Lessons Learned....from a Cake

Every two weeks, the ladies from Asas and from SIL (Wycliffe in Brazil) get together for a time of encouragement, prayer, and fun. Recently some of the women had the idea to use this get together as an outreach opportunity. Rather than just us missionaries get together, why not use this as an opportunity to invite women who need to hear about the Lord? So, this past week that's just what happened.

In addition to our time of encouragement and prayer, we all invited our friends out to learn how to decorate a cake using fondant. Fun fact - fondant is called "American Paste" in Portuguese....I had no idea that it was such an American thing! On that note, do you know what place mats are called in Portuguese? (Of course not, but I just thought I'd ask :) They're called "Americans"! It's so funny to see what people here in Brazil view as American when we don't even see it as uniquely from our country!
Anyway, my student (and friend) Nina came out as well as my mother-in-law. Even though Nina didn't know anyone, she seemed VERY comfortable and really enjoyed herself. She even commented about how much she enjoys activities with little moments hearing about God....talk about open!



Her interest in coming made me wonder...why don't we as Christians open up more opportunities to invite friends to hear about the Lord? Why so often do we just have activities with each other? When I invited Nina I was surprised that she immediately said she'd come. Maybe you'd be surprised how many of your friends would say yes if you invited them! (This was lesson #1 that I came away with)

Anneke (left) translated for Katie as she decorated the cake, since she just arrived here in Brazil and is still learning Portuguese. At this point there was just a layer of fondant on the cake, icing, and green coconut to look like grass.

Here are some of the ladies watching the cake decorating...

It was a lot of fun and we all got to participate making flowers to put on top.

I imagine when Katie started teaching herself how to decorate cakes that she never would have guessed it would be used as an evangelistic opportunity....but God can use any talent or ability if we're willing! Can you play an instrument? Do you know a good recipe? Can you play a board game? Is there a big sports game coming up? I imagine anything could be used as a way to get people together for that and to hear a little about the Lord. (This was lesson #2)

And Katie did an excellent job putting it into practice...

Finishing up...so cute and delicious too! What sweet lessons to learn :)