God Dwells Within You As You

Ola Everyone!

I figured it was about time that I posted something about my trip so far even though it has not been that eventful as of yet.

To begin the journey, as some of you may already know, I had quite a struggle getting here. My flight was delayed on Wednesday and was pushed to Friday and I was thinking, "This is no big deal. God wanted me to spend one more day with family." So Friday eventually comes around and on my flight from Miami to Recife, Brazil our plane had water problems which caused it to have electrical problems... Long story short, we had to land in Puerto Rico at a closed airport at 3 AM. Not really the foreign country I had hoped for considering Puerto Rico is still a US territory. At first, I found it quite humorous that I was stuck in a Spanish speaking country with a plane full of Brazilians chattering in Portuguese for an unknown amount of time. However, God used it as a way for me to meet some wonderful people who helped me learn some Portuguese phrases and who translated almost every conversation for me. I already had friends in another country that I had never even been to. Oh, how God uses a difficult situation and turns it in to something beautiful.

 When I finally made it to Brazil on Saturday night, I was taken to Starla's home on the outskirts of Recife for dinner. Starla is one of Mara's relatives and Mara and Tim put me in contact with her at the end of last year about this trip. We have been emailing for months now and it was such a joy to actually meet the person behind all of those emails. We had dinner with some other members of her family and watched Portuguese soap operas while we waited for Nubia to come pick me up. Nubia is one of Starla's relatives who runs the children's home I will be working in and I'm staying in her home for my time here. When she arrived she came with her daughter Raquel (If you would like to pronounce this with a Portuguese accent, try replacing the "r" sound with the harsh "h" sound you would make to clear your throat.) They were both lovely tall ladies with short black hair. Raquel is in her late twenties and is an English teacher. They took me to their home which is an apartment in South Recife. It is an absolutely beautiful apartment. It has all tile floors with big windows which are always open. I have my own room and bathroom here which is far exceeded my expectations. I passed out pretty quickly because it had been more than 24 hours without a proper rest.

I awoke on Sunday to the smell of strong coffee. I went to the kitchen and had papaya for breakfast along with a cup of this coffee I was smelling. It was really good and quite a bit stronger than coffee in America which is just the way I like it. Nubia told me that I had a free day until church later on that night. I was catching up on some emails when Raquel comes in and asks me if I want to go to the beach. How could anyone pass up on a Brazilian beach? I quickly went and threw on my bathing suit and we headed out. We caught the bus which brought us pretty close. We walked a couple of blocks and there it was. The beach was packed with tons of people. The sand is darker here and clumps together more. It almost looks like fake sand. The water is much lighter but there are shark signs everywhere. Rachel was telling me that Recife is the 3rd in the world for the most shark attacks. After hearing that I wasn’t too keen on swimming anymore. There are umbrellas every where but you rent one to sit under it. We went and took our shoes off and walked up and down the beach. I kept telling Raquel how beautiful it was but she insisted that it didn't hold a candle to the beaches in South Brazil. The whole way she talked about all the things she wanted to show me on the weekends I had free. After our trip to the beach we came home and showered and got ready for church which was supposed to start at 5.

The location of the church is absolutely beautiful. It is a big open garage type building, like the CLC, with a stage and it is just across the road from the beach. I was introduced to a lot of people once again. I can’t even begin to tell you their names. I'm discovering how truly bad I am with names. At first I was a little standoffish about the whole ordeal. I figured that I wouldn’t be able to understand a word and I would just do some private bible reading, praying, and that sort of thing. But during the first song one of the Pastors (there are eight) came over to me and Nubia told him that I was American and couldn’t speak Portuguese and he just looked at me, took my face in his hand and just stared for a while. At first I was a little freaked to be honest but then there was just this peace and love that came over me that I felt by this complete stranger. He asked if he could hug me and he just took me into this warm embrace and I could feel him start to cry which made me start to cry. I could just feel the spirit of the Lord and when that happens I just cry and cry. He kept saying “lindo” which mean beautiful. I was so touched and honored. After that I loosened up and sang along in my best Portuguese accent. Some songs I could actually sing along to in English because I knew them and they had been translated into Portuguese from English. After the music, there was a preacher and  she started to talk about Psalms 139 and John 4. Nubia would whisper the translations to me. Based on what Nubia said she talked about how when you feel alone or unworthy God sees you and is there with you. She said, "How can you feel alone? You are a son or a daughter of God. He dwells within you as you, always." Again I just felt the Holy Spirit and cried. I wouldn't want to admit it, but I had started to feel lonely here. I was surrounded by people I didn't really know all speaking in a language I didn't understand and I started to be down on myself, questioning what good I could actually do here when I don't even speak the language. By that sentence said by the pastor, translated by Nubia, I was just hit by a huge wave of comfort and reassurance and I was reminded how close God is to me. He is within me, as me. It was just so humbling to be somewhere where you don’t understand a word the people are saying yet feel Christ’s presence and I was just reassured that he is with me and believes in me. After that there was more singing and another preacher. Through the service and meeting new people I feel like Nubia and I bonded more because we got to see each other break down because of God's presence here. It was absolutely lindo. After church we went out to eat at an Arabian Pizza place. (I know what you are thinking and that is the same though I had. Arabian Pizza??) We met up with Nubia’s other daughter Rayissa and her husband Mark and their 8 month old twins. The pizza was good but there were definitely some differences. It didn’t have cheese on it for one. It was just covered in this meat like Canadian bacon and onions. Another thing, in Brazil they eat their pizza with a fork and knife. It took me until I was almost finished with my first piece to realize this and put it down. Dirty American, party of one.

So far the trip has been really good. I'm excited to continue to see and experience God here. The journey is just beginning. Keep me in your prayers as I embark on the endeavor of learning Portuguese. Also could you keep the children's home in your prayers? I was supposed to go work there today for but there is a strike going on amongst the bus drivers and no one could get there. Tomorrow is another day.

I would love to hear from you! You can comment or email me at sarah.morgan.lunceford@gmail.com

Toda meu amor,
Sarah