Chapter 12

12.

Cat slipped her name tag over her head and looked at herself in the full-length mirror that hung by the closet. She wore her brown and cream striped shirt. She had on her khaki slacks and had made a belt out of all the Jesus bracelets she had gotten down here in Brazil.

Cat went over to the night stand and picked up her room key. Beside it lay the silver ring a nine-year-old boy had given her last night. She smiled to herself at the memory of it. Young Zacarias had come up to her with the ring and asked her to marry him. "I'm sorry I can't. I'm going back to the United States on Monday," Cat told him.

Zacarias looked to the translator who was standing nearby. After a minute of Portuguese exchange Zacarias looked at Cat again. "I go with." His eyes sparkled with hopeful delight.

"Don't tell him you will or that you wish you could. He'll take you seriously, as will his parents," the translator warned.

"I'm sorry, Zacarias. I can't take you with me." Again Zacarias discussed Cat's response with the translator.

"For you." He finally had spoken to Cat again, after the translator instructed him what to say. "Don't forget us."

Cat took the ring from him and wrapped her arms around him. "Obrigada, Zacarias."

When he pulled away his eyes were filled with delight. He then waved and ran off to play with his friends. Cat smiled after him as she slipped the ring on her index finger.

"He's so sweet," Cat told the translator as she stood up to leave.

"He is. He loves to give things to people. If he was given a hundred bucks, he would have a...how do you say it...a hay day giving people presents."

"That's cool." Cat put her Mickey Mouse book bag over her shoulder and started heading out after her team. "Bye, it was nice meeting you."

"You too," the translator waved. Cat returned it and then turned around.

That had been the last she had seen of either of them. Zacarias had endeared himself to Cat over the three days she had been at his church. He was a very special boy who would be in her prayers quite often.

"All right. Let's go," Stephanie said heading out the door in front of Cat.

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"You look very nice," Lydia complimented Dana when Dana came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a Chinese looking outfit with a matching headband.

"Thank-you. So do you," Dana said.

"Thank-you," she said finishing braiding her hair. "Ready?" she asked grabbing her name tag.

"Yep."

The two headed down the elevator, meeting several others on the way down. They were all in nice dresses and suits for the semi-formal good-bye meal. They went down to the conference room where they had all been the very first day. It, however, had been transformed. There were twenty round tables. The tables were covered with white table cloths and were set with fine plates, goblets, and silverware. In the middle of the room were several long tables that held all the food. Around the doors and pillars were wound thousands of balloons. There were also a lot of balloons floating up around the ceiling. Lydia had helped blow those balloons up for over three hours. There were over two thousand balloons hanging around that room! Lydia knew that it wouldn't take that long before the children of the pastors who had come would start popping them. Though it looked nice, Lydia thought it a waste of money and time to have so many, especially since it would only be for one night.

Dana wandered off to talk with some of her friends, so Lydia went to find someone from the Mt. Zion group. She ended up at a table with MollyBea, Jordan, Pastor Rod, and some of the others. MollyBea was beautiful in a blue, flowery dress and the makeup Lydia had given her for an early birthday present.

The night went on with the dinner and pastors giving testimonies of what had been happening in their churches. Then they had worship. Afterwards they had a massive fire tunnel: a human tunnel which other people went through and got prayed for. It was a wild night to top off a wonderful two weeks of Jesus blessing and healing people through them!

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"Let's go get into more comfortable clothes," Stephanie said coming up to Cat who had just broken out of the fire tunnel for a second.

"Sound like a good idea."

Cat had been having a blast in the anointing of God! The Holy Spirit had come down really strong in that room as they started worship and it continued as they did the fire tunnel. It was so amazing!!! People were getting drunk on the Lord's annointing and falling all over the place. Some were even having to be carried out of the way. Cat was loving it, being able to just love on the Lord and feeling Him loving on her! Yet more casual clothes did sound nice, so she followed Stephanie up to their room.

She kicked off her flip flops as she switched on the light. She had the flip flops that lit up every couple steps and loved to wear them everywhere. The right one landed leaning up against the dresser and kept flashing. "That's cool. Maybe it's how it landed." Cat thought and turned around to get dressed.

Once she was finished, she went to slip her flip flops back on! They were still flashing continuously! "Hey Stephanie, look, this flip flop hasn't stopped flashing since I kicked it off."

"Weird."

The two headed back down to the party and rejoined the fire tunnel. Cat went through several more times reveling in the tangible power and love of God. When it was announced that they had to break things up and get out of the conference room, her flip flop was still flashing continuously!

"Hey, look at this," Cat told Pastor Rod, Jordan, Lydia, and Kari. "My flip flop won't stop flashing. I noticed it when I kicked it off in my room, and it kept flashing!"

"It could be symbolic. It's your right flip flop that means your right side is closest to God."

"Cool," Kari exclaimed staring at the flip flop.

"Wow!" Cat agreed, amazed at the thought of it.

That night she had to throw a pillow over the flip flop, so she and Stephanie could get some sleep. In the morning it was still flashing like crazy. Cat shook her head in amazement as she slipped them back on in the morning. She was continually amazed at the different ways God showed Himself to people.

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"Lydia, I'm going to go get breakfast and then I'm going to leave." Dana's voice woke Lydia up. "Did you want to come down with me?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for waking me." Lydia shook her head in an attempt to clear the fog. She had asked Dana to wake her so she could say good-bye. She looked at the clock-quarter to six.

Lydia threw her flowery wrap over her shorts and followed Dana out of the room. They went to the main building where Dana dropped off her bags in the lobby. They then went up to the dining area where they were serving an early breakfast for the kids and leaders who were leaving on the morning plane.

Lydia talked with Dana while she ate and walked out with her to the waiting buses. Dana turned to Lydia before getting in line to board the bus. "Good-bye," Dana said and the two embraced.

"Good-bye."

Dana got into the line. Lydia waved one last time before turning around to go back in. She had come out in her stocking feet and thin sweater and was starting to feel the morning chill.

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"I want to be home!" Lydia thought bouncing up and down impatiently the next afternoon. She and the rest of the Mt. Zion team waited out in front of the Minneapolis airport waiting for their rides. Lydia was tired and couldn't wait to be home.

All of a sudden a familiar green van came into sight. "Dad!" Lydia cried. Her eyes flew open with delighted surprise.

As soon as the van parked at the curb, Lydia ran around the van and yanked the door open. "Dad!!" She flung her arms around his neck. She had never known she would miss her parents so much. She was so excited to see him here!

"How is everybody?" Lydia asked moving aside so MollyBea and Jordan could say hi.

"They're all doing good," their dad replied walking around the van to help load up the suit cases and all.

It only took a few minutes to get everything packed. Then everyone piled into the Yoder van and the church van which the Fallens had driven up. Lydia hopped into the front with her dad.

"I thought the Zimmermans were going to come pick us up," Lydia said happy that her dad had come instead but curious as to why the plans had been changed.

"It turned out that there would be too much baggage and people to fit in just the church van and the Zimmerman's suburban so they asked me to do it again."

Lydia nodded her head in understanding. She answered her dad's few questions and then lapsed into a tired silence. She stared out at the beautiful, bright sunny day as she thought about the trip. It had been a fantastic trip with many memories made and a multitude of lessons learned. She would never regret this trip or the long frustrating hours of preparation. Still, it was great to be going home!