along life's narrow way

post by~ Brin

 One of the job hazards of foreign missions work is loneliness. After the first year, at least for me, it lessened considerably but still cycles in and out just like the rainy season.  I truly enjoy meeting new people and exploring new places but for only so long and then I yearn to be with people I know and know me back. God is so very aware of my heart. So under His provision, our family enjoyed our first official visitors to our new home in Manaus.  Luke and Debbi Porritt, along with their twin girls Anna and Aleia, enthusiastically jumped into the sights, sounds and (as seen in the picture below) the smells of our new city.

 

And to add to the encouragement, their visit occurred over Easter.  Which for me turned Easter into fun (and work) and, I recently realized, inadvertently left out the sacred. I am thinking about that now. Thinking that, as if it were not enough to be saved from hell, I also have an ever-present friend in Jesus.  He abides in me. Jesus knows the real me, the ugly me that I try to hide from new friends and old friends alike. And yet He loves me, the most actually. And because of what Jesus did on that Easter morning we have hope of an eternity in heaven where there is no death, tears, fear and no cycles of loneliness. Little bubbles of renewing hope rise up in me and give me a boost to keep striving forward even though we are still challenged daily in our new life and ministries and still cannot guess where God will take us next.  Whatever happens during our time on Earth, at the end of our story there is hope. A refreshing, renewing, encouraging Hope that I want to motivate all I do.

 So to help celebrate Easter our two families, along with Andres and Camila (teammates with Asas), gave an Easter breakfast, program and egg hunt at the hangar. The hunt was likely a first for all the Brazilian participants.

 Luke and Debbi brought along their family's Resurrection Eggs to tell the Easter story,which turned out to be an excellent cross-cultural tool.

It was a race out in the expanse of Asas property to find the eggs. And avoid the fire ants; my foot still showing the evidence of stepping into a nest. Does this count as suffering for the gospel?

 Children from our home church in Tremont sent along the plastic eggs as well as a good supply of M&Ms.

 And we finished out the morning with a dip in the river and subsequent sunburns. The ramp makes for a great place to swim and the boat for jumping.

 Just like everyone back home, we posed for an Easter portrait.

 A big plus of having the Porritts was Mia and Ava being able to share the Brazilian side of their lives with Anna and Aleia. So just like the girls do at least 3 times a week, they walked over to the neighbors house and bought popsicles. Flavor choices could be peanut, tucumã, tapioca, roasted coconut, açai, and green corn, grape or strawberry. The twins nibbled a cautious bite on green corn but then settled conservatively on strawberry. Ava was often left to translate for the bunch which she did with vigor, however odd the translations came out.

Here are the girls cooling off in the outdoor shower and playing with my squeegees that I use to clean my floor. They had probably never seen one so big. Mia took it upon herself to educate her visitors in Brazilian (Amazonian, I should say) culture. At one point she picked up an industrial type scrub brush that I use to clean my rugs and informed Anna and Aleia that it was what they should use to scrub their feet. Ouch!

So after 7 days of showing the Porritt family a glimpse of our life, (albeit somewhat distorted because we consumed a years worth of good food and fun), we said goodbye and I missed them the next day. 

We are not meant to be loners on this planet. That is why I yearn to know and be known. And that is how Easter alleviates loneliness. Jesus' death restores a relationship with a pure and perfect God that had been muddied by just living life on this earth. And we, being equipped with God love, can reach out to others. We share, care, love, and serve because He did it first.

I present to you, Cleny!

post by~ Brin and Gabriella

Sorry for the delay, but I would like to introduce you all to the newest member of our family, Cleny Carvalho.

When we announced to our friends that we were moving to Manuas, we received several subtle suggestions from friends who wanted to move with us. We were not surprised, living in Manuas allows for more schooling and job options as well as just a chance for our young friends to spread their wings.  We had some obvious contenders, and we prayed about each of them. But we decided on inviting Cleny to join us after she told me about a conversation she had while we were on furlough. Cleny was jobless and living with a family from church (Agostinho and Natal). At one point, Natal asked Cleny to start making some movement towards her future. So, Cleny shared that her dream was to move to a city and go to college. She would be the first in her family and as her mother put it, showed much potential. For sure a lofty goal considering her lack of many crucial factors: education, experience, finances and particularly in this culture, family and social connections. The two discussed potential options and for various reasons Natal admitted she could not bless any of them. God, however, is not hindered by any of Cleny's impediments, and it is in fact when He moves most mightily. Josh and I seriously began to discuss, pray and consider if this was God's assignment for our family. We chatted with the Pastors at church and her discipleship partner and all gave us their enthusiastic blessing. I am honored that God chose our family be a part of shaping her life, and thankful of His provision for such a wonderful new "daughter" in our family.

