Open Bible Ministries

The Brazilians: Rubem, Camillo, Daniel, Paulo, Edivaldo, Tiago

Several months ago (February 2008) a young sailor in the Brazilian Navy (Rubem) found our web site and emailed us asking if he could participate in our activities while his ship was in Norfolk. Of course, I said YES! We told him he was welcome to bring his friends too. We maintained contact via email until this past Friday (June 13) when his ship arrived.

The Brazilian ship Fragata Greenhalgh F46 pulled in at 0800 Friday morning June 13, 2008. Yvonne and I were pier side to meet it, holding a sign with Rubem's name on it, hoping he would see it. Sure enough, as the ship tied up to the pier Rubem saw us and waved.

After the ship was secured we were brought on board and met Rubem and a friend named Camillo. Rubem only speaks Portuguese. His friend, who spoke a little English, served as our interpreter. Since this was a work day for the crew, we made arrangements to come back at 6:00pm to bring Rubem to the house for dinner. Rubem asked how many people we could accommodate, and we said we've had as many as 15 servicemen and women before. We had also invited Todd Williams (YN2 - Oceana), and Shaun and Wally Clark to join us (Shaun is one of our board members).

My attempts at finding a Portuguese speaking interpreter failed. So Yvonne and I felt we were in for a real adventure! I bought a Portuguese/English dictionary so we could at least look up individual words.

When I came back at 6:00pm Rubem was ready and brought four of his friends - Camillo, Paulo, Edivaldo, and Tiago. None of them spoke very much English. But we made hand gestures, pointed, and laughed a lot. Their spirits were so buoyant and happy that it was easy to communicate even if we didn't know all the words! Later Daniel joined us as well. He became one of our main interpreters.

I know from experience with my family in Germany and Austria, who also speak no English, that when they speak German slowly I can understand them. But when they speak at their normal rate I have trouble understanding them. So, I tried to speak as slowly as I could to help our new Brazilian friends understand me.

Yvonne was making spaghetti, salad, and apple crisp for dinner. I looked up those words in the Portuguese dictionary, and told the guys what we were having to eat - in Portuguese. They actually understood me! Some of the sailors then said some things in English. Wow, I decided this was going to be fun.

Edivaldo was the first to say that pronouncing English words made him feel like he had a potato in his mouth. That phrase got repeated so often that it became my first Portuguese phrase: "batata na boca". Whenever we said it, we laughed!

Camillo was the translator for the group. But, as time went on, Tiago also began to translate more and more from English to Portuguese. We began to joke every time I reached for the Portuguese/English dictionary that we were going to "the book." Camillo also got called "the book" because of his translating. And, you guessed it, Tiago also got that label. Pretty soon we were saying the dictionary was book one, Camillo was book two, and Tiago was book three. It was fun, and again, it made us laugh.

We ate dinner, talked as much as we could, and enjoyed getting to know each other. I discovered that they could all understand English fairly well. And, as the evening went along, I also discovered that some could speak English better than they professed. It suddenly dawned on me that this was the same thing Yvonne and I go through when we go to Germany. It's hard to get over the initial fear of speaking a foreign language, lest we speak it incorrectly and get laughed at. That's what keeps most people from wanting to talk in a foreign language. So, we tried our best to be helpful and encouraging. They were patient with our attempts at learning Portuguese words too.

During the evening our guests pulled out their laptops and showed us pictures of their wives and children. Yvonne and I learned Portuguese words and they practiced their English. All of them were happy when they learned I have a router on my computer. They quickly went online and called home to their wives.

Paulo is the musician in the group. He saw our guitar and began to play, singing Portuguese praise choruses. When he hit on a familiar melody that we also knew, they would sing in Portuguese and we sang in English. I explained how we take turns praying for one another's needs and everyone joined in during our prayer time. Again, they prayed in Portuguese and we prayed in English.

We wrapped up the evening about midnight and I drove everyone back to the ship. I explained they were "guests" in my home only the first time they come here. If they come back they are part of my "family."

On Saturday Todd volunteered to take the sailors around to different stores in the area to do some shopping on Saturday. So, in the morning he drove over to Norfolk Naval Station, picked them up, and spent the day letting them buy things for their wives and children at different stores in the area. When they took all their purchases back to the ship, they gave Todd a guided tour. They even took him up to the bridge where he sat in the helmsman's seat. He said he had fun with them all day!

