April 14, 2007

• Brasil by numbers:

  • 1 knee
    surgery: Nal is getting his knee done today—after busting it up royally
    last year playing futebol with the group from the US
  • 2
    couples, engaged, serving in ministry—hoping to get married but cannot set
    a date until they have the money: Gilson and Valdilene, Author and Jaciara
  • 3
    churches waiting for buildings—have the land and everything, just waiting
    for construction to start or continue: Timbauba, Amexias, and Tracumhaem
  • 4 kids
    in the amazing family that lives in 209 and 210 (the rooms next to mine at
    the Alcance). They are missionaries to tribes in the Amazon, but had to
    come back because of one of the girls’ health problems
  • 5 kids
    in Tele’s family, running around the Alcance…hopefully their house will be
    done by next month
  • 38
    students at the international school
  • 50
    kids a day, seen, fed, loved, and helped at the Creshe project, ages 2-5
  • 65 is
    the number of students Tele wants for the second semester—we need English
    teachers!

  Please keep each of these things in prayer.

  David is the new cook…he makes pizza at the graphica on
  weekends.

  I am so sick of Candyland. I brought it for the kids. They
  love it. and play it every available second. The second favorite is chutes and
  ladders. I pretend it is educational by making them say the colors or count in
  English…

  Random fun things to do to make things fun (spoken from
  experience)

  • Blow
    up balloons on the bus. It makes everyone smile
  • Make
    everyone put on temporary tattoos
  • Climb
    trees (although just because you can go up does not always mean you can
    SAFELY come back down)
  • Invite
    strangers to your English class (even though none of them have showed up
    yet)
  • Watch
    downloaded episodes of “Lost” and “Prison Break” oh dear…I must say I
    really like them now
  • EAT
    LOTS OF PIPOCA DOCE (this “sweet popcorn” stuff. I love it)
  • Eat
    pitomba with strangers on combies. This guy gave me pitomba (this weird
    fruit stuff that you take off the shell with your teeth, then suck the
    clearish gooey stuff off the seed) and then you can throw the seeds out
    the window. This part is especially fun for some reason
  • Turn up
    the music really loud when you are in the shower
  • Chase
    kids around to give them kisses on the top of their heads
  • Give
    someone a surprise birthday party 

  I am reading “The Practice of the Presence of God” by
  Brother Lawrence. Well, actually, it isn’t by Brother Lawrence. Brother
  Lawrence wrote these letters to someone…I don’t think it says his name, under
  the idea that they WOULDN’T be made public…and there you have it. Thanks Dad,
  it is a great book.

  The point is…doing life with God. Brother Lawrence was a
  monk who worked in the kitchen. And walked with God. so much so, that he didn’t
  want to pick up a straw without it being with God. He lived to do everything
  always and only for the love of God. 

  “I shall have this good at least, that till death I shall
  have done all that is in me to love Him.”

  “It is not about changing our works (after salvation), but
  in doing for God’s sake that which we commonly do for our own.”

  “All things are possible to him who believes. They are less
  difficult to him who hopes. They are more easy to him who loves and still more
  to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.”

  “You need not cry very loud, God is nearer to us than we are
  aware of.”

  Brother Lawrence just decided that he wanted to give all of
  everything to God. so whenever he started thinking about something other than
  God, he would recognize it, and go back to conversating, thinking, and praising
  God. The letters he wrote are so…simple. It really is that. you just do it. 

  “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within
  me…Why are you cast down, o my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope
  in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” Psalm
  42:4-5

  “Making a difference will always take emptying yourself into
  a place and waiting until you are trusted. In Latin culture especially, you
  have to wait. It takes a long time for a foreigner to have a voice. Still, the
  poor are more trusting simply because they have less to lose…perhaps to be a
  missionary is as much to be changed by a place or a people group as it is to
  change one or the other.” –Marlee LeDai, from the book “Go Girl” 

  “It is not the stars that create light, but the light that
  creates the stars”

  • 7:13 pm
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