With Pastor and Mrs. Samuel Vitalino
(written by Mary Beeke)
On Friday, we were driven back to São Paulo, where a group of us flew to Salvador for a mini-FIEL conference which dealt with the same general theme. Joel spoke on how the Holy Spirit works genuine repentance and on the indwelling work of the Spirit in the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4). On Sunday, he preached at Igreja Presbiteriana de Brotas, whose pastor is Samuel Vitalino, on Philippians 1:21. For the Sunday school he preached on coping with affliction. After the sermons, we met a blind man who was wonderfully converted from a spirit form of worship similar to black magic. His eyes have been truly opened to the gospel.
With Pastor Josafa Vasconcelos, at the Church in Salvador
Joel’s first trip to Brazil years ago was in response to Dr. Manuel Canuto’s invitation to the Puritan Project, where he met Pastor Josafá Vasconcelos, who has since become a close friend. (My husband even dedicated one of his books to this very dear brother.) This present trip ended with Joel preaching the first time in Pastor Josafá’s church, with Dr. Canuto in attendance. It was a very emotional experience for them. There is nothing like a mutual love for the Lord Jesus Christ to bind friends together. He preached on Hebrews 12:1–2. As Pastor Josafá eases into retirement over the next years, the plan is for Daniel Silveira, one of our present PRTS students, to take up the mantle. Daniel, his wife Flávia, and their daughter Isabel have brought Brazilian warmth to our church and seminary communities here in Grand Rapids.
After the service Sunday evening, so many young people wanted to ask my husband questions, that he offered to have a sit-down, twenty-minute Q&A session—a session that quickly turned into an hour of great questions.
We had time to see Salvador Monday morning. Samuel Vitalino was our able tour guide. Salvador is a coastal city of nearly three million, and a place of much religion: few evangelicals, many Pentecostals and Roman Catholics, but also a large presence of the cult Candomblé, which is a mix of African worship and Roman Catholicism. Many of the souvenirs have idolatrous significance. The slaves that were brought here in the 1700’s and 1800’s were from the same parts of Africa as those brought to America. We saw the public square where slaves were publicly beaten. In 1888, Princess Isabel set all the slaves free. Racism is absent in the church. At the conference and at all the churches that we visited, there is a beautiful mix of different ethnic backgrounds. We loved the Brazilian folks before, and we love them even more now.
As I write this account of our trip, my dear husband is sitting next to me. Reading is his normal airplane activity. But the last eleven days, two consecutive trips for him which involved speaking 22 times, have worn him out. The page he is attempting to proofread is entitled “Learning to Enjoy Meditation.” But I think he is actually taking a power nap. I do love him so very much. 🙂
