My First Cell Group Meeting in Brazil

Today I had my first cell group meeting with the guys from the camp. It was awesome! After lunch my uncle Adolfinho took me to the neighborhood of the guys, but we couldn’t find any of their homes. They gave me their addresses, but we were lost for nearly an hour. Finally, Adolfinho gave up and said we should go back home. About 10 seconds after he made that statement one of the camp counselors walked by our car. I yelled out at him and it turned out that he was in the neighborhood to visit the kids too. So I got out of the car and followed him to the guys’ high school. God is faithful. He came through at the last minute.
We weren’t able to enter the high school because the students were practicing their dances for the Festa Juninha, a harvest celebration dedicated to St. John. It’s only celebrated in country areas with traditional country music called fojo, somewhat like bluegrass or Cajun music.
Somehow Alexander and Betinho found out that I was here and they showed up on their bicycles. They get out of school at 12, so they were free, but the other guys get out of school at 5:30. I have to explain this glorious reality. You see, Brazil is a student’s paradise. Every day school starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 12 p.m., so that everyone could go home and have lunch with their families since lunch is the main meal of the day in Brazil. Once the morning session is maxed out, the rest of the students have to come to school from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. No students attend both sessions. You either go to school in the morning or in the afternoon. Also, they have half-days just like we do in the U.S. and on those days they get out at 10:30 a.m.
That is why Alexander and Betinho were out of school while the other guys were still in school. Once the other guys got out of school some of them came to hang out with us, but the rest had to go to work or home. In all, I got to hang out with seven guys, two of which were not at the camp. We all went over to Alexander’s house and hung out. We talked about God, life, soccer, and many other things.
Finally, I asked the guys if they would be up for reading the Bible together for a little bit. They all agreed, so we went to Alexander’s room and had our first cell group meeting. We talked a lot about girls and sex because that is the main vice that plagues these guys even though they all say they love Jesus. One of them just got a girl pregnant. Some of them have girlfriends, but they still flirt with and holler at any pretty girl regardless of whether they are in a relationship or not.
We then read the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. I emphasized Elijah’s statement when he said “How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then worship Him, but if Baal is god then worship him.” I urged them to choose who they were going to worship, Jesus or the world. We had a great time together and they interacted quite a bit. I prayed over them and we ended the meeting.
Then I met Alexander’s parents and they thanked me for what I was doing even though they are not Christians. They were grateful for any wise guidance given to their kids.
The guys put on some music and asked me to do “the worm” because I had done it at the camp. I did it for them and then they tried to learn it for a while. It was fun.
It was already dark, so they walked me to the nearest bus stop. I bought a bus pass and a filet mignon “spetinho” (i.e. shish kabob) for one dollar and then hopped on the bus.
On the bus I talked with a man who was a Christian, but wasn’t going to church because his work hours overlapped with all the church services. Then I met Lincoln, who is a member of Videira, the largest church in Goiania and the church I want to work together with. He works recycling trash. We talked for a while and he told me that they have cell groups in the neighborhood where my guys live. So I’m going to meet some of the cell leaders from there and connect my guys with them. Praise God! He is faithful.
Finally, I reached Maranatha Presbyterian Church where I met up with my cousins and a bunch of young guys to play indoor soccer. It was awesome! I actually scored a goal! Playing soccer with these guys is like playing basketball with some big black guys in the hood. In other words, these guys were soooo good.
The championship game for the Copa Libertadores was tonight, so right after playing soccer we went over to Andre’s friends’ house to watch the game. It was Santos, a Brazilian team, versus a Uruguayan team. The final score was 0-0. It was a good game though. We had pasta and caldo de frango (chicken soup, only better) while watching the game. The game ended at midnight and we went home. What a day!