Archive for December, 2009

We have officially celebrated our first Christmas in Brazil. I think it was a success. It was certainly different. This was our first Christmas ever without our families. We most certainly missed them! Christmas eve was particularly hard for me, but, we were praising the Lord for technology as we talked with everyone on Skype-I don’t know what I’d do without it! It was also different because the temperature was around 90 degrees-that is certainly new! It made it very difficult to get into the “christmas spirit”. To be honest, I was a little bit of a grump. The constant sweating and lack of relief (we don’t have air conditioning) was really getting to me. I’m not supposed to be this hot at Christmas unless I’m sitting by a fireplace drinking hot cider!!! Then I woke up on Christmas morning and God reminded me, “Excuse Me Teresa, but why are you so concerned with feeling the ‘christmas spirit’ and not concerned with making sure the birth of my Son is being celebrated in your house??”. It hit me like a ton of bricks. While its a bummer, its ok that our families are far away, its ok that we’re hot-that doesn’t change why we celebrate this holiday!! It was such an attitude check for me and the day totally changed. We had a great time reading the candy cane story by Max Lucado to the boys and having little talks about what Christmas is. It turned out to be a great day. We tried to celebrate like we did at home-lasagna for dinner, cinnamon rolls and hot cider for breakfast (yes, hot cider in 90 degree weather!!), the sweet treats our mom’s make every year. The boys didn’t skip a beat, they had a great day. We are soooo thankful that our container was released from customs to the boys could have their christmas gifts. Their grandmas and grandpas were so generous, the boys were so excited!!! Santa surprised us with a pool for our patio so we can have some relief from the heat (there aren’t public pools here), it has been a great blessing the last couple of days!!!

Yesterday we had our first brazilian visitors for the weekend. We have made some friends with some of the teens (age 14-25) in Gravatai, a city nearby where some missionary friends of our serve. Yesterday, 3 of them took the bus and came to our house for the day! It was so fun! We hung out and spoke lots of portuguese since they don’t speak english. It was really nice to entertain again, and we were right in our comfort zone with college age people(except for the no english part)!!! It made me get an itch to get language school done and get on with ministry!!! Next fall can’t get here soon enough!!

Até mais…

As I write this, I’m eating a yummy bowl of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. This is the super healthy dinner that was preceded by a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and peanut butter spread on cookies. Yes, it is as unhealthy as you imagine, but it is also better than you could imagine. Why, you ask? Its just mac and cheese and peanut butter! But for us, it is a taste of familiarity. Skippy and Kraft never tasted so good!!! As you have probably gathered, we finally got to access our container contents today. It has been a long and tedious process, but better than its been for some!! We did not bring everything back to our language school home because this house is already furnished, so some stuff is in storage. But, we thought since we are constanly surrounded with so many things that are foreign to us, it would be a relief to come home at the end of the day to a place that feels familiar. We ended up bringing a little more than we thought we would, but the Kombi proved its worth!! It functioned like a truck as we packed stuff into it. All in all, it only took 4 trips! Now we are unpacking and trying to find a home for everything. It may seem crazy to go through all this to live here for another 10 months, but we think it will be worth it!!

Today marked the end of 9 weeks of language school. We are now on summer break, or in portuguese, férias. We will not have any school for 7 weeks. That has its pluses(no studying) and its minuses (no formal learning). We are looking forward to having some time off to explore our city and surrounding areas. We have definitely learned a ton in 9 weeks with even more yet to learn!! The last 2 days, we have been reading a short story about these silly, slow moving turtles. We read the story at home, then today we discussed it and had to answer some questions to check comprehension. We were able to comprehend quite a bit of it, but there were still alot of words and verb tenses we didn’t know. I asked our teacher, Pri, where she got the story…it is from a 3rd grade reading textbook!!! Slightly humbling, yet at least it wasn’t a kindergarten textbook!!!

Bom fim de semana!!!

I just ventured out, by myself, to a grocery store about 15 minutes away. It was a great 15 minutes. I decided to put on a little Chris Tomlin “Arriving”. As I was singing along with my buddy Chris, it was as though God said to me, “this is what you have been missing”. In all the hustle and bustle of new city life, new language, new culture, new people(pretty much new everything), taking care of the kids, school, house, etc., I had forgotten about the way God uses music in my life. I have been reading His Word, but something has been missing-until my ride to the grocery store. As I cranked “God of this city” and sang at the top of my lungs, tears flowed down my cheeks. I ended up sitting in the Kombi in the parking garage because I didn’t want the music to end! How could I forget the connection I get with God when I worship Him in music??!?

Its amazing how when we lose just one portion of the means God has given us to grow in our relationship with Him, we can completely lose the ability to function in a God glorifying manner. The last couple of weeks have been filled with some difficulties that have, at times, pushed me over the edge. The shouldn’t have pushed me over the edge, but it was as if I had no ability to think rationally. I know now it was because of a lack of worship in my life. I think God uses different modes of worship to speak differently to each of us. For some, it is the study of His Word, for some it is sermons, for some it is a good book. For me, it is music. Having the opportunity to be alone with God, not cleaning, not getting a snack, not studying-just me, some music, and God.

God spoke to me today. It wasn’t through the specific words of Chris Tomlin, but through my act of worshipping Him through “Arriving”. I am so thankful for that 15 minute drive to Bourbon Shopping Country where the Creator of the Universe, Who was with me in Iowa, reminded me that He is right here with me when I feel so far away from everything familiar. I guess I’ll have to ride around by myself in the Kombi more often…

We took the Kombi in last week to get a few things done to it. Tinted windows, security system, and we installed a sound system that belongs to some friends of ours who are going on furlough Wednesday for a year. Lucas said it only took him 13 years and moving to Brazil to get his dream car. I must say, it is pretty cool. Anyway, on Friday he left language school to take the bus to the city (Gravatai) where our car was, so, I had to take the bus home with Nathaniel and Jackson without Lucas. I was a little nervous, but we’ve done it enough times now that I knew what bus to take and everything. We’re at the bus stop, and up rolls 721, the bus we had taken that very morning and many days prior. We get on, the kids slide under the turnstile (they are free) and we get our spot to stand. All goes well. Until…the bus does not turn on the street by our house. I’m thinking, you have got to be kidding me!!! Again?!?!?! With the little portuguese I know, I tried to ask the lady next to us if this was bus 721. It was. Then I tried to ask her if it went on a different route. I don’t know the words for that so I think I said, “Bus go different street?”. She again said yes. Then she started moving her hand in a circle like it was going to circle around to the street. I asked her, “Men work this street?” , trying to find out if there was road work. I don’t think that one translated right. (We took the road not travelled last night. It had a whole new blacktop on it.)
Anyway, I held my breath and waited to see something familiar. I did not. Next thing I know, the bus is getting empty, just like last time. Nathaniel looks at me and says “Mom, where are we?”, I knew then I had to try and talk to the cashier. So, here we go…
“Forgive me, I speak a little portuguese. Is this bus 721?”
“Sim”
“Bus go different street?”
“Sim”
“My house, I don’t know”
He just smiled and asked me where I live. I know that phrase!!
“I live on 03 de Outubro (our street name). Bus not go near my house today.”
Again, he smiled. I tried to tell him the name of the street the bus always goes on, but I couldn’t remember the name. So then I just started naming street names. I don’t remember how the “conversation” got there, but we decided the bus driver would take me to a street near my house that has a creek, we both knew that street. We chatted a little longer about where I was from, why I’m here, the difficulty learning portuguese. When I say chatted, I mean choppy sentences related to those topics followed by, “Understand?” in portuguese. He was so, so nice. I am so thankful that God put such nice people on the buses He knew we’d get lost on!! So, we are driving along and I see our neighborhood!!! I think I may have started jumping like a cheerleader, I’m not totally sure. I told him my house was right over there, the bus stopped at the stop where we had gotten on that morning, I thanked him a bunch of times, and we walked home, never to ride the bus without Lucas again.

THE END

Today we complete our 7th week of language school. I can’t believe its been 7 weeks already! Each week we are able to converse a little more, which is great. However, there are time we’ll want to say something that we don’t know how to say, and our teacher will tell us how to say it. Then she will say, “that’s in lesson 24” or something like that. I look at my book and we are in lesson 4!!!! Those times remind us that there is sooooo much we still have to learn. 2 more weeks and we get 7 weeks off for summer break!!! We are really looking forward to those 7 weeks!

We had to ride the bus yesterday. :-( We are getting the windows tinted on the Kombi so it is in the shop for a couple of days (I know what you’re thinking-its gonna be super sweet!). It was not the best bus experience we’ve had, nor was it the worst :-) We made it home but not without some harassment for from some young boys for being “americanos”. (I want to clarify, it is not the norm to be harassed like that) We get little reminders now and then though that we are the “enstrangeiros” (foreigners) here. It can be discouraging at times, but there are lessons to be learned in everything–more compassion towards “estrangeiros” in the U.S., extra graciousness to those who welcome us, more love towards those who don’t…we are, after all, here to tell people about Christ!!! Aren’t we all estrangeiros in this world anyway??

We are really praying that our container is released from customs soon. We are so thankful for the furnished house we moved into, but it will be nice to have some of our own things around. The boys are getting bored with the few toys we brought on the plane and have started getting more creative which usually means more trouble :-) Check out Lucas’s facebook or Twitter to see a video of yesterday’s all day long toy. All of our Christmas decor is in the container, plus it’s summer here, so it is NOT beginning to feel a lot or even a little like Christmas! So, by the advice of some friends, we are going to do some paper decorations this weekend! Lucas is thrilled, seriously thrilled.

We met the Gecko last night. I suppose we should name him or something. Anyway, Nathaniel went upstairs to go to be and yelled, “The Gecko!! I see the gecko!!” So of course, we all ran upstairs. It darted behind Nathaniel’s bed so he pulled it out and it started running towards the stairs, where I was standing. Yes, I screamed about a little, tiny, harmless gecko. Brave Lucas got a piece of wood and tried to get the gecko to climb on it. Instead, it got on his hand!! Again, I screamed, just a little. It somehow got on the wall and climbed up to the ceiling where it camped out for a while. That was an exciting 5 minutes, let me tell you. Needless to say, Nathaniel slept downstairs with his brothers. :-)

Until next time…