In Brazil, early March lends itself to a peculiar annual craze, that is, the infamous Carnaval. Unfortunately, Carnaval, being an essentially pagan holiday involving liberal sensuality, prostitution, and often spiritism, is not a holiday celebrated by the Brazilian church. But the Brazilian church doesn’t like to go without a party either.
In a sanctified ‘spirit of party,’ our Vinha churches have developed the tradition of making a holiday all their own during the Carnaval rush, aptly named Cristoval. This year’s retreat drew around 200 adults (and many children) from Vinha churches in five cities and the nearby river regions for three days of food, fun, good teaching, and great swimming. Before the retreat, Railson was involved in supervising several construction projects at the camp, which is located relatively near Porto de Moz on the Xingu River. Included is a photo of one of the boats loaded with 130 happy campers about to depart on the 10-hour journey back home.
To round out this month’s newsletter, we’d like to make a special request for prayer regarding the following situations:
