Leaving Behind Candy

Tonight we went trick-or-treating. Brin prepared the kids the last two days by not letting them eat anything with sugar. I'm sure they'll go to bed with stomach aches anyway. One of the things we learned about in our training is how being a part of a new culture will go against everything that we are. Things that are funny or just different at first will later start to just annoy us and we will detest them. Eventually, when we learn to embrace the culture, those feelings will fade.
There are a lot of things in our culture that I don't like. Even things that get on my nerves. But it's still my culture. It's what I'm used to. Our kids, growing up in two different cultures (and a third which is made up of kids like themselves) will be known as 3rd Culture Kids. They will miss out on a lot of things from Brin and my culture, but also experience a lot of great things from the Brazilian culture. But it's a difficult upbringing. Being fully part of no one culture, 3rd Culture Kids feel home in neither. But they are highly adaptable, highly relational and grow up quickly. It's difficult knowing that the decisions I am making for my family may potentially bring pain into their lives. I can live without Halloween. But it's more difficult for me to deprive my kids of the upbringing that has made me who I am. I suppose it's just another area of my life that I'm going to have to release to God.

-JTP

Goodbyes in Chicago

Yesterday we went to Chicago to, we thought, pick up our visas. Instead, we dropped off our passports and they will be mailed to us, with visas stamped, in a week. There's nothing like cutting it close! While in Chicago we ate dinner with and said goodbye to some friends. Gary and Jessica are on there way to Dubai where Gary will be flying for Emirates Airline. We made plans to meet in Johannesburg for the World Cup in 2010.
In the picture Gary is cutting ice cream with a knife, evidently it got a little hard in thier freezer. We will miss hanging out with our friends, but we are grateful for these memories. 

Museum with Chris & Dana

We went to a chilren's museum with Chris & Dana the other day. That counts for homeschooling, right? So will language learning and hikes through the jungle. I will teach gravity jumping from waterfalls and the metric system measuring tarnatulas and snakes (dead ones ) that make the bad decision to enter my yard. She does her math from a DVD, how boring. But she likes it. 

Livin' the good life- while we can

We live in farm country, ya know? So it's fittting to spend our last days in Tremont in a barn. Even if it is spoiling us. But seriously, we feel very blessed to have this place to stay and to be surrounded by friends and family that are praying for us and cheering us on. And to be back to our turf where we can be a part of friends' lives. While we were gone Josh's sister, Rachel, got married, Ben & Joanna went to Guatemala and brought back Joshua, and Dave & Sonya met their new Ethiopian daughters (they will go to Africa 20 days after we leave to get them). Friends moved away and new friends arrived while we were gone and I felt a little sorry for mysef that I couldn't be there to be a part of it all. 

The Beginning and the End

A few months ago we were in church (NCF) and the congregation knelt and sang a chorus with a line in it about trusting God’s timing. Afterward, Brin told me she realized she shouldn’t be uptight about how long we have to wait for our visas. “Time is in His hands, beginning and the end.” Brin sang and allowed God to take away her quest for a countdown to Brazil or having plane tickets in our hands. I have to admit my journey was not as quick. In my head I trust God. I know He knows best, but I still had all these questions. How long can we continue to live on no income? Where are we going to live? We hadn’t heard anything from the Brazilian Consulate for 2 months. We didn’t know what that meant, and I was admittedly getting a little nervous. Every time my cell phone rings I about have a coronary.
Yesterday (Nov. 18th), after several attempts, I got a hold of someone at the Brazilian Consulate and they informed me our visas had been accepted! Unable to fully enjoy the moment, my mind raced ahead to all that we needed to do before leaving in as short as two weeks. In addition to that good news, we learned just a few days ago that we are now at 100% for our financial support. Two things for which we have been waiting for over a month came to a close within three days of each other. Sometimes I wish that I were not so rational, that I could just enjoy the goodness of God and His provision, without immediately looking to the next thing down the road.
When I got the news of our visa, Ella and I were the only ones home. We didn’t want to just come right out and tell mom when she came home. At the time we were playing a game of scrabble (pictured above) so we decided to be subtle. Something our girls and their mother is not known for. It took Brin a little while to get it. I suppose I’ve been like that when it comes to seeing God’s hand of provision.