Cleny has already started a dental hygiene program. She is incredibly proud of herself for getting enrolled, learning the bus system and learning to budget her income to pay for her tuition all on her own. A huge accomplishment that is even more noteworthy considering the contrast of her upbringing with a mother who was an indigenous Indian that taught a different knowledge base and value system. Cleny works in afternoons as our house helper which provides an assured income for her and an assured warrior alongside me as we fight mold and mildew together.  Speaking of mold, that brings to thought a funny story....


I have noticed that I have a way of conversing with Cleny where I do not put nearly as much effort into grammar and pronunciation as I would if I were conversing with others. She gets me, even when I mix verbs tenses and speak quickly. This lack of concentration has led to many humorous language bloopers. One day, completely exasperated by the level of unprecedented humidity and mold in my life, I hastily complained to Cleny that the cornmeal I had just bought a week earlier had molded in it's original package. UGH. "To keep our food fresh, we should put all grains in a plastic toilet (vaso) right away," I advised her. She playfully snickers but gives no indication that she was going to correct me. "I mean container (vasilia)," I sheepishly admit. She keeps laughing and then tells me how earlier in the week she was running out the door and Josh yelled for her to take her clothing wardrobe (guarda-roupa). So she grabbed the umbrella (guarda-chuva) and left the house with a grin. Why would she correct us and chance losing her entertainment?! Ella is also delightfully entertained by our bloopers. And also annoyed and embarrassed too.

To finish out this post, here is an interview that Ella did with Cleny:

Gabriella: What are you dreams for the future?

Cleny: I dream to have a degree in Law or Dentistry. I also want to marry and have children.

Gabriella: What is the hardest thing about living here?

Cleny: The city is very dangerous, and the transit is very crazy. It's also very hard to live away from my family and friends. But I do like challenges.

Gabriella: How has God helped you? 

Cleny: In all that I do I first ask God if it's his will. And he always helps me with his answer. With the prayers of my friends and the support of my new family, the Pflederer family.

Gabriella: What is your favorite food?

Cleny: Fish, rice and beans.

Gabriella: What do you think about the mold in your room? 

Cleny: The mold smells really bad and it has weakened my health and breathing. I had a  cold, cough and a sore throat for a long time. Sometimes the stink is stronger than other times.

Gabriella: What do you think about Josh not allowing animals in the house?

Cleny: Haha! This is very good! Josh is very wise! But, if we had a dog like Cody, then I would love it. Cody doesn't poop in the house and is very big.

Gabriella: What was the scariest thing you've been through?

Cleny: I was in a bus accident when I was 15 years old. The bus was doing down a steep hill and the brakes weren't working. There was a river at the end of the road but God blessed the driver so instead of driving into the river, he crashed into a tree. I was in the front of the bus and glass broke on me and I went unconscious. When I woke up many people were hurt. Children had broken arms and legs, and lots had cuts and bruises. When I came to, I was the only one that wasn't hurt. I prayed and God saved me.

*Cody was our trusted guard dog back in Altamira. His aggressiveness was known and feared in the neighborhood which provides a lot of peace when I was home alone. Here in Manaus our neighbors put their guard dogs on their roofs and they pace back and forth all night. We don't have a guard dog, what we want is pet. Someone won't let us have one.

The five of us girls on a day trip to visit some local waterfalls. Our family's preferred way of relaxing. Poor Josh, between my homeschool helpers from years past and now Cleny he is always thoroughly outnumbered.

Josh at work

I remember when I first started studying aviation (over 20 years ago at a technical high school), it struck me how for the first time I thoroughly enjoying going to class. As I've jumped back into aviation, my mind often goes back to those days in Mr. D's class, or later when I studied at College of the Ozarks. Since beginning work here at Asas de Socorro (Wings of Help) I've been getting great experience with a myriad of different projects that I've helped out with. It's been a pleasure getting to know the guys that I work with as well as learning from them.

