News and a Promo!

Tuesday, November 6, 2018


So, I know I don't blog much anymore. I may be renewing my blog as an outlet for thoughts as I go through grad school. But first I need to share this with the world!

Thanks to Josh for sharing this with me. This company is legit and they're going to have an incredible Black Friday sale! Their products are fantastic, sleek, and professional. Check it out here to check it out!


P.S. for all of you who keep up with my Brazil adventures I promise my first new post will be about my time there in May.


Love and Light

Mindi

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Community

Saturday, July 18, 2015


This post has nothing to do with life in Brasil, but rather life in general and what I've been learning.

 You know what I enjoy about my hometown? The unity. Unity is so hard to find these days, even inside one congregation of the church. But my hometown often models this unity very well. Sure, it's a town of about 700 people, with predominately the same race, "religion", socioeconomic status, and other factors that make us look similar on the outside, but it goes beyond those things. I can remember over and over hearing about the work of the "ministerial alliance". That is, many of the churches, both in and outside the city limits, banding together to help those in need (prayer, counseling, financial, or material need to name a few). There was a fire that burned someone's house down: sure, you can stay in the apartment the Christian church building has for visiting missionaries while you get things sorted out. While there, the Baptist church will be responsible for bringing you clothing, the Nazarenes will bring you food, and somebody from the assembly of God will keep your dog, because she needs a big yard. Or, hey, we have a community event in the fall every year. Pastor so and so from Hickory Point will give the prayer, minister Jim Bob from the church of Christ will do a short Bible reading, and the children's minister from the Christian church will be setting up an area for kiddos. Just today I saw a post from one of the ladies active in ministry at my home congregation with pictures of an unfamiliar room decorated for VBS, with the caption, "ready for VBS at the First Baptist Church". We know we don't agree on doctrine. But we love our community's kids and we want to teach them the gospel together. 
Monthly meetings of "hey, who have we seen in need this month?", and going back to your congregation to ask for the money to help. All of these things and a million more bring our community together through ties of faith. There aren't doctrinal battles when trying to determine how to best help the Smith family who just lost their dad in a car accident. There isn't any disagreement on the "right way to go about caring for the family" when someone's son comes back from war in a box. We just come together and love. Sure, we knew there was a time to stand on our beliefs as a church when they disagreed with the beliefs of another congregation. There is a time and place for that, it is absolutely necessary. The church canNOT be let to lose its identity in Christ. But I believe there's also a time to just be quiet and serve.

 The example from my hometown has been powerful to me and has greatly influenced my work with the church as I seek to learn more about how to deal with individuals who think differently from me, but work together with me in ministry. I've seen over and over again when personality clashes, or differences in opinion, or doctrinal disagreements have led whole groups to simply drop what they were doing. It's happened here. It happens there. I can't believe we let it. We fight, and when the dust settles it's not the "loser" of the fight who's lying in the dust broken and bleeding. It's the hungry family who needed food. It's the couple, now divorcing, who needed marriage counseling. It's the orphan child who craves attention and love. But we were too busy having differing opinions that we forgot all about them. Let me reiterate: the beliefs of a congregation and its doctrine should be held on to firmly and one should never let go of those important things. (PS, "I know how to go about this better than you do", and differences of personal opinion, are NOT doctrinal differences or valid arguments. EVER).  There is right and wrong. Denominational churches get a lot of stuff wrong and follow the teachings of man over the Bible many times. It's true.  But can we justify arguments over these things, or worse, smaller, silly things like opinions about procedure, taking precedence and hindering us when it comes to loving our neighbor and taking care of their needs? Can we really leave the hopeless without the only Hope that heals? We can do so much more together than we can apart, as individuals and congregations. "If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." (Romans 12:18) An individual needs the support of others to start a food donation program, for example. They don't need fights and "I know better how to do this than you, so we're gonna do it my way or not at all". Gentle guidance, yes. But if what you're going to say is going to hinder someone from doing good to their neighbor, compromise or be quiet. 

 " I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."-John 17:23. JESUS said this. Without unity how will the world know Who sent Him?!

 Using Paul's example, don't even do something as benign as buy and eat meat from a pagan sacrifice if it would cause your brother to stumble. "For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding." (Romans 14:15-19... read the whole chapter, about even sacrificing what you want to remain living in peace with your brother)

 "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (James 4:17)
"But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (1 Timothy 5:8)
"So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil..." (2 Tim. 2:22-24)
Living in love (or trying),
Mindi

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What I've Learned in the Last Three Months

Tuesday, May 26, 2015


Hello! It's been exactly 3 months since I've updated my blog. That means I'm 7 months (almost 8!) living in Brazil. Unbelievable how time flies. My birthday came and went. I sat myself at the beach watched the sun rise on my birthday (at 4:48 in the morning!). It was a glorious experience. On the other side of the coin, I missed my mom, with whom I share said birthday, so much it hurt.



