I Want A Banana! I will get to that later. Today was our third Sunday away from home but we were able to go to church. Rebekah was still feeling bad but she wanted a change of scenery so we went. Yuri and Carol picked us up. They are a Brazilian couple that live close by. Carol works at Betania and eats lunch with the kids and us as often as she is able. Both have spent time in the US and speak English well. Yuri spent a year in Utah and Carol spent 6 months in Farmington Hills, MI... during the winter. Their church (Baptist) has Portuguese and English services. Yuri asked if we believed the same as the Baptist... I said "close... but unlike the Baptists we believe in Jesus"... just kidding. They have Sunday School in Portuguese for the kids and we went to the English service. When we went to pick up the kids the first thing Wellington wanted to know is when can we do this again... well I think it will be next Sunday. After the service we all came back to Betania and Yuri and Carol had lunch with us. Of course Yuri and I talked about the economy and politics. I concluded it with... Jesus didn't come to change the Roman government but He did come to change the hearts of man. We are hoping and planning to get together again. When we return home they are an example of why we will miss Brazil. Oh... before I forget again... the lady who watched over us like a mother hen last night... her name is Luci. She is a God send and blessing to us. This afternoon Kevin Boot called and invited us to his church this evening. We decided to lay low and see if Rebekah can feel better. Hoping to try it next Sunday evening... his church is Portuguese. Which brings us to "I want a banana". Since the groups left after lunch we eat our dinner in the little kitchenette on our floor. We got some things from the main kitchen and I got some more from a grocery store. We had just started to get some food out when one of the kids said "I want a banana" in English. You might think that this is a good thing. However, all day we could see an episode coming. Sometimes you can "head it off at the pass" and other times you just have to let it come to you. Well it came. While holding a banana the pouting fit and crying started... apparently that banana wasn't good enough so they wanted another one. So I picked up the kid and went to our room where I sat them down on their bed and for the next 20 minutes I heard over and over and over again, "I want a banana!!" (literally over 100 times) So I was glad to hear them speak English... but not like this. Finally after being quiet and being sorry... I think it was heart felt... we went to eat a banana. The thing is I had something else they liked even more waiting for them as a surprise. They were very glad when they got it. How often do we tell God what we want. We may ask for it dozens of times. But do we ask in the right way? When I was dealing with the situation the child had one thing on their mind... a banana. But I wanted their attention to be on me not a thing that is extremely temporary and only satisfies the flesh for a short time. I wanted to show them something more. When we ask God for some "thing", is our mind on the "thing" or on God. How often I am short-sighted for some "want" of mine when God just "wants" us to "want" Him. He has far better things in store for us if we will relinquish "our" desires to "His" desires. For me, this is much easier said than done. I have such a long way to go. The pictures today are of the house we visited on Friday and the man from Betania with his 1-string instrument. Please keep praying for Rebekah. If she is not improving by tomorrow... it will be a trip to a Dr or hospital.
Dave