed for him. Neal and the young man were both blessed.
We had another Brazilian feast at the Church and then we went to Realango UMC (pronounced Hilango). We went to peoples homes for the afternoon to visit. Neal and Tom took and afternoon siesta and I was assigned to keep Roger out of trouble – or was Roger supposed to keep me out of trouble???? Their daughter Lidiana was studying to gain admission to the local University and she spoke a little English. She was a wonderful young woman who was blessed by God. I gave her my English Bible to help her study English by comparing scripture to her Portuguese Bible. The mountain near their home on fire but everyone just said it would eventually just burn itself out. We saw another mountain from the church that was on fire also. We ate supper at Lydia's and her mother's house (Justin met Lydia this summer). It was another fine feast – she worked for 2 days preparing a meal for her American visitors. As a side note we are always introduced as the "Americans" and it seems strange to be so welcomed and love in a foreign country. Another side note is that it has been incredibly hot here 39 degrees C (103 Fahrenheit) Rough weather for wearing a tie. We are hoping it will be cooler in Teresopolis this week.
We are going to do our one day of sight seeing on Monday we were supposed to go on Tuesday but it is supposed to rain then. We are going to see the statue of "Christ The Redeemer". It is the most popular attraction in Rio. Then we will go shopping to buy Chocolate and coffee to bring home (Maybe then Lynn and I can serve the Webster's real coffee instead of motel 6 coffee). I know Christian will love some Brazilian chocolate. (The chocolate desserts and key lime pie here are great)
Back to the good stuff. When we arrived at Realango UMC the Church was packed. There was no air so it was very Hot!!!!!!!! The Church and the balcony were packed – there were even people outside looking in through the windows and doors. We again were introduced as the "Americans". I am a bit uncomfortable because they treat us so special and we are normal Christians who have answered the call to minister to our brothers and sisters in a foreign country. After we had a wild and rocking church service we were blessed with the opportunity to pray for this new Church. I began to shed some tears when the altar call was offered the small children began to line up for Neal to pray for them. He has such a talent with the children. We prayed for almost everyone in the church that night – several hundred people. We had a fellowship snack afterwards where they served us fresh squeezed mango and kiwi juice. There were also fried banana pies and several other wonderful Brazilian snacks.
We were late getting back to the mission because there was a wreck or something on the 13 km bridge back to Niteroi and this slowed us down considerably. I enjoyed talking with Joy all the way back. God has been wonderful to us this week and if we came home tomorrow we will not have regretted coming. It has been totally AWESOME to have shared Gods love with so many people who cannot understand us. (Once in a while we will pray for someone and they will thank us in English and I thank God that when this has happened I have been inspired by the Spirit on what to pray and it made sense to the ones who I prayed for). But, we are excited because of the promise of the Father for the blessings we will both give and receive in the coming week.
Well it will soon be 1:30 am and I need some rest. Thank you again for all of the prayer of the church and individuals who are at home praying for us. You prayers have been felt and we appreciate them greatly. May God Bless you and keep you in His arms today and always.
Hello my fellow Christians,
Greetings from the city of Niteroi, Brazil. On Saturday we had a wonderful day of worship. We went to the church at Cascadura on Saturday we arrived at 8:30 for services to begin at 9. (We left for Cascadura at 7:15). In typical Brazilian fashion we did not start until 9:45. This was fine though because it gives us a chance to pray and fellowship before the services begin. To begin the morning session Virginia Smith gave a wonderful testimony on The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life. Then Tom Uber did an excellent job on speaking about the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Adoption. They both had such great emotion in their talks. During the morning session we had a normal ministry session. We just anointed the people who desired prayer. After this anointing Roger Yoder spoke about the Spirit of Truth and we finished the morning session with a prayer tunnel. The prayer tunnel was very well received by everyone in the church. After lunch Neal started the afternoon session with his talk on The Spirit of Holiness. Lynda spoke next on the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Love. Lynda had everyone in tears with her wonderful testimony of Love. After Lynda's teaching we had the team line up in the front of the church and then we embraced everyone who came forward and told them that God loved them. They were so receptive to receiving God's Love – one gentleman hugged Neal for probably 20 minutes. Afterwards I gave the talk on the Power of the Holy Spirit. I was worried that my talk was to bold but it ended up being appropriate – Praise God. We then lined up behind the altar and had people who wanted prayer came and Knelt at the altar and then we anointed them and prayed for healing or any other need they had. We ate a delicious supper at the church (lunch was excellent also). After dinner Teresa gave an emotional talk about prayer. And Joy amazed us with her speaking abilities in her talk about Unity. Pam Lipka finished talking about the Spirit Guidance. At the close of the evening we had a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer. We arrived back at the mission late and Tom and I stayed up until 1:15 AM talking and Praising God. (Neal and I were up till 1:00 AM the night before.
