Let's keep it simple, folks

That's one of the crazy things down here, I think. The Catholic church is a very strong presence here in Brazil, which is one reason I'm so anxious for people to come down and get a taste of the misinformation that people are given, even from within the church! I asked someone one day if he was going to heaven. He said "Yes." I asked him then, "Why?" And he said, "Because I'm a boa Catolica (a good Catholic)." I asked him how he was saved. He answered "Mary." No mention of Jesus anywhere. It's an amazing thing to me how corrupt religion as a whole has actually become. Does that disillusion me? Actually, no. It's frustrating some days, but it motivates me even more to spread the message of Jesus's death and resurrection. Some days, I have to stop and think about what it is that I truly believe. Before I came down here, I wrote The Apostle's Creed in the front of my journal. We grew up saying it every Sunday in church. For awhile I didn't hear it because I was in my first few of years in college and not going to any church regularly, but I have begun to hear it again in the past few years. It's sweet music to my ears now, because with all that is in the New Testament, it's a concise list of my basic beliefs.
I think that even I have made Christianity complicated. We in America have become apologetic about the gospel. Jesus was not. The gospel is what it is, just as God said to Moses, "I AM who I AM." It is simple and basic. Let's keep it that way.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.

No time to turn around

The past few weeks have been a blur. I am beginning to understand how difficult this job really is, for so many reasons. Number one, there is no down time. I have to force myself to sit down at night and read my Bible instead of going right to sleep some days. There are always others around, and though they are fun people, sometimes I just want to be alone. Number two, there is a different group of people coming in every week, and they are all very different in their work styles, in their personalities; in short, we have to figure each new team out, person by person.
God is teaching me a lot about working with people -- about figuring out how our work styles can converge and be both effective and efficient, and even fun.
As tired as I am, though, there is no other place in the world that I would rather be than right here.

Never in doubt

So the previous post gave attention to my penchant for being opinionated. This one gives attention to my friends who put up with it.
Take one friend, for example. I told him what I thought about something that was going on in his life. He wrote back, saying that he knew and understood what I thought, but that he wasn't going to take my advice. Now I've known him for quite awhile, and I am so blessed that I have friends who will let me give my opinion, but who also feel free not to take it if they don't want to.
My roommate told me that my friends can't complain that I didn't give them my opinion on a situation, good or bad. Sometimes that extends to people who don't know me as well, so they take offense to what I have to say. They don't stop to consider whether it's right or not -- my opinion may be wrong! As a good friend once said, "I may be wrong, but I'm never in doubt."

Acho que....

Okay, so I'm opinionated. I can't decide if that's good or bad today. I've found myself giving people advice on their love lives, though they didn't ask for it. They haven't gotten mad at me -- yet. We'll see if it stays that way. I tend to tell people how I think it is first, and let the consequences come. Do I mean to hurt people's feelings? Nope. I'm actually a pretty nice person, most days. Sometimes it just happens that way. I want so badly to be honest with people, to speak the truth in love, yet I can come off as uncaring and mean when I share my opinion.
I do try, though, to let people make their own mistakes. I also try not to say "I told you so" too often. I am learning that there are good ways and bad ways to tell the truth. I, unfortunately, am not very adept in telling truth in the good ways. I don't know how other people manage.