So here I am sitting in my parents' living room. It's the weirdest feeling. In many ways, it feels like we were never in Brazil. That's one of my favorite things about our relationship with my family. We don't talk as much as some families but we're close. And when we get together, it's like we were never apart.
On the other hand, we do notice we've been gone. We've had some experiences in the past 24 hours. Here's just a handful:
- May I say again how grateful I am we didn't fly Varig? Our line was filled with people who were trying to fly stand-by and had been for a couple of days.
- Going through the line in U.S. customs (yes, we've had to go through several different customs lines in the past 24 hours), the customs official asked what we do in Brazil. I said, "We're missionaries." He misheard and thought I said mercenaries. It made for a very interesting conversation but we all had a good laugh!
- Two things that remind me that I haven't been living in North America: 1. This morning I sat at breakfast in the airport. The waitress had brought us our big glasses of complimentary water (!), then a large glass of milk and two big cups of coffee. It was so much beverage for two people! 2. I keep pausing in the bathroom trying to figure out how to dispose of my toilet paper. (Some of you will understand why!)
I think I'm going to go take a shower. That sounds so delightful. But just sitting here, talking with my parents, wrestling with the dog, and joking around with my sister is not so bad either.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
One Week Later
Sorry I forgot to update you guys; I've had a few things on my plate.
Yes, LST finally made it here at around 1:00 Friday morning. After a slow start, they now have more than 50 readers and the church building is full much of the time. It's very exciting. They're having their first social event tonight so we're excited to get to meet all of the students.
Russ and I are just about ready to leave for Winnipeg. We're headed to the travel agent in a few minutes to see if we need to change our Varig flight to something else. Varig is pretty unreliable these days. (Just ask Jenn and the LST team!) We are sooooo excited to see our families and our suitcases are full of treats for them. (Sssshhh! Don't tell them--it's a surprise!) And I'm incredibly excited that Joel and Susan will be starting their new life together. In the same city. Finally!
I'll try to let you know how our trip is going; maybe even post some wedding pictures. But if the two weeks go by without an update, know that we're having a great time!
Yes, LST finally made it here at around 1:00 Friday morning. After a slow start, they now have more than 50 readers and the church building is full much of the time. It's very exciting. They're having their first social event tonight so we're excited to get to meet all of the students.
Russ and I are just about ready to leave for Winnipeg. We're headed to the travel agent in a few minutes to see if we need to change our Varig flight to something else. Varig is pretty unreliable these days. (Just ask Jenn and the LST team!) We are sooooo excited to see our families and our suitcases are full of treats for them. (Sssshhh! Don't tell them--it's a surprise!) And I'm incredibly excited that Joel and Susan will be starting their new life together. In the same city. Finally!
I'll try to let you know how our trip is going; maybe even post some wedding pictures. But if the two weeks go by without an update, know that we're having a great time!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Sigh.
The LST team still hasn't arrived. In fact, we don't even know when they'll be getting in. Supposedly they've made it to São Paulo but we don't yet have confirmation of that. We had the first information meeting last night and had a decent turnout, but we had strongly encouraged people to wait and come to the meeting tonight so they could meet their teachers. Now that might not happen. Please take a moment and pray for their travels. We are so anxious for them to get here and the meeting will not be the same without them. (Not to mention that they've been stuck all this time with a four-year-old. Unenviable.)
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
It's Raining...
As much as we love to talk about our great weather when the rest of you guys are suffering through the winter, it's the land of eternal sunshine. Through the fall and winter, Salvador turns into Our City of Perpetual Rain. In the fall, there are days of non-stop rain. Now that we're in the winter, the rain is a little more unpredictable. Like this morning--we left the house and I decided not to bring my umbrella because the forecast predicted a warm, sunny day. As we got out of our taxi, Russ noticed the grey clouds looming over the ocean and commented to the taxi driver that it was going to rain soon. No, he reassured us, it's not going to rain today. So we did our work at the church building and then got ready to leave. We locked the front doors and the rain started. Lightly at first, so we started walking. When it rains here, no one walks unless they have to. People take shelter until whatever they can and wait it out. They're in no hurry! It's taking me some time to get used to this mindset. It quickly picked up and we found ourselves getting wetter and wetter. We decided to stop and have a cup of coffee. As we were finishing our coffee, the rain let up and everyone started walking again. We hurried to the door and before we were even off the front stairs, the rain started again. This time we waited (with several other people) until it let up enough to get home.