On Sunday we had a normal church service. Afterwards we prayed for the people again. It was wonderful. We were about finished praying when an elderly lady came forward and wanted prayer. I prayed for her for probably 20+ minutes. I know God was speaking to her and if the lights had not been turned out and they were waiting to leave she may have been there longer (He was speaking to me powerfully at the same time – I was disappointed that we had to leave). Neal prayed for a young boy's hands that were deformed from birth. Neal poured his entire bottle of oil on the as he began to pray. The Spirit spoke to Neal and he realized that the young boy hands may not be healed but he would use his special hands to glorify God and that is what Neal prayed for. The boy's father came and talked to Neal about his son's hands and he said his son would lay hands on his brothers and then they would be healed. So he did have special hands! The young man laid his hands on Neal and prayed for him. Neal and the young man were both blessed.
We had another Brazilian feast at the Church and then we went to Realango UMC (pronounced Hilango). We went to peoples homes for the afternoon to visit. Neal and Tom took and afternoon siesta and I was assigned to keep Roger out of trouble – or was Roger supposed to keep me out of trouble???? Their daughter Lidiana was studying to gain admission to the local University and she spoke a little English. She was a wonderful young woman who was blessed by God. I gave her my English Bible to help her study English by comparing scripture to her Portuguese Bible. The mountain near their home on fire but everyone just said it would eventually just burn itself out. We saw another mountain from the church that was on fire also. We ate supper at Lydia's and her mother's house (Justin met Lydia this summer). It was another fine feast – she worked for 2 days preparing a meal for her American visitors. As a side note we are always introduced as the "Americans" and it seems strange to be so welcomed and love in a foreign country. Another side note is that it has been incredibly hot here 39 degrees C (103 Fahrenheit) Rough weather for wearing a tie. We are hoping it will be cooler in Teresopolis this week.
We are going to do our one day of sight seeing on Monday we were supposed to go on Tuesday but it is supposed to rain then. We are going to see the statue of "Christ The Redeemer". It is the most popular attraction in Rio. Then we will go shopping to buy Chocolate and coffee to bring home (Maybe then Lynn and I can serve the Webster's real coffee instead of motel 6 coffee). I know Christian will love some Brazilian chocolate. (The chocolate desserts and key lime pie here are great)
Back to the good stuff. When we arrived at Realango UMC the Church was packed. There was no air so it was very Hot!!!!!!!! The Church and the balcony were packed – there were even people outside looking in through the windows and doors. We again were introduced as the "Americans". I am a bit uncomfortable because they treat us so special and we are normal Christians who have answered the call to minister to our brothers and sisters in a foreign country. After we had a wild and rocking church service we were blessed with the opportunity to pray for this new Church. I began to shed some tears when the altar call was offered the small children began to line up for Neal to pray for them. He has such a talent with the children. We prayed for almost everyone in the church that night – several hundred people. We had a fellowship snack afterwards where they served us fresh squeezed mango and kiwi juice. There were also fried banana pies and several other wonderful Brazilian snacks.