Cpl Randy Mayzak, one of "our" Marines in the 2nd Marine Division Band in Camp LeJeune, North Carolina called last week and told us that his band was going to be playing for the pre-show entertainment at the Norfolk Tides Baseball game this week. Randy was an active part of our fellowship while he attended the Navy School of Music at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. So, we decided to go to see him and take the Brazilian sailors to a real American baseball game at the same time.

At 4:30pm Todd brought everyone to the house for our evening activity. Everyone except Rubem; he had duty on Saturday. We ate Sloppy Joes and French Fries, and had Klondike Bars (ice cream) for dessert.

While we were standing in line to purchase tickets for the baseball game I saw the Marine Corps bus in the stadium parking lot. I went over to say "Hi!" to Randy, and took some pictures of him all decked out in his dress blues. He really looked sharp! When they performed on the baseball field they sounded really good too! Randy had to leave on the bus with his band right after their performance. But Nikki (his wife) came over to where we were seated and visited with us for a while.

During the game Paulo asked me to explain what was happening so he could understand the game better. I explained it to him, and then he explained it to the others. This was the first time any of them had ever been to a baseball game! I think everyone had fun. Unfortunately, the game was really lopsided; the Norfolk Tides lost 9 to 0.

After the game, we all went back to the house, and everyone hooked up to the Internet to call home. The guys had us talk to their wives too. It was interesting because the laptops had built-in web cams, so we could see each other as we talked. Granted, they didn't understand us, and we didn't understand them, but it was fun anyway.

Paulo asked us to pray for his wife. She had been to the doctor because she was ill. That is one of the hardest things a serviceman or woman has to face while on deployment; having a loved one back home get sick, not being there, and not being able to do anything about it. But, we serve a God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything that we can ask or think. Distance is not a limiting factor for Jesus. We all took turns praying for each other, and for Paulo's wife.

We wrapped things up again about midnight and I drove the guys back to the ship.

Before we left the house Daniel translated something Comillo said that he wanted us to know. He said in Brazil Camillo had stopped going to church. But since being here with us he decided to come back to the Lord again. What a blessing that was to know! The way Jesus works in the hearts of people is truly awesome! I simply give Him all of the glory.

On Sunday I went to Norfolk Naval Station and picked everybody up at 12:30. Everyone except Camillo that is; he couldn't come over because he had duty. At the house, some of the guys worked on a puzzle, while others talked to their families back home on their laptops, while Yvonne finished cooking dinner. I loaded pictures from every one's cameras onto my computer to use in our slide show.

Dinner included a pork loin roast, spetzle, peas, and home made bread, and a raspberry creme jello for dessert. While we ate I learned how to say "thank you - obrigado" and "you're welcome - de nada" in Portuguese. Todd chimed up and said, "That just goes to show you that you can teach an old dog new tricks!" We spent the next half hour trying to translate that expression, because it wasn't just translating the words, we had to explain the idiom itself. But when everyone finally got it, they all laughed!

Paulo brought his flute and led us in worship; playing songs that were worship songs known in both countries. It took some time to find songs we all knew, but we did find a few, and sang in English and in Portuguese at the same time. It was a really a neat experience.

We watched the Matthew video of chapter 22:15-46 in Spanish with English sub titles. All of the Brazilian sailors said they understood it. What a blessing that was! After watching the video I explained a passage in English, and one of the other guys would translate. Then they would discuss it among themselves in Portuguese. The Bible study went really well!

As we started our prayer time the Lord spoke to us through a message in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. It was so personal. The Lord said He would protect the sailor's families while they were away from them; and that He would also protect them on their ship, and use them among their shipmates. We closed the service after praying for each other. We specifically prayed for Paulo's wife again. Three of the sailors have small children. I felt led to pray for each of them by name - Carolina, Iago, and Gabriel.

The rest of the afternoon we sat around the house fellowshipping. Everyone was plugged into their laptops talking to their families. It was a awesome time!

Rubem and Tiago talked with me outside for a while, and shared that Tiago had also been away from the Lord in Brazil, and had decided to come back to the Lord since being here this weekend. I believe it was Jesus Christ that brought Rubem to our website in Brazil, and gave him the desire to make contact with us. The Lord orchestrated this whole weekend.

To read about the whole story of their visit check out our blog by clicking on the "obm blog" link in the gray navigation bar or the blog link at the top of the page.