Why do I tell you all this? Not to complain, because I hate complaining. (Is that a complaint?) This morning, as I stood and waited for an end to the rain, I realized it was a blessing. I hadn't been having a very good morning. The LST team isn't arriving today isn't arriving today as planned, so that creates some extra work for us. It seemed like I had the opposite of the Midas touch--everything I tried to do went wrong. Russ and I kept quarreling. I stubbed my big toe. And all I could think about was all the things on my to-do list. But the rain forced me to stop. It made me enjoy a cup of coffee with my husband and have a good chat. I had to take a breath. Sometimes I find myself forgetting to take breaths. (You can ask the rest of the team--Russ and I are notorious for not taking days off or vacation time.) But today, I had to and I'm glad. I feel so much calmer now. I thank God for giving me the eyes to see that the rain was not a curse but a blessing.
Addendum: It's even easier for me to breath now. After 478 days, our books are finally unpacked. It's about time. I've missed them.
Why do I tell you all this? Not to complain, because I hate complaining. (Is that a complaint?) This morning, as I stood and waited for an end to the rain, I realized it was a blessing. I hadn't been having a very good morning. The LST team isn't arriving today isn't arriving today as planned, so that creates some extra work for us. It seemed like I had the opposite of the Midas touch--everything I tried to do went wrong. Russ and I kept quarreling. I stubbed my big toe. And all I could think about was all the things on my to-do list. But the rain forced me to stop. It made me enjoy a cup of coffee with my husband and have a good chat. I had to take a breath. Sometimes I find myself forgetting to take breaths. (You can ask the rest of the team--Russ and I are notorious for not taking days off or vacation time.) But today, I had to and I'm glad. I feel so much calmer now. I thank God for giving me the eyes to see that the rain was not a curse but a blessing.
Addendum: It's even easier for me to breath now. After 478 days, our books are finally unpacked. It's about time. I've missed them.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
How awesome it was to share the news of Gicilene's baptism this morning!
We've been a little short-staffed this weekend because several of the team are traveling. It left just Keith, Stacey, Randy, Russ, me and all the kids. It was tough, but we soldiered on. With both Travis and Paul gone, Russ got to preach. I'm biased, of course, but I think he did a great job. I asked him afterward what kind of feedback he got from the congregation. He said, "One lady told me my hair was beautiful!" Not the feedback every preacher wants to hear, but in a land where people don't hold back from telling you how fat you are or how bad your Portuguese is, it's a welcome compliment!
We're getting excited for Let's Start Talking to get here. The team is arriving on Tuesday afternoon. One family will be living at the building for the six weeks they'll be here so I've been trying to make the place a little more livable (those of you who have seen it in person will understand). At first the job was really hard because we only had power in the front two rooms and the bathroom. The power company said it wasn't their fault and everyone else who looked at it blamed the power company. Thanks to the persistence of some of our guys, it finally got resolved.
Problems like that have been coming up, just like we had before our first service. I guess we should be used to that by now. We've been advertising the courses all around town but no one could call for information because our phone wasn't working. The phones are back up now and people are calling. This is the first time LST has been offered in this city and the responses have been interesting. Everyone who calls is skeptical that the courses are free. This morning as we were getting ready for worship three police officers stopped in to ask about the course. Some friends of ours that own a fabulous Italian restaurant have been give people LST fliers along with their check. We've handed out fliers in the street, in language schools, left them in taxis, put posters in stores, taken out a newspaper ad and talked to everyone we can think of. Now we have to sit back and wait. We have informational meetings this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Please pray that they go well and we have great turn-outs. We have spaces for 65 readers so that's a lot of potential new contacts for the church.
