A Thousand Tongues

Christ did not come to save one country or one people group...HE shed His blood for all nations!
Set aside patriotism long enough to see and LOVE this world as HE does!!!

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

Philippians 3:20

going solo

Tonight Mike and I led our first Portuguese Bible Study without help from our language teacher! Mike has taught on other nights but the normal leader was out of town tonight and he asked us to fill in for him. After Jackson led a time of worship, I told the Bible Story and Mike then led the discussion. Jackson made music sheets for everyone and was really well prepared so he seems to have found his niche.

It was an amazing night!! We (all 5 of us) are completely aware of our inabilities and yet we are in awe of how God takes our limitations and uses them for good! At times we feel as if we don't know where the words are coming from yet God continues to speak through what feels like craziness in our heads! It was such an exciting night to see the possibilities of what is to come in our time here in RP! I can't even explain the joy I have in my heart knowing that God WOULD CHOOSE to use our lives, inadequacies and all!!

my my my

What is the hardest thing about learning a new language?

Glad you asked!!! ha

It has to be understanding JOKES or when someone is being sarcastic!

They're only stating a short phrase that seems simple enough and you understand the words their saying but you have to ask them to explain 3 or 4 times so that you "very seriously" will get this important information that they are sharing. It's really uncomfortable cause you're trying to answer or respond to them but there is no answer. YOU'RE JUST SUPPOSED TO LAUGH but unfortunately you don't know that.

I always feel my forehead furrow and try so hard. Eventually they move on and shrug it off as if to give up and this is when I realize I missed the fact that they were only kidding. UGH!!

I really hate not understanding the jokes too. There is nothing worse than being in a room full of people and while everyone is listening to someone talk, the whole room bursts out in laughter. OF COURSE YOU LAUGH TOO because to not laugh would seem rude. But then some nice soul asks if you understood and you confess, "NO!" It is awful...sorta like being in middle school again and you feel clueless about everything.

Last night, the conversation at our Bible Study was moving really fast and I just could not keep up. I didn't know if I should have a serious face to go with what they were saying or a smile pasted on my completely clueless face. I had to go with the head nod but I'm not sure how long that will work.

Pray all these little things don't put me (MISS RED PETAL) in the nut house.

the good kind of tears

Today has been such a blessing.
In the mail today I received a very special package that touched my heart.
You see...I have 4 of the most amazing friends in the world and they know me better than anyone! Dana B. encourages me to always go the extra mile and gives the best HUGS. Amy makes me laugh so hard I hurt and being with her just makes me happy! Melissa pushes me to have a deeper relationship with the Lord and adheres us all together. Dana F. takes care of the needs of everyone and never breaks a promise.

I wasn't sure I'd make it living on a different continent than them but I found out quickly that because of my time with them, I'm a better friend to people here. From them, I learned to be more vulnerable and real which makes it much easier to share the love of Christ.

My house smells of Praline and we'll be having our favorite chicken casserole tonight with the mushroom soup girls! Thanks for all the work you did putting this package together.
I love you!

seeing things differently

One thing about living here is that it becomes increasingly hard to hear about friends and family having struggles back home. Your hugs are forced to become long distant calls and unceasing prayers. Your best friends endure surgeries but you can't take a meal over to their house. They send their firstborn off to college and YOU hope and pray that they know that you're cheering them on from far away. Your Happy Birthday wishes are only expressed by facebook or skype calls and you see your baby niece take tiny steps through tear-filled eyes from a computer camera hoping no one notices that you're all torn up!

It can be overwhelming at times but I also see things now through a different lens. So much of what and how I feel about the world will never be the same again. My eyes have been opened to things I'll never forget. My view of the world has become so much larger even though at times I realize just how small it is.

The other night while we were having a church service with local Brazilians, a small framed woman came into the yard from the street. She didn't have milk for her baby and was begging for someone to help her. As I watched the pastor's wife take care of her, I realized how different this world that I'm living in truly is.

Saturday night, I watched a new believer struggle with knowing where to turn in her Bible (she'd never opened a Bible) and light up when she began to understand the words she was reading. When you see the homeless on the street sleeping on the sidewalk in front of your apartment everyday and hear them going through the dumpsters at night...YOU CHANGE.

