May 6, 2006

Whew!

This year's missionary conference ended last night. It was an excellent conference with wonderful sermons and informative workshops. The workshop I attended--given by one of our graduates--was about work with at-risk kids near Fortaleza. He told of one of their boys who's mother worked as a prostitude in a bordel. While she was out "working", she would tie him (her son) to the bed like an animal until he got back. There weren't too many dry eyes in the place when she got done.

Throughout the week I have had a support role. That is a fancy way of saying that I was a "gopher". I picked up the sound system we used and brought it to the seminary. With the help of our seminary students, I transported all the chairs from our student center to the cafeteria (where the main sessions were held). Our video projector was used for two different presentations, in two different places, and I was able to video and photograph portions of most of the sessions as well. I also transported an average of ten people to and from the sessions each day.

During last-night's session we had a report from a local pastor who just spent several weeks in Cape Verde. He talked about the opportunities for Brazilian missionaries there.

After the final message, our speaker gave an invitation for those who felt called to serve God on the mission field. Five people stood up.

Last night, after dropping people at their homes in various places in Juazeiro, I collapsed into bed, exhausted. The fruits of the week--the seeds of missions planted in the hearts of our students--made it all worthwhile.

Posted by Andrew on May 6, 2006 7:36 AM.