7 years already?!

Today is a special day. Think about it takes me back to 2002, way back to when I was 16 and a junior in high school. That year, March 31 was Easter, a day special in and of itself. There were more people than usual at the Sunday morning worship service (it being Easter and all). I was extremely nervous but very excited and confident as I walked forward during the invitation song. I knew I wanted it. I knew it was right. No doubts. So I let myself go and gave myself completely to Jesus. Words cannot explain the excitement and joy I felt as I came out of the water. March 31, 2002, will always be the second most important day of my life (the first being the day I was born). The last seven years have been crazy. I’ve done things I NEVER thought I would do, things I only dreamed of doing. Traveling to other countries, living in other countries, developing leadership skills and being put in positions of leadership, becoming less shy and more confident and outgoing (if you knew me in high school, this would surprise you), seeing lives transformed by the love of Jesus. Not to mention graduating from high school and college. Has it been easy? NO WAY. The enemy is always ready to make me stumble and/or steal me away. Have I doubted? Yes. Been disappointed? Yes. Sinned? Absolutely. But the smallest blessing from God is worth every last difficulty, every tear, every disappointment, every bit of suffering, because my joy comes from life in Christ and the hope, love, peace, and purpose He brings into my life. I have never regretted my decision. God is amazing, all the time, in every way. At the time I may not have recognized that, but looking back over the last 7 years, I realize how true it is.

The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! Psalm 18:46

But he [Jesus] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

In other March news:

- On the 21st, the young people at the Comunidade de Cristo church held the 3rd annual Youth Impact. There were dozens of visitors, including 3 current and past LST readers. The youth of the church put on a skit about the masks Christians wear inside the church. They did a GREAT job! Then John Jewell elaborated on that theme. It was a great night, complete with snacks, songs, and matching Comunidade de Cristo t-shirts. :D To take a look at the pictures, check out my Facebook album.
- I started an aerobics class at a local sports complex three mornings a week with Tania and Marisa. It can be pretty intense, but I LOVE it! It’s especially fun when we work out to “If You’re Sexy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands.” I’m the only one who gets a kick out of that.
- I still have a completely full reader schedule. It seems that if one person has to stop coming because of scheduling issues, there’s another person waiting to fill their spot. I’ve also started a basic English conversation class that has 10 students. We meet once a week. It’s been great so far. I’m REALLY enjoying it, and I think they are too. Though they may be a bit disappointed that I won’t talk in Portuguese as much as they'd like for me to.
- It’s still really hot here. REALLY HOT. But I’m getting used to it. I take about 3 cold showers a day. I no longer want to take hot showers, or even warm ones. In fact, I can’t stand it. Now that’s adaptation…or going native????

Have a great day and a wonderful April!!!!

Short months rock!

Well, now that we’re well into March, I thought I’d give you a little peek into what February was like for me. Like the month before, it was very busy and exciting and HOT. For the sake of order (more for me than you), I’m going to divide the post into three parts: beginning, middle, and end. Ready?

The Beginning

The month started out a little bittersweet. My roommate of 8 months left Natal to go back to the USA and try to find support (crap, I could barely think of how to say that in English, only Portuguese) to come back as a full-time missionary. We all knew that God would provide; we just didn’t know when. So, I got to start paying the bills all by myself. Always exciting. I’m now experiencing what it’s like to live alone. It’s not so bad…for me. The bamboo is probably suffering a bit though. The sweet part of the beginning happened on the first day. We had another sister give her life to Jesus! Her name is Heloise, and she had been studying for a while. She is an incredibly sweet girl who fought hard to begin her life in Christ. The women of the church have also started meeting in small groups. There are 6 girls in my group, which is the biggest since we all live in the neighborhood around the church. We are reading a chapter from a book about forgiveness and discussing it together as well as praying for and with each other. I’m looking forward to getting to know these girls better throughout the coming months. And that brings me to…