Here are a few things that are looming that we would appreciate your prayers about:
1. Plane tickets are expensive right now and airlines seem to be booked because Varig, a Brazilian Airline recently went out of business.
2. Jed Stuber (Josh’s 2nd cousin) is planning on going with us to help us move down, we will be applying for his tourist visa when we go to Chicago next week to pick up our visas.
3. We have a lot of luggage. We are grateful for Jed’s help, but hauling 12+ boxes around the airport with 3 kids still seems like a daunting task. Also, we have to make decisions about leaving some things that we don’t have room for.
4. And on a more personal note: we learned a lot at MTI about what might be asked of us as missionaries…becoming part of a new culture without losing our “saltiness”…finding peace with fellow workers who may hold to different doctrines…maintaining closeness with God amidst the fog of adaptation…relating with nationals so they recognize Christs’ centrality in our lives…finding enjoyment in Altimira despite hardships or disappointments. There is a ton more but at heart is the desire to give of ourselves in service to Christ, knowing how much we will have to learn from our teammates at Xingu, nationals, friends and family back home and God. Just writing these things brings up feelings of inadequacy and nervousness as we remind ourselves to be vulnerable and teachable.

 

Back in Tremont

Our days have slowed considerably. We are back in Tremont staying at Sauders Barn and awaiting word on our visa status. I suppose I need to admit to anxious moments, we have not heard anything from the consulate, nothing! It would so comforting to hear a "yes," "no," "maybe," or at least any word that gives us some sort of timeline. But for now we wait. Our goal for Brazil is now mid November.

a dear friend Jane

We stopped for an overnight in Omaha on our way back home. My friend Jane of many years (and many languages, I'm so jealous) was stateside in Nebraska for only a two weeks. She is a fellow pilgrim in the middle east. And as God would so generously provide, she was home during the exact time that we would be traveling through her city. I talked through some things we had learned at MTI, drooled in the Apple store and tried to justify why we each needed a video ipod, and mostly just soaked up each other knowing the goodbye we say might be for many years.

Pilgrims in progress

Josh asked Ella if she was ready to go home and she said yes without hesitation. So Josh asked her where home was. And realizing that answer wasn't obvious she said, "with Stephen, Caleb and Abi." So we head home soon. And I wish I could communicate how it feels to leave people with whom we made some strong bonds and how we have responded to God's presence in all we've done. Frankly it's a little overwhemling so we will speak of it later. For now please celebrate with us that we have grown in self-awareness and God-awareness. Knowing better who we are in relation to God and desiring to live it daily.

Playdoh in the Carpet

The past five weeks have started to wear on Ava and Mia. Mia proclaiming her confusion with tears and really snotty attitudes. Ava communicates hers by dumping 100 ounces of ALL detergent onto the floor (and into one of the dryers we later found out)and then sneaking into the offices and rearranging their belongings; moving papers, pens, picture frames from one cubical and transporting them to another one. She and her accomplice also opened four jars of playdoh and smeared it into the carpet. Of course Josh and I didn't find out until morning-after the staff had already arrived.
So this was good timing for Mom & Dad Distad to arrive for a visit. They gave each girl a night out and plenty of love and attention.
OK. It sounds like we are stressed. We're not. But if we were we would be armed to combat it because today we learned how to deal with stress in class. I realized that I often take a bath for stress management. I won't have a bathtub in Brazil. ~bzp

Sharks & Turtles

We are now into the SPLICE portion of our training. It stands for spiritual, personal, lifestyles, interpersonal, cultural and endurance. While the language training required more brain involvement, SPLICE has evoked a lot of emotions. We've heard some sad stories and testimonies of painful experiences. One day we participated in a hostage simulation that took my mind to frightening places.
Our teacher gave us the Top 10 list for stressors for missionaries on the field. 500 missionaries were interviewed and their top stress (according to this study) was "Confronting others when necessary." Our teacher also stated that the #1 reason missionaries leave the field prematurely or ask for a different assignment is conflict with team members. Being armed with those sobering facts we spent 2 whole days examining our own conflict styles and Gods commandment to pursue peace. Our instructor told us if we were not ready to evaluate ourselves and grow in our conflict management, we needed to leave the training, call our churches and sending agencies and tell him we are not going. It was a big deal and after those two days I was ready to be done with conflict. As it turns out, Josh is a turtle and I am a shark, at least most of the time. Now both of us working towards meeting somewhere in the middle and valuing the conflict styles of others. ~bzp