My Old Kentucky Home

Brazilian flag and American flag

My sweet family

"The sun shines bright in my old Kentucky home."

The first line of this sweet song written by Stephen Foster rings true! I arrived in my old Kentucky home on June 8th and I've been welcomed by hot, summer days, sweet tea, grilled hamburgers, and more good ol' American things :)! Of course, the best part of being home is seeing my family and friends that I've dearly missed. While it's great to visit them and to have all the American amenities, my heart aches to be in Brazil. It's almost unexplainable - but when God gives you a heart for a specific place, you want nothing more than to be in that place serving Him. God has put a passion in my heart for Brazil. Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about, prayed for, and missed that country that now feels more like home to me than any other earthly place. I now completely understand Paul when he writes in his letters about how he longs to see the people he ministered to again. How he longs to return to the places where he ministered. I get it. And I feel the same way. But just as God moved Paul from place to place to further the Gospel, I'm also being moved around. As most of you know, I'm heading to Maui, Hawaii to work at Hope Chapel. I move on August 24th and will be there for a year. I'm so excited for the ministries I'll be involved in. I'll be connecting people to the body of Christ- the church - and discipling them. I'll be working with young adults - organizing, rallying, and attending events for that age group. These are just a few of the things that I'll be doing. I'm super excited to expand my ministry experiences and to add more tools to my "ministry tool belt" (props to you for the terminology Professor Shane Garrison). Part of my job will be a 2 week trip to Hope Chapel's church plant in Southern Brazil and following those 2 weeks I plan to spend a week visiting AVA and my sweet friends in Belem. I feel truly blessed by God and honored to be His servant. Everyday God is teaching me to rely on Him to guide my footsteps, to daily surrender my plans to Him, to trust, and to follow Him.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

"The place that God calls us is that place where the world's deep hunger and our deep desire meet." -Frederick Buechner

www.hopechapelmaui.com

Unwanted Guests

Most of you know that I've lived alone for most of my 14 months in Brazil. However, I've realized lately that that is not fully the truth. The truth is that I live with many other unique "creatures" that God has created. Armies of ants swarm in my kitchen at the first speck of food that is dropped, spiders make themselves at home in corners of each room, lizards scurry across the floor, and twice now a tarantula has decided to drop by and say hello - unwelcome of course. Believe it or not, I once had a whole litter of cats living in the stairwell that leads up to my apartment door. Well, Wednesday night another visiter decided to drop by. I was in the shower when I felt a little tickle on my foot. I look down and AHHHHHHH......to my horror, a giant cockroach was running across my feet. Gross! Luckily my flip-flops were right beside the shower, so I jumped out, grabbed the shoe, and beat that thing until it was dead. Roaches are amazing....I mean, I don't know how in the world such a big bug can crawl through the tiny slits in the drain in my shower. But this one did. All I can say is, 'what doesn't kill you, definitely makes you stronger.' God has been working on making me stronger since I've lived in Brazil through the countless number of unwanted guests that share my home. I have to say, I will leave this place a much braver person in regards to the creepy crawly things around the world.

Snapshots of My Scene

Some people hear that I live in Brazil and they automatically picture a tropical paradise. Others know that I live in the Amazon River Basin and picture me out in the middle of the jungle, with no sight of civilization. Here I want to give everyone the realistic picture of the sights of everyday life for me.

The window in my bedroom....yes, that is mold & mildew on the building.

My apartment building

My neighbor's house

My apartment is on the corner of 2 roads. This is one of the roads.

This is the other road. That big building is the local faculdade, which is similar to a university.

Letting God Guide My Footsteps

Two years have passed since I signed on with my mission, NICS (Network of International Christian Schools). I've now lived in Belem, Brazil for 14 months. In this time, I've grown to absolutely love this country - its culture, language, climate, food, and of course its people. In fact, I feel more at home in this culture than I do in my own country. Despite looking drastically different in appearance to the natives here, I feel like I belong here.

However, that isn't to say that it has been easy. In contrast, it has been extremely hard. Hard to struggle to communicate in the first few months, hard to handle the humidity, hard to live so far away from my family and friends, hard to work alongside so many other missionaries, hard to adapt to living daily life in a totally different way than I'm used to, and hard to constantly be ministering and not be ministered to. Sometimes I feel that people speak of the mission field like it's some vacation or exciting adventure. While I can say that it is an adventure, it is not a "bed of roses."

