Birthday!

Baptism, originally uploaded by russandval.

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!

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...

São João 2006

São João 2006
Originally uploaded by russandval.

I can't believe it's São João already. New pics up on Flickr. (Click on the picture to get there).

Game Day

The Crew
Originally uploaded by russandval.

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.

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.

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!).

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

Statistics (Drumroll Please...)

The Crowd
Originally uploaded by russandval.

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!

The Crowd

The Crowd
Originally uploaded by russandval.

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

Singing
Originally uploaded by russandval.

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...

A Good Sign

The Sign
Originally uploaded by russandval.

The work continues. Still no glass. This Sunday, we may only be opening our doors metaphorically. Please keep praying about that. But good is happening in other areas...

A group of ten people from Park Plaza Church of Christ in Tulsa, OK, arrived yesterday. They have been working hard, helping us finish getting the rest of the building ready. It's great to have them all here, especially Don and Donna Millican, with whom we lived for a couple months while we were "church-hunting".

But the biggest news of the day is that our sign arrived! We now have a huge sign proclaiming our presence to the city. The sign really helps it feel like that place is home. And it works. Once the sign was up, cars kept stopping. People wanted to know about the new church. When rush hour hit, Russ and I were trying to lock up the building and had to escape between visitors! (Yes, good missionaries would have stayed, but we were exhausted and out of invitations.) Our sign is big and bold (beautiful, too, I might add!) and definitely stands out. I can't wait until tomorrow to see how many more people stop!

So that was our day. Well, there was much more to it than that, but it's suppertime, then it's back to work, trying to get our visitor packets ready. And sleep. Glorious sleep!

Life Imitating Art

Remember The Money Pit? Some of you probably don't, so here's a summary for the younger crowd: Tom Hanks and Shelley Long buy a potentially great house for a great deal but as soon as they move in, things start falling apart. Big time. Hilarity ensues.

It's funny when it happens to someone else!

Our first worship service is one week away. Not only is the construction not done (we're hoping the glass will arrive in time- everyone's making promises but nothing is happening), but things keep going wrong in the building. It's fall now, so it's raining almost daily. With rain comes...leaks! In the newly repaired roof! Fortunately that falls to our landlords to fix. Next problem: a leaky toilet pump. Sounds small. Yet somehow, this one leaky toilet manages to drain our entire water supply on a regular basis. Not cool. Yesterday the men working to fix the roof had to wash their hands off in the ocean (we knew it was a convenient location!).

In the end, it's not really like The Money Pit because these problems aren't costing us loads and loads of money. But they take time to fix and we have a definite deadline. Every day we mark off the countdown, the attacks from Satan get stronger and stronger. Unfinished renovations, self-doubt, not enough time and personal attacks are flying fast and furious. But at the same time, every day, we're hearing from more and more people that are planning on coming. We have no idea how many people to expect. We've heard to expect hundreds. If we top 300, we'll have to use overflow space--an excellent problem to have. So though we're feeling Satan's arrows, we have a clear picture of why. Something good is going to happen one week from today. Something that will help enlarge God's kingdom. Please pray for us (and our building!) in the next few days. We need a whole army to support us in this battle.

And now, a little break from the obvious

I noticed something about my language research this week. I used the title as a clever distraction from worship service numero um (no, we don't speak spanish). I catch more and more phrases people say as expressions; that is, they cannot be translated literally. One of the first that I learned was "I have a sore elbow," which means that I am jealous ^_^. The reason I keep trying to learn more expressions isn't to fit in better when I talk to others. It is and will always be obvious that I am a gringo and didn't learn Portuguese at home. But the real purpose of expressions is to say things more subtly than saying them outright. If you say that you do not want to come to dinner, it seems much harsher than, "Well, we'll see if we can make it." Lots of times I want to say things without saying them directly, especially in a culture that avoids saying "no." Lastly, the newest giria (expression) I learned is,"That's a good idea." The meaning, which might have saved me some embarassment earlier, is that although the idea is good, I don't agree. Thanks for playing!

Time's Running Out!

It's hard not to be stressed out right now. Honestly, it's hard not to feel completely overwhelmed. There's so much to do and the perfectionist in me wants to do it right. My eye for detail is working overtime. I know how important this all is. This is the culmination of what we've been working on for four years. Finally, there will be a church.

And I feel so much personal responsibility. Everything we do needs to be just so. I don't want to alienate anyone by our gaffes or oversights. I want to do everything in my power to do my best.

But my best will never be good enough. My task-oriented, pragmatic nature is failing me. I've been focused on getting the job done, but have lost my true focus. Somehow, though He has taught me this lesson over and over again over the past four years, I have forgotten that God will work in spite of me. That is an impossibly hard lesson for a control freak like me to learn. Our church will grow, but it won't be because I made our publications match, our decor warm and inviting and had mastered every new song. It will have nothing to do with the sermons, the refreshments or the visitor packets. It will grow because it's what God wants. It will grow because we serve a mighty God whose greatest desire for every person is a relationship with Him. It will grow because this is part of God's eternal plan. What a relief. I'm just a helper. A tool. He's got a plan and we're all fortunate enough to be a part of it.

So why does my to-do list give me a headache?

Seven Thoughts (or, The Decongestant Speaks)

-It rained today. It's been about three months since we had a good rain. I heard thunder for the first time in over a year.

-We went to our first wedding on Thursday night. You can tell that a lot of American traditions had been picked up from TV and movies. It was for Jaci's son, Douglas, and his girlfriend. She was far and away the happiest bride I have ever seen.

-We're making progress. This week Keith bought our sound equipment. It's not at the church building yet, so the Parkers' TV sounds incredible!

-We finally got to eat at Burger King on Thursday. (It's been open for a while but we hadn't made it down there yet.) It was as good as expected.

-I've got a head cold this weekend. Hopefully this means I'll be healthy for inaugural (which is in three weeks!)

-Tomorrow is our one year arrival anniversary. I'm sure we'll have more to say about that later.

-If you haven't responded to my previous post about belief yet, please check it out. I'm learning a great deal from you guys.