World Cup fever is officially over. The game ended at about 6:00 last night and by 9:00 many stores had taken down their special displays. Everyone is so disappointed, especially because it seemed like Brazil didn't even show up to play. I have to confess that I'm a little glad it's over since we're trying to get things done this week. It was hard having to schedule everything around the games. But I'll miss the opportunities we had to watch them as a church family.
Two weeks from today, we'll get to worship with our family in Winnipeg. We can hardly wait!
We've been a little short-staffed this weekend because several of the team are traveling. It left just Keith, Stacey, Randy, Russ, me and all the kids. It was tough, but we soldiered on. With both Travis and Paul gone, Russ got to preach. I'm biased, of course, but I think he did a great job. I asked him afterward what kind of feedback he got from the congregation. He said, "One lady told me my hair was beautiful!" Not the feedback every preacher wants to hear, but in a land where people don't hold back from telling you how fat you are or how bad your Portuguese is, it's a welcome compliment!
We're getting excited for Let's Start Talking to get here. The team is arriving on Tuesday afternoon. One family will be living at the building for the six weeks they'll be here so I've been trying to make the place a little more livable (those of you who have seen it in person will understand). At first the job was really hard because we only had power in the front two rooms and the bathroom. The power company said it wasn't their fault and everyone else who looked at it blamed the power company. Thanks to the persistence of some of our guys, it finally got resolved.
Problems like that have been coming up, just like we had before our first service. I guess we should be used to that by now. We've been advertising the courses all around town but no one could call for information because our phone wasn't working. The phones are back up now and people are calling. This is the first time LST has been offered in this city and the responses have been interesting. Everyone who calls is skeptical that the courses are free. This morning as we were getting ready for worship three police officers stopped in to ask about the course. Some friends of ours that own a fabulous Italian restaurant have been give people LST fliers along with their check. We've handed out fliers in the street, in language schools, left them in taxis, put posters in stores, taken out a newspaper ad and talked to everyone we can think of. Now we have to sit back and wait. We have informational meetings this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Please pray that they go well and we have great turn-outs. We have spaces for 65 readers so that's a lot of potential new contacts for the church.
World Cup fever is officially over. The game ended at about 6:00 last night and by 9:00 many stores had taken down their special displays. Everyone is so disappointed, especially because it seemed like Brazil didn't even show up to play. I have to confess that I'm a little glad it's over since we're trying to get things done this week. It was hard having to schedule everything around the games. But I'll miss the opportunities we had to watch them as a church family.
Two weeks from today, we'll get to worship with our family in Winnipeg. We can hardly wait!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Birthday!
Tonight we are rejoicing with the angels. ICOS celebrated its first baptism. Gicilene (gee-sill-EE-knee) has been worshipping with us since our second Sunday. She grew up in very strict evanglical churches but the rules drove her away. Her friend Sônia started bringing her to our church. It was the only church that Gicilene was willing to attend, so Sônia, who goes to the Assembly of God down the street, kept bringing her. Gicilene loves that she has found a church that is free of all the dogma that she encountered growing up. She has a wonderful spirit and we are excited to see the many ways in which the Lord will use her. Please keep our new baby in your prayers!
Monday, June 26, 2006
Silly
Okay look, I rarely do this so I feel like I'm allowed to do it on occasion, especially in honor of the Cup:
This site helps you figure out your Brazilian soccer name and even puts it on a spiffy jersey for you. (That's it, no editorial comments, especially not for those of you who live in Italy and Germany. I'm keeping my mouth shut. But you know what I'm thinking...)
In other news, we bought a small freezer today. I'm very excited. I don't know why new appliances thrill me, but they do. And the freezer will be a big help. Our teammates are already asking to borrow space in it...
This site helps you figure out your Brazilian soccer name and even puts it on a spiffy jersey for you. (That's it, no editorial comments, especially not for those of you who live in Italy and Germany. I'm keeping my mouth shut. But you know what I'm thinking...)
