While the Bob Jones soccer team was with us last week I noticed how often the girls were attracted to different members of the squad. Not that any one of them, the team members that is, sought that attention, it just happened. In the video below you will notice the pandemonium at one of the schools in the after game autograph session. One of the girls asked me, "Are they soccer players or are they models?!" Another one said, "I think that the number one qualification for being a part of this team is that you have to be cute!" In the excitement of having a whole team of young men from the United States I even heard the the lady director of the one of the schools say, "They are lovely!"
My take on this seeming undue attention of course could be attributed to many and differing factors but a large part of it, in my opinion, is the lack of a father figure in the lives of most of these kids. They're starving for attention. When the teams come and the students see clean-cut young men who are dedicating themselves to God, they want to be close to them and get to know more about them.Brazilians, for the most part, are very emotional people. They want to be near you. They want to be friends. They are in your face, invading you personal space. Generally their personal space is a lot smaller than yours so they get a lot closer when they talk to you. They touch you, hug you (men hugging men? Yep! Just be glad your not a woman. They kiss each other!).
There are not too many automatic garage doors to close when you get home from work. People are in the streets and talking. Sometimes it makes an American uncomfortable. Our neighbor's, for example, are just inches from our bedroom wall. Their house shares a common wall with ours! They sneeze we say Gesundheit (or rather Saúde, the Portuguese word for health). In one sense this intimacy makes starting a conversation very easy.You can talk about anything and they listen. In another sense there is a lot of crying and whining about what often seems to be very incidental circumstances. "She said this to me and I haven't talked to her for two years!" I've heard this one and worse!
To balance this emotional roller-coaster takes years of Biblical instruction. Some never get it (some Americans never get it either so don't think that we are a superior people. See Jeremiah 17.9 for the reason.) One problem we discover is that it is often hard to know when a person "really and truly" accepts Christ. They are very emotional about the decision that they have made. They cry, they share, they testify, then two weeks later they disappear never to be seen again. How do we cope? We realize that what we do is sow the Seed (see Matthew 13) and allow the Holy Spirit to work. We ask a lot of questions before we lead someone in the sinner's prayer.
Just the other night Carlinhos and I were able to share the Gospel with a lady and her three sons. We talked for over an hour. She listened intently. During the conversation she said to me, "You are the second person that has shared this with me today! It is exactly what is missing in my life!" "Would you like to accept Christ" I asked? " I need to think about it!" O BROTHER!
Pray for us as we sow the seed. Pray for discernment and the saving work of the Holy Spirit. We want to see a plentiful harvest!
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