Day 8

Marking our fourth day of teaching here in Nicoadala...

This is pastor Orlando and he runs a sports evangelism program that goes from village to village playing various sports with the jovenes (youth) and then sharing the love of Christ with them. Recently, Orlando has lost two sons. One committed suicide when he found out he had HIV/AIDS, and then other died very young just this last week due to illness. Orlando's childhood is also a story of great tragedy, but also of great deliverance.

Orlando is also facing a terrible crisis right now. His wife's parents want to take (literally, to physically force) his wife to see a witch doctor in order to figure out who has placed a curse on the family to cause all of these deaths. Orlando and his wife are both professing believers, so they certainly do not want to do this because it would mean abandoning their faith. So, when Orlando told his in-laws that he would not send his wife to a witch doctor they said, "You go to your 'teaching', and we will take her and you can live without her". See, their tradition here is different. In American, when a man marries a women...she takes his name and forms her own family with her husband who is the head of the household. In Africa, the woman is still under the authority of her parents...so if they decide to take her, they have the full legal right to.

What do you say to this? I don't care HOW much seminary training a person goes through...I mean...goodness. All of this is admitted in front of the group, and they do EXACTLY what needs to be done; they pray. All of this actually happens on Day 9 (9/23), by-the-way. I thought I'd post it here, because Orlando was already mentioned.

So, when I post this story...I'm not trying to get a bunch of Americans into some sob story and go, "Oh, those poor third-world Africans". I'm trying to get you to understand, that when I ask you to pray....I MEAN it. Some of us are horribly unaware of the utter suffering our brothers and sisters in Christ are going through, because we are caught in a vacuum of our own self-absorption. Wake up.

Please, take a moment...step away from the computer, put down the cell phone...and legitimately pray for Orlando, his wife, his children, his in-laws, his ministry, and this whole situation.

Please, take a moment and pray for pastor Orlando, his family, and his ministry.

All that being said, the day was very much like all the previous ones. The major exception was that all the ladies were at the training center for some time. I was able to eat lunch with Susan Otter and Jessica Remeirsma, and get to know them a little better. Both greatly impress me with just how much Portuguese they have learned in such a short amount of time. If you are from Royal Palms and you're reading this, know they are doing your church proud :) I told them that whenever I visit Royal, I normally hear about how much they are loved/missed/and prayed for...they thank you for all of that.

Yesterday I also managed to finally finish the historical books! Once I pushed through the Kings, I was able to tackle Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther all in one day! Woot!

Learned more Portuguese, and I can manage to look around the whole room and know each person's name. It was very warm though today, so when we got home...we were just beat! I was dozing off at around 8pm, which is not usual for me. So, I called it a night early went to bed...hence being a day behind in posts ;)

Things to remember...

* Wanne translated for me while I taught, and I told her that I liked her better because she tells me what is going on and what people are saying, haha. It opened up a can of worms and John hasn't stopped teasing me since.

* I led the pastors in a congo line to wake up, LOTS of fun haha.

Favorite picture...
Is the one above! I couldn't take that much today :/