Although our hearts ache for those people we love back home, we are certain that we are exactly where God wants us and THAT feels really good. HE is at work in our lives and we know we haven't seen anything yet! Thanks for all your support and encouragement over the last few days. It's great to know ya'll read the newsletter and when you respond IT'S EVEN BETTER!! We love hearing from you!!

Keep praying for our work here and the work still to come in São Luís.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow we will have our first LI (language interview). This will involve us being interviewed and recorded as we attempt to talk only in Portuguese. The teacher will then go back and listen to the recording and determine where we are in our language learning process. It's a bit overwhelming and we're both a bit nervous. Please pray for us tomorrow afternoon between 12-2. This will be when we are doing our testing!

Also...here are some photos from around town.

Leaving our garage

The streets of Ribeirao Preto

a shop selling idols and statues

downtown

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jackson woke up to his room covered in balloons this morning. We picked him up from school at noon and headed straight to the new Burger King that was just put in our mall here. This evening we celebrated at our favorite pizzaria again and had about 10 friends join us. He was serenaded in the happy birthday song in English and another song in Portuguese and got 2 new soccer balls. The owner even came out with a special chocolate pizza and a hug for Jackson. Afterwards all the kids went bowling. Jackson missed all his friends and family from back home but he said it was one of his best birthdays!!!

july summarized

So this crazy month of JULY is A L M O S T over! It's hard to believe what all has been accomplished in these few weeks. We spent a week ministering with our church family from the states and being tremendously blessed by each of them.

I was told my crohn's disease is in "remission" (I still think God's just healing me but whatever) so that's a HUGE praise! We have a new place to call home that we love and in case you didn't see from the earlier posted pictures we have a HAMMOCK. Yes, indeed, it is the simple things that make me REALLY happy.
We experienced PROMIFE, an evangelistic camp for youth here in our city that has opened many doors for discipleship!

We were able to connect with many of the m's from Brazil. The kids got to make tons of new friends doing bible school with FBC Oveido and Mike and I have DIRECTION for where we will be living in six months!


We also had the opportunity to worship with a new body of believers here in Ribeirao that we look forward to working with soon.
Needless to say, it's been a busy month...hence the lack of earth shattering blog posts from this side of the equator. BUT I promise to make this site a priority now that things are slowing down a bit. I know how important connecting with all our friends and family back home is. Your prayer support is invaluable to us.

Once we finish language school here in this city we will be moving to Sao Luis, Maranhao. It is a very old city with a lot of history.


We will be working with the Quilombolo people. Please begin to pray for these peoples that will soon be such a huge part of our lives. Pray for fertile soil there and that we’ll be able to shine the light of Jesus to these peoples. Pray that we can persevere through our language learning so we can be effective in our work.The 3 young men are still growing and learning each new day but if they don't stop correcting my Portuguese I will be sending them home to their grandparents soon! ha They will begin school next Monday and will have some new American friends there this semester for support. Continue to pray for their hearts to embrace this nation!

the view from the balcony

Jacarei

We spent the last week in Jacarei working with a team from our home church in Lexington, Kentucky. We worked with missionaries Russ & Diane Dean and Patrick & Ann-Janel McClure at Haven of Hope Children's Home. We had an amazing time with old friends and new ones as well. We were able to witness God working in the lives of many people as they came to faith in Christ. It was wonderful to see how God used even our children to help translate for the team.

We were also completely humbled by how HE used a body of believers, CPC, to minister to our hearts in ways unimaginable. We were loved on and prayed over continuously throughout the week and all five of us have returned to our work here in Ribeirao with renewed vigor. They brought enormous amounts of supplies to us including several HUGE bags of baseball equipment for an upcoming ministry that I'll fill you in on soon, TONS of peanut butter, fishing poles, Twizzlers and Blow pops, books, and just to give you a little idea of HOW good they were to us, I had Dr. Pepper with my dinner tonight! Lots more to share but I'm exhausted and it's REALLY late here...