In other news, we bought a small freezer today. I'm very excited. I don't know why new appliances thrill me, but they do. And the freezer will be a big help. Our teammates are already asking to borrow space in it...
Saturday, June 24, 2006
São João 2006
I can't believe it's São João already. New pics up on Flickr. (Click on the picture to get there).
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Game Day
It's amazing to think that some of you may not even be aware that the World Cup is going on right now. Here in Brazil it is all-consuming. On game day, life just stops. TVs appear everywhere. The streets are dead. The game is punctuated by screaming, firecrackers and cars honking. It's an incredible experience.
We've been showing the games on our screen at church. We've been getting a pretty good turn-out--both our regular visitors and their friends and family. This past Sunday, the game was at 1:00, so we offered lunch after worship so everyone could stay and watch the game. People came to church decked out in their team colors. Almost every person who came to church stayed for the game and a few more showed up later. It was our first all-church event and we were thrilled by how well it went. Everyone's already looking forward to the next game (Thursday). We're glad we have the resources to take advantage of this opportunity to make our motley crew feel like a family.
After the game, we boarded a bus and headed to our team retreat. We've spent the past three days reviewing our strategy and evaluating our efforts so far. Needless to say, we're exhausted, but hopefully I'll post about that soon.
We've been showing the games on our screen at church. We've been getting a pretty good turn-out--both our regular visitors and their friends and family. This past Sunday, the game was at 1:00, so we offered lunch after worship so everyone could stay and watch the game. People came to church decked out in their team colors. Almost every person who came to church stayed for the game and a few more showed up later. It was our first all-church event and we were thrilled by how well it went. Everyone's already looking forward to the next game (Thursday). We're glad we have the resources to take advantage of this opportunity to make our motley crew feel like a family.
After the game, we boarded a bus and headed to our team retreat. We've spent the past three days reviewing our strategy and evaluating our efforts so far. Needless to say, we're exhausted, but hopefully I'll post about that soon.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
It's Always Something
Well, we're slowly getting back on track. This week has seemed like two steps forward, one step back. I have been working on gradually re-entering the land of the living. On Thursday we bought our tickets for Canada. On July 14, we will be at my parents' house! That definitely buoyed my spirits. We engaged in a little retail therapy, and pretty much did whatever we felt like for a couple of days. Then I was really ready to jump back in to everything (as much as I could with my new horrible stamina!) and I came down with a head cold. That's pretty typical for me--if I get worn down, I get anything and everything. On Sunday evening, our hard drive croaked. Thankfully, Randy and Jennifer have loaned us their desktop computer until we get ours working again. Keith and Stacey are bringing us a new hard drive from the US next week. We don't know yet if we'll be able to recover anything off of it, but fortunately we had backed up all our pictures and most of our documents the day before. Yesterday we talked about it and decided that we would go to our staff meeting today. But last night Russ started throwing up. He must have pick up some kind of bug; all I know is the poor guy can't keep anything down. I'm secretly a little glad though. It's my big chance to repay him for taking such good care of me. However, I myself am feeling a little queasy so we decided that while sharing is good, this bug is something that we don't need to share with the team. They'll just have to do without us for a couple more days.
There. I'm done complaining. But before I hit publish, I just want to take a minute to thank you all for your encouraging words. It's definitely tough, but we are so thankful that we have such wonderful friends and family to help us out. Most of all, we're thankful to be children of the Father, who brings us comfort and will make good come of it all.
There. I'm done complaining. But before I hit publish, I just want to take a minute to thank you all for your encouraging words. It's definitely tough, but we are so thankful that we have such wonderful friends and family to help us out. Most of all, we're thankful to be children of the Father, who brings us comfort and will make good come of it all.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Full Disclosure
I'm sure you've notice that we haven't been updating very much recently. To be honest, I haven't been up to much lately. On the other hand, a lot has been going on. Last month we found out I was pregnant. A couple of days after we found out, I started having some problems. The doctor put me on bedrest. And that's where I've been--for over a month. During that time, I went in for lots of tests, but we were never able to get solid answers. But the problems continued, so I stayed in bed. (Let me just say that Russell has been a champ during this time- he has taken such good care of me!) Yesterday we went in for an ultrasound that revealed that we had lost the baby. We are saddened, but know that our God will work good things from this. In the meantime, we're taking a little "us time" so we can get back on our feet. There's a lot happening here in the next couple of months and we need to get back to full strength asap. The team has been awesome in encouraging and enabling us to take some time (even though it feels like I've just had a month off!)
