Third trip on the river

Hey y'all! More apologies for my lack of blogging. WiFi is few and far between.The third and, sadly, final trip on the river was full of God flexing His muscles and showing His power. We went to one village for a couple days, and then to another one, Villa Sao Jose, for the rest of the week. It was great being in one place for so long. We had more time to invest in people there.

The picture is of a sweet boy in Sao Jose named Christiano who quickly became our friend. The two girls were helpin' me get him to smile for a picture since he has special needs. As the team and I were walkin' down the street, Christiano was out on the porch of his house. He sees us, bursts into a smile so bright it could light up the whole village, waves, and invites us in! His mother was out on the porch with him, and we introduce ourselves to them both. The World Cup was on- Holland vs. Uruguay I think- so the men were inside watching the game. A window to their living room was open, leaving the TV in full view. We were able to come up onto the porch and watch some of the game through the window. Soon, a team member starts a conversation with Cloudisa, the mother. I overheard Torrie, my team mate, telling her about salvation in Jesus. By the end of the game and their conversation, Cloudisa says she wants to trust Christ as her Savior! We asked her why, and she said that she had never known what it meant to have salvation. She said she went to the Catholic Church in the village, and they had never taught her how to be saved through Jesus Christ. But now that she understood that it is by faith alone in Jesus alone (Romans 10:9-10, John 14:6), she wanted to make a decision to trust Him as her Savior! Praise God :)

After this visit, we were able to go back to her house and have a Bible Study with her. We studied Ephesians 1:13-14 among other Scriptures. A belief that was common in this village was that you could loose your salvation if you do something bad or continue to sin after you trust Christ. We got to show her that the Bible says we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as evidence of our faith and salvation. We spoke with her about the importance of reading the Bible, praying to God, and many other ways to know God more.

--more later after a nap. Sorry guys!