As you can imagine, our expenses here do not change much from month to month. However, occasionally some of you (or a church) may give an extra gift. As money comes into our fund, above and beyond our needs, we are blessed to be able to pass that on to those in need. We are learning that the needs here are so great. The average Brazilian makes about $150/ month. It is not uncommon to hear that a church family is without food. More than once Brin has gone into our cupboards to give away food. The other day we helped a woman get dental work done that she never could have afforded on her own. We have been blessed by many of you, and in turn we have the opportunity to bless others. We can’t pass on every story, but one recent experience stands out:
Every year in Brazil the Christians brace themselves for the celebration of Carnival, a celebration like Marde Gras. One of the ways the church has responded here is by putting on a retreat for young people called “Christoval”. There are four churches in Altamira that joined together this year for their Christoval retreat, held at a retreat facility we are building outside of town. Each church was allowed a certain amount of participants, each who had to pay the $15 for the 3-day retreat. One of the churches is from a particularly poor part of the city. I asked the pastor of that church if he had any students that needed help. He shared with me that they were thinking about dropping out and doing their own mini-retreat at the church because he had so many kids who couldn’t afford it. I used to be a youth pastor, and before that a youth, so I knew that the “retreat” held at the church would not be nearly as effective (I think the whole point of a “retreat” is the leaving). I told him I wanted to help out. We devised a plan that would satisfy even the staunchest conservative, we made all the kids work for a day to “earn” their way to the retreat. Below is a picture during the retreat. I didn’t miss leading the cheesy retreat games, but I was thrilled that I could play a part in helping some of the kids attend.
We’ve been without internet for several days, so we are trying to catch up with everything…
This weekend we got a bike for Ella. I found a used bike at a bike shop and Ella loved it because it has a basket on the front and a rack on the back. When we went to buy it the guy kept going on about the “documents”. I’ve learned that documents for vehicles are very important. They are basically the registration for the car, but if you get stopped by the police and don’t have the documents the car will get impounded. But I wasn’t sure why I needed to worry about documents for a bike. So as I’m loading the bike into our truck, the guy from the bike shop asks if we can give him a ride to get the document. We thought it sounded important so we went along. After driving across town, and meeting his “boss”, we were confounded when he took off on another bike (seemingly produced from nowhere) riding away in search of the missing document. We questioned if it was even worth waiting for something that we didn’t know we needed. In the end, he couldn’t find the document, but we were promised that we would have it next week. Later, we talked to another missionary and learned that documents for bike are in fact important. The police also confiscate bikes if you can’t produce the documents. If I ever witness the police apprehending a bike from a document-less 8 yr. old, I’ll be sure to get a picture for you.
Joanna brought us treats from America, like peanut butter and Hershey's kisses. So it is only fitting for us to share our bounty with her. The above photos is us drinking Acai, no english equivalent that I know of. It is a berry of sorts. It looks like gritty blueberry pulp. And without a lot of sugar, it tastes and smells like mud in my opinion but the Brazilians love it. We also made acerola juice and cupacu, which is nothing that I can compare to back home so if you are curious about what they are like you will just have to come for a visit too.
Yesterday, Joanna Geyer, a close friend from Tremont, came to visit. She arrived safely with her 11 mo. old son, but her luggage did not. We were told it would be arriving on the first flight this morning. The morning came and went. No luggage. Tonight, after the kids were in bed, to our delight it arrived. Brin let out such a squeal that Ella got out of bed. We knew some people had sent us some things, but when we started going through the box we were overwhelmed. We remember packing boxes for missionaries, but I don’t think we comprehended how much a simple act can communicate. Thank you so much for those of you who sent something. Oh yeah, and Joanna has her clothes. 
I’ve been working on building bunkbeds for the girls in their new room. The room is small so we tried to conserve as much space as possible. Last night, the first night in their new beds, they actually asked if they could go to bed. The room they had been using will now be our storage/ guest room.
My sister-in-law Sonya is reading a daily devotional called Voices of the Faithful and is praying through the book with me in mind, specifically. I had already read the book a year before and it wasn’t entirely meaningful to me, but it is now. Several days ago Sonya told me her reading for the day was teaching precisely what I was dealing with. Namely confusion, and how I am going to cope with it. Part of me wants to withdraw from people who think I am stupid because I can’t understand what they are saying yet. I also don’t know what to do with others who may have questionable motives behind what they ask of me. So sometimes, I just don’t know what to do.
Here is what the book said; “Sometimes I am confused by language, sometimes by culture, sometimes by tradition, and sometimes I am just plain old confused. In any given situation, there are many right answers and approaches, and there are just as many wrong ones. When the chaos reaches maximum proportions, I am tempted to quit. So why stay? The answer is simple. God has given us a glimpse of His vision clearly stated in Revelation 7:9: ‘After this I looked and there before me was great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” It is the power of God’s vision and His grace that sustains us, renews us and keeps us focused on our calling.
So whether your own personal chaos is two little Ethiopian children that won’t let you sleep, like Dave & Sonya. Or maybe your chaos is a life that whizzes by so fast that you are too exhausted to put effort into the very things God says are most important. I am going to try to look for glimpses of God, rather than try to piece together a two-year picture. At least that is what I need to do for now.