The Middle

Because February here in Natal means the end of summer break and the beginning of school, LST can be slow as readers are busy with last minute summer fun and the chaos of starting classes. I took advantage of this slow time to visit my dear friends, Greg and Cyndi, in Panama. We had a lot of fun visiting, seeing the sites (I saw the biggest ship EVER go through the Panama Canal!!!), and playing dozens of games of Quiddler. In addition to all of that, Panama City has foods from the USA that I didn’t think I’d see again until I stepped on US soil. I brought back some good stuff with me (wooo bbq sauce!). It was a refreshing time that allowed me to prepare for a few more months of LST work. We also got our newsletter done while I was there. Lucky for some of you! Greg and Cyndi were great hosts, and I enjoyed spending time with them and getting to see their new apartment and how they spend their days up at the end of Central America. :) After that, we come to…

The End

When I got back from Panama, my luggage unfortunately did not make it back with me. I made several phone calls, but got nothing before I left town again. Two days after I got back, I headed about an hour outside of the city for a retreat with the young people from the church. This is an annual event that coincides with Carnaval. If you don’t know what Carnaval is, think Mardi Gras on a much bigger scale (parties and crowds as well other inappropriate activities) and in every major city in the country. So, we escaped the city and had a great time with each other. We had devotionals and lessons every day, along with fun activities, naps, and rainshowers. We even had a few uninvited guests, which is when I learned that I was the only girl at the retreat who wasn’t freaked out by frogs and their cousins. (Spiders and cockroaches are a different story…) One night we had what they called a “Noite de Ridiculo” which I translate into a “Night of Ridicularity.” (That’s probably not an exact translation, since ‘ridicularity’ isn’t a word, but oh well.) It was HILARIOUS! Several people dressed up in crazy outfits and gave us a fashion show of ridicularity. There was also a talent show. We had the return of the Brazilian Backstreet Boys, complete with the Macarena. Even I participated, singing “In Christ Alone” with my dear friend Fernanda. Yes, you read right. I sang acapella in front of everyone. I guess the ridularity got to my head. Haha. It was pretty cool. I have to give props to Fefa, who sang the song MUCH better than I did and in English. The winner of the night was Andressa and Sarah with their, um, well I don’t know what to call it. Sarah acted as Andressa'S doll, and Andressa gave her dance moves along with a song. That was a bad explanation, sorry. Think ventriloquist but with dance instead of speech. Yes, it was a blast! If you’d like to see the pictures, go here. After returning from the retreat, I got back my luggage (yay!!!) and got down to business calling everyone on our LST reader list to schedule reading sessions. And that, my friends, was the short version of my February. I hope you all had as great a month as I did!

March is proving to be interesting as well. I had a great first week of reading sessions. I have a reader scheduled almost every hour of the day Monday-Thursday as well as two group beginning classes (one that has already started and one that will start this week). I’m hoping the new one becomes more of an evangelistic outreach than just an English class. Please pray for that. At first I thought that maybe I would put up more flyers so I could bring in new readers who (hopefully) weren’t Christians already. But God answered my prayers, and I’ve signed up a few new ones, which I’m very excited about! We also welcomed the newest member of our church family. Ben Jewell (new son of missionaries John and Samantha Jewell) arrived on Tuesday, March 3. We're all very excited to have finally have him here!

A few weeks ago, I received a package from my family (thanks fam!) that included a big bottle of Vitamin C pills. Now, I wasn’t quite sure why, but I thought why not? So, I started taking them, thinking that I might need the help not getting sick, as the weather was changing and I knew starting my reading sessions again would put a little pressure on my body. After 2 weeks of taking Vitamin C, what did I get? A cold. Yep. Apparently it’s going around. I noticed Thursday afternoon that my throat was feeling scratchy and sore. I figured it was because of all the talking I had done during the week, but later that night, I realized it was more when I began to feel really ugh and blah (nice description, huh?). So I paid a visit to the pharmacy (where the guy working got to try out his English and enjoy my flawed Portuguese made worse by the cold) and got some meds that tasted nasty but have helped a little bit, except in the sleep department. If you ever plan to go out of the country, take lots of DayQuil and NyQuil! I also tried to talk as little as possible. If there’s one thing I need to be able to do during the week, it’s talk! I’m feeling much better now.

God has shown me so much lately how loved I am, by Him and by my USA and Brasilian families. I am so thankful and feel so blessed to have so much love in my life! My prayer is that everyone realizes what love exists in their life and that God will do little things each day to show you how much you are loved.

Lots of love, blessings, and prayers from Brasil!