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!

Summertime

This post is a bit overdue, but that shouldn’t be surprising given my great ability to procrastinate. January was a great month here in Natal! Besides being HOTTTTT, it was also summer vacation time (well, foreveryone who didn’t have a job). Most of my readers were traveling or otherwise taking advantage of their break from classes, so I had fewer reading sessions. I tried to spend my extra time with friends from the church. We did all sorts of fun stuff. We, of course, went to the beach, visited a nursing home, studied the books of Micah and Habbakuk (which in Portuguese sounds a lot like "have a cookie." That brings a smile to my face every time) and went hiking, among other thrilling summer activities. I had missed hiking (not that I was an avid hiker in Arkansas, but I really enjoyed it when I went), so it was a great day! We took a 1 ½ hour hike through the sand dunes and ended up at an overlook with a beautiful view of the beach. You definitely won’t find that in my home state! I really want to go back to do the 3 hour hike. I think I have a few people talked into it. We’ll see…

The sand dune forest


Don't you wish we had a view like this in Arkansas?



At Comunidade de Cristo, January was a month of prayer. John Jewell challenged us to find someone to pray with as much as we could all month long and to pray individually every day. (Well, we were supposed to pray with another person every day I think, but it didn’t always work out to get together. Thank goodness for Facebook!) We were to pick one person to pray for and to pray for the church as a whole. As a result of these prayers, 3 people gave their lives to Jesus on the last Sunday in January!!! I also enjoyed getting to know my dear, sweet prayer partner better. Since it was so beneficial and successful, we extended the month of prayer into February. Two people have already turned over their lives to Jesus! Hopefully, there will be more to report when I post again after February is over.

My next story begins back in November. I went to a nearby city for a church retreat. There, I made a friend from Recife, a city about 4 hours away from Natal. My friend, Wilson, does a lot of benevolent/social work type work with the church there. I thought it all was very interesting, so he invited me and some others from my church to visit Recife and help out with a VBS in the nearby city of Sao Lourenco da Mata. So, seven of us went. Wilson organized the whole thing, and he did a wonderful job! We had about 30 kids participate in the 2-day event. We had skits, crafts, games, and puppets during the day. At night, the church there held meetings for the youth and the parents of the kids who came to the VBS. It was a great way for the church to reach out to the neighborhood. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. We also had the opportunity to participate in a very special work of the Boa Vista church in Recife. Every Wednesday night, a group walks the streets around the church handing out bread and cokes to the people who live on the streets. They’ve been doing this for about 2 years (if I remember correctly). Wilson was one of the initiators. Many of the people know the church members well, know their songs, and a few have given their lives to Jesus as a result! The whole trip was put together and led by God. I know those of us from Natal were very blessed by our participation and by the people we met. Even though he probably won’t read this, a big THANK YOU to Wilson for all of his hard work!!

The kids


I love visiting God’s people in other countries and in different cities in those countries. It always amazes me to hear Him being praised in different languages and seeing the work He's doing in other places. It’s very special to know that there are people who love Him and are serving Him in every time zone all over the world. :D

The last Sunday in January was VERY special. Three people gave their lives to Jesus! The first was Ingrid, the daughter of Tania, who's been part of the church since almost the beginning. The second was Rosendo, Geraldo's son (remember Geraldo? I wrote about him in September. Go here and read the Sept 16th post for a refresher). The third was Socorro, Geraldo's wife and Rosendo's mother. That makes three members of their family who have become Christians since September. Every Sunday, they bring a truckful of friends and relatives to the worship service, so who knows who's next.

Our three new brothers and sisters in Christ
from left to right: Socorro, Rosendo, John, and Ingrid


All in all, January was a GREAT month! And February has been pretty good too. But more about that in another post…

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 7:9

God amazes me.

"I believe now."

Those are three words that every one of God's workers longs to and loves to hear. Right now, no three words are more beautiful to me. I am so excited that I heard those exact words tonight from one of my readers. I cried. Really. That's how much it affected me. My heart is singing praises to the One who controls it all! Let me tell you, those three magificient words are the product of many prayers, many reading sessions, several Bible studies, and A LOT of work on the part of the Holy Spirit. God never ceases to astound me with how He works. Please continue (or start) praying for this reader.


You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done!
I sing for joy because of what you have done.
O Lord, what great works you do!
And how deep are your thoughts.
Psalm 92:4-5

All Because of Jesus

One of my best friends sent me a cd in the mail recently (thanks Charity!) that had this song on it. The first time I heard the chorus, I was amazed by the simple yet profound truth behind the words.