One of the things that has been so encouraging during this transition is the way many of you helped out in such a practical way to enable me to start turning a wrench again. The team that Brin went on a boat trip with also brought a couple boxes of tools that many of you donated money for. As I use my tools I often think of those that helped in the purchase. I really do appreciate your sacrifice. 

Unfortunately, I only have a couple pictures to post at this time, but I hope to soon have more for those that are interested.

We recently started a large project on our Cessna 206 which required removing both wings. 

Here I am painting an area in which we did a skin repair.

health ministry- Part II

 post by~ Brin

I went on my first short-term missions trip to Guatemala when I was 20 years old. I was eager and inexperienced. I thought that I would be working in the health clinic, erroneously assuming my pre-nursing major would make me helpful. I was pretty useless and just ended up translating, but even that was pitiful since my college professor never taught words like flatworms or retained placenta or how to understand shy Guatemalans as they hesitantly shared about very personal health needs to a foreigner. At the end of the trip, however, I had gotten a spark for foreign missions that was later fanned in a month long trip to Indonesia and other trips to Central America and E. Europe. So for me, short-term missions were an integral step in taking the leap into full-time missions.

I also realize that I am somewhat of a rare case. There is a lot of discussion about the value of short-term teams within evangelical circles around the globe. When we transferred ministries last January, Xingu Mission was themselves discussing how short-term teams could best be used. Depending on the particular issue, I sit on both sides of the issue, but I was encouraged to see how short-term missions just recently played out.

This post is Part II of the previous post where I shared about a recent health boat trip. Not only was the Asas health team on the boat but a group of guys from Illinois (no, I didn't know them in my "other life.") who were visiting Brazil as a team of short-term missionaries. Marty, Brad and Chad are old pros at short-term missions and came on this trip to build a church alongside other men from the community we were visiting. I was encouraged to see they had years of relationship with both missionaries and nationals. At one point, when conversation came up about a particular national pastor, I inquired who she was. Marty responded by saying to me, "You don't know her? You ARE new."   A short-term trip, with effort, can mean a long-term relationship and these guys demonstrated that in different ways.  Each of the guys shared how they planned, prayed and sacrificed to come to Brazil and work alongside others on the construction crew, humbly sharing their lives and their struggles and what they are taking from their visit as equals to everyone else aboard the boat. Could the church have been put up without them? Definitely. They themselves admitted that. God in His graciousness, chooses to use those who humbly make themselves available.

The construction guys taking down from the boat supplies to build the church.

This picture is mid- project. At the end the roof and two wall were up, enough to start holding Bible studies and services.

 A big benefit of having North American teams come is that they bring us stuff, items that cannot be bought in our host country or are much more expensive. Missionaries don't like to admit that, but it is a tangible need met. For us, we finally received the aviation tools that many of you have donated to Josh over the last few months. We are humbled and thankful for your provision! Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, one Rubbermaid box arrived in Manuas opened with about 1/3 of it's contents obviously missing. Missing-in-action are some of Josh's tools, some homeschool books and supplies and gifts from my sister and friends.

Besides the church construction, the Illinois guys donated and delivered water filters to families living on the rivers edge. Clean water has profound affects on health and water filters are a practical way of changing the health outcome for an entire family as well as demonstrating the Living Water that the team brings as well.

Marty, Brad and Chad traveled with an organization called Operation Amazon, click here if you are feeling God nudging you towards short-term missions.

Health Ministry Boat Trip

post by~Brin 

Six weeks ago when I left Altamira, I had tender goodbye lunch with Pastor Clenildo and Angelita's family. Clenildo must have been feeling a little nostalgic as he commenced telling his earliest memory of me. Which would have been sweet had I not been such a brat. The details are foggy but as he remembered it we were on the Jari River on our way home from a 10 day survey trip when a swarm of famished mosquitoes descended upon our unsuspecting boat. Mostly unsuspecting, because as it turns out Clenildo was using his hammock that had a sewed-in mosquito net. I swatted and sprayed and said who knows what kind of words under my breath. The boy scouts of the group put up their ever-prepared nets and returned to sleep. I continued swatting and shifting noisily in my hammock until I was exhausted. And finally I started to cry quietly to myself. And that is how it became Clenildo's earliest memory. He took pity and insisted I take his hammock. The safety and comfort of his hammock felt what I would think a night at the White House would feel like.

