Brazil Reports

Day 4:

Saturday night's crusade was a great start to the trip. I had the priviledge of opening the service with a few worship songs with the Brazillian praise team from our host church. They are a wonderful group of mostly teenagers with lots of talent and an inspiring amount of passion for Jesus.After the service, the other praise team for the night, a group from a local Indian Reservation, played an incredible mix of...Hillsong United and...Salsa! There were drums and percussion instruments EVERYWHERE! If you know me, you know I love drums, and I like them loud!

We danced and jumped and sang for at least an hour after the service. The praise team I played with and the other youth from the host church had a great time getting all us old people to do their latin dance steps with them. You may get an opportunity to see some pretty humiliating pictures of that soon...we'll see.

I preached today at two churches and saw great evidence of God's Spirit flowing out and encouraging His people. One lady in particular spoke in tears after tonight's service about what a blessing it was to feel the presence of God and to be reminded that we are one spirit with Him. That's big.

Thanks for praying.

Day 5:

It's only 5pm, but I have finished all my home visits and have a break before our evaluation time. Then it is off to our evening service, where I will preach in an outdoor evangelistic gathering. This is miles outside my comfort zone. It's something I've just never done, but I know the One who is in me has absolutely no problem making it a home run...so no worries.

The home visits today were great...Brazillians are very open and courteous, so almost everyone agreed to pray the prayer of salvation after I shared my story through an ingerpretor. That might have bothered me, but I could tell in the Spirit that many of them were truly being touched by God and meeting Him. Probably 25-30 people received Jesus today in homes and in a daycare where I spoke to the staff. Good stuff, Maynard.

Please pray for my wife and kids...they're the ones really making the sacrifice for me to be here and have all the fun.

Day 6:

I preached last night at an outdoor gathering in one of the nearby towns. At the end of my message, I had one of our team members share her story...magnificent. It's one of those stories that makes you wish you could get saved again. I'm trying hard not to be frustrated that no one came forward, but they say that while people here worship freely and respond verbally, they don't come forward easily. I know God's presence was strong and moving.

Many more people received Jesus in homes today. It's a cool process. All these visits are set up by friends or family members who are believers and they all know a missionary is coming to talk about their need to be saved. Sometimes it seems too easy, and once or twice I think people have prayed just to get us out of the house, but almost without exception, when we finish the prayer, I look into moist eyes and see that they feel the presence and love of God.

Please pray for my church, as they are without their worship leader for two more services while I'm here.