A positive event on our horizon (other than the return of the Parkers!) is a trip we're planning. My sister, Susan, is getting married in July and we're taking our vacation time to go be there for the wedding. I have a pretty spread out family (now with two touring brothers!) and times when we can be together are really special. We're thrilled for Susan and Joel and are looking forward to the time to recharge (and stock up on peanut butter!).
A positive event on our horizon (other than the return of the Parkers!) is a trip we're planning. My sister, Susan, is getting married in July and we're taking our vacation time to go be there for the wedding. I have a pretty spread out family (now with two touring brothers!) and times when we can be together are really special. We're thrilled for Susan and Joel and are looking forward to the time to recharge (and stock up on peanut butter!).
Friday, May 19, 2006
Thanks for the replies
Charile Brown once said, "I had seven pen pals, but i did all the writing." Today is a reversal of that feeling for me! I had four people write back in one day. It seems like such a small thing, but in a place where phone calls are inconvenient and expensive, email is a real lifeline to maintaining relationships with people. Most of the friends I consider close exchange two or three emails per year with me. Per year. Even more than calls or letters, email takes so little time that it seems to carry less feeling. For me, nothing could be further from the truth. Even getting a small reply saying, "I will write more when I have time" is a huge boost to my day. So stop sending silly forewards; send a simple message and see who responds. I promise that I will.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
My walk to work
Here is a small snapshot of my week. It's been a good one, ending with around 50 guests in our worship service today. It takes around 15 minutes for me to walk the mile to ICOS from our apartment. On the way, I pass markets, farmacias, and some nice open-air restaurants. The halfway mark is very nice city park with a fountain in the center. Almost every bus in the city passes through this intersection. I pass our video store (with a new Subway inside!), and then several banks. The block before our building, there is a highschool with hundreds of students coming and going. This week, a group of guys were sitting and listening to their friend play a banjo (it's true, i promise) next to a hot dog stand. Bahian culture is like that; a little food, music, and friends are all that is required for a fun day. I arrive at the igreja and begin to think and pray about how God is inviting all the life outside to come inside. Our church is founded on the fact that God loves us all, and that he wants to be known. If we cannot communicate those facts, the problem of growth is on us. We will continue sharing our lives with groups of friends each day, and invite them close enough to hear God's voice of friendship.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
I love my wife.
This is pure unfiltered russ. I wanted to say that my life is great. Our work is growing every week. My wife knows me well enough to get me a new bottle of shampoo (have been out for a while) just to see me smile. I had home made tacos with honey and tamales from Enrique's (yesssss) and it just doesn't get better than that. Church family, I am praying that you enjoy the little things this Easter weekend. Ours has been very quiet; many people left town. We still had a great turnout for worship but Val couldn't share it because of illness. Pray for us; sickness is never fun, especially the same month you start a church. We love and miss all of our friends. Leave us a comment to share the little things that make you smile (if you mention Sonic food, we will have to spam your email). Tchau for now!
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Service Number Two
Well, people have been asking, so I guess I should get around to telling about last Sunday. When asked, "how many people did you have?", my standard answer has been, "less than the week before." And it's true. It's easy to get caught up in the numbers game, which can be an emotional roller coaster. And raw numbers don't compensate for other factors (like Palm Sunday in a Catholic country!). So if you can't bear it, email me, and I'll give you the exact number, but otherwise, I'm going to try to be content from week to week.
