unpopular opinion: i don... nope, i can't even type it here

one of the translators said it was 99°f today, and i believe it! each day has felt a little toastier than the one before, but that might just be me. 

this morning i got a turn to do a school visit, so after just a couple blood pressures i joined a few others to a local elementary school that opened its doors to us to share the gospel. some of the kids remembered the others from last year's visit, which is simply precious.

 because I enjoy watching the others in their element, i accepted the huge bag of gospel bracelets when kathy asked who would do those. we had 4 or 5 little gospel related gifts for the kids, and she'd need her arms free to snap all the pictures and talk to the kids. then i learned "do the bracelets" didn't mean "pass them out." it meant "do the whole gospel bracelet talk." thank goodness i was feelin' froggy- i grabbed tra out of the backpack and off we went! i appreciated the pre-k students sitting in front, as they are much more my comfort zone than the older kids, but my comfort zone also comes short of the 300 CHILDREN assembled in the courtyard, plus teachers. good glory. but it was a fabulous time, and i realized how much i've missed telling kids that most wonderful story. man, that felt good. we survived the stampede of kids that crashed over us in their efforts to each be the absolute first one to get all the bracelets, pencils, and cards. we got back to the church during the lunch break, after which we had 3 or 4 more rounds of visitors to the clinic. 

tonight was the "traditional" ( at least for our fbcj team) pizza dinner that is one of the most highly anticipated evenings of the annual missions trip. pizza after pizza, brought out and given to whoever wants a slice of whichever kind. pr dan made 3 laps around the (very) long table to see which kinds everyone else was eating. you've never seen him this happy if you've never seen him inside a brasilian pizzaria, let me tell you! 

don't ask me about my opinions on brasilian pizza, or i may get banned from any more mission trips. i *will* say that this place's pizza was the best of any i can remember. it was in fact pretty good. and it's hard to find better eating companions than mission partners you've been serving and sweating with for days. that kind of thing builds a certain bond, for sure. 

ways 2 praise: 

*it seems like we had about our busiest day yet at the clinic! another couple dozen individuals even said they'd made decisions to become Christians. 

*our translators have never let us down, and this group is not different. they are absolutely wonderful, servant-hearted, energetic and just plain fun. they have given up so much of their time to serve, and jump right in to help with anything that needs doing. 

we were also accompanied by a handful of church members who kept things organized, cooked lunch for us each day, helped with the flip flops and sunglasses, and generally did all the little "things". what an immense help they have been!! 

ways 2 pray:

* tomorrow is our last day of clinic, which will be packing up around 3 (although we will run out of sunglasses before that). pray that we finish strong!

* pray for bethesda church. this has been a difficult area for them to grow in, and yet they are! it will take time for them to follow up with those who have come through here this week; pray that they are able to water those seeds planted.