Brazil – Monday, April 27, 2009

Our trip is winding down, I am starting to miss my wife, and so I know that the work that I had to do here in Brazil has been accomplished. What a great feeling! It has been an amazing two weeks. God has given us a success beyond my wildest expectations. Everywhere we have gone, I have seen the Glory of Almighty Creator God come down and manifest his saving grace upon the people.

When we woke up today about 11:00 a.m. we were still exhausted because of the long day yesterday, but we wanted to see visit Gramado and get back in time to have fellowship with a family from the church in Canoas. We had a quick bite to eat and then headed out to Gramado.

We saw the great falls, but it was just a shadow of itself because the rain has been very scarce lately. We had a great time of fellowship however. We did a little shopping and for the first time in about two years, I actually had time (and a little bit of money) to buy my wife a present. I had a great time picking out a few sweaters for her. We had a hotdog from a street vendor, and then headed back home.

I tried to nap in the car on the way back, but it was difficult, because Bernie had Sister Mara Stockmann and her daughter Catarina laughing the entire way back. It is amazing how quickly Bernie III can bond with whatever family we happen to be staying with. I can already tell that the family will never forget us, and will miss us when we are not here mostly because of the joy, excitement, and passion Bernie III brings to every home we visit with his humor, his love, and his music.

We arrived at the family's house around 8:50 p.m. (around 20 minutes late) but they were very happy and waiting for us to eat. What a meal. It was like being at a Churrasquería. Actually, that is exactly what it was. The brother has built a indoor charcoal barbeque fireplace in his kitchen and he had cooked about fifteen pounds of different kind of meets including poultry, beef, and pork. What a feast. There were also all the trimmings, and three different deserts. They laughed when I said not to worry about my diet. That I was on a strict diet every day, all day long, but that once it was night time the diet was over.

We had a great time of fellowship, with the sister sharing her testimony of how much of an impact the message that I had preached Sunday night at her church was transformative. It had been exactly what she had needed, and she knew for sure that many others in the church had been blessed. She read me the scripture of where Abraham had prepared a calf for Elohim and the two angels. She told me that her meal for us might not be as good, but it was done with the same revelation in mind. I felt very humbled.

As we were getting ready to leave, contact was made with Brother Virgilio and he asked us to drop by on the way home so that he could bid us a proper farewell. We agreed to do so. Bernie III was in the living room at the time singing songs and everyone was in such a great spirit that it was extremely hard to leave, but it was already after midnight so we said our goodbyes and headed over to Brother Virgilio's house.

When we got to Brother Virgilio's house (Sister Mara Stockmann's father and mother's house) the Stockmann family was very excited because Sister Mara's brother and sister were there hoping to great us too. We got down, and started having fellowship. Brother Virgilio was very excited to see us. He was bubbling over with enthusiasm.

I kidded around with him telling him that he had shaken me up yesterday when he looked at me so intensely and told the congregation that he had NOT invited me. I told him that I thought I must have done something very wrong for him to want to disassociate himself with me so fiercely.

He laughed and laughed, and explained to me that my message had been so quick to the heart, so piercing to the very needs of the church that he had to make sure that the congregation knew that he had not invited me and told me what to preach. He said that "God himself had told me to visit him" and that my visit had been the very visit of an angel of the Lord.

Brother Virgilio went on to say that at the worker's meeting that morning all everyone could talk about was the sermon I had preached the night before. Everyone is still on fire and drunk from last night. That is all anyone wanted to talk about. He also said that at the evening church service that had also been the topic of conversation. The whole church was buzzing about what had been said.

He mentioned that everytime they have visiting preachers, they all seem to take a dozen messages up to the pulpit and they go from one book to the other book the whole time. He asked the church if they understood why I had not read any quotes. He said that he told them, "The reason Brother Bernabe did not have to take a bunch of messages up there to read from is that HE IS THE MESSAGE, he has eaten the message, and he is sharing only what he has eaten."

He then began singing songs with such joy and happiness in his heart. We were able to record his singing, and we will post them on this site as soon as we get the chance. What an inspiration his music is. His son is an awesome musician and he and Bernie III hit it off really well. After some singing and swapping songs Bernie III started playing "El desierto seco" and we asked them to add a Brazilian flavor to it.

Suddenly, the son (who had never written anything before) blurted out the perfect words to go with the music and off we went improvising and worshipping God. When we were done, the son was so excited because he had never been a part of writing a song before. I know you will be blessed when you hear the new portion to the song.

Finally, Brother Stockmann insisted that we had to leave although neither Brother Virgilio's family no Bernie III and I had any desire to stop. I could not believe that it was already 3:30 a.m.! Where had the time gone. We laughed, cried, hugged and prayed, said our goodbyes and left. Brother Virgilio asked me to please come back and spend more time with him and his church.