I was looking back at what I wrote in February and this struck me: "My 'job description' I will only expect to contain one word: serve. When we're a part of the family of God in a congregation, we must understand that we're joining our lives with other humans. People as individuals are constantly changing, so it makes sense that the needs of a group also change. My philosophy for as long as I'm in Recife is simple: 'see a need, fill a need'."

 That's still so true today, maybe more now than ever. The newness has worn off in teaching English: I now find it quite easy and stress-less, so I find myself with a bit more time that I consider "free time". So let's add more activities!

 The churches of Christ in Brazil have begun a program similar to the program I'm here with, they call it AME (adventures in evangelical missions). Anyway, a girl from the congregation in Boa Viagem trained with them and went to Natal, a city 3 hours north of here, to complete her two year mission. Due to some issues she had to return, but the good news is she will still be completing her mission: here! I'm ridiculously excited about this. 
I knew what I was getting myself into when I came here by myself, and for the most part I've been able to do everything the church has asked of me. One thing, though, that's really lacking in this congregation (as the leadership here here has expressed) is people to visit others, whether sick/older members who can't come to church, people who have withdrawn from the congregation, visitors who have come to the congregation, or whatever the case may be. It's something that I have seen is one of my favorite things to do, and something that always shows great effect in the lives of others: one-on-one or small group conversations and Bible studies to encourage and evangelize. But it's also something I cannot do alone (for many reasons). I've asked several ladies of the congregation to go with me on visits over the last few months, but it seems that few are willing (sorry for the brutal honesty, but I've seen that in the American churches, too, so no, I'm not criticizing the Brazilians). So the girl who has returned to work with our congregation and I, plus the American missionaries here, sat down to talk about this and other ideas she has for how she can be useful in the congregation. She's really excited about the prospect of doing visits. She will also be helping out with the youth group and the teenage girls' group, so I'm all around very encouraged to have her partnering with me in these things. Please be praying for her as she seeks to do God's will here in Recife and pray for us as we begin to work together. 

 Can we talk about culture stress? I know it seems like that's all I talk about, but it's real and it's big and it's affecting my work a little. It isn't a huge, in your face kind of thing, but you know those seasons of life where you're just down and you don't know why? I would say it feels a lot like that. I'm discouraged, not by anything going wrong or anything specific, but just because. And the general feeling of discouragement is affecting my perspective of every day events. 
An example: If the teenage girls don't talk much during our weekly study and meeting, instead of just thinking, 'man, maybe it's a bad day or a bad week, or maybe they're busy with a lot of end-of-the-year school stuff and distracted', my thoughts and feelings go something like this: 'man, it's been SEVEN MONTHS and I still can't relate to these girls. I don't have a deep relationship with a single one of them, and I haven't seen improvement in how they open up about the hard stuff in life. Is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Is my Portuguese that bad, that maybe they just plain don't understand me?' I know, it sounds ridiculous and dramatic, but honestly, that's where I am. I'm grateful for the training I received back in the States that has helped me identify these feelings as feelings of culture stress, not signs that I'm not being effective. However, identifying the feelings and dealing with them are different. It's hard at times not to be discouraged. But please, dear reader, don't worry about me: this is normal and it comes and goes in waves. Tomorrow I could be feeling on top of the world, "SuperMindi!" I'm not bipolar. I'm just trying to figure out who I am and how I fit in Brazil. I need to remain calm. I know it. It's just a season. I will push through it. I hope I wrote this all in a way that it's accessible to my readers, the majority of who have quite possibly not experienced something like this. So while I work and attempt to stay encouraged, I remember the words of Moses and try to quiet my heart: 

 "And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:13-14)
Peace and Grace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all blessings flow,
Mindi
Nutella pizza instead of cake on my birthday with some of my Brazilian "family". What a joy!

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Lately

Wednesday, February 25, 2015


Goodness, it's so good to get to blog again. Since I got back in January I've been doing nothing less than running around preparing for everything. With the new year has come new responsibilities that I had no expectation for. There's a funny word. Expectation. When you're living an working in a foreign country, no matter what you're doing, you really shouldn't have those pesky little ideas called expectations. You'll be disappointed, or surprised, or panicked when something doesn't go according to plan. 

