There’s this phrase in Northern Brazil… Tranquilo. Translated from Portuguese, it basically means “calm down, relax, take a deep breath, everything’s going to be fine”.
The taxi boat came 2 hours ago and there’s not another one until this evening?
Tranquilo
What do you mean that the person we thought we would interview next week is here right now?
Tranquilo
The electricity is out in the entire village and we have no idea when it will be back on?
Tranquilo
You get the idea. Brazilians (and honestly, many people from outside of traditional “western” cultures) have a much greater sense of calm in the face of plan-less-ness. My American brain craves order, clear directions, timeliness - can you relate? These things were generally not a high priority with our Brazilian hosts. We’ll come and go as we need, we’ll figure things out once we get there, we’ll see who’s around to help once we arrive. Tranquilo.
But one area where I noticed Brazilians are not tranquilo… Sharing the Gospel. There’s such a revival happening in the Amazon right now. People that have never heard of Christ are having visions, craving to know more. There’s a sense of the Spirit at work and fire in the belly of the Christians there to be part of what God is doing. We talked to many people who had given up everything they knew to spread God’s Word to as many people as they could. Not tranquilo. These are passionate people, people making plans based on the Gospel, people fired up about sharing Good News.
Looking at your life, I challenge you -- are you being tranquilo in your sharing of the Gospel? Are you under the assumption that you’ll have time tomorrow, or next week, or next year to tell someone the Good News about Christ? I urge you, do not be tranquilo about this. Be passionate about this, be on fire about this. God is at work in the lives of those around you, how can you be part of it?
“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."”
Isaiah 6:8 ESV
I want to close with a few prayer requests and practical updates from us:
We have our next travel dates and they are SOON! We’ll be in Romania October 1-17 and fly from there to South Africa (same time zone, different hemispheres) October 18-30
We praise God that we are fully funded for these trips! We’ll have a little more fundraising to do before our final 2 trips in 2018, but we don’t have dates for those, yet. We will keep you posted!
Given our extended travel lately, Joel has decided to leave his job with the City of Iowa City. We’re praising God for the good job it has been, and so excited to see what is in store. His last day will be Sept. 29. After we're back from South Africa, Joel will focus on processing Brazil, Romania, and South Africa footage and is looking forward to volunteering more at New Life and in the community and is even thinking about further education. We’re also thankful that Sam’s job is still willing to work with us and support us in taking this time away.