Giver of every breath I breathe
Author of all eternity
Giver of every perfect thing
To You be the glory
Maker of Heaven and of Earth
No one can comprehend Your worth
King over all the universe
To You be the glory

And I am alive because I'm alive in You

Chorus:
It's all because of Jesus I'm alive
It's all because the blood of Jesus Christ
That covers me and raised this dead man's life
It's all because of Jesus I'm alive
I'm alive, I'm alive

Giver of every breath I breathe
Author of all eternity
Giver of every perfect thing
To You be the glory
Maker of Heaven and of Earth
No one can comprehend Your worth
King over all the universe
To You be the glory

And I am alive because I'm alive in You

Chorus

Every sunrise sings Your praise
The universe cries out Your praise
I'm singing freedom all my days
Now that I'm alive

I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive

-All Because of Jesus by Casting Crowns

How true that is! I am alive because of Jesus. Literally, figuratively, and spiritually. Every time I stop to think about the work God is doing in the world, how the Holy Spirit is moving in my life and the lives of the people around me, and the astounding life Jesus lead and the sacrifice He made, I am left speechlessly in awe. Yahweh is amazing, my friends, in ways we'll never know or understand.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Isaiah 40:28

#44 is finally here!

I watched the inauguration today. In English. I was so proud to be witnessing such a historical event. I look forward to Obama implementing his economic and foreign policies. Hello 4 years of traveling and NOT hearing all about how people don't like the USA because of the government!

One of my favorite parts of the inauguration (besides the actual taking of the oaths) was during the benediction when the cute old man whose name I can't remember said, "Brown will stay around. Yellow will be mellow. Red with get ahead. White will do what’s right." That was just hilarious to me. HAHA! See? Hilarious!

I hope these new economic policies kick in by June. :)

Hello 2009!

Usually on New Year's I get together with some friends (or my mom), and we watch movies, play cards, or make videos of ourselves lip-syncing to weird songs (ok, that was only once...). Whatever my past New Years plans were, they almost always included movies and sparkling grape juice, a tradition started by my dear mother several years ago.

Well, this year was similar yet so very different. I did spend New Year's Eve with friends, and I did play cards. But that's where the similarities ended. It all started with pie confusion. I was going to make a chocolate pie for the dinner but didn't have enough pudding, so I went to the grocery store. Bad idea. I had no desire to wait in a line that wound all the way through the produce section (for those of who have never been to the Hiper on Antonio Basilio, take my word for it, that line was LONG). I left without buying anything. I ended up making a very small version of the pie, which was just as good!!

Anyway, after the pie fiasco, I went to the church to wait for the arrival of 2009. I played some cards, then we had a big dinner and watched a slideshow (without any pictures of me sleeping!). A few minutes before midnight, we went to the 3rd floor balcony so we could see the fireworks throughout the city. We prayed right before mdinight. As soon as the new year arrived, everyone hugged everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE. I think the only people I didn't hug were some of the Americans...surprising.) and said "Feliz Ano Novo!" This of course means 'Happy New Year' in Portuguese. To end the night, we went downstairs to have dessert (my chocolate pie attempt mixed with Mousse de Maracuja, yum!). Then I went home and slept. So, my New Year's was different but great! Although I did miss sparkling grape juice.

I decided several years ago not to make resolutions because I never keep them for more than a week (ok, two days). This time though I did have a hope (yes, there is a big difference between a resolution and a hope). I hoped that I could be less forgetful and have less "oops" moments (also known as "oh crap" moments). No such luck. So far, I'm just as forgetful and have already spilled plenty of liquids. At least I haven't broken anything yet...Ah but the year's still young...

Today marked exactly 6 months that I've been in Natal. What a great 6 months it's been! In honor of this grand anniversary and the new year, I'm going share with you a few of the joys I've found living here.

- Fans (the kind that keep me from sweating into nothing but a puddle)
- Reading in the hammock
- Cheek kisses
- Washing ants down the drain (you'd love it too if they tried to take over your bed, couch, toilet, food...)
- Getting all 20s from the ATM
- Learning a new Portuguese word or phrase then using it correctly in conversation
- Praying in Portuguese for the first time (well, that was more nerve-wracking than joyful but nonetheless cool)
- Playing cards at the church
- Having exact change for the bus
- Waiting less than 10 minutes for the bus
- Walking up to the bus stop just as your bus arrives
- The cute old man who delivers our water and greets me every time I walk by
- Mangoes
- Açai
- Learning to correctly cut a pineapple and a mango
- Being told I'm ready to be married for knowing how to do things like cutting a pineapple, making rice, and washing dishes (you know, the important stuff)
- Tan lines (they mean I actually have a tan)
- Habacuque, the Portuguese word for Habbakuk, pronounced like "Have a cookie" (I get way more pleasure out of that than a 23 year old missionary probably should...)
- Hearing words from the Holy Spirit come out of my mouth
- Seeing readers become followers of Jesus
- Watching God work in the lives of His people in other parts of the world
- Being loved by people in another language
- Getting comments/Facebook messages/wall posts/emails from all of YOU!

Wow. That was a lot. See why I love it here so much?

Thank you for helping to make 2008 such a wonderful year for me!! I pray that God blesses you this year ten times more than you have blessed me. May 2009 bring you lots of little joys, big joys, love, happiness, and adventures!