Every August the annual Ladies Day is held here in Rio amongst our sister churches. Each church gets a turn to host the event. It is a wonderful day packed full of food, fellowship and the chance to sit quietly and hear from God's Word.
You would think that living in the same city we would see each other often, perhaps run into one another at the grocery store. However, when there are eleven million and nine hundered and ninety nine thousand other people milling around, the chances of seeing one another are slim. This annual meeting is when friends meet up, sometimes for only the third or fourth time that year! What a reunion it is!!
The day starts out with breakfast and from there we head right into singing and a session from God's Word. This year our speaker came from the deep south of Brazil. She was a blessing to all.
After our first session we divide up into prayer teams. This year the hosting church did a great job of mixing up all the churches so we had a chance to branch out in our friendships and prayer partners. This is always a special time to hear the burdens these ladies carry and then to lift them straight to the Burden Bearer!
Each church brings a special number to share with the ladies. Even more beautiful than the special music is hearing all of us sing our praises to God together. It was an extra big blessing for me this year since our own church is so small, I have been really missing the joy of hearing many voices raised together in praise!
After lunch we divide into groups of highschool/college and ladies. One group goes to a craft area while the other group goes to a session with the speaker geared toward their stage of life. At the end we come back together for some fun door prizes and laughs and then share afternoon coffee and last conversations before heading home. Already we are looking forward to next year and the blessing of being together again!