In the late afternoon the students in our group held a cultural exchange for Brazilian students learning English.
In the evening we cooked hot dogs "American Style" and then had a surprise birthday party for Jan Santos which included everyone from Castro Alves church. It was great seeing the people again. Our American birthday song is so tame compared to the Brazilian version. You get done singing their version and you're actually excited about having a birthday!
We had s'mores. Regis (Iracy's husband) had never had them before and was very unsure. After his first taste, he looked at me and said, "I have no words!" He had two more.
I know I haven't written about Iracy's story yet, but it is the stuff of movies. Stay tuned.
As we ate our s'mores, Regis looked at me and started singing American worship songs in English. I was shocked. One of the songs he sang was "Never Let Go" by Matt Redman. I had to do everything I could not to burst into tears because of the context of his life...his story. How could he sing, "Oh no, you never let go through the calm and through the storm"? He could because He hasn't ever let go.
The night ended with a lot of "good byes", "chau's", and hugs from the Castro Alves faithful. After they left, we gathered around the fire and sang for a bit. As I looked into the sky, I began thinking of our journey to get to Brazil. We had prayed about it for years. I was thankful for the amazing lessons learned during our time in this wonderful country. We were told many times about the blessing we were to the people here, but I think we were blessed more.
We fly home tomorrow night.
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