Monday was a really busy day. After a breakfast of granola, coconut yogurt, and milk, all five of us in the house went shopping to get some more things for the three-day Hope Encounter.
Aunt Julie and Jennifer went to Atacadao while Uncle Jim, Danae, and I went to Juazeiro. We picked up several items at the shops in town and then we came back and went to Assai, the new grocery store across the road from Atacadao. There we purchased, some chips, spices, and some doce de leite for Danae and I to bring home.
We tacos for lunch, and around 2:00 we had rest of our Aventura Brasil team join us at the sitio. Byron Atha and his son William (who was at the Semana de Musica), Doug and Renate Reiner, and Destiny Gates drove in and we all went out to meet them.
The Atha’s are missionaries farther south, and we will spend more time with them next week. The Reiner’s are also from farther south, and they have done a lot of the work in organizing the Aventura Brasil program. Destiny is a high school student from one of the Reiner’s supporting churches in New York, and she arrived in Brasil just a couple days ago by airplane.
We let the group eat lunch while we sat around and talked with them, and later in the afternoon we had a group meeting to make plans for the Hope Encounter. We assigned responsibilities, decided on activities to do, and made the final plans for meals. I get to lead the singing and help with some of the other activities, and of course, I’m going to take pictures! 🙂 Wednesday night I also get to spend a few minutes telling everyone about the different instruments I play.
For supper we ate Aunt Julie’s retirment chicken turnovers, fruit salad, broccoli salad, and flan for dessert. Shortly after we headed up to the cafeteria on the seminary campus to scope out the place and decide how to set up for the English retreat. That task didn’t take too long, and soon enough we were back down at the house, preparing for bed.
My devotions today were in Acts 17. One of my favorite “short stories” in Acts is that of the Bereans and their fervor for the gospel. They didn’t just take Paul’s word for it when he preached. They took the time to study Scripture on their own and interpret it with the help of the Holy Spirit. I need to always have that same attitude toward the Bible.
Well, rest of the team is here and exciting days lie ahead! Aventura Brasil (the second half of my trip) has officially begun, so here we go!
