Surviving the Streets of Rio Only to Almost Die on I-24

We never felt threatened in Rio. The guys with guns didn't try to harass us. The crazy driving was OK if you didn't look. We rode in a taxi a few times. Wheeeee!

Charlie and Melanie are in this taxi.

After forever in the plane we were in Nashville!

Brothers Tony and Paul picked us up.

As we were heading to Clarksville on I-24 we had a blow out! Tony did a great job keeping the bus on the road. We were headed right for a big drop off. Tony said he thought everyone on the left side of the bus was dead and that he'd be the first to die. It was very scary. We prayed and braced ourselves and God took care of us. The big semi next to us slowed down to give us room to get over.

We stood out by the road rather than sit in the bus. (I've been hit before - totaled my car - while sitting on the side of the interstate.)

It started to get hot in the sun so we started to step up here in the shade. AAAAHHH! Poison Ivy!

So we moved over here. AAAAHHH! Big red ants!

So now we're safe - away from the poison ivy, away from the red ants, AAAAHHH! Here come the mowers!

We were finally rescued! Brent came by in his van. He saw us and turned around at exit 24 then had to drive back to exit 31 to get back on to get us.

Here we are in another vehicle adventure. We had to sit on the floor, but we didn't care. We just wanted to get home.

So in ten short days we rode in four airplanes, several vans and buses, taxis, trains, gondolas and elevators. God is good. We made it home.

English Lessons

I know many of you reading these posts don't know everyone on our mission team. Charlie is from East Tennessee and has that wonderful East Tenneessee accent.




Charlie with bananas - they are delicious here!! That's Tulio and Ray behind him.

One of our interpreters is named Tiago. Tiago translates to James. One day we were trying to explain the differences between West, Middle and East TN. We then told Tiago that his name would be different. He looked very puzzled. "Yes. In West TN you would be called Jimmy. In Middle TN you would be called James. And in East TN they would call you Jimbob.




The inside of the building of the church we have been working with.


But Charlie has helped Tiago a lot with his English. He decided that was important because Tiago is engaged to a girl from FBC, Seveirville. Of course many Tennesseans have been going to Rio since we have a partnerhsip here. Tiago knows helpful English phrases like: fixin' to, I (pronounced "ah") reckon so, slicker than a greased pig, and many other fine Southern sayings the textbooks don't teach.

I can't find a picture of Tiago.

Rio Mission - Day 6

Graffiti on the way to our work area.

This was our last day of door-to-door evangelism. We had a total of 60 people who prayed to receive Christ. At least that - we didn't always get cards filled out and sometimes several people in the family would pray but they would only list one or say "familia" and then we don't really know how many. It was very exciting to see God at work.

Favela near our favela. It looks nicer than it is.


We noticed something interesting. We had two families today and several on other days that mentioned to me and Cheryl that they have adopted children or grandchildren. (See http://www.papalyndel.blogspot.com/ if you haven't seen my adopted grandchildren) No one mentioned adoption to the other teams. Lisa had several mention to her that they had husbands or family members who had passed away this past year. We might have had one mention that to us.




Another picture of us at lunch. That's Ray in the white shirt.

All the groups had people mention that it was very odd that we found them at home that they just happened to be home from work that day for one reason or another. We happen to know God had them at home so we could talk to them.



Tomorrow we will relax for a little bit and see the sights of Rio, like Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) the giant statue of Christ on the tallest mountain overlooking Rio. (Cheryl's calls it the Christ of the Ozarks statue. We always laughed, but it ends up that the one in Arkansas is a smaller replica of this one.)




The view from the top of the church building.


Sunday we will see our new Brazilian friends one more time as we worship together at their church. I will play the violin with their associate pastor playing the keyboard. I'm going to preach too. I don't know if the associate pastor will also preach or not. Tulio, my interpreter for the week, will interpret. The pastor is on vacation. I don't know if he will be back Sunday. Then Sunday evening we fly out. I think our flight leaves around 11:00pm.




Click the picture to enlarge it if you need. Notice that behind the glass are today's chickens. In the cages are chickens having their last meals before they end up behind the glass.


Thank you for your prayers during the week. My stomach is happier now that I've had several doses of Imodium during the day. We have been safe and God has blessed our work. Pray not only for our services Sunday, but services at Hilldale and around the world. The fields are white for the harvest. God may not have called you to Brazil this week, but He has called you to Clarksville or Nashville or wherever it is that you live. The harvest is His and He has prepared it. What are you waiting for?

