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Independence Day

balloontoss

A raised sword, a Patrick Henry type shout of “Liberty or Death” on the beach of an obscure river near São Paulo on September 7, 1822, earned Dom Pedro a place in the history books. It was the beginning of independence from Portuguese domination and a good excuse for a picnic. Well, it took 188 years for the picnic to happen but it was worth the wait.

We had thirty-five from our own Faith Baptist Church with several unsaved visitors which was very exciting. There were also about thirty from host Calvary Baptist Church which made a great turnout on our first rainy day in about fifty days.

When I awoke to thunder this morning I couldn’t believe it! We needed the rain SO bad but as usual we were wanting the Lord to hold off for just one more day. Though He didn’t the rain didn’t dampen our spirits and we had a great time.

breakfastWe started in the morning with breakfast at our house. That was interesting. There were twenty-six of us. Dawn spent yesterday preparing and the coffee and cake were delicious.

Just before breakfast the kids had fun picking mulberries that are in season here. We have two trees and they both are loaded. 

We then made our way to Calvary. The theme of the picnic was Family and we had “church picnic” type games. Dawn and the ladies from Faith took charge of the kitchen and did an excellent job of feeding the huge crew with fried chicken, beans, rice and salad. Man! It was good.

My talk was on what a family is all about. I focused mainly on God’s desire for a great family and how it all comes together as we look at relationships the way God sees them.

It was a God blessed Independence Day. Fireworks please!

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