I am trying to teach Jaciara how to answer the telephone when someone calls for me. She freezes up and only understands the word “Rachel,” and so get interesting stories about people calling me when I come back from a trip:).
this morning I rested for a couple moments and had my first “I miss you” dream for my family. you know, where you all hug and are together. it is not that I want to go home, it is more that I want them to come here.
some of my friends are now reading “Wild At Heart” that I ranted and raved about…so I figured I should reread it to keep up. I gave the book to one of my boys at the youth center. He was about half-way through reading it when he simple said “But what am I to DO about it?” and that really took be back. and, as many horrible other times, I had no answer for him. well, now I do:
1. Catch the wild vision: who God made men to be
2. Understand “the question” and what you’ve done with it (GET ALONE in the wild, or at least alone)
3. Identify your wounds and their results in your life
4. Go to God with the wounds and the question…discover your name
5. Battle plan:
a. Fight (the devil) back with the truth (Scripture) you now
know
b. Have a daily CONNECTION with God
c. Find accountability and help from a “band of brothers”
d. Fight for others (especially the women in your life)
a day late and a dollar short, eh?:) anyways, big news in my life. I talked with Tele on Wednesday to find out that for the next three months (Sep, Oct, and Nov.) they are shipping me to Timbuktu (err…that is the name we use for Timbauba). There is no one who speaks English there, and it is about 45 minutes from the Alconce. I will stay with Pastor Josue and his family. His wife is a stay-at-home mother and they have two cute daughters. I think it will be a wonderful experience for me, and I know I will learn lots of Portuguese, but as Tele said, it is something I will thank him for when it’s over. I LOVE being here at the Alconce. always having people come in and out, always having a chance to go to the different churches, the view…everything. so I am sad to go. while I was still digesting this information, we decided to begin English classes the next day (Thursday). I’ll tell you, when it rains, it pours for me…in like every aspect of life!
You know the first day of school feeling? well, teachers get it too. I love teaching, but whew, I do stress a bit before class begins, and stressing is exhausting. I put together a test to figure out what each person knows already, and then what they want to learn in English. since the test was all in English and required alot of writing, the first class hour was spent on that. the second we tried out some grammar curriculum, read a chapter from the Bible (in English), and worked on contractions. by the end of class (9 people showed up, with only a day’s warning) it was very clear we needed to divide into two separate groups: more beginners and more advanced. There have been about 5 more people that have said they also want to join, so I’ve alot of planning and figuring out to do. I am excited. so please pray for my Thursdays. the only thing we have left to figure out is my taking classes at the University here.
Please pray for Carlos. He left last night as his father had an emergency and went to the hospital. His father is not saved, and I am not sure how serious it is. Carlos is one of the Bible students here who is totally sold out to God and learns things like a sponge. Satan would do anything to discourage him. Please also pray for Tele’s father. he has still been having hallucinations from the medications they are giving him…the other night he was up all night “killing snakes” that he “saw” crawling around the house. I am sure THAT freaked out his wife (who just got over surgery).
As for me, things are good. I have quickly slipped into the routine here, and am enjoying the mornings with God, studying Portuguese, keeping up with my e-mails, and washing my clothes:). Brasil is no longer a “far away mystical place” but a day-to-day reality. God is continuing to show me things about myself and His plan for me in actual life…not just the hazy “ooohs and ahhhs.”
“Will we be able to bear them (tourures)? If I do not bear them I put in prison another fifty or sixty men whom I know, because that is what the Communists wish for me, to betray those around me. And here comes the great need for the role of preparation for suffering which must start now. it is too difficult to prepare yourself for it when the Communists have put you in prison. I remember my last Confirmation class before I left Romania. I took a group of ten to fifteen boys and girls on a Sunday morning, not to a church, but to the zoo. Before the cage of lions I told them, “Your forefathers in faith were thrown before such wild beasts for their faith. know that you also will have to suffer. You will not be thrown before lions, but you will have to do with men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now if you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ.” They had tears in their eyes when they said yes. We have to make preparation now, before we are imprisoned. in prison you lose everything. you are undressed and given a prisoners suit…you do not have your library and you never see a flower. nothing of what makes life pleasant remains. nobody resists who has not renounced the pleasures of life beforehand.” –Richard Wurmbrand (who suffered 14 years of jail, solitary confinement, and torture)