Living on the White Line

Traffic in Rio is amazing. There are traffic lights, but I think they are mainly suggestions. Same thing with the lanes. If you need to be somewhere you just start heading in that direction and people move out of the way and you move out of their way. It's amazing that no one is killed. Or maybe it's amazing that they don't report it on the news. Ha! Not that you could be sure when to watch the news. "The news is on at 6:00" means they'll start at 5:50 if that's when they are ready, but more likely that they'll start some time before 7:00. "It's still the 6:00 hour", is the answer to our questioning looks.

Living on the white line is how the motorcyclists live. They drive on the white lines. They honk their horns and you scoot over. According to Ray, if you don't, they kick your mirror off. If you hit them, then all of the motorcyclists behind you destroy your car. and there are a lot of motorcyclists. I asked if they had a death wish. "No. They're just in a hurry and want to get past you." Amazing.

We've met several people this week who are interested in giving their lives to Jesus, but they think they have to get ready. They want to be a better person first. We tell them that Jesus says, "Come, just as you are", but it is difficult for them. They are living on the white line. They don't want to commit to Jesus, but they don't want to miss out either. They know they don't want in the lane that leads to separation from God, but they aren't ready to give up smoking or drinking or whatever they think the church will ask. They don't want to have to follow a bunch of rules. We try to explain that we aren't talking about joining a church or following rules, that it is a personal relationship with God through Jesus. Its difficult for them to understand. I think we see the same thing in the States.

Pray for a couple Cheryl and I talked to today. She came over to a different apartment complex than the one she lives in to invite us to her home. We presented the Gospel, but neither she nor her husband wanted to give their lives to Christ then. The man even came down to the courtyard a few moments after we left and invited me to come back to their house the next time we were in Brazil. So I know that God is working in their hearts.

Time for supper. (Not that my stomach is wanting much. Imodium AD has helped, but still not quite happy...) I'll post more later. Here's a picture of where we eat lunch each day.

Watching the Stuff

When the children of Israel were going into the promised land - I think it was after Jericho - they were instructed to take the whole area and run everyone out or perhaps it was totally destroy them. (I'll need to re-read.) But not everyone went. Some had to stay behind and watch all their stuff. (Tennessee paraphrase - I'm learning a lot of East Tennessee phrases from Charlie this week.) Anyway, the ones left behind were unhappy because they said they would be left out of the spoils of victory. God, through Joshua, told them that those who stayed behind and watched all the stuff would share equally in the spoils of the battles. You'll need to look all of that up in Joshua, I don't have time to find the reference this morning.

All of that to say, as you pray for us and our mission and "watch our stuff" I believe you share in the victories and in what God is doing here.

Here are some things you can pray for:

The lady who said she couldn't come to Christ because she was the black sheep of her family and no one liked her.
For our health, we've been in homes with chicken pox for two days now.
For the building superintendant who wasn't going to allow us in (thought we were with the police) but instead let us present the gospel. He listened but then argued that all the churches all try to get people from other churches to join them. He then let us go on and visit everyone in that building.
For safety. The gunshots near the school while we were at lunch had the locals concerned for just a short moment. I guess because it was near the school. I guess Bro. Larry was right about the streets of Rio! We had to walk past three guys with guns in their hands to get to the apartments yesterday.
Many people are saying "yes" to the gospel. Thank God for them and pray for the local church as they follow up and disciple in the days to come.
For our physical strength - to keep walking up and down many, many flights of stairs. The apartment buildings are five stories tall.
For our mental strength. It is difficult thinking what to say next in the gospel presentation when so much Portuguese is happening around us.
For emotional strength - as we deal with many hurting people.
For spiritual strength as we share the greatest news these people can ever hear.

There's probably more, but it is time to go eat breakfast. Yummm. Lots of fruit and pastries and eggs and bacon and (some meat I don't think I would ever eat- especially at breakfast).

Rio Missions - Day 4 - building Relationships

There are many relationships we are building. I think it is one of the blessings of going on a mission trip.

We are building relationships within our missions team - sharing experiences that we will talk about for years to come.

We are building relationships with our interpreters...

and our host church members.

And we are building relationships within the community.

The first day this man saw us walk by his store a few times. The last time by I stopped and talked to him in Portuguese. They like it when an American speaks Portuguese - even when it isn't very good. Then they think you speak and understand it well and they start talking a hundred miles an hour. "devagar, por favor" (slowly please)

Our photographer took his picture and I said I wanted a picture of him too.

Then he wanted a picture of the two of us together.

On Tuesday he had his granddaughter with him. I told him I wanted a picture of the two of them together. Isn't she beautiful?

So today I told him that I would be at the church a few doors down this coming Sunday. I invited him to join us. I am praying he will come. I'll invite him again tomorrow.

Each day we eat lunch at the same place. We are getting to know the owner and her familia. This little girl is a sweetheart. I gave her a Tennessee quarter and she was so excited she showed everyone around.

Rio Day 3 - Out of Our comfort Zone

We know that God has great plans for this week. We saw another - mmmm, I would say 15 decisions to follow Christ made today. It's dificult to keep track. We only understand in part what is being said. We have to totally rely on our interpreters. I understand some since I studied Portuguese so much this last year, but there is still a whole lot I don't understand - especially when they speak quickly.

but that is one of the things that has taken us out of our comfort zone. We present the gospel in a very short amount of time and when we say, "do you want to ask Christ into your life today?" they say, "sim" (yes). It seems too easy. We have to remember that God is the one that is in the business of bringing salvation and that Jesus said to come to Him as a little child.

Other ways we are out of our comfort zone.

Last night's desserts for instance.

The food is good, but the spices are so different. Our stomachs are wondering what happened.

Today in one of the homes we were visiting with the mom and two of the children came into the room. They both were covered with chicken pox sores and scabs. At least I am hoping that's what it was.

Then, the very next house when we asked the mom how we could pray for her - she was already a Christian - she said her son was sick and wanted us to pray for him. Then she took us to his room as she told us he had the flu! Oh my! But then she said she thought it was just an allergic reaction to the mosquito spray.

Which leads to a big out of the comfort zone area. There are many, many mosquitos. They were having a convention at the bottom of several of the stairwells. So we spary with "Off" before we go out, but we still fight them off. But Charlie's group - in one of the stairwells - didn't notice the mosquitos because they were running from a rat!

The guy on the back of the motorcycle who was speaking loudly and waving his hands around took us a little out of our comfort zone since he had a pistol in each hand.

The streets are lined with cars like this.

But even though we are uncomfortable, we know God is using us to help reach the people of this community. They are over 130,000 in this 1/2 square mile. The Brazilians are very friendly and almost all who are home will invite us in. They are willing to listen because we are Americans and have traveled so far to talk to them. They listen very politely to us as we share the Gospel. Most say "yes", a few say "no" or "later". We know it is up to God and the local church to follow up and disciple them.

The First Day Out - Rio Missions 2008

The time change is only a little hard to adjust to. We had breakfast at 7:00, but that is 5:00 Clarksville time.

We were going to leave at 8:00, but the hotel valet guys couldn't find the key to the van.

We are working with First Baptist Church, Vila de Pinheiro (Part of Rio). The church is the white part of these buildings to the left of the red one.

This is the associate pastor standing at the door.

You'll want to keep us in your prayers. I don't feel unsafe, but here's how Cheryl described the area in an e-mail to her office.

"Just to give you an idea of the area we are in, 1. my wedding ring is in the safe at the hotel so it won't get ripped off my finger and 2. the speed bumps in the neighborhood are 12 inches high. They were put there by the drug lords to slow the police down when they are called. Because if you drive fast over them you'll flip your car."

We didn't take many pictures. We will be able to take more outside later in the week when the drug dealers get used to us and know we aren't there spying on them. We have one of the Brazilian guys taking tons of pictures of and for us. He has been there with other groups and they don't mind him too much. And he takes many pictures without holding the camera up where you know he is taking them.

We are visiting door to door in these apartment buildings.

There are 20 buildings with 30 apartments in each with an average of 4 or 5 people in each apartment. I doubt we'll see them all in one week's time.

Here's how it works. We knock on the door. If someone answers the interpreter says - well, actually, I'm not sure what he says, but he points to us and says, Americana. And more often than not they invite us in. He says a word or two then turns to us and says, "You can talk to them now." It's very odd not starting off with some informalities, so I try to mention children or the bumper sticker on their door (almost all of them have one about something - many are Christian) and then using the evangicube we share the gospel.

Today between our groups we had 14 or more decisions made - most for salvation. The people here are very polite and very friendly .

Rio Mission Team

Lyndel and Cheryl, Charlie and Melanie, and Lisa.

Melanie is still in DC (that's why she isn't in the picture) but she'll be here tomorrow. We leave out Saturday afternoon. I'll post here as I have opportunity to let you know all the cool things God is doing in Rio.