day 5

Day 5

I wanted to start off by saying thank you for all your prayers. They are so very important to us. It's been said a few times on this trip that the most powerful thing we can do is pray. For all those moms, dads, and loved ones back home in the states, your prayers are the greatest support that you can give. So Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, because your prayers are being honored by God. So please continue to pray as we head into our last day of ministry tomorrow. Pray for safety, pray for us to completely submit to the Spirit and the work He will be doing here. Pray for the people that God has sent us here to encourage and to share the Gospel with, and pray that the enemy have nothing to do with this place. Lastly, as we have only two days left, you can pray for a safe trip home.

The night brought cool breezes off the water that made it one of the best night's sleep of the trip. The morning was breakfast as usual, followed by an extremely thought provoking devotional about the greatest thing that Christ ever did for us. After our thoughts were stirred, we loaded up and headed out for the village of Cinturao Verde where God had plenty of work to be done. The Medical team had well over a hundred patients, and the dentist pulled more than seventy teeth today. On a personal note, our dentist has a record of pulling 155 in a single day, so I think brushing three times a day sounds like a great idea. This also kept our pharmacy plenty busy.

The women's ministry once again made bracelets for the ladies in the morning, but the afternoon took an amazing turn. The women came and sat with us to talk, but we did much more than that. In the words of a fellow missionary from that group "It could have been a normal Bible study from home." We went around the circle and spoke about our families, prayer request, hopes and dreams. Then, we all decided to read our favorite verses to the group and tell why they meant so much to us. The American thought that this was just going to be them sharing, but once we were finished the Brazilian women wanted to read us their favorite versus. It was so encouraging to my soul. Some of these women had come to know Christ on our last visit in September. They had actually been reading their Bibles! Our prayer to come and disciple those same people was met, and the odd things is that I felt as though they were disciplining me. One woman told me about how she would read the words of David in Psalms 121 and remember all he was going through at the time, and that would help her to press on and place herself in God's Right Hand!

The Men's ministry was very fruitful as well. It was amazing how for the first time this week the men out numbered the women. There were over 30 men that came to hear Stuart preach about how to lead their family in a Godly way. The men were very receptive, and even made comments about how much they knew they needed to hear those words. There were also women that told us that they had been praying for us to come to talk to their husbands. Our arrival was an answered prayer!

The eyeglass ministry was another area with evidence that the Holy Spirit was moving. The Lord sent the powerhouse AKA "Tha Don" to share the Gospel with every person that sat in his chair. He was persistent and purposeful in the words that came from his mouth. It was a beautiful! They prayed for hours with fervor over the wonderful people he encountered. There was two decisions made to be reconciled to Christ! All in all another normal day… =)