This past Sunday night, Joab, Layane, Nadine, Natalia, Rita and Valda and Caroline asked to be baptized.

Yesterday, I picked up the girls in Aningas, and they were abuzz with excitement, saying they want to be baptized this Saturday.

They don’t want to wait to be baptized; they feel they are being disobedient to God, every day they wait.

Mark was concerned that the village know and be invited, so we thought that we’d spend Friday in the village, going door to door, inviting everyone to come and witness. Rick and Mark are going to see if the river in Aningas will do, if not there is a lake, right down the dirt road. Joab and the girls and Valda will write their testimonies so that they can be read. Eliel will come and give a word and Mark will baptize them.

We are going to make a huge pot of rice and another of feijoada and farofa, and we’ll get some soda to have a celebration, after the baptism.

I’m so excited I can hardly write. I’m so thankful Rick and Noreen are here to be with us, for Caroline’s sake, for the girls who feel such a huge connection with all of you at home, and because it feels like a little piece of home is here, to rejoice with us.

For every sentence I write, ten more are crowding in my mind. God is good and these precious lives are proof of His Goodness and Grace. Wish you were here.

The saying is sure and worthy of confidence: If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. (2 Timothy 2:11 AMP)

St. John’s festival, or Festa de São João, is celebrated with bonfires, corn on the cob, quadrilha, and costumes right out of the Beverly Hillbillies. It’s a primarily Catholic holiday here that officially falls on the 24th of June, but ends up being celebrated all month. I call it St. Elmo’s Fire because just about every house has a huge, smoke-producing bonfire in front of it, at night, all month long.This is the third year that Mark and I will be joining in the festivities in Aningas.

The first year that we started having get-togethers on Sunday nights in Aningas, we were approached by a few young people, who asked if we would come to the festa de São João. “Certainly!” we answered. “São João was very dear to The Lord Jesus; of course we will come! We’ll even bring Gospels of John, so people can read what São João says about Jesus.” And so we shocked the community of Aningas by setting up a barraca and staying until the last bus drove away.

We were shocked, too, by the huge, gorgeous buses that rolled down the dirt road into the tiny community of Aningas. Nine enormous buses pulled in one at a time, competed in the quadrilha, and left. The quadrilha is kind of like square dancing crossed with the Sicilian tarantella, set to polka music, which blares at 10,000 decibels and deafens us all.

But it’s the crowds of people I love. Mark fashions a kind of “tent” out of PVC pipe and canvas. I make cachorro quente, a hot dog/sloppy Joe mixture that the girls help us serve on hot dog rolls. Mark works the crowd, handing out Gospels of John and tracts. And the crowd goes wild! They love getting the scripture and they tell us that the cachorro quente is delicious, but the Word is the best! What could be better than this?

So, tomorrow night, pray for us, giving out the best news about the heart of God, smack dab in the heart of this much-loved community.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  (John 1:29 NKJV)

Sunday School class in Aningas. Children learning the gospel.

What an awesome day today! Dr. Madalena spent an hour and twenty minutes with Rayane, her mom Fatima, and me.

She wants Rayane to attend her program for autistic children, here in Natal. It’s a school that will teach Rayane to talk, read, write, use a computer, dress herself and interact with others. Rayane would attend three times per week, and Dr. Madalena says transportation can be arranged, through the government.

We sat there just overwhelmed by how much hope there is for this little girl now. Fatima is stunned to think of all that her daughter should be able to learn; she thought her daughter was “simple.”

And then, on the way back to Aningas, Fatima started asking questions about salvation! She asked if she had to forgive people that had hurt her before she could get saved. This started a conversation about the difference between God’s free gift and our works.

God is providing a doctor for Rayane and schooling. At the same time, He is showing Fatima that He is real and He cares for her. He is giving us a chance to tell Fatima about His salvation. And He is filling us with joy, just to think how faithful and true and wonderful He is.