I consider myself a pretty flexible person. Even when I'm stressed, it will affect me (hello, sleepless nights!) but probably not my performance on a task. 
In the past month I have gone from "helper"- one out of 3 teaching English at Boa Viagem to now being in charge of teaching all 3 different groups of people. 
I've gone from "hey, wanna teach a little English prep conversation course before the Let's Start Talking team comes" to now being in charge of teaching a 15 week English course 2 times a day once a week. 
I've gone from a partner in the teenage girl's ministry to quite possibly doing it myself, as the other person is needing to step back in the midst of some family issues. We're going to be asking one of the other ladies in the congregation to help, but it's up in the air. 
I've gone from the desire to disciple the newly converted with personal Bible studies to beginning to teach a discipleship class at the new congregation in Porta Larga. 

My "job description" changes about every other day, but I wouldn't have that any other way as long as I'm a part of the body of Christ here in the congregation of Boa Viagem. My "job description" I will only expect to contain one word: serve. When we're a part of the family of God in a congregation, we must understand that we're joining our lives with other humans. People as individuals are constantly changing, so it makes sense that the needs of a group also change. My philosophy for as long as I'm in Recife is simple: "see a need, fill a need". Of course, if I have absolutely no talent for something it wouldn't be helpful for me to fill a need there (aka teaching in the children's ministry). But I'm watching God use me in other ways I wouldn't have ever imagined. Yes, it's been stressful, but it's also been the best 5 months of my life, pushing my limits, denying myself a place in my comfort zone, and above all loving people with all that I am and all that I do. I'm far, far from perfect, but like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us....Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak..." 4:7, 13 
It's my job and my pleasure, my honor, to speak. It's yours, too. May God push your limits and challenge your view of the world every single day, and may you walk in te Way, sharing the Good News of great joy that is for all of the people, to His glory and honor.

It was my privilege Saturday, February 21, 2015 to teach about unity and why doing life together as the church is so important as a part of our year's theme, "Disciples United for the Making of Disciples". 
PS... I did it in Portuguese. For the first time in my life, I spoke to a group (it's always been individuals before this) in a language not my own. I'm in awe of God's ability to use this tongue of mine that's failed Him so much for His glory. Praise to Him through Whom all blessings flow. 

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Happy December!

Sunday, December 14, 2014


Culture stress found me. Or blame it on the upcoming holidays. Who knows? All I can say is that I'm both the happiest and saddest I have ever been in my life. 

I just burst in to tears for no reason, like real tears, like make your throat and chest hurt and your nose run a lot tears. But just hours before I was together with my beloved church family here, laughing, singing (or rather butchering) karaoke versions of "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rindo à Toa" (this song is so good, talks about how the person knows life isn't always perfect, but he's able to laugh, because he's found where he belongs- strikes a chord in me). I'm not sad! Don't feel sorry for me! But at the same time I miss my family so much I can feel it in my bones. I feel their absence in every moment of joy and celebration I experience without them. And the tears fall again. I want nothing more than to call Mom and Dad, but I know it will make them sad, too, what with me ready to cry at the drop of a hat. 

I suppose the honeymoon stage of cultural adjustment is coming to an end and the reality that I'm over 4700 miles away from nearly everything and everyone close to my heart. But then I can smile, because I know I'm only a mile or two away from the majority of the people and things that are close to my heart here. I've made a million memories at the church/seminary, sunburned at the beach and taught English for the first time. I've spent hours conversing and laughing, learned how to cook several of my favorite foods and prayed for the first time Portuguese, all in the houses of friends. I've gotten frustrated at my bad Portuguese grammar, while the Brasilians smile, put a hand on my shoulder, and correct me so I "never say that word again" (I've accidentally said a few ugly things). I've laughed until I cried, studied the Bible, and accompanied friends to doctors' appointments more times than I can count. I've visited new congregations, watched a ton of baptisms, met a million wonderful people, shared the love of Jesus and just generally lived a dream of a life here so far. And it's enough. I know it is. 

But reality is reality and she's a hard bargainer. She's given me bliss and business to fill the hole that distance leaves for the last two months, but she finally insisted on hitting me right in the temporal lobe of my brain, right in the emotions. So this holiday season, I'm happy, and sad, but most of all I'm blessed beyond measure to serve God here in the city of Recife. 

 Merry Christmas to all of you reading this. I love you. Hold your loved ones close (and maybe hold my loved ones close to you, too, for me) this season. 


