Last weekend we had our investigative retreat; a huge event that God truly used. Our team of 20 Americans, the Campus Outreach Brazil staff, and about 60+ Brazilian students all traveled to a fun camp site in a town about an hour and a half away from June 10-12. We had fun activities such as soccer, a swimming pool, a movie, pool tables, a bonfire, and lots of food, but the main aspect of the weekend was discussing deep, spiritual topics. I was very encouraged to see how interested the Brazilian students were. Like I mentioned before, the them of our summer is "Origin". We bring up topics such as "How did we get here?" and "What is our purpose?"We used the movie Inception to correlate some of the questions we discussed. The staff did a really good job at connecting the movie with our own personal lives and spirituality. What I was most excited about was that we finally brought up Jesus openly during the retreat. We talked about the relevance of Christ in our lives and the importance of knowing Him in order to know God. After each main talk the Staff gave, we broke up into small discussion groups to open up on our thoughts of all of these topics. I can really see seeds being planted. In Brazil, and especially with the college students, exposing them to the Gospel and their need for it is a very slow, loving process. I can definitely see many students opening up to investigating truth.
One student in particular I have gotten closest to is Gustavo, a law student at PUC. We met him early on in the summer on campus along with a group of his classmates. He was the only one that has really stuck along and has been getting involved. He gets some persecution from his friends every now and then, because he always wants to hang out with the Americans. It is really encouraging to see how it does not stop him from spending time with us. Weeks ago, Gustavo made plans with a friend to go to a different city for the weekend for a huge party. He instead chose to come to the investigative retreat with us. His friend was really upset and even blocked him on facebook, but I definitely saw God's sovereignty through the situation. I had a long, intentional conversation with Gustavo on Friday night at the retreat. He shared his beliefs and views with me, and asked me about mine. After he told me his background with Christianity (or the lack of it) and what he personally believed, God gave me to opportunity to share my testimony with him as well as the full-out Gospel. Please be praying for him. He has some pretty radical, off-the-wall beliefs (He believes in Spiritism and doesn't think Christ has any significance or that God is Lord) and had never really been exposed to the Gospel before getting involved with our team. He heard a lot of truth at the retreat and I am confident he is still thinking about it all. Please pray God opens more doors of opportunity for me and other guys on the team to pour our lives into him and to share more truth. I am really hoping God softens his heart for him to genuinely begin investigating more. Here is a picture of the two of us:
Other guys I have gotten close to that you can be praying for are Mateus, Marco Tulio, Caio, Giovane, Anthony, Bruno, Lucas, and Alex.
I also have had some really good conversations with Brazilians students that have come to Christ through past CCPs. It is really encouraging to get fellowship with them and to hear how God saved them. It really pushes me on to continue seeing the fruit God has produced through teams in the years past.
The team is consistently tired, but we are all pushing through. We have gotten a lot closer and are beginning to really feel like a family. Vulnerability has reached a whole new level! I an continually challenged being here and feel drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but it has pushed me to rely on God more than I ever would in the comforts of home. I am thankful I can trust in His grace and cling to His truth. We only have 3 weeks left in Brazil, so please pray I take advantage of every minute. Pray God would continue opening doors for us to talk about Christ. Also, PUC has finished the semester, so we are no longer going to campus daily. Please pray we have many opportunities to hang out with the students we have built relationships daily outside of campus. I can see God moving in Belo Horizonte. He is the God of this city.
A few more pictures:
The team hanging out on our Sabbath day.
Me and Marco Tulio at Festa Junina, a huge typical Brazilan party we had.
A few of us on the team with Gustavo at the Investigative Retreat.
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