It's that time of year again, Carnaval (Mardi Gras) in Brazil - four days of street festival, music, dancing, parades, samba presentation, and holiday. Here in Porto Alegre, the street festival aspect of Carnaval is not as big as it is in other cities; many folks end up going to the beach for vacation with family or friends. It is a great opportunity for us as church to have some quality time together with those who decide to stay in the city. The previous two years, we had an all-church retreat in the coastal mountains. This year we decided to change things up a bit and planned a different activity for each day (Feb. 2-5).
On Saturday the 2nd, 30 of us went to Itapua, a state park that is about 1 hour from Porto Alegre. Itapua preserves the last vestiges of the original rainforest environment in our area. It is one of my favorite places to visit around here because it is relatively close and on a sunny day, the views and trails along the Guiaba River with the rainforest are spectacular. The weather did not cooperate like we had hoped (it rained like crazy on the way there) but the skies dried up long enough for us to have an American style barbecue, swim and enjoy the river beaches and mountain scenery.
On Sunday, we gathered for worship and lunch at Sogipa, the athletic club where Waleska and I are members. Sogipa has several different facilities that the members can rent for family gatherings and meetings. We rented a shelter (in case it rained, which fortunately it didn't this time!) so we could all be together under one roof. About 50 of us gathered together for a time of singing, prayer, and scripture. I gave a lesson from Ephesians 4 about spiritual gifts and seeking the empowerment that God has given the church through Jesus Christ to minister to one another. We are trying to stimulate the church to go deeper into Scripture and into prayer concerning spiritual leadership. We then enjoyed a Brazilian-style barbecue lunch of smoked chicken and pork sausage. Some of us even got drawn into playing hoops (and I still have my shooter's touch!)
We also had actvities on Monday and Tuesday of Carnaval holiday as church...and to find out about them, you'll have to check out Waleska's blog for the details!
It's that time of year again, Carnaval (Mardi Gras) in Brazil - four days of street festival, music, dancing, parades, samba presentation, and holiday. Here in Porto Alegre, the street festival aspect of Carnaval is not as big as it is in other cities; many folks end up going to the beach for vacation with family or friends. It is a great opportunity for us as church to have some quality time together with those who decide to stay in the city. The previous two years, we had an all-church retreat in the coastal mountains. This year we decided to change things up a bit and planned a different activity for each day (Feb. 2-5).
On Saturday the 2nd, 30 of us went to Itapua, a state park that is about 1 hour from Porto Alegre. Itapua preserves the last vestiges of the original rainforest environment in our area. It is one of my favorite places to visit around here because it is relatively close and on a sunny day, the views and trails along the Guiaba River with the rainforest are spectacular. The weather did not cooperate like we had hoped (it rained like crazy on the way there) but the skies dried up long enough for us to have an American style barbecue, swim and enjoy the river beaches and mountain scenery.
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