So whether I like it or not, that was Clenildo's first significant memory of me. I pondered that this past week as I stepped on the Asas boat for the first time, acutely aware that I was making some "first time" memories. Here I was with my new teammates, I being an unplanned addition since the original RN backed out only days prior. With the exception of an hour long orientation I was given the day before, I knew little about the health ministry portion of Asas since Josh is involved with the aviation side. I was, however, pleased to be included and ready to learn. And I did. Here is the sort of stuff we did: we set up clinic with one MD, two dentists, two RN's and one nutritionist. One RN was learning to run the whole clinic and the other, that one being me,  relegated to the makeshift pharmacy. We gave talks on nutrition, breast cancer, and worms to the adults, and on dental hygiene to the elementary kids. A straightforward and heartfelt talk on human sexuality and STD's  was given to about 50 teens at the local school. After the sex talk, Sara (the other RN) told them, "I am gonna be here until tomorrow, come see me if you have a question about what we said or just want to talk." Sure enough a girl made a beeline for her after the talk. We dispensed meds, advice, and prayer prolifically. And for the majority of that stuff, by "we" I mean I watched and learned as my amazing teammates did what the love of Jesus compels them to do, and that is in-turn love other people.

I learned such much, I listened intently as my teammates encouraged a young, skinny, breastfeeding mom (and by young I mean 15) to manage her own health as they taught her the importance of calcium. "Find some egg shells, clean them, dry them on a rock, crush them into a powder with your mortar and pestle and then sprinkle a teaspoon on your beans every day," she was matter-of-factly informed. Other patients were given anti-inflammatory meds to manage chronic joint pain, and others were reminded to use leaves from a certain plant as tea that had the same effects. Another teen mom was encouraged to wait some time before having her next baby so she could gain weight and take care of her current child. This mom had gotten "married" at age 14. Two women showed up at the pharmacy after seeing the doctor, visibly emotional, and they just started sharing their own tragedies. We talked, advised and prayed and loved. I am not sure, but I wonder if being able to spend precious, unrushed minutes with a caring doctor primed those women to be able to share their deepest wounds.

I was honored to be apart of the team. I was honored that God chose to get me involved, since I was planning on sitting tight to help Josh get through these next few years of aviation training. And mostly I was just humbled to be guided by our father to show love to His other children. Looking at all the needs in this particular place, would get easily overwhelming, paralyzing even. It comforts me hugely to know God sees it all too, and directs me to meet even just a tiniest portion of that need.

 Asas' was invited to visit the schools and give various health related lectures.

The is the pharmacy I " built" and where I spent the vast majority of my 3 days. The plastic bags are various meds, which are transported in the blue bins. The bins were designed to also fit in the floats of the airplanes. The microscope was not mine, but the coconut was :)

The dentists saw the least amount of patients but were the busiest. By far the most difficult thing is to turn away people wanting desperately to get their teeth pulled but there just isn't enough time.

 

The Asas de Socorro ministry boat.

I haven't mentioned this yet but also traveling on the boat were 3 guys from Central Illinois! Brad, Marty and Chad are seen in this picture bringing down sheet metal for the church that they, along with the rest of the crew, built while the health team ran the clinic. Part II of this blog post will show pictures of the church and explain how teams from North American churches are involved in ministry alongside Asas missionaries.

I'm not sure what it is about me that doesn't like to get ripped off.  If I think someone is charging me more for something because I am an American I will find myself arguing over a few dollars, when clearly the person is in need.  I don't like this about myself.  I wish I was more like a wise missionary friend who once told me that he always errs on being too generous because he knows one day God will hold him accountable for the times he payed too little, not too much. 

The other day a lady showed up at our house, she said she had been asking for help and no one would help her.  She claimed her daughter had Hemorrhagic Dengue, a rare but lethal form of Dengue.  Her daughter needed to be transferred from one hospital to another and she needed $30 Reais (US$20).  She told us she had just moved to the Manaus, knew no one, and looked about 8 1/2 months pregnant.  We prayed with her and gave her the money.