We were late getting back to the mission because there was a wreck or something on the 13 km bridge back to Niteroi and this slowed us down considerably. I enjoyed talking with Joy all the way back. God has been wonderful to us this week and if we came home tomorrow we will not have regretted coming. It has been totally AWESOME to have shared Gods love with so many people who cannot understand us. (Once in a while we will pray for someone and they will thank us in English and I thank God that when this has happened I have been inspired by the Spirit on what to pray and it made sense to the ones who I prayed for). But, we are excited because of the promise of the Father for the blessings we will both give and receive in the coming week.
Well it will soon be 1:30 am and I need some rest. Thank you again for all of the prayer of the church and individuals who are at home praying for us. You prayers have been felt and we appreciate them greatly. May God Bless you and keep you in His arms today and always.
Oi (Hello) from Niteroi,
Remembrances from yesterday… Apparently in the suburbs of Brazil red lights are just for decoration because the gentleman with whom we spent the afternoon would not even slow down for red lights. He just tooted his horn and flew through the lights. It was also comical seeing Mr. Wilson, Neal Jones, Tom Uber, Roger Yoder (who is as tall as Tom) and Bob Chaney climb in and out of a car the size of Jed Routh's red car. The only thing that he slowed down for was the huge speed bumps (mountains) in the street that everyone had to slow down for. I kept expecting to hear the bottom of his car to be ripped from the frame when we went over these bumps.
Today was our sightseeing and shopping day. We had breakfast and then boarded the bus to see "Christ the Redeemer" the weather was great when we left and as we waited in line and rode the trolley to the top. Probably 5 minutes before we arrived at the top the wind began to blow and the clouds blew in. When we finally reached the Statue the visibility was probably 30 ft and the wind was blowing at 80 to 100 km/hr and even harder at the base. The staff said they had never seen the wind rise and blow so hard so suddenly. We had a great time though – we have a lot of great pictures of wild hair and the wind gusts were about to blow even a small framed person like me around. We really did not get to see the statue because of the conditions but we had fun.
Next we went to the Copacabana beach. The surf was really heavy – I was surprised that there were no surfers – but maybe they don't surf in Brazil. The beach was deserted because the storm was blowing in and there was no sun. There were still a lot of vendors selling "stuff". Surprisingly enough no one brought anything. Next we rode the Ferry from Rio to Niteroi. The bus trip is long in no traffic and traffic was heavy today. The ferry ride is 10 minutes and you get to see the Bay.
When we got to Niteroi we went to the Christian book store. It was pretty much the same as the NC Christian bookstores. They had Max Lucado, Joyce Myers - both in Portuguese and the popular Christian singers. We then crossed the street to the Niteroi Mall. No one really bought a lot at the mall. Between all 7 (including Neal who purchased one of the pairs of shoes/sandals) of us from GC there were two pairs of shoes and two pounds of Chocolate (most of the chocolate is mine but we will share it tomorrow probably). I know Jerry and Doug H. will be relieved.
Next we went to the Brazilian Steak house. The restaurant was very elegant. The owner is a Christian and likes to treat "Ricky" Bonfim guests to a special meal when they are in town. We had a magnificent salad bar with boiled quail eggs, poached salmon, sushi, and all kinds of exotic foods. When they began serving the main courses there were probably 7 kinds of beef, 3 kinds of pork, local venison, some tasty chicken hearts and gizzards – such a delicacy. I did not try them but Lynda and Teresa said they were good. Then dessert was unbelievable. I think mine was anyways – Virginia and Joy ate my dessert. We prayed for and anointed (MOTO at work again) the manager before we left and he was very appreciative of our prayers.
After we came back to the mission we had good evening just fellowshipping, praying and laughing. I will hopefully be in bed by 12:00 tonight. If not I will have plenty of time to sleep when I get home – right Lynn? Well, I am off to sleepy land to dream dreams and have visions. May our God of love and mercy hold you in his arms tomorrow.
In Christ's Love,
Bobby Joe…..