March 4, 2006
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“Ants are good for your eyes.” That is what Diego told me before he took a bite of the ant-infested cake when we were raiding the kitchen. Bleh. I told him that in the
The mini-camp was a great success. We had all the jokes and stringing up clothes and dressing up silly for dinner stuff, but it came to an abrupt halt the last morning. Josue called us all into the girls room. It was all in rapid Portuguese, but from what I understood, someone had gone into the bathroom and spread…stuff…on the toilet seat. Josue said that this was crossing the line and until the person confessed they were not going anywhere or doing anything. I was shocked. I looked from one face to another of my boys, and refused to bring myself to think one of them would do that. I quietly left the room because I didn’t want to be involved with the dirty business.
While I sat outside the room and worried so much my stomach hurt, they continued the interigation in the room. Iuzo finally said he would take the blame for doing it since no one confessed, but he sure didn’t want to clean it up. Josue (from what I heard) then had him come closer, then flicked it on to Iuzo’s face…everyone was in shock until Iuzo said “it’s Chocolate!” and the joke was out. Josue and Ivy planned it…and I think it will go down in their church history as the best joke ever. Josue was then properly dunked in the pool for his mischief, and I was just relieved to know no one was in trouble. Camp…ya gotta love it.
Tuesday night we gathered for an imprompt to worship session. After a couple of songs, Josue shared about…well, I understood the spirit behind it if not all the words…growing Christians and not staying as babies…and then sang one of my favorite songs. Each time I listen to it I understand a different part. But the chorus goes something like this: You paid for my sin, You accept me, You forgive me, and I will never fully understand all You have done…
God was there with us.
Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. Everyone with their hangovers from Fat Tuesday goes to the priest who puts ashes on their forhead and then all their sin is erased. You could almost feel the tiredness of the day. It was as if Brasil sighed and resolved to “be good again.” We spent a lot of time praying because during Carnival, even at the Alcance (which is outside of town a safe distance) you could feel the reverberations of the celebrations. My heart hurt for the people. I was happy to be in Brasil during Carnival because of the mini-camp away from the parties, and it is a holiday (vacation time for doing nothing and RESTING), and because I wanted to try to understand the culture better—but it is sad. I get the same feeling when I drive past a bar with the lights flashing and cars overflowing…the feeling of “those poor empty people trying to get full.” You can almost see the despiration—even on TV—of all those people trying their hardest to hurry up and live life (as they see it) before ash Wednesday. Because then they’d have to face the fact that yet another Carnival had passed and they hadn’t found it. Oh that someone would be there to tell them about the Satisfier!
It was a hard time for many people at the Community Churches here because last year they’d had a mini-camp and two of the vans had gotten in a wreck, killing 5 members. Last year during Carnival was also when Tele had been robbed at gun-point and their car was stolen. So everything was very low-key, and most everyone just stayed at home and rested or caught up on projects.
Prayer. Please. The dollar is not doing so hot, and the Brasilian economy is doing better, meaning all the money given to the Alcance is not going as far to cover expenses. I’ve seen this in two big ways—one, the seminary students can’t live at the seminary (except for two) because we can’t afford it. this means they have to take the bus, and have to get other jobs to pay for it. Having another job means they do not have adequate time to study and puts them into a lot of pressure. It is so hard to see them have one more struggle added to their load. Another is gas money. Ricardo told me that all this month he could not go to Laoga De Itanga for the house churches because he didn’t have any gas money. He’s delegated some of the church services to others because he does not have enough gas to get there himself. Of all the reasons to not have a pastor, gas money or money in general is the worst. It makes me want to go hit something. Grr.
