This has been a very fun, busy, and exciting week for us. This past Saturday, we had been expecting to make a trip to a city that is called Pirenópolis. It is known to have historic architecture for Brazil, and also on the outskirts of the city there are many massive waterfalls. The students and people that we have run into have constantly told us that the water is freezing because it comes straight down from a mountain. Even though it is winter here, it feels more like our early summer, so I was excited at the thought of feeling genuinely cold during a winter season for once. This excitement was for something that never came to fruition though because we ended up not being able to get enough cars for all of the students that committed to coming with us for the day. In one sense, this was definitely a bummer because I was excited for the city itself and I was also excited to be spending time with students off-campus. However, I think it is a great problem to have when there are so many students that wanted to come with us. Luckily, there is an Athletic Club that is only a ten-fifteen minute walk from our house, and many of the students that spent the night with us the night before or who had committed to coming ended up going with us to this athletic club anyways, which was very encouraging. We paid an upfront price and then we had our pick of many soccer fields, basketball courts, swimming pools, water slides, sand volleyball courts, and other various activities. It was great to get out and stretch our legs, but it was also awesome to spend time with the students in a new place. Two guys that we have developed great friendships with are Heron and Mario. You may remember these names from one of my previous posts asking you all to pray for them. Please pray for them specifically because we only have two and a half or three weeks left here. I do not expect God to work on our timeline, so please just be praying that we can be intentional with these guys with our time, and also that God will help us to connect them to Brazilian students here that are leaders at the church that we have been going to. Thank you!
After Saturday, Mario invited Michael and I to go with him to a stock car race at the local Goiania track. We were definitely exhausted from the day before, but we knew that we would have regretted not going if we declined. We took him up on it, and I am glad that we did. First of all, Mario was operating under the notion that if we were going to a racing event that we had to also get there in the same manner that we expected them to be driving once we arrived. We were weaving in and out of traffic, and at one point Mario attempted to prove to us that he had perfected the art of drifting. I never felt like we were going to crash because he was definitely a good driver and knows a lot about cars, but I imagine that his Mom will be questioning why her e-break doesn't seem to be working as well as before she let us take her car. When we got there, it took a while for the races to start, so it provided us with an opportunity to talk with Mario a lot, and I think that this was a great chance to go deeper with him. Once the races began, Michael and I agreed that the cars themselves were certainly not as impressive as NASCAR cars, but the track was a road track and the ample amount of wipe-outs made up for a lack of power. Here is a picture from the day of Michael and me with Mario.
In other news, we got to experience our first World Cup game in Brazil last night (Thursday, June 12, 2014). It was awesome and I look forward to posting pictures and going into more detail about this in our next update. Today, we are going to be leaving for a weekend retreat that will have many discussion groups about exploring our purpose in life and what the implications of having a Creator would be. I am excited for another opportunity to spend ample time with the students that we have connected with, so please pray for safety throughout the weekend for our whole team and all of the students and also that God would be moving in all of our hearts in accordance to His eternal will.
Have a great weekend and thank you for your continued support!
In Christ,
Josh
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