However, through the challenges, God has taught me so much. He has taught me patience, perseverance, provision, and more importantly, He has taught me about passion. What do you mean?, you may be asking. What I mean is that God has revealed a lot to me about myself. Including passions He has given me and the reason He has given me these passions. I have a passion to see the orphans, the widows, the least of these reached out to. Every time I leave the school campus I see these hurting people. You can't ride the bus here without a disabled, sick, or homeless person getting on, announcing their problem, and asking for help. My heart burns to help - more than giving the person a few centavos that I have in my pocket. I want them to know that they are valued and that God loves them. In addition, I have a passion to see people discipled in their faith. I'm tired of ministries reporting on the number of people that were saved. I'd rather hear a report a year later on how many of those people are truly living for the Lord. I can't tell you how many people I've encountered that say they are a Christian, yet when I ask them what that means, they have no idea. They said a prayer one time years ago and have continued to live their lives as before. Where is the discipleship these days? Didn't Jesus say, "go and make disciples"? We are asking people to "repeat a prayer after me" and then reporting on the number of hands that were raised announcing that they said "the prayer". We pat ourselves on the back and go on with our lives, trying to rack up more numbers. Let's take our focus off the numbers, and put it on the people. We need to be training people on what it means to be a Christian and what that looks like in daily life. Wouldn't that reach more people in the long run? If we taught people how to live out their faith, to live with the purpose of glorifying God, to "let their lights shine" I believe the Gospel would spread more rapidly throughout the world.

As God has been revealing these passions within me, I've been praying for Him to guide my footsteps in ministry. My contract with the mission ends in June. I knew that I'd have to make a decision to either renew the contract or not. I started praying about this in September. On December 26th, I knew God's answer. I was not to renew the contract. These passions God has given me can't be fully lived out in the ministry I'm in currently. While I love teaching these students, my heart is bursting to do more in this country. I see the need every single time I leave the campus. Yet, I work long hours at the school teaching, tutoring, grading, and doing lesson plans. I don't have the time to fully commit to other ministries or start new ones. And I long to fulfill the passions for ministry that God has planted within me.

This decision was not an easy one. Even now as I type this, the sounds of the Amazon rains is flooding my ears and it reminds me of all I'll miss. I'll miss this country that I've come to love. Yet, in the midst of this sadness comes a deep peace about this decision. I truly believe my time here has been one step in what God desires for me to do to greater His kingdom. And like Paul greatly desired to return to the places where he ministered, I too, greatly desire to return to this country.

God continues to guide my footsteps. After a lot of praying, I've decided to take a small groups/discipleship ministry opportunity at a church called Hope Chapel in Maui, Hawaii. I will be working there as the small groups intern for a year - from August 26, 2011 - August 19, 2012. The vision of this intern program is to: "train individuals in dynamic hands-on ministry skills and nurture and develop their unique spiritual gifts and passion." My specific role will be in small groups and discipleship/spiritual formation - connecting people to ministry and the church and helping them grow spiritually. In addition, this church has a church plant in southern Brazil. The church plant has a need for someone to come and disciple people and also has a vision to open a Christian boarding school, an orphanage, and to grow crops for the poor. They already have some land to do these things, but lack the workers to help in these big projects. My hope is to be a missionary at this church after my internship in Hawaii. Although God hasn't spoken directly to me about this opportunity in southern Brazil, I do see it as an open door and will continue to pray and seek God's direction in it. I feel God's given me a call to this country and I long to minister here.

As I said, I've felt a peace about my decision to leave in June, but something happened a few weeks ago that reaffirmed it all for me. I went to church with one of my Bible Study girls. At the end of the service, during the alter call, the speaker called me to the front. Instantly I thought, "I'm already saved, why is he calling me up here...I hope he doesn't think I need to accept Christ or something." When I got to the front he had a message for me. Over the microphone he announced, "You come from a country that used to be known as a Christian country, but no longer is. God has sent you to Brazil and right now He is preparing you to go back to your country for a little while to make a difference there." It took me a little bit to actually decipher what he had said to me, but by the time I did, my friend was already in tears. She knew that I had planned on going back to the United States in June and she knew that that message was from God. God is good. When we seek His will, He will show us the direction to go.

In conclusion, I ask that you all be praying for me through all of this.

- Pray for my goodbyes - I will have to say good-bye to this city, my students, and my friends here. Saying good-bye is hard, and I've made deep, meaningful relationships here. It will be hard to leave.

-Pray for my 2 1/2 months I'll be home - that I'll be able to spend time with my family and friends that I've missed, that the transition from Brazil back to the USA be easy, and that I find time for some much needed rest.

- Pray for my finances - I will need the same amount of support in Hawaii as I have lived on here in Belem. Please prayerfully consider continuing to support me financially in this next phase of ministry.

I thank all of you for the encouragement, love, prayers, and support that you've given me. Without all of you, I couldn't be here. Thanks for letting God use you to be a part of ministry here in Belem, Brazil. I love you all dearly.

http://www.hopechapelmaui.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=280

Back in the US of A for 6 weeks

Here I am back in the USA for just 6 short weeks.  I have to say that upon leaving Brazil I was feeling a little melancholy.  I had finally settled into Brazil and felt at home there.  I had learned enough language to be conversational, gotten involved in a local church and small group, and met some wonderful friends along the way.  I was sad to leave it all behind for the summer.  But I can say that it was all worth it to see the faces of my dad and grandma waiting for me in the airport when I arrived in Louisville.  What a blessing it is to be able to spend time with my family!  My first two weeks at home have been very busy.   The first 3 days were full of fatigue, excitement, and the grief of losing a loved one.  The days to follow were busy with visiting friends, updating them on my ministry, working on developing the ESL program for Amazon Valley Academy (AVA), and speaking at a friend's church on my ministry & missions in general.  The beginning of this week was the first time I was able to sit back, relax, and rest.  It feels good to do that after almost 5 months of being busy, busy, busy!  