The actual worship went well- we're all slowly getting a handle on our new responsibilities. I'm learing to run MediaShout (which is like a souped-up version of PowerPoint). Toward the end of the worship, I started letting Lauren run it. She seems to be a natural, though it will be a while before she could do it on her own. I don't mind running the slides, though part of me wishes I could be a part of the "crowd" in worship. I have to pay close attention and make the changes in time. Every so often, I get caught up in signing and forget the slide. But I'm getting better.
We're all working hard transitioning into this new phase of our work. Now that we have a building with a front door and a telephone, we've got to arrange for someone to be up there during the day. We get a fair amount of walk-in traffic, which is a testament to our location. We're also still working hard on following up on all our visitors. Several indicated that they wanted to know more about our small groups and joining our church, so we're scurrying to answer their questions. Others want to study the Bible with us, for which we're grateful. Several studies have been set up, and every week we have new opportunities. I think we'll have the hang of planning and executing our worship services just in time for the Parkers to leave on furlough at the end of the month. Then things will change once again, and we'll shift our schedules to compensate for their absence.
But there are some good things on the horizon too. We're getting a new team member, for one. I'm not referring to our intern, Paul, who's coming soon. Or to the Let's Start Talking team that's on their way in January. Nope, unfortunately this team member won't be able to carry their own weight for a while. We found out recently that Travis and Alicia are expecting! (I've been mum about it for a couple of weeks, but she posted pictures on Flickr, so I figure it's fair game!) They're due in October, and we're all thrilled for them! Alicia's having a really good pregnancy and has been able to keep up with all the inaugural excitement. Praise God, the Author of Life, for the anticipation of a new life!
The actual worship went well- we're all slowly getting a handle on our new responsibilities. I'm learing to run MediaShout (which is like a souped-up version of PowerPoint). Toward the end of the worship, I started letting Lauren run it. She seems to be a natural, though it will be a while before she could do it on her own. I don't mind running the slides, though part of me wishes I could be a part of the "crowd" in worship. I have to pay close attention and make the changes in time. Every so often, I get caught up in signing and forget the slide. But I'm getting better.
We're all working hard transitioning into this new phase of our work. Now that we have a building with a front door and a telephone, we've got to arrange for someone to be up there during the day. We get a fair amount of walk-in traffic, which is a testament to our location. We're also still working hard on following up on all our visitors. Several indicated that they wanted to know more about our small groups and joining our church, so we're scurrying to answer their questions. Others want to study the Bible with us, for which we're grateful. Several studies have been set up, and every week we have new opportunities. I think we'll have the hang of planning and executing our worship services just in time for the Parkers to leave on furlough at the end of the month. Then things will change once again, and we'll shift our schedules to compensate for their absence.
But there are some good things on the horizon too. We're getting a new team member, for one. I'm not referring to our intern, Paul, who's coming soon. Or to the Let's Start Talking team that's on their way in January. Nope, unfortunately this team member won't be able to carry their own weight for a while. We found out recently that Travis and Alicia are expecting! (I've been mum about it for a couple of weeks, but she posted pictures on Flickr, so I figure it's fair game!) They're due in October, and we're all thrilled for them! Alicia's having a really good pregnancy and has been able to keep up with all the inaugural excitement. Praise God, the Author of Life, for the anticipation of a new life!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Standing Out
In college, people would stop my friend Jenny on the street to tell her how much she looks like Jodie Foster. They used to stop my brother Mike to tell him he looked like Garth Brooks. I've always had many friends and family members that vaguely resemble famous people and that makes them memorable. I, on the other hand, have never been told I look like a celebrity. There's not much about me that makes them remember me if they run into me again.
But now I live in a city where I am a visible minority. My skin color, eye color and height all help people remember me.
Yesterday, as I stood at the bus stop, a woman came up to me. "Are you from that new church in Pituba, ICOS?" she asked. (ICOS is the acronym we're using for the church- pronounced E-cos.) I told her I was, and she said she'd been there last Sunday. As we introduced ourselves, she said that she couldn't remember my name but remembered me from the church. I asked who had invited her and she told me it was Jaci. (Jaci, though not yet a member, is one of our church's best advertising tools!) We visited for a couple of minutes; I found out she lives very close to us. I encouraged her to come back this Sunday and I hope she does! She obviously has some interest if she's willing to stop and talk to us! God used what I have (which in this case was brown hair, blue eyes, and white skin) to help make another connection with someone who needs Him. Please pray that Ana Claudia will return and that I will have opportunity to study with her.
