Week 9: Salvador and Alagoinhas, Brazil

Day 57: (February 28th, 2016) 

We decided to take a day and relax, pray, and prepare for the crusade we were about to take part in. We relaxed after breakfast and eventually went for a decent lunch of steak accompanied by, as always, rice and beans. We spent the afternoon preparing for the week and later went to take pictures of the sunset. We arrived just in time to catch the final moments of the sunset. We spent some time talking on the phone to our parents. We headed to dinner but the restaurant was closed. We went to visit our friend the bartender. It was his birthday in a couple days so we stopped to tell him hi and sorry we couldn’t be there. Then we went to a by the kilo restaurant and had some good food. We were exhausted and went to bed. 

   
   
Day 58:

We woke up early for breakfast, packed our bags, and checked out of our hotel. We took a taxi to the bus station and then boarded a bus for Alagoinhas. We arrived around lunch and took a taxi to the hotel where we would meet Rubens Cunha. He is a Brazilian evangelist who lived in Tulsa for awhile and went to my church. When I was 18 my youth group took a missions trip to Brazil and worked with him. While I was there I saw incredible healings and miracles and saw many people delivered from demonic possession. I have always wanted to go back and the timing worked out well. It’s also the reason we went to Morro de São Paulo and spent some extra time in Salvador, which were both great. We weren’t sure if he had made reservations or not so after waiting a few hours and watching Netflix we stowed our bags at the hotel and walked around the city. We were looking for a skirt for Sarahi to wear to church events but could not find the right thing. We ate some burgers and returned to the hotel. Due to a miscommunication we were unable to meet up with Rubens who had to preach at a service. We finally met up with him around 10 pm and he was very apologetic for making us wait on the hotel couch all day. Looking back we should have just gotten our rooms and waited but it wasn’t too bad. It was great to talk for a little bit and we soon had our two rooms and went to bed. We got two rooms to be respectful to Rubens and the mission trip, but I won’t lie, it was amazing to have a whole queen size bed and room for each of us. 
Day 59: 

After breakfast we went on a shopping mission again to find skirts for Sarahi. After walking all over town we found two long skirts that were pretty cheap. We bought some snacks and went back to the hotel. I went to the pool for a little while and we met the rest of the team at lunch time. The team was Paul Tims, a wealthy business owner in his late 50’s who funded the crusade; Dave, another wealthy business owner around the same age and also from Tulsa; his very quiet 21 year old son Seth; and his middle aged employee Harold. We were joined by several of Rubens employees/volunteers, two of which could speak English well. We had an open schedule for the afternoon and at night went to a service for the crusade volunteers. Alagoinhas has around 180,000 people and about a thousand of them volunteered for the crusade. Most of these volunteers were church members so I never expected what happened that night. I also didn’t warn Sarahi who was a bit unhappy about it later. The message was about deliverance and many people were delivered from demonic possession. We were standing at the front of the room and praying for people as they began to have convulsions, drop to the ground, shake and cry. It might sound crazy and it definitely freaked out Sarahi, who comes from a baptist church. The only reason it didn’t bother me is that I’ve seen it before. It was a powerful night and we were thankful that God delivered people from oppression and demonic possession. We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner afterwards before returning to the hotel for bed. 
Day 60:

We had breakfast as a group and then got on the bus and went to a few schools. It was an experience seeing these kids and sharing stories with them about life and Christianity. We were told that most schools have a few students drop out every year because of drugs. After that, we ate lunch at the hotel and got to know the team before that night. This night was a little easier for Sarahi since the sermon was about the Holy Spirit and salvation. There were a lot of people who wanted to rededicate themselves and who also became Christians that night. It was a powerful night of worship. We enjoyed the Portuguese worship songs a lot. After that, we had some amazing lasagna at the Italian restaurant from the night before and went to bed exhausted.
Day 61:

We did pretty much the same thing as the day before but a few of us got the courage to speak to the children that morning. We had a new team member join us and he ended up rooming with Luke the rest of the trip. His story of salvation was amazing and he really had a good influence on the kids. After that we had lunch at the hotel and prepared for that night. It was amazing to see the organization and the coordination of volunteers that night. They had systems for writing down the names of those who were going to give their lives to God, those who needed and received healing, and those who were possessed who needed to be carried to the tents. Sarahi was extremely impressed with the smooth event planning for the weekend. After that, we went to the Italian restaurant and then went to bed. 
Day 62:

After waking up and eating another amazing breakfast at the hotel, we changed our schedule and went to the slums of the city. There, we handed out food and prayed with the families there. It was humbling to see the families and the houses they lived in. Most of their prayer requests were for jobs. After a hot morning, we went back to our rooms to freshen up and then played a tournament of foosball – Luke and I lost epically which set off a discussion about our differences in competitiveness. After that, we went back and prepared for the night. We did have a lot of down time, but it was nice to read, write, exercise, and relax. That night was the crusade. I was shocked by the attendance and moved by the hunger there. It went pretty flawlessly. People were saved, healed, and freed that night. We worshipped and prayed together and Luke and I were ambushed by kids for a long while asking us if we had to fly there, if Americans all had red faces, and if we were married. We had a blast and were exhausted by the end of it. We were ordering chicken Parmesan at the restaurant that night, but never got it so we just ended up eating what was around us. Again, we went to bed completely exhausted. 

  
Day 63: 

That morning after breakfast, we went to a preacher’s prayer meeting where we found out that one of our members could sing very well! After a great worship, we spoke about the needs of the community and how important it is to follow up on those kids at the school and those people who were saved on the first day of the crusade. It was encouraging to see that the crusade wasn’t just an in-and-out mission, but it was focused on true results within the churches and the community. That afternoon, we chilled at the hotel and then prepared for the last night of the crusade. The crowd was probably double the size, which meant we had about 14,000 people all there to worship and learn about God. The crowd was powerful that night. There were even more healings, salvations, and demonic expulsions that night. We connected with the kids more and more and learned a whole lot of Portuguese. The night went really well and after that, we had dinner at the same restaurant. Then, we went to bed.