American Family

    Brasilian Family

God of All Comfort

"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.[a] 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort." (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

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Mission within a Mission

Tuesday, November 18, 2014


Acampamissão
            The youth group traveled to a city 80 miles away for a camp known as Acampamissão. Translated this means “missions camp”. I went as a sponsor/participant (“youth group” is a very liquid term here… we have kids from 13-23 in our youth group). I have never been so blessed or learned so much from an experience. The purpose of this camp is to serve through events organized by the missions training group AME (the Brazilian version of AIM, Adventures in Missions) for the purpose of loving people like Jesus. The people who participated were from our youth group, and a couple of other youth groups in the area. First, let me explain that this event is SUCH a big deal to our kids. Since I arrived 6 weeks ago it’s ALL they talk about. They have been making homemade chocolates and selling them at parks and the beach to raise money to go to this event. We left at 5:30 in the morning to drive to the other city, named João Pessoa. Some of the girls that were going stayed the night with me to be closer to the church building so they wouldn’t be late. They woke up at FOUR IN THE MORNING to get ready, and were anxiously waiting to go by 4:30. That’s how excited they were. We had a group of 15 in total counting myself and the two other sponsors. I was expecting something like church camp, but this experience was completely different. There was no time to rest, no time to play around. Only time to serve. Instead of staying up late to talk the kids were begging to go to bed earlier, because they were so tired from all of the fantastic work they did.
            On Day 1 we broke up into 3 different teams. One team went door to door to talk about some of the classes the church is offering and to invite people to church. They were met with various answers, and even stayed to study the Bible with some people. Another team went to the university nearby to talk to students about the English classes the American AIM students who are here are giving. These classes teach English using the Bible. It’s a big success here in Brazil and results in lots of people attending church. The third group, my group, served at the church itself. We cleaned up the grounds and painted the walls. It was wonderful and much needed and we had a good time serving the church together and getting to know one another.
That night we had dinner on the streets. I’ve never done anything like this in my life. We took plastic cups and two HUGE pots (I’m talking 4-5 gallons each) of really healthy veggie soup as well as tons of bread and ate dinner with homeless people. That’s right. Not only did we feed homeless people, but we sat and ate with them, having conversations and praying with them. I want to be realistic about our experience, so I’ll be honest. Homeless people stink. I also want you to know that just like every other Brazilian, they’re touchy-feely. The problem is that no one ever touches them. Because they stink. Not our kids, though. The very first stop we made two or three of the youth sat down beside an older woman, talking with her and eating with her. The woman got emotional at something and one of the girls, about 14, didn’t hesitate a bit to put her hand on the woman’s back and kept gently rubbing it to comfort her, talked with her and then they prayed with her. The touch caught the woman by surprise, but immediately a grateful smile lit up her emaciated face. We separated into groups, staying to eat and talk with groups of homeless people as we found them. I was with one of the American AIM students, carrying a cup of soup when we happened upon a small group. One woman was crouched between two cars, looking sad and alone. I went up to her, crouched close so our knees were almost touching, and asked her name. After she said I told her mine. Her head was down the whole time, but many homeless people are shy like that. I asked her if she might want a cup of soup and some bread and she looked up hungrily, nodding vigorously. I gave her the cup of soup, which she sat on the ground. As I tried to make conversation with her I realized I was alone with her and hidden, and I smelled something very strange. I moved a bit to see what she kept looking down at and discovered she was smashing a white substance into powder on top of a crushed beer can, then swiping it into a match box. I’ll be honest in that I was very shocked and a little scared. I quietly but quickly said, “you don’t have to do that. Jesus loves you. I love you and I’m praying for you.” She trembled a little and with the same hungry eyes looked at me for a moment, but then looked down again and I stood up and left. It was hard to handle the situation, I’ll be honest, as I’ve never experienced it before, and it took all I had to stay and say those words after I discovered what she was doing. It broke my heart. A few moments later, I saw three kids heading that way to the rest of the group close to the woman. I hurried and caught up with them to supervise and they handled the situation expertly, handing off the cups of soup, talking a little, and then leaving after telling the people where the church was and saying its doors were always open. These are kids, I thought, and I wanted to get a sense of whether they knew exactly what they had just witnessed, so I asked them what was going on back there. They explained to me as if I was the kid and THEY were far older. “Those poor people were smoking crack. They feel like they can’t do anything better in life. It’s sad, but they were harmless, Mindi, because we sure don’t look like police to catch them or rich people to be robbed.” I’m proud of the wisdom and the loving heart of these kids (but I still wish they were more careