I Serve a Risen Savior!

What a week, what a week! Saturday was Jordan's going away party (since after that Saturday, all the Saturdays would be busy). We went to the beach for the day, a day filled with 4-wheeling, eating ginormous shrimp, downing Guarana, and watching USA lose 2-1 in overtime to Ghana :( After the game, we went to Tequila's for a pastel (think elephant ear, but instead of sweet, filled with meat and cheese)! It was delicious!
Sunday was rather uneventful until church, where Pastor Eudes decided out of the blue to make me sing Voce Tem Um Valor (a song I kinda know in Portuguese). Anyways, it was fun and church was good.
Monday started off bright and early by working on Evair's house. In the afternoon, the family and I went to the site of the retreat Lakewood Park is going to host with these kids. It was a beautiful beach-front property! After, we went to Erika's parents house to watch Brasil beat Chile 3-0! From there, Bill stopped to get ingredients for his world-famous chocolate-peanut butter-banana milkshakes! Jordan and I downed those suckers down before another great night of worship! It's a great way to end a night, you should try it sometime!
Tuesday was a work day in preparation for Copperfield. Later that day, Bill, Douglas and I went with Va (a guy who tends to the property) to get his cow from his house and transport it to Bill's house... That's right. We transported a cow in the back of Bill's truck! That night, Jordan and I spoke to the community at the Bible study about idolatry and how it's a worship disorder we all suffer from. Think about this: what are you putting your everything into??
Wednesday came at 5 in the morning as Jordan and I went will Bill and Erika to the fruit market to get supplies for the incoming weeks. After that, I went and worked at Evair's house again. It was good to hang out with the guys yet again. Wednesday ended with some children's worship and Jordan and I having our own time of worship!
Thursday was the day that the group from Copperfield, a church from Texas, came down. We went to the airport at 5:00 to pick them up and, because of my chicken dancing skills, we all got Bob's Milkshakes! After picking up the group and taking a nap, some of the guys went to the construction site. After dinner, we had children's worship and the men's meeting. At the meeting, every man, both Brasilian and American, gave a testimony. It was great to hear the same story repeated over and over in the life of all of us guys: "I had a problem and God came into my life and saved me."
Friday, Douglas and I went to the construction only to realize no adults were there. So instead, I took the time to do a devotional with the guys and then we played Ninja. Later, we prayed at Evair's house as a group and got a tour of his old house (which was totally crooked). After some great time with the kids at the playground, we watched Brasil played Holland. Brasil looked good going up 1-0 at halftime. And I made a little song making fun of Holland and those who supported them (Fabricio and Douglas). However, the 2nd half was tragic. Holland scored two goals and Brasil played awful. Long story short, Brasil lost 2-1 :( After lunch basketball and lunch, Copperfield (along with Jordan and I) did some pre-teen VBS stuff. It was fun to be able to show these kids the love of Christ. From VBS came soccer, where I picked a stellar team with Fabricio, Evair, Cece, and Thiago 2 on it (2 other guys from the community). We went 2-1, the best record that day! That night, Jordan and I talked about worship with the teens. It was neat to see how many of them seemed to get it. Afterwords, the group of us played Ninja for practically an hour. Once we went back home, Fabricio, Michael, Renan, Patrick, Douglas and I spent the evening talking about dating, relationships, and marriage. It was pretty awesome hanging out with the those guys!
Needless to say, I've been super busy and have been super blessed! I'll do a whole different post about Saturday-Monday (Lord Willing I have time). Keep praying for the lives of the people down here that God would send people to minister to them.

I serve a risen Savior, he's in the world today;
I know that he is living whatever men may say;
I see his hand of mercy; I hear his voice of cheer,
And just the time I need him, he's always near.
He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, he lives, salvation to impart!
You ask my how I know he lives?
He lives within my heart.

God Bless!
Rob Lauter