While you're on your knees, please remember this week's worship as well. Our prayer is that those who were there last week will return and the people who were unable or unwilling to come last week come for the first time. We are curious and excited to see what this Sunday will look like!
But now I live in a city where I am a visible minority. My skin color, eye color and height all help people remember me.
Yesterday, as I stood at the bus stop, a woman came up to me. "Are you from that new church in Pituba, ICOS?" she asked. (ICOS is the acronym we're using for the church- pronounced E-cos.) I told her I was, and she said she'd been there last Sunday. As we introduced ourselves, she said that she couldn't remember my name but remembered me from the church. I asked who had invited her and she told me it was Jaci. (Jaci, though not yet a member, is one of our church's best advertising tools!) We visited for a couple of minutes; I found out she lives very close to us. I encouraged her to come back this Sunday and I hope she does! She obviously has some interest if she's willing to stop and talk to us! God used what I have (which in this case was brown hair, blue eyes, and white skin) to help make another connection with someone who needs Him. Please pray that Ana Claudia will return and that I will have opportunity to study with her.
While you're on your knees, please remember this week's worship as well. Our prayer is that those who were there last week will return and the people who were unable or unwilling to come last week come for the first time. We are curious and excited to see what this Sunday will look like!
Monday, April 03, 2006
A Dream Realized
It is barely conceivable that we did it. As I sit looking out my balcony on a rainy Monday morning, our first public worship service seems like a dream. This dream took four years, many thousands of dollars and even more prayers to be realized. What an awesome day.
People kept asking me how I felt after the last prayer was said. All I could say was, "My life is complete. Today is a dream come true." God filled us all with unending energy, even as the sweat soaked all our clothes. It was very legal (cool).
We know that it is barely a start, and we now have to replicate it 52 times a year. But I wanted to send up a virtual/actual "Hallelujah" and smell the roses for a second before my reality gland started working again.
Tchau for now.
People kept asking me how I felt after the last prayer was said. All I could say was, "My life is complete. Today is a dream come true." God filled us all with unending energy, even as the sweat soaked all our clothes. It was very legal (cool).
We know that it is barely a start, and we now have to replicate it 52 times a year. But I wanted to send up a virtual/actual "Hallelujah" and smell the roses for a second before my reality gland started working again.
Tchau for now.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Statistics (Drumroll Please...)
It was a great day. We were all so busy meeting and greeting and translating for our American friends that we don't have a perfect count. But here's the general consensus (and this isn't a preacher count):
In attendance: about 300 (some say more, some say less)
True visitors (not from another CoC): about 100
Temperature in the room: a million degrees celsius
Combined weight lost from sweating: 500 pounds
Praise God for such a successful day! We had several people tell us, "See you next Sunday!" Now the real work begins. (Well, Russ and I get to spend some time this week with our visitors, Kody and Kristie Speer, who work with Eastern Hills in Athens, TX. We're so glad to have them with us!)
Thanks everyone for all your prayers!
In attendance: about 300 (some say more, some say less)
True visitors (not from another CoC): about 100
Temperature in the room: a million degrees celsius
Combined weight lost from sweating: 500 pounds
Praise God for such a successful day! We had several people tell us, "See you next Sunday!" Now the real work begins. (Well, Russ and I get to spend some time this week with our visitors, Kody and Kristie Speer, who work with Eastern Hills in Athens, TX. We're so glad to have them with us!)
Thanks everyone for all your prayers!
The Crowd
Here's some of the crew this morning. In the center in the purpley shirt is the infamous (and dearly loved) Jaci.
Back in the Saddle
It was awesome to have Russ and Keith leading singing. Felt like old times. Well, it would have if our old times had been in Portuguese! But they've adapted well...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)