Some of you may be wondering if I have felt any reverse culture shock coming back to the States.  Well there have been a few things that were hard to readjust to.  One being the fact that I can actually flush my toilet paper down the toilet now.  For some reason, I keep forgetting that.  There have been a few moments of me totally freaking out when not finding a trash can near the toilet.  Then it will hit me, "Oh, I can just flush it."  :)

 Secondly, the air conditioning has really been tough the readjust to.  After living in the Amazon heat for 4 months with no air conditioner, my body has acclimated to that climate.  Now that I'm back in America, I am cold anytime I am in a room with air conditioning and I can't stop sneezing!  

Overall, I look forward to my next four weeks here in the USA, but also look forward to getting back to Brazil.  People keep asking me if I had fun 'over there', and while I can't say that my life in Brazil is all fun and games, I can say that it is a good feeling to know I'm in the center of God's will.  Knowing that God wants me there is enough to get me through any hard times that come my way!  

"The place that God calls us is that place where the world's deep hunger and our deep desire meet." 

-Frederick Buechner 

The May/June Newsletter

For those of you that cannot open my monthly newsletter, I've copied the main text of it and pasted it here:  

I can't believe it is already the end of the school year!  We have one and a half weeks left in the 2009-2010 school year! The end of the school year brings many school related programs and events.  Two Friday nights ago I attended the school play.  The students did a wonderful job acting in "The Red Lamp."  This last week and a half we have had the school piano recital, the Fine Arts Festival, and the Senior Banquet.  On Thursday we will have Graduation 2010!  What an exciting time it is for students and teachers alike! 

The Sunday English service has continued to be an effective outreach!  Every week we have new first-time visitors. Two weeks ago we had a very strong rainstorm.  Even with the roads flooded from the sudden downpour, all of our regular attendees came, plus some guests!  Many had to wade through knee-deep water to get here!  It is a blessing to see how faithful they are!  I am thankful for the opportunity to share the Word of God each week at this service and to hear stories of people being saved through the outreach!

In the middle of May I went on the three day Junior High Retreat.  Once again the students' faithfulness to the Word and to the Lord astounds me.  Each day we had group devotion time, followed by 30 minutes of personal devotion time.  The students were told that they were free to go to the beach after the 30 minutes of personal devotion.  One of the days it was well past the 30 minutes of personal devotion and still no students were at the beach.  I wondered what they were doing and went to search for them.  As I started for the stairs that led to the rooms' I heard a guitar playing and the students' voices singing, "Never Underestimate my Jesus".  That truly touched my heart and I just sat at the bottom of the stairs listening to our students praising the Lord together! 

I truly feel blessed that God is using me to be a part of ministry here in Belem, Brazil.  It is such a wonderful opportunity to not only share God's word with the people of Brazil, and to train these students up to be Godly leaders, but to also get to see some of the fruit of our labor as we watch these students take on spiritual leadership roles.

I'll be flying home on June 12th.  The plan is for me to return to Brazil around August 1st.  Please be in prayer for a safe flight home.  I'm excited to see all of you and share more about the ministry here in Brazil! 

April: A Month Full of Events!

April has been a quite a busy month!  We celebrated the resurrection of our Savior the first weekend in April.  Some of the missionaries got together and we celebrated with an Easter service and a giant banquet, complete with a lot of tasty food!  Not long after that, I celebrated my 23rd birthday!  The students sang "Happy Birthday" to me in English and Portuguese!

I was also a sponsor on the High School Ministry Trip, which took place April 20th - 26th.  This trip took place in three places up the Amazon River. The planning kept all of us sponsors very busy!  Each of us was in charge of training the students for ministry, as everything on the trip would be student led. While on the trip, we got to see the students' leadership skills in action!  I must say that I was highly impressed! I'm thankful to be a part of training up these students to be godly leaders all around the world!  God's presence was felt by all during the trip as we helped repair and remodel churches and led three services! The theme of our services was "Living a Christian Life" and I felt like our students did a wonderful job of getting this message across through songs, testimonies, skits, Bible studies, and more!

The ESL students I work with throughout the week are showing much improvement!  It is such a privilege to be their teacher, while also being able to share about God with them.  Their latest assignment for my class was to write their testimonies.  On Friday, they will each be sharing what God has done in and through their lives! 

Through everything, I have learned about the Lord's provision. God has continually provided for and taken care of me. In dangerous situations, He has kept me safe.  When money has been tight, He has seen me through. He never falls short on His promises!  We serve an awesome God! Don't forget to thank Him today for His provision!