About 3 days later she returned to our house.  Through tears, she told us how her daughter had died that morning.  She needed money to take the body to another city where her family lived.  We were crushed.  My mind races as I thought about how we needed to not only help her financially but emotionally.  She needed a family here, we told her.  We offered to call a pastor that could give her that support and  help her with arrangements.  Soon it became clear all she wanted was the money.  She only had a couple hours to come up with the money or the hospital would bury the body in a local cemetery (they don't embalm here so the burial usually takes place soon after death).  We decided to involve a neighbor who we trust.  The neighbor was very suspicious of the story.  We needed to make a decision, and soon.  Do we trust her and give her the money, or assume she was lying and not help?

My thoughts went to my friend who had encouraged me to always be generous.  The amount was only about $60 dollars.  As we tried to corroborate her story it seemed to have more and more holes, but I couldn't know for sure.  I finally gave her the money and sent her on her way, struggling with my mixed emotions. 

Later that night Brin said she hoped she was lying.  In that moment I realized I was more concerned about my money than whether or not she had lost her daughter.  I know we did the right thing in giving her the money.  I wish I could say my heart was right, but in reality I was more concerned about getting taken advantage of.  I really do hope she did not lose her daughter, and either way she needed the money more than me.  I'm not sure if being a Christ-follower means we have to be a doormat, but I know I need to hold on much less tightly to the things that I think are rightfully mine.

On a lighter note, here's a few pictures from the last couple of weeks...

I've been enjoying my first two weeks of working at the hangar.  Here Marcio, a pilot (far right), prepares to take a Brazilian missionary couple (purple and green shirts) to an Indian village where they have been living for two years.

Our friend Chelsea visited last week from Altamira (yellow shirt) and Brin took the everyone on a field trip to the local zoo.  Milena, a neighbor girl that the girls have befriended, acted as a guide.

Brin and Chelsea contemplating the excruciating pain inflicted by the candiru fish that swims "upstream", lodging itself with barbs, when an unfortunate person relieves themselves while swimming in the Amazon.

 

 

 

 

On the way home from the zoo the group gets caught in one of the many rain storms that we've experienced almost daily since arriving in Manaus.

 

Visiting a city park during Chelsea's visit. 

Mia riding her scooter in the park.

greener grass

Still unsettled in some ways, our life has began to take on somewhat of a perceptible routine. At least for me (Brin). I have started homeschooling in the mornings, which means I have also started all the explanations to my neighbors who don't know anything about the topic. Our mornings start with school, as best I can and then sports in the afternoon. Within days of arrival I met a neighbor who told me about a local community center (SESI) that has various lessons. So we looked over the list of classes; guitar, belly dancing, jiu-jitsu, theater, karate, until the girls settled on ballet and swimming. 

With a neighbor friend, Mônica, at their first day of ballet.

Ava reported that Mia cried during class and then later lied to her instructor about having a fever. And that is why I am glad to have someone else help me teach these girls. Ballet in Manaus, I have heard, can lose it's  " classicalness"  and instead take on more of a samba feel. I am hoping for the best but will keep my eye out, especially during Carnival.

Good grief, city living can be tedious. For one thing, the rules. People actually obey the law here, so there goes driving around with 10 friends in the back of pick-up. And swim class was quite a registration ordeal. The girls had to have a health check-up and have their skin checked by a nurse (I doubt I count) every 2 months. Sometimes city life is a real contrast; that is when Mia says, "  I want to go back to Brazil."    She means Altamira.

We still have not met many of our Asas de Socorro teammates, which is a bit discouraging to me. As it turns out none of them live in our borough, ours being a bit of a rougher crowd. But I really like it. The neighbors hang out in front of their homes, the kids play in the streets; the Brazilian version of  "kick the can" being interrupted only when a car comes. And my house borders reserved jungle owned by the Federal University and rumor has it there are monkeys in it. So I do have a little slice of jungle life, albeit hardly authentic. Being on the rivers and so close to nature was something that I thoroughly experienced in Altamira, I know I am going to miss it. I will try not to complain too much, but since I already am, perhaps some of you heard me mocking the mere 3 meters of grass that I will trim with Mia's Hello Kitty scissors?! Well, I complained too soon- a new well had to be dug this past week and now that pitiful patch of grass is mud.

Last weekend we were able to spend a few precious hours cruising the Rio Negro on our way to attend a inauguration for a new boat that will be used for ministry. It was lovely but the best part was meeting new friends. Some of them work for Asas, some work for other organizations and one family, working for Caterpillar in São Paulo, gave us an encouraging slice of home.

The girls on the boat getting to know their new friends. As always, Ava was the first to find her new best friend. Thankfully, it was a girl this time since all, seriously, all the kids who play on the streets are boys. Ava and Mia take them on ambitiously.

Chatting with Ligia about expat life.

 And on another note, our congratulations go out to our family's much loved Cleide! For those of you who have followed our family this past 4 years, Cleide is a familiar name to you all. She called a few days ago to let us know that she passed a very competitive college entrance exam. We are so proud of her! We all miss her tremendously, and with this good news, all the more. I cannot wait to see where God is taking her.

Cleide is on the left, Cleny is on the right. Have I told you all that Cleny is living with us in Manaus? I will write about her next! Actually, Josh will probably write about his routine next, which includes lots of frustrating phone calls about the internet.

The Move and Arrival

I'm sitting in our new house in Manaus, as I write this Brin and Ella are organizing the kitchen.  The girls arrived Monday and we've been unpacking, organizing, meeting our neighbors and making general repairs around the house.  We truly felt God's provision and protection on our trip.  There were a few unexpected surprises along the way, but I suppose I would have been more surprised if things went totally as planned.  

I was able to take a few pictures, so I'll try and let them tell the story...

As the Ana Maria (seen in the last post) took our stuff to Santarem, Allison, Dillon and I traveled in my truck via the TransAmazon Highway.  We arrived on Sunday, one day before the boat and were able to see some friends and meet the boat at the dock Monday morning.  I learned that I would need to hire a small boat (seen above) to take our stuff to the larger boat bound for Manaus. 

We were able to put my truck on the same boat (for no small price).  While in port, I really didn't breathe easy until my truck was on the boat, they waited until the last minute to load it. 

My truck parked amongst travelers on the first of three levels. 

One of the perks of having paid so much to take our stuff to Manaus was that we were allowed access to the air conditioned room.  The trip took about 56 hours, by day two we were pretty tired of sitting in our hammocks.

Occasionally, when it wasn't too hot, we would spend time on the upper deck of the boat.  It was no luxury ship, but with the AC it was definitely comfortable.

We arrived in Manaus just after mid-night the morning of my birthday, Jan. 13th.  We spent the rest of the night on the boat, in the morning we found a truck to take our stuff to the house where we unloaded it for the 5th time since leaving the house on the previous Friday.  In the photo above, Dillon and Allison paint the Cleny's room in preparation for the girls' arrive a few days later. 

Because of the layout of the house (you can see some photos here), all the furniture of two bedrooms and the school room had to be hoisted to the upper level.  This was done by the use of a pulley and lots of heavy lifting.  Most of our furniture is made out of heavy Amazon hardwood.  In the photo above, Allison and Dillon modify a bookshelf to fit in the closet of the girls' room.

Monday morning I picked the girls up at the airport and brought them home to see our new house.

Here Ava is commenting on the size of our tiny yard (about 8'X8').

Mia enjoying the spiral stairs which continue up 3 stories to the roof where we hang laundry.

Cleny and Ella exploring the master bedroom.

Brin and Mia enjoy the view from the roof, most of the windows only have views of the neighbor's walls or roof.

The Move

As I write this, all of our things are on a slow boat traveling upriver towards Manaus.  I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Santarem with 2 friends, Alison and Dillon.  We are taking my truck to meet the boat, transfer our stuff to another boat, and travel along with our stuff and truck to Manaus.  If all goes as planned we'll be arriving on the 13th, my birthday. So far things have been going well.  Here are some pictures for those that are wondering...

We will miss the huge wardrobe that we had been using to hold our home school material (not to mention the spacious school room).  The wardrobe wasn't ours, and after moving our much smaller wardrobe, I'm so glad we didn't have to move the behemoth.

Packing up the kitchen.

Our furniture waiting to be loaded into the truck

We loaded the truck Friday afternoon, Saturday morning we traveled 45 minutes to Vitoria to meet the boat.

Unloading the truck at the port in Vitoria.

Our stuff should be safe in the bowels of the Ana Maria, the next boat from Santarem to Manaus will not be so secure (it will probably be a Line Boat, full of people in addition to cargo).