Deanna, Tonhetta, Vanderlei, Izak, and Paula.
Deanna was happy when Vanderlei, our neighbor, invited us for lunch when we returned from Nepal. It ended up being at our house because other out-of-town guests, Izak and Paula, came for the night. They were in Marabá on business.
Only one couple in our neighborhood ever invites us to eat together. Granted, our economic realities are different. But when people act like peers, and there is give and take on both sides, those involved in the relationship are heading toward a healthy peer friendship and are more likely to mature in other areas, such as spiritual, financial, and emotional health.
Clenildo told me a story recently of going to a desperately poor village to see if anyone wanted a ride to where the dentists were doing a free dentist campaign. He had to drive over a rickety wooden bridge, plus miles of overgrown roads, to get there. When he arrived, the people told him, “We are the people God forgot. No one remembers we exist.” Clenildo said, “God remembered you. He sent me to come a visit you to see if anyone wants their teeth fixed.” It was late, so Clenildo stayed the night. The hammock they lent him was so filthy he finally took off his tee shirt and wrapped it around his face to dim the strong odors. Then the mosquitos attacked. “That night was longer than a day of hunger.” The next day, he took a pickup load of people to the dentist’s site. The people’s teeth were in bad shape, and they were overjoyed. They insisted on giving Clenildo one of their best chickens when he brought them home the next day. He was kind of embarrassed to take something from these desperately poor people, but he accepted. If I remember right, they butchered the huge chicken and cut it into 45 pieces for lunch for the volunteer dentists and helpers. As he told me the story, I thought, “There is a good chance this group will escape poverty. They want to do their part to be peers, starting with what they have. It’s a good sign.“
Clenildo and Angelita went back to this village the other day, on a roundabout route about 70 km out of their way to avoid the rickety bridge, to see if the people there were interested in doing Discovery Groups to learn about how God reveals Himself in the Bible.
God wrote two books, the Bible and the Book of Nature. Both books continually reveal God’s abundant nature.
For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).
The big swing is a bit hit! Brazilians love doing things together.
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