If people don’t want to come out to the party, nobody’s going to stop them!

Sunday started early - around seven - so we could get out to the chácara (country house) to set things up for the big day, and there were already people there working when we got there! We were glad for the help. It was Friends’ Day. The weather was perfect for the event. Even with a lot of regulars saying they wouldn’t be able to make it, we still ended up with quite a crowd – 137 people with 35 invited friends.

Everyone’s participation was great! In the “make a new friend” ice-breaker they didn’t want to stop the game, and it was the same when the music started. The message was communicated,

followed by 9 people being baptized!

As we pastors divided up the “baptizees”, it was neat that I got to baptize a daughter, Carol, and her parents, Benito and Luciana (who have become our good friends), who were recently saved after coming out to church when Carol invited them.

The lunch was excellent, with plenty of salad, rice and meat so no one went away hungry.

And, of course, it was a warm day so there was ice cream for dessert.

There were some lines, but it gave folks time to get to make some more new friends.

After lunch, there was time for the pools

or soccer






or just visiting.

Around five in the afternoon, things were taken down and packed up.
People headed back to town commenting on what a great day it was and how glad they had come.
The sky turned dark as stuff was unloaded at church, and on our way home the rain started coming down in torrents! But by then it didn’t matter.

Summer rains have returned. Sunday, yesterday and this evening we’ve had wind, heavy rain and a spectacular thunder and lightning shows.