September 10, 2011
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I’ve had some interesting talks with Frank Penna, who is visiting from Kansas. He asked what I saw as a reasonable long term goal for Cajueiro Claro. When asked questions, my answers often surprise me. And then I stop, turn my head with a puzzled look, and say “Hey, that really does make sense” (it is sad my rationality surprises me).
“To make a new normal for the community,” I answered. “For normal to look like loving Jesus and learning what it means to follow Him.”
We were talking about the “type” of people that are church-planters, and agreed that they have these things in common: they are all driven by a deep sense of calling and need, determined and focused, and consistent.
Flavio got his motorcycle this week! Gone are the long walks down and then up and then all over again. I almost miss them. But not quite. Hop on the back of that baby and go. Flavio named his guitar “Loira” (blondie), and so now the motorcycle has been christened “Morena” (brunette…more or less).
September 7th is Brazilian independence day, where you hear the drums long before and after you see most every student in the town march through the city. It is a brilliant display of seeing and being seen, done only as Brazilians can.
Cajueiro Claro had been given marbles. The children love them. 400 marbles. One evening this week, some of the boys came, broke open the window, and stole the marbles (nothing else, just the marbles). When we arrived on Friday, two mothers were on the church steps, waiting for us.
All of the boys are blaming one specific boy. One boy who normally is the trouble maker, but even when he isn’t, he gets blamed for it. All of the boys have marbles now. His mother came and explained the situation, saying she would pay for it, but that the other boys needed to quit pointing fingers and take responsibility at least for not saying something or stopping what happened.
God is really good about turning big messes into opportunities. We ended up sharing the gospel with these two mothers, as well as encourage them to discipline in love, and to not give up on their boys. At the end, we all prayed. Who knows what all might come from these 400 marbles.
I met with Patricia, who is the coordinator for PETI, and used to work with Living Stones Paudalho. We are currently working on updating the Living Stones curriculum (yeah version 2.0!) and figuring out how to train the government workers to teach character to all of the needy children in Paudalho.
Friday I went to Recife to register my visa. Uggg paperwork. I was taking pictures of random graffiti and almost tripped over the guy sleeping on the street. So many things to pray for. Thank you for joining me.
