i'm alive!

dear faithful blog checkers,

i am, in fact, alive and well in brazil! december turned out to be much more of a whirlwind than i anticipated and january with back to back volunteer teams was here before i knew it! i appreciate so much your faithfulness in prayer even without an update during these two months!

december...

brought so many blessings along with the super intense heat! all along i expected that dreaded bout of homesickness to hit at christmas...what i didn't expect was how little it would seem like christmas around here! if i were in a cold, snowy place that decorates the town as we do at home i would have been consistently homesick. my brazilian friends kept me busy from christmas eve right through my birthday week with their traditions and of course...beach trips! it seemed like a totally different kind of experience rather than 'christmas without my family' and for that, i was really, really grateful!


new years eve with my friends!

january...

brought two volunteer teams of college students...in other words: one busy month! a team from union university arrived on the 5th with an old friend from jackson, 2 of my west jackson girls, and CHUCKY! we were able to sleep at my church, which made for a whole bunch of really late but really fun nights that i had been needing! during their 2 weeks here they painted some rooms at CADI and did a VBS at CADI and a VBS for my church...we kept busy! this team, though, was awesome-every single one of the college students and leader had such a great servant attitude and an immediate love for the kids, especially in frei damião; which of course, blessed me so much! and the kids loved them! while i haven't been homesick and i really love it here, being with them was refreshing...good for my soul! it was hard for me to see them go!


finally, the union team got a beach day and it was enjoyed by all!

the second team was from impact360 and they were also really great! i stayed with them at the camp as well and had a really great time getting to know them and hanging out with the ministries they were supporting and getting involved with! i really love having teams-its fun to jump into ministry with another group of people and see how God works in snap shots-and then i get to return to regular life!

which is exactly what i'm doing right now! i am now looking at how to best organize my last 6 months here in brazil so that i can be as effective as possible with that time...yes only 6 more months! i can hardly believe it, myself!

if you can be in prayer for these next few weeks to start off with energy and motivation and of course, purposeful organization! also, i've renewed my visa and am waiting to hear that it was approved (given my luck with the visa process, lets go ahead and pray a little for that, too!)

if you're reading this, then i appreciate your consistency in trying to keep up with my life here, which, i'm sure leads to prayers! you're a huge part of what the Lord is doing in brazil at the moment! thank you for that!

God bless you, today!
beijos!

thankful

happy thanksgiving week!

i LOVE thanksgiving!

turkey, dressing, etc is, hands down my favorite meal...i LOVE hanging out with my family...i LOVE the approach of winter weather...i've always been a big fan of breaks from school/work...i LOVE parades...i LOVE that my jackson radio station changes to the 'christmas star' on thanksgiving day...i could make a much longer list, but you get the point...

all things thanksgiving = awesome.

obviously, this year will be quite a different thanksgiving, with hardly of the above mentioned items to note the holiday. BUT nonetheless, (only to the credit of God's proactive intervention in my thought life) over the past month i've been overwhelmed with things that i am really thankful for.

such as:

-so many great US churches that partner with our ministries here--financially, through prayer support, and by sending teams.
-the openness and warmth of brazilian culture, 95% of the time i feel welcome in any situation i'm in with brazilians
-a really stand up, quality team of IMB colleagues here, in florianópolis
-seriously committed friends at home who pull more than their weight in an inter-continental friendship
-pão de queijo...its like a ball full of cheese, without which i would most definitely starve around here (and probably be a few pounds lighter) ;)
-the beauty of the internet which keeps me in touch with friends and family but also the important goings on around the world, such as can be found on E!.com
-just this stage in general, which is hard somedays, but overall a pretty awesome experience!

so, while i will most certainly enjoy thanksgiving on the beach (with a group of colleagues from around the country) i will most definitely be missing the presence of cranberry sauce and my mom's dressing...so enjoy it a little extra for me, this year!

love in any language...

how do you get little brazilian girls to let loose and be themselves? bring them american music, of course!



i mean, this is the true definition of an international sensation.

i vote moses most likely to succeed

Dear Journal,

My thrill for life here is quite cyclical, meaning, I can have a pity party for 1 in about 5 seconds after a full day of being corrected (grammatically) or treated more or less incompetent because i'm foreign (and wouldn't really know how to do what they need done, anyway) or the electricity is out for 20 minutes and every store and bakery in a 3 mile radius has decided to call it a day before I can get a loaf of bread. (all yesterday) BUT the Lord has continuously been showing me how poisonous my lazy and self involved tendencies are. I mean when that kind of stuff all happens on the same day it is a bit discouraging, but really, I'm not discouraged with life here. If anything, I'm encouraged by the excitement some of the kids have to hear a new bible story and the willingness of families to open their homes to an impromptu bible study. The gospel is not fully understood here, and they're anxious to understand it!

One of the most encouraging things for me right now is the Old Testament. No, really. I've skimmed through the history books of the bible before but lately Leviticus and Deuteronomy have had major insight into the life of Sara.

I am the Lord your God...I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
Leviticus 26:13

God rescued me from the slavery of sin, but He won't force me to walk in obedience. I've been enabled to do so, but if I choose to dwell in discouragement and cater to my pride...well, thats just it...I can choose that. And sometimes, I do. I always regret it and try to find my way back to how the Lord wants me to handle myself. And, of course...

But if from there (in my case, selfishness/rebellion/etc) you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these thins have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31

I just can't settle with the camp that the christian life = suffering. Every life has suffering and valleys, etc. But I'm so good with the idea that God rescued me from my sin, from myself for a glorious, eternal reward...but also to be a part of His kingdom on earth; which is a really fun thing to be a part of! It's hard some days, but I love it...I really do.

But He brought us out from there (slavery in Egypt) to bring us in and give us the land that He promised on oath to our forefathers.
Deuteronomy 6:23

...when september ends

As it turns out September is my favorite month. Not for any huge, significant reason, really. I just like it. This September went exceptionally well...and way too fast!

A highlight (of my year, really) was having Becca here for little bit. We did Rio in a day, literally...Spent a few (very) lazy days at my two favorite beaches in Floripa...visited with some friends in Frei...I think she got a good variety of what we have to offer, here! Lately, my days have seemed to have more 'downs' than 'ups' and as Bec is one of the most encouraging people in my life, the Lord used her to challenge and motivate me (in person...which is always better!) The Lord really has blessed me with some great friends!



In other news...Thursday afternoon visits with Jan and Alana (IMB colleagues) have morphed into home bible studies with some women in Frei, which is really exciting! I'm praying it can become more of a discipleship situation where the women learn to take the reigns themselves and lead their friends, neighbors, families!

In the interest of being transparent 'Clube da Biblia' is my favorite and least favorite part of the ministry at CADI. Favorite because it's an hour and a half of bible stories, games, and crafts with third graders! Those are like 4 of my top 10 favorite things of all time. BUT on the other hand...it's an hour and a half of trying to tell a bible story in portuguese (with third grade input), trying to referee games that always end with some sort of injury and trying to keep glue only on the intended items. I have a morning and afternoon club and I'm discouraged about 30 times during each; but God is so good and somehow on the way home (almost every Monday) all sorts of positive highlights come to mind. I'm continually amazed at how personalized God is with blessings!