Brazil - April 21, 2009

Tuesday was a very long, but very fun-filled day. We went to one of the brother's cabin up in the mountain with almost the whole church and had a great time of fellowship. The brothers and sisters fell in love with bughouse. William became the champion in a new game we had never seen before that is a mixture of bowling and shuffleboard. We hope to take the game to Phoenix, Arizona, so watch out for more information on that.

While fellowshipping we had the chance to minister to some of the brothers and sisters, and most notable was a young lady by the name of Miriam who has a very big heart full of compassion. It was clear from talking to her that she is gifted with visions and prophecy. She testified that many times she knows things that are far off in the future. Brother Pedro prayed for her, and she opened up her heart to him. After prayer she testified that she felt a change come over her, and the great sadness and loneliness left her. When we took a photo with her, a strange light (almost medallion like) hung over her head. I will post that picture later as soon as I get a copy of it.

While we were at the fellowship, I sent Brother Jorge Scabarrozzi, Samuel Garcia, and Francisco Pérez to a church service where there was about 30 people gathered, most of them new people. They had a two hour service, all three preached. The altar consisted of the entire congregation and the prayer line was awesome as Brother Perez and Brother García prayed and Brother Marcos interpretted from English into Portuguese.

We arrived home late, about 12:00 midnight. Brother Jorge, Samuel, and Francisco arrived about a half hour after we did. They went to bed almost right away as did Bernie III and Pedro Pineda.

After some relaxing, and then studying, I decided I might as well update the last few days blogs since I could not sleep yet (it is about 5:15 a.m. here in Brazil) I can't wait to get back to my regular sleep cycle.

Brazil Trip - April 14, 2009 continued

We made our Joinville flight (barely because I was so into blogging that I lost track of time and they had to call our name over the PA system on the last call to board). The flight was very bumpy coming into Joinville, but it was safe and I felt calm the whole time.

At Joinville, we were greeted by over 20 people who were very happy to see us and especially Sister Lydia C Garcia. They brought her a very nice bouquet of flowers and made her feel very special. We were then taken to the Bissoli Condominiums where we were set up in our rooms, given time to shower and change clothes, and then we were taken out to eat.

While some showered, Bernie III started singing his song that Brother Fabiano and he had translated on the trip from São Paulo - En el desierto seco. It sounds very good in Portuguese, and Brother Paulinho really does it justice with his powerful voice.

We ate pizza. Well that is a real understatement. What we had was a continual smorgasbord of pizza of such variety that it staggers the mind. I must have sampled over 25 different types of pizzas including tantalizing dessert pizzas that defy descriptions. Suffice it to say that the brothers of Joinville, SC Brazil know how to feed their guests.

We then went back to the Bissoli Condominiums, had a little fellowship and then retired for the evening. I could not sleep, so I decided to finish the report for today and post it to the internet blog site.

Note: Brother Pedro informed me that Brother Ireneo Pinto has invited me to visit his church weekend after next and that he is willing to pay differences in airfares to make that happen, so tomorrow we will be making the necessary changes to our reservations so that Bernie III and I can extend our stay in Brazil another week at least. Currently we are all scheduled to return to the United States on April 23, 2009. I am also planning to visit Brother Stockman and Brother Virgilio. Keep us in prayers that these things be done in the perfect will of our Creator God.

Brazil - Preface to the April 2009 trip to Brazil

Well, our missionary trip to Brazil actually started two weeks ago when Bernabe NC Garcia, Bernie Garcia III, and William Garcia travelled to San Francisco to apply for our visas. We drove all night and arrived in San Francisco at about 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday April 1, 2009. It was quite a journey since we were not able to purchase our US Postal Service money orders with a visa card. We needed a debit card. Not having one we had to call back home to Phoenix where a deposit was made into William´s checking account. However, since the deposit was not posted immediately we were not able to access the money. We thought that we might get some money via Western Union, and so we walked to a nearby Western Union.

Boy, what a mistake! We could sense the danger in every inch of that neighborhood. A local pimp sat in the Western Union store making sure he was there to charge people who owed him money. People cashing their checks would divide up their money into every conceivable pocket they had before venturing outside. There was a look of oppression on every experession. We decided that even if we did get sent money, we did not want to collect it there, and we walked back to the embassy. By then we realized that we would not make it on time and after talking to my sister Deborah Gallardo we agreed to just wait until funds cleared on William´s account after midnight. We then contacted Brother Billy of Harare Zimbabwe Africa (who currently lives in Foster City) and he was gracious enough to receive us at his house, take us to eat, and lodge us.

We woke up early in the morning, got our money, purchased our USPS money orders, and paid for our visas. They informed us that the five year visas would be ready for pickup the following Thursday (April 09, 2008). We then drove down to Monterrey, California where we could have a little bit of fellowship with Bernie III´s girlfriend Reyna Moreira. We took her to eat at Bubba Gump´s Shrip Restaurant on Canery Row. The fellowship and meal were wonderful. We departed back to Phoenix, Arizona driving all night until we got to Phoenix.

The following week, Bernabe NC Garcia flew to San Francisco and returned the same day with everyone´s visa. The people who are on this trip are:

• William NC Garcia
• Lydia C Garcia
• Bernabe NC Garcia
• Bernie NC Garcia III
• Francisco Perez
• Samuel Garcia

Also already in Brazil and awaiting our arrival is Brother Pedro Pineda a VofR minister from Phoenix who is currently ministering in Durango, Durango Mexico, and Brother Jorge Scabarrozzi of Lima Peru.