The attached PDF file is a small description of our most recent travels here in Brazil. It also details what the next several weeks hold in store for us. Cars, airplanes, campers and car seats just to name a few. To read more click the following link Are we there yet.
Archive for the ‘Ministry’ Category
Are we there yet?
July 19, 2010Lar Betania (Bethany House)
July 6, 2010
There is an orphanage here in town that is sponsored by the church that we work with. Many of the short term mission teams that come to Brazil spend time doing work projects around the property. But mostly they love to come and play with the kids. There are about 30 kids there now and they live divided in 5 houses with house parents/mothers. The kids are from 10 months to late teenage years. Few are true orphans the others have parents who are incapable (drug addicts, in prison…) of taking care of the child. We have spent time at the orphanage when work teams are here and lately I’ve been taking the girls over on Saturday mornings just to play. We usually show up as the kids are finishing up their chores. As we start to play on the playground kids wander over and before I know it Noelle is in the charge of three or four “mothering” 8-12 year olds and Samara is giggling and testing out her growing Portuguese vocabulary. I love to just sit and watch the kids play, to have Elle come and hold my hand and, to have Erik ask me to take pictures of him doing “stunts”, to hear their laughter and to have a pocket full of candies to hand out. Below are just a few pictures of these sweet kids.
getting dizzy
Erik the stunt man
Who says that carting off piles of leaves isn't fun?!
Samara and her new friends playing house
Crutches smutches...I cruise pretty fast with my plastic chair
Finger fencing championship of the world!
A little help
FRIENDS
June 15, 2010 Definition of Friend according to Webster’s:
Person one likes
We have recently been thinking a lot about friends. Those people whom we like and think about and spend time with and pray for and miss. Being that we live in Brazil and most of you reading this do not, you fall into the pray for and miss category. So recently when the pastor from the church that we worked at in Londrina called and said that they were bringing a group to Maringa for a holiday we were thrilled! Here in Brazil there seems to be many holidays, city ones, state ones, national ones. Most of the time were not even sure why there is a holiday, but try to enjoy it nonetheless. So just over a week ago Micah met this group downtown and played tour guide for them on a drizzly afternoon that eventually brought them to our home for “café da tarde” the afternoon coffee and snack time that Brazilians have every day. The girls and I had made cookies and ham and cheese sandwiches and of course we had coffee. They stayed and visited and we laughed and talked and thoroughly enjoyed our time together!. What a blessing for us to feel like we were not only among persons that we liked, but friends that we love.
Group from Belo Horizonte Church in Londrina
Samara and Isabella
Then we got another phone call from Andressa and Marlon and Wesley and Rosianne saying they wanted to come visit for the weekend. These are two couples that were in Micah’s discipleship group and became some of our closest friends in Londrina. Marlon and Andressa are married and expecting a little girl in August. Wesley and Rosianne are getting married in October. So again we were blessed by time with special friends who we love and who love us and really love Samara and Noelle.
Tooth brushing buddies
Wesley and Noelle
"decorating" Rosianne's hair
breaking in our Churrasco (bar-b-que)
Telling us the story...The directions said to "mix by hand" when Micah turned around Marlon was doing just that!
SUPER special people we like
Wave Watching
June 9, 2010
I guess I’ve always imagined that when Peter was walking on water, what took his attention away from Jesus was a general curiosity and an ADHD inability to focus. A “hey check this out, ain’t it cool” type of thing. But recently I’ve began to wonder if it wasn’t something a little more. Something that at one time or another will effect us all. To read more read the PDF file Wave Watching. And don’t forget to check out our picture page.
Phases
April 29, 2010As the girls continue to grow, we increasingly are becoming aware of phases. There are toys that aren’t used anymore, and clothes that are now too small. In so many ways, life has changed for our little ones. But what we are finding out, is that phases aren’t just for kids. Lately, we’ve been coming face-to-face with the fact that there are phases in ministry as well. To read more click the following link: Phases The relating pictures can be found on our pictures and videos page.
In a completely unrelated note, a few days ago I was joking around with Marla about the size of my head. I said “Marla you just don’t know how hard it is to carry this thing around all day” To which she responded “sure I do, it’s like being pregnant on your head.” hmmm, nothing spiritual there, but it did make me laugh.
CAMP
April 12, 2010
Start with two days, add 175 kids ages 5-11, mix thoroughly with 15 counselors, sprinkle in over 250 pieces of luggage, toss in a few handfuls of homesick tears, spice it up with a variety of games and activities, combine with Christ centered teaching and top it all off with a torrential, unrelenting downpour and you’ve got the recipe for an unforgettable time…
Getting groovy
one of my new buddies
clowning counselors
My Girls
February 5, 2010 Once a week between five and eight little girls would come scampering over to our house
To spend several hours with me. We would play games, do crafts, talk about life, read the Bible, giggle, bake yummy American treats, pray, talk about our families and just hang out. I taught some of them to sew, they were exceedingly patient with my bumbling Portuguese, and we all became, I believe, extra special to one another. So here we are one and half years later and my “girls” are growing up. I picked up four of them yesterday for an afternoon downtown eating ice cream, walking in the park and just hanging out. I saw lipstick and glittery eye shadow, boys are no longer completely icky, sixth grade is starting on Monday and time marches on. On one hand it was a delightful few hours together and on the other it pained my heart to hear of parents splitting up, teenager sisters who are pregnant and fathers who are abusing alcohol and drugs. I hold these young girls dear to my heart and I pray that the truth of God’s word will take root in their hearts, that other ladies in the church will invest in and mentor them and that these girls will choose a life surrendered to Christ. I do not know how many more times I will get to see them as we are moving to a new city on Monday, but I am thankful for them, for what God has taught me through them and I will continue to pray for each of these sweet girls daily by name…Gabriella, Giovanna, Leticia, Carla, Aleini, Nadialie. Deborah, Isabella.
for more recent pictures check out the pictures and videos page
Changes
January 30, 2010As Marla and I were driving the other day we were remembering how different life used to be for us here in Brazil. Car seats didn’t used to be a permanent fixture in our car in fact we didn’t even have a car. We remembered the time that Kim, Aaron and Lon all came down at the same time for a visit. We remembered that we did the best we could to provide transportation for our little gang and somehow 
managed to borrow three extra bikes for our friends. Then on our first ride of to a park across the city bike #1, #2, and #3 all broke down within 1.5 miles of each other. Suddenly we had people walking, and getting lost in neighborhoods as we split up in an attempt to get home. Then we remembered how one of our first bikes had a pedal that continually seemed to fall off at the 3.5 miles from home mark, and 
how we’d have to “ride/coast” it back. We laughed as we remembered the city turning the water off for days while we had a houseful of company and taking “showers” in the rain that poured off the roof. We sighed as we remembered the hours we spent studying Portuguese and the labor of trying to communicate with people. We remembered working on our first stove, 
loaned to us from our friend David, with black electrical tape and random wires trying to keep it working after years of sitting on his back porch. I remember trying to play court soccer barefoot after my only pair of soccer shoes ripped out. We remembered eating every day the only meal that we knew how to cook: potatoes, eggs and sausage.
Yeah, things have changed for us this time around. It takes us longer to get out the door, but shorter to get where we are going. We haven’t had to fight against the inconveniences of leaky roofs, jimmy-rigged stoves and not knowing how to communicate, and we eat a much more balanced diet. However we have become responsible for more things, have had to let our friends here know that we will not be staying in this city, have had to see people that we have poured love into not walking with Jesus, had to learn to balance work and family and have a little girl who is really starting to test her limits. Just yesterday in the car Samara said “Daddy loves me… even when I’m having a hard time. Mommy, I love you… even when you’re having a hard time too.” God is good, and we are thankful that He remains the same.
January 11, 2010
Good moring. A few days ago, as I was contimplating our big move that is coming up here in a few days, God spoke to me and gave me an illustration to help me guide my thoughts and energies as we prepare to make the cultural “jump.” To read more about it click the following link: The Standing Long Jump
*oh yeah, Noelle is really starting to walk now. To see a little video of her, check out our pictures and videos page.
It’s Official
November 13, 2009Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from our headquarters office in Indiana, and was informed that Marla and I have officially been released to go back to Brazil in January. God is good and has shown Himself faithful again and again. To read a little more about it click the following link. Good News Comes in Pairs
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