Rubem got all dressed up! He had on a black suit, white shirt, and red stripped tie. He looked really good, like a real pastor! He said that is his dream - to be a pastor.
Tiago, Camillo, and Edivaldo, Daniel and Rubem all came to the house after the service. They all relaxed while Yvonne finished dinner and I went to pick up Josue Torres and Joshua Johnson at Little Creek. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and home made wheat bread were on the menu for the day. That was followed by chocolate chip pie with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce, and coffee and tea for dessert.
While we ate we all practiced new Portuguese and English words and phrases. But this week we had a new twist. Josue is from Puerto Rico and speaks Spanish. All of our friends from Brazil understand Puerto Rican Spanish. So Josue translated some of our English into Spanish and then translated some of the Brazilian's Spanish into English. All the while, Josue was also learning some Portuguese. It was a riot! We talked and laughed and had a wonderful time together.
After dinner, for our worship time, I brought out our contemporary chorus books. We found several songs that everyone recognized and we sang, again in Portuguese and English. I think the angels in heaven must have rejoiced. I know we did! Again this week the Lord spoke to us through the Gift of Tongues and the Interpretation of Tongues.
We watched the video of the 23rd chapter of Matthew (in Spanish with English subtitles) and then discussed it. Jesus really focused on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in this chapter. We applied the point of the chapter to ourselves. It is vital that as Christians we make sure we are not hypocrites! Especially in the military, where we live in such close proximity to one another, on ships and in our ground units. When we call ourselves Christians our shipmates' eyes will be on us to see how we behave. Our witness and our testimonies can be damaged or destroyed by claiming to be Christians and then living sinful lives. Whether other people want to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior or not can be impacted by our behavior. If we are going to claim to be disciples of Jesus we need to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
The end of our video showed Jesus agonizing and weeping over Jerusalem. His heart was breaking because He wanted them to come to Him, but they refused. We have to be really careful, because we can cause Jesus' heart to break if we live hypocritical lives! Everyone was really quiet at the end of our Bible study. You could really feel Jesus' presence in the room.
Then we went around the room and prayed for each other.
We finished about 5:30pm and then just hung out together for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The Brazilians are becoming more and more confident in their ability to speak English. I keep trying to encourage them, because they really can speak English much better than they think they can. I remember the first time I visited Germany, and had dinner with Yvonne's cousin. He encouraged me in my attempts to speak German, and that encouragement helped me speak more.
I brought out my bird book and asked Rubem if they had Cardinals in Brazil. He didn't know. Later Daniel recognized the picture of a Robin, and said they had Robins in Brazil. I showed them the Robin's nest on the side of our house. Then I showed them a picture of a Carolina Wren, and showed them the Wren's nest in the flower pot on our back porch.
On the porch Daniel saw the Croquet set and said they play Croquet in Brazil too. So we set up a game of Croquet in the back yard. That was fun! Then of course we hammed it up for the camera (Josue played too, but he had to leave before we took the picture).
I drove them all back to the ship at about 10:30pm. I love these guys! They are a great group of men.
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