My First Portuguese Lesson

Last Sunday, we took a bus with Travis, Alicia and Randy about an hour from our house to the edge of the city. If you've seen the size of the bay we're on, you will know how far it is to the inside corner of it. That's where we went, to a bairro called Alto de Coutos. One of the younger Churches of Christ asked us to come and speak to them once a month over the next few months. We thought it was a great idea, and I took the first month. The church recently moved from a rented building into the patio of one of the members. This was a great blessing to them, because their facility is free. It was also a blessing to us, because we got to be in the most beautiful front row scene I have ever laid eyes on. I know, I know, a lot of us grew up staring at the paintings above the baptistry, but this was the real deal. The only downside was that it was raining sideways at the time, but the break from the spring heat was very welcome.

There is not much else that I can really say. Travis taught the class before I spoke; he did a fantastic job of introducing the book of 2 Timothy. I spoke on chapter 1 verses 1-7. I had all of my words written in front of me, which alliviated most of the stress that I felt. It was about ten pages double-spaced, and I mostly read it with my typical emotive flair. I strayed from my notes occasionally, but just to gauge the involvement of my audience of about 20 adults. They were very gracious and had prepared a lunch of cachorro quente (hot dogs) and soda for everyone. I can't wait to go back and improve my vocabulary and comfort level. I did it! but not without a lot of encouragement and careful translation help from Valerie. Thanks for all your prayers.