People, we have a lot to catch up on...

 

I will start where I left off... 


The Beach! 
I spent 3 days at the beach with Tati, Wellington, and the Gordon College team. We went from Monday to Wednesday, stayed in a hostel which was pretty small but was pretty nice too. We actually had some sun breaks, though the weather man said it would rain the entire time we were there. So that was awesome!  

Come on, Sunshine!!!

Tati and Wellington <3

Not so great weather....

The group that went out swimming during the rain, lightning and thunder storm!

There was a Strawberry Festival going on, so we stopped in for some dessert.

I had the opportunity that Tuesday to Skype with Heidi and the boys. I just cried seeing them and hearing their voices! How much I have missed hearing their crazy laughs and screeches! 

CAMP CALIFORNIA! 

After the beach, we came back to reality... but really that just meant re-packing our bags from Camp California! The team from Arcade Church in Sacramento, CA came on Friday. This team has been really awesome. I feel like I am learning a lot from their leaders, Pastors Dan and Jeremy. Dan has lead a couple different time of prayer, both unique and in ways I have not done before. And Pastor Jeremy has been teaching a class on Biblical Counseling, which for me with the dream to become a counselor in the near future, has been really enjoyable as I have found new verses in the Bible that could help me with Christian counseling in the future. 

Sleeping on the way to camp!

Futebol time!

Crafts!

Bonfire!!

we were all so sleeeeeeepy, but didn't want to leave the comfort of
1) each other and 2) the fire. 

dancing by the pool!

Modelo and I

Marcia and I

Most beautiful eyed kiddo and I

LETICIA and I!!

funny kid...

SO HAPPY!

The boys at this camp had to be some of the most loving and funny boys I have met so far. They were always dragging me to do stuff and making me smile (: 

Girls from my cabin!

flowers the boys gave me (: 

stairway to heaven!

SUNSHINE!! God is my light, for what shall I be afraid. 

Michael and I!

William and I, being us... 

We traded glasses (: 

love these boys!

Distractions and God's hand in them...

This camp was really good for me on many levels. I had time to sit and talk with a few very special women down here. Tati and I had a few cuddle seshs while we listened to the girls laughing and being wild in our cabin; I took some time to talk with Courtney who lived here for 6 months just last year. I have been struggling with some distractions, aka the difference in boys with the whole touchy feely stuff and one handsome ministry guy... Her and I talked about the differences in the culture and how she handled similar situations with men during her time here. It gave me the insight and courage to approach this specific guy about how I was feeling. 

 I needed to make a point that I am here as a Missionary, as an example, and not as a girl looking for a 3 month fling of a boyfriend... So we had this discussion over Google Translator. God you are good for providing a way. (1 Corn. 10:13). 

It was a huge relief to just let him know where I stand. It wasn't that anything in particular had happened, we hadn't kissed or anything. It was just the flirtiness and attention that was going both ways that needed to be addressed. So having that out on the table provided a way to make sure that those lines were drawn clearly, for BOTH of us. 

Learning Portuguese!

We arrived from camp just in time for Sunday night church service. This service had some INCREDIBLE worship. The church was PACKED. It was AWESOME! It reminded me of what Brazilian worship really is all about: the clapping, the loud singing, the swaying from side to side, the mighty prayers being lifted up. 

What was most exciting to me about this service was that I actually started singing in Portuguese....WOAH! This was the first time I felt myself truly worshiping WITH the Brazilians, whereas usually on Sundays I just sit there and hum... this time I was smiling through the words, kinda pronouncing some of the words, and just praising God like I wanted to. 

On Monday I had my first formal Portuguese lesson with Camila. It went really well! I learned how to conjugate all verbs based on how they end. YAY!

It gets better, on Tuesday while we were in Iguatami favela, William and I walked around to some of the homes to let the women know that we were having a service for them that afternoon. Some of the women invited us into their homes for a brief visit. One of these was the home where William had given a bible just the week before to a younger woman named Aline just the week before. We took some time and William read a little from Psalms. Afterwards, he began to pray for her. (I tear up thinking about this moment, and I know God was there, He was in me, He was ever present.) 

I understood William's prayer in Portuguese. His prayer for Aline's husband, for work for him; for their daughter and family; for Aline as she seeks to find truth in the Word. I sat there responding with "amens" and "yes, Jesus" as if he was praying in English. 

We walked out and I told him that I understood his prayer, and I repeated what I had heard. He got a big smile on his face and just replied with, "I love this time we have together. You are learning so much so fast." I couldn't help but cry. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for that special moment. 

Bible Studies this week!

Tuesday night I had my first bible study with the young women (18-23) from the church. It was a small group, only four of us. But I think it went pretty well! 

This week I am talking with all of my groups about the lies and deception that Satan feeds us. I (we) are constantly under attack by him. He picks at the things that he knows we are lacking confidence in; body image, relationships/friendships, capability to complete a task, courage to talk to that person you have been wanting to talk to, courage to tell your family about Christ, or your new friend that you are a Christian, or.... and it goes on and on. 

I shared a few verses with the girls about the TRUTHS that God has written for us drawing back to a few specifics: 

We are Accepted. We are Beautiful. We are Secure. We are Protected. We are Capable. 

 

Yesterday in Promorar with my younger girls (from ages 11-14) we talked about the same things and I found that they were more willing to discuss the things that Satan feeds to them. We went from these lies, to what they are worried about, to what their dreams are, to being reminded that they are capable and worthy of bigger and better things, but only through Christ who strengthens us. 

Two sisters from my bible study in Promorar

Sweet girl who I have been snuggling with each week. She won't say a word to me, but loves to sit on my lap and play with my hands and nails. She is sick right now, I could feel her wheezing as she sat with me.
Please pray for her, her name is Victoria. 

I feel really blessed to have had this week. I was feeling for a little while that not much has really been changing, that I am living here kinda going through the motions, doing what I am told and nothing really special. That I wasn't really making a difference in others lives and that mine too wasn't really changing. God opened my eyes to show me that I really am growing, NOTHING is normal here, you have to grow to keep up! 

On to Today's trials...

Well, I found out that my bank information had been stolen and someone was able to make a duplicate of my card to use in stores. In two days, this individual spent nearly $1,500. All of my money. 

I broke down immediately. I was able to get a hold of my aunt Heidi who was able to call the bank for me to then put them on speaker phone while I was on Skype with her. We out a permanent block on my card. Later today, I was able to call the bank again to find out how to rebutle the charges made on my card. They will be mailing me forms to take to get notarized and then sent back in order to get the money that was stolen back. The difficulty here is notarization works very differently, you have to have the two pieces of Brazilian IDs in order to register your signature. We were kind of able to get a hold of the U.S. Embassy, so we know that they can do it, but the cost is $25 per document (I think it is one document per charge made, and there is a full page and a half worth of charges this person made). We have to call back tomorrow to find out more information. Prayers please. 

Though this really upset me today, I have so much support that I cannot deny God's Love for me. Realizing I am in a country far far away with nothing but eleven reals on me (that's about $5.50) yet there is no doubt that I will be taken care of, I cannot help but thank God. 

After lunch, Leticia went upstairs with the guitar. I followed her, of course. I walked in, started to just sing and cry in thanksgiving. 

My God never leaves or forsakes me. 

Week 3: Finally some workouts, the Marcha pra Jesus, and sweet little old grandmas (:

This last week was a busy one, full of a lot of things I have never done before… Agita in the rain, some amazing home visits, CRAZY bus rides, actually training in Capoeira and Muay Thai (which I absolutely loved, though I got knocked on my rear very unexpectedly, MARCELO!), Marcha pra Jesus (March for Jesus), more crazy bus rides, a home church service, music and dancing at 1am in a park, sharing part of my testimony at the teens event Saturday night, more dancing, having my first teenage girls Bible study, the list could go on and on.

Pictures of our walk through for
 some home visits last week. 

{Disclaimer: Know that none of the listed above is in any specific order…Just as it came to mind what I did this last week, I jotted it down.}

This week during one special home visit in Vila Rosa with a Grandma by the name of Josepha, was the first time I felt so homesick that I cried. She spoke of her loneliness, the heartache  she felt from her family not wanting to take care of her, yet how much the ministry has done for her, how much Pastor William has helped her through love and time. She reminded me of my grandma, who lives with her 37 year old daughter who doesn’t care for her, treats her poorly, uses her. How my grandma’s best friend passed away a couple years ago. My grandma does not go out to see anyone but her doctors and her grandkids.

I am so used to calling my grandma whenever I walk to and from class or work, just to check in. I have been here for 3 weeks tomorrow, and have not talked to her at all. I miss you, Grandma!

Now, those of you reading this, I OBVIOUSLY MISS YOU TOO! And those of you not reading this, you should be so you can see that I miss you. DUH.

The next big highlight of my week was  finally getting some exercise in! WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!! Sweating and being sore, How I Have Missed You! I was really hesitant to try Capoeira, just because it is SO COOL and most of the guys there knew what they were doing. Pastor Antonio, the lead instructor, took my aside though and started teaching me step by step. I felt more confident, but still did not want to participate in the actual fight. One of the guys, Marcelo, beckoned me that way and I had to go in. I think maybe they were a tiny bit impressed with the tall cartwheel I did to start it off. This time I didn’t kick anyone in the face (: haha!  ((Pastor Antonio has some pictures from that night, so when he gets them to me I will definitely be posting them on here!!))

That was Thursday night, on Friday we had a couple of the guys from the church come teach a Muay Thai class . In this one there was another woman who didn’t know what she was doing, and a few younger guys who had never done it before either, so I felt right at home. I can say that it was a GREAT workout! I am thoroughly sore from it, and ready to do it some more!!

 Saturday we took on a big adventure, about 25 of us taking public transportation together to go down to the Marcha pra Jesus! We went from one bus, to the subway/metro, there taking two different trains. Then we walked for over an hour, actually marched for over an hour, with crazy loud worship music being played from trucks bigger than anything I had ever seen.

 Thousands of people around us, cheering, walking slowly, and filling the place with so much God! Once we made it to the main stage we found a spot to kinda set up camp. We listened to the different artist, wandered off to find food, which was not as easy as it should have been so we ate a lot of frozen yogurt and chips…then made it back for more music and took off for the metro at about 4. It was a long and hot day! 

About to get on the Metro!

We brought Capoeira instruments and in the middle of the streets had people participating.

Our Group!

On our way home...

PACKED bus!!

WE MADE IT ALL THE WAY HOME WITHOUT DAMAGE, THEFT, OR LOSS OF ANYONE!!!!!! 

{Watch a slide show with "live" video footage from our adventure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUN_SWNaRpY&feature=youtu.be here (:  }

Then we had our teens service, which I spoke at. We circled up, sang worship, Ireni spoke about growing closer to God in our desires, Erika (one of the teens) spoke on John 4:14, about Our God filling us up rather than the worldly desires that we all have.

I then gave my testimony on accountability with my eating disorder. This last year, God blessed me with another young woman with the same issues, struggling to resist the desire to fit into the “perfect” image, being scared to get “fat”, scared to be alone forever based on our looks, and then just the stress of everyday life. I would call or text her when feeling this urge to purge the food I had just eaten, and even coming down here terrified me that I would fall back into my weakness of feeling a lack of self-worth based on what I look like.

Fellowship and accountability. Relationships centered on God. Courage. Love.
The Word as your encouragement.

I shared 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you me tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”  Incredible inspiration. And I hope that as you read that, you feel the same inspiration and encouragement that I have.

I have very much enjoyed getting to know the teens and young adults my age! I have spent a few late nights out with them, worshipping in the park, being serenaded by their beautiful Brazilian music, and learning how to dance all Brazilian like! They LOVE to dance, and I don’t think I am too terrible. I guess that makes random dance parties a lot of fun! (:  

Below are a few pictures from Agitas this last week with the team from Gordon College. Some amazing people on that team!!

I have tons more to share on this last week, as this post was supposed to go up over the weekend. I will try to get up more stories from the beach with the Gordon College team soon! 

Off to work on this next week's Bible Study material!! Prayer that God would open my heart to know what He desires these young women (and myself) to learn in the coming weekend and week! 

Camp California, Round One

This last weekend a new team from Gordon College from the Boston area made it into town! They are a pretty awesome group of people, with four native Brazilians on their team. I have to say, it makes them running a camp and agitas a LOT easier seeing as they can translate their own stuff. Pretty sure Tati is loving it more than anyone else. (; 

I had the pleasure of riding the big bus with all of the kiddos to camp! THEY ARE WILD! Especially the Vila Rosa ones.... haha. We made it to Camp California after about 2 hours of driving, Friday night. We showed up, had to walk in the dark down a hill with a bunch of scared girls, but the second they saw the lights from the back patio they started screaming and yelling! It was so cool to be on the other side of the "YAY! WE ARE AT CAMP!!" (compared to being on the American team that was sponsoring and greeting the teens when they arrived last time). We had some dinner (they had enjoyed some stroganoff for lunch, and I knew this ahead of time and had Tati make sure they saved me some, so I ate that instead of the rice and beans... felt a little spoiled!). Wellington let the kids know that there would be no peeing in the pool, to run around in pairs or groups, and no boys in girls cabins or girls in boys cabins... you know, the usually. 

The kids enjoyed pulling my hood on and calling me "Justin Beiber"....
I wasn't impressed, obviously. haha

GIRLS 

BOYS

                                                                                        

VS.

I got to be a co-tia-cabin-leader with Leticia, we had a pretty good time... The girls were funny! 

I learned the words "VAI" and "VAMOS" which means "GO" and "LETS GO"...Needless to say, I used it a lot! :P 

Saturday, the kids had the opportunity to jump in the pool. Only a couple leaders decided they wanted to too, those of which were men. The water was too cold, and the sun was not hot enough! One thing that was a bummer about camp was the lack of pretty flowers that we had in December. Though, in addition there weren't nearly as many ants or ant hills!! 

Saturday night we played this terrible game called Monge. It was terrible because it literally had every single girl at camp crying! IT WAS AWFUL! And it seemed like nothing would get those kids to stop. We were walking back to our cabins, trying to consol the girls, and when we make it to the door Leticia decided to turn around and scream/scare the girls again....and the balling started all over again! I left her. Totally turned around and walked out, haha. But when I walked back down to check on Tati (cause she had been crying, which I later found out was all just a joke! She put water in her eyes to make it look like the game made her cry too... PUNK!) and just by knocking on the door all of her girls were crying hysterically. It was just crazy!


The next day I had a chance to spend some time with Tati. Last week was a little rocky. Struggling with the language barrier, with trying to be self-reliant, with trying to figure out the culture difference in relationships with the people down here, and realized that I wasn't relying on my God, but rather myself. This realization was really good, but I needed to actually talk about it, form my support, my accountability, and allow those who are here to support me to know what it is I am facing. Doing this was seriously so good for me. I cried, was about time I got a really good cry in, talked things through, and was lifted up with the encouragement and understanding that was passed onto me. 


We left camp around 2 o'clock, making the wild adventure back with our rambunctious bus full of kids. I was ready to go take a hot shower and put some clean clothes on.

{Me with Alaine, Lucas and some of the wild kids}

 Church that night was really good, as both Italia (one of the RM leaders) and Pastor Antonio shared

Romans 5 (as most of you know is both on my "BEAVER IN BRAZIL" bracelets and my prayer card). 

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wraththrough him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

SUCH GOOD SCRIPTURE!!!!! 

It really encourages me when I wonder, "why? why this? why now? why me?"  

*****So when you are asking the same things, please, read this verse. Soak it up. Let Our God melt your heart, breaking off frustration, pain-new and old, and allow Him to heal you with his Hope. 

Cleaned up and ready for church!

Out at pizza, just enjoying some limes! 

I think pizza after church every Sunday will just be tradition (:

Brazilian Beach, Park, Pizza, and Downtown Shopping!

Well, one week is already done! Crazy how fast it seems to go by, though it seems like I have been here longer than a week now.

Saturday we took a day trip to the beach! It was warm weather, SUNSHINE, fine grain sand, BEACH UMBRELLAS (compared to the rain ones...), yummy food, salty WARM ocean water, SUNSHINE, beach volleyball... 

I SWAM IN THE OCEAN! Like FULL BODY underwater. 

It. Was. Awesome. 

Saturday night was Festa Junina, we danced, had a fire, watched some of the American team from Morgan Hill and some of the teens from RM do an amazing song skit, and ate yummy desserts. OH, and Binho and I made marshmellow scewers for the kids to roast the marshmellows on. Pretty sure they went home with stomach aches... SO MUCH SUGAR!! But, they loved it, so whatever. (: 

Ireni and I, in my "hillbilly" outfit

Sunday I met up with Deyze, Leticia, Igor, Marcelo, and Luis to go to the park to relax. Now, at home, the park is like what, maybe 10 minutes away? For a nice park in Sao Paulo, we took one bus about 35 minutes to the bus station, then waited one and a half hours for the next bus, which we rode for about 45 minutes... Once we got there we had to walk a little ways and then we were finally there! 

While at the park, we played volleyball with a soccer ball, played a great game of UNO, talked, and played music. Other than the bugs, we had a great time. 

Afterwards we went to church where I was introduced to the church and we listened to a guest pastor talk about missions and ministry, kinda fitting. (: He spoke about being hungry to share the Word, to love on others, and how when we feel called to ministry and missions we feel that hunger for God as He continues to put that hunger in our hearts. 

Of course, after that we had to go get some pizza (: 

Yesterday morning was hard, I really wanted to shut down, my brain was tired. Portuguese is hard. Being in a group with all brazilians, they go ahead and speak Portuguese... So of course, I can only pick up some words. It is starting to get better, I can recognize more words, but its like every other or every three.

Right now, there is so much other stuff going through my brain, it is really hard to focus on prayer. I want God, I want to be focused on letting Him break down the language barrier. But when I don't feel like I can find silence or even just quietness in my brain it gets really hard. So needless to say, I could really use some prayer to just find Him in the noise, and not focus on myself and my inability to speak and understand the language, but rather, that I would focus on how much He can do even with a barrier like language. 

Tati and I spent some more time today talking about my small groups. It makes me really excited that we will start meeting up next week. She sent out texts to the girls and young women to see who would be interested. Sounds like she got good responses. 

Today we went to Downtown Sao Paulo for some shopping with the American team before they flew out tonight. I got to pick up a cell phone so I can better keep in touch with everyone down here, a cross-body purse so no one steals my stuff, a bilingual bible (English and Portuguese, side by side verses!) which I am super excited to have, and a natural "remedy" as they call it down here.  My digestion is not adjusting well, if you catch my drift... :P  {prayer please??}

 

While Downtown we stopped and walked through the Catholic church, I missed the name of it, but it was BEAUTIFUL. I think the best part was all the people in there on their lunch breaks taking naps, haha!

Tonight I got home before 6pm, you have no idea how wonderful that is! I get like a bunch of hours to just hang out and relax. I think a cup of cafe', my journal and Bible out on the balcony sounds just wonderful (: soooo, tchau!