Sunday Activities - July 6, 2008

The Fragata Greenhalgh crew was having an all hands cookout on Sunday, so we thought none of our Brazilian friends would be able to come over. But as it turned out, they called about 12:30 and said they were free to go and wanted to come over. I jumped in the car and twenty minutes later I was pier side, picked them up, and was on the way to the house. Yea!

Yvonne was preparing Martha Stewart's Macaroni and Cheese Casserole for dinner, and cream cheese brownies and ice cream for dessert.

After dinner we went into the living room for our worship and Bible study time. Paulo and Edivaldo led us in worship; Paulo with his flute and Edivaldo on the guitar.


What was different about today was the way we sang. We just kept on singing! Instead of watching the Matthew video I felt led to talk about what was going on among us. The love that we felt for each other in such a short time has been nothing short of divine. It was Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection that made this kind of fellowship and love possible. We were sharing our gifts with one another: Paulo and Edivaldo were giving us their gifts of music. Yvonne was sharing her gifts of cooking and hospitality. Jesus said He came that we might have life, and to have it to the full. When we can come together and fellowship and love one another, it is a small taste of what He meant!

We sang the chorus "Open The Eyes Of My Heart" several times. We all felt like we were "seeing" Jesus. Jesus made it possible for six sailors from Brazil to come to America and share their gift of music and love with us in our home. He made it possible for a man and his wife to open their home in America and love six sailors from Brazil. And in just four short weeks, He made it possible for us to love each other deeply from the heart (1 Peter 1:22).

After I talked about our love for one anther we went right back to singing. It was great! Then out came the laptops and it was time to phone home.

Paulo showed us a worship DVD from a church in Brazil. Though we couldn't understand the language, we could participate in the worship because of the Spirit. We could all focus on Jesus, the one being worshipped.

The Brazilians' stay in America is coming to an end. The Greenhalgh will go out to sea for a month. Then they will be back for one more weekend at the end of the cruise, and then they sail back to Brazil.

We all stood and I anointed each one with oil individually in the name of the Lord Jesus and prayed for them. It was a bittersweet moment, but the presence of the Lord was so very real!

Finally, about 11:00pm I took everyone back to the ship. I stayed on the pier until they were out of sight because I knew that would be the last time I would see them for a month.