Stories from the village of Salgado :)

We loved our little hikes between houses in the hills

     Sitting on their porch shelling beans, was one of my favorite times to share the gospel, in different ways and stories everyday.  But the story I will always remember with Salgado, is the picture of the gospel in shelling beans.  That Jesus takes us together with the dead part of our flesh and sin, and washes us clean and peals of the death and presents us to the father full of joy and proudly as a handful of fruit, just the beans, the good life giving part.  "Look, Pai, I brought you good fruit, they are alive in you, I pealed off their death and took their punishment and present them to you holy and blameless and perfect and full of life in your presence."   I hope this message of the gospel stays with them and wrecks them with deeper revelation everyday as they sit on the porch, shelling beans for hours a day, their main staple food.  I hope that they can't escape from the revelation of the goodness of God.

- Anderson - 

     This morning, on our last full day here, we went up to visit Lara, who wasn't home, so we went to Dona Nelda's, who also wasn't home.  Dona Nelda lives with 8 grandchildren, 5 of whom's parents died a few months ago.  The story is that the father killed the mother, and then the oldest son killed the father.  And some of the children saw it happen.  Most of the other details were lost in translation, but needless to say the family has been through a lot of trauma and difficult times.  Dona Nelda and some of the children are believers, but not very firm and haven't had much teaching or discipleship and the nearest local church is about an hour or 2 walking.  It was one of the families that God directed me to most focus on in my time here, and especially Dona Nelda and Leticia the 14 year old daughter.  

     But Anderson was home today.  Anderson is the 16 year old son in this family.  He was usually around the house when I came by to visit, and would come by to say hi but not stay in the room long, or maybe listen from outside the door.  But usually he had another teenage friend around so he wasn't totally open to listening.  But he also had a wound on his foot that week that I helped bandage a few times and just checked in on him and his foot.  But today after sitting one-on-one with Leticia for a while and saying bye to her, we were about to leave and Anderson came to the doorway to say bye as well. But suddenly I felt the intentionality of the Lord to stop for him, and to share the gospel with him, personally, just for him.  To tell him that Jesus really died for HIM.  That it was personal, this good news was a message for him, for his heart and his life.  That God was calling him.  I was there with Jenn and Jess, and I think all 4 of us felt the intentionality of God in that moment.  It was like I could feel the Holy Spirit calling his heart, his heartbeat beating faster, feeling that tug toward heaven.  We talked about the power of forgiveness and the suffering that Jesus paid with joy so that we could become free and friends of God.  We talked about Saul becoming Paul and the power of redemption.  And he believed but wasn't ready to say yes with his life to this message.  But he did want to pray that he would feel even more of God's presence and to ask God to increase the call on his heart that he was feeling.  It was a such a sweet moment.  I want it to feel like that every time I preach the gospel.  Thats how it felt in Chuuk the day I was sharing with the youth in Losap.  Free, and full of love and the passion of the Holy Spirit.  I love to be in the room and feel him tugging on hearts like that.  

     That was our last day in the village. I'm not sure where Anderson with his decision to follow Jesus today.  But part of the team is heading back there this next month so I pray to hear the testimonies of victory and opportunities for him to have discipleship as he does decide to step into this wonderful grace and new life.

 "Amendoim" ~ 'Amendoim' means 'Peanut'  in Portuguese, which is what I understood him to say his name was for the first few days until the rest of the community found out and laughed really hard because thats not his real name, but it was so fun that it may stick, at least for me it is stuck. His actual name is Raimundinho, and his wife Rita, and daughters Ana Paula, Andrealina, and Nazare.  I was marked by his openness and eagerness to hear the gospel and to learn about people from other languages and cultures for the first time.
     After they found out that tapioca is one of my favorite Brazilian snacks and that I know how to make it, for our last afternoon together, they were really excited to offer me to use their kitchen to make some (since they said they didn't know how to make it). It was so fun for me and I felt so loved and we all felt so much joy.  It was one of those crazy short term relationships that it just doesnt really make sense how much love and joy you can have for each other in such a short time.  Especially for the quiet women in that family, I don't think they are used to having that much attention or feeling that loved as what we gave them so simply in our few afternoons together.  Enough that Rita was saying bye with tears in her eyes.  The youngest two daughters got baptized and the rest of the family confessed Jesus as their Savior and opened their hearts to walk with him into friendship with the Lord for the first time.  They seem really surprised and hungry to know more about God and really discover the life and heart that he has.

Happy Missionaries

the boys bedroom ;)

Jess had gotten a prophetic picture/vision the week before our trip of a little boy with a yellow shirt and red shorts leading us into people's houses.  So she drew the picture and put it in her pocket as we left the house,  and as it turned out, here was Levi, our village tour guide.  He was almost happy to hear that God had known about him in advance, but was slightly offended that the stick figure didn't reflect how big his muscles were :)

Next month I am heading from here to Nepal, meeting up with my friend Zoe to work with IRIS Nepal for a while as they are helping rebuild in a village outside of Kathmandu.  If you want to meet her, she wrote an amazing little update that explains our upcoming journey  http://eepurl.com/brIXV9   

Bless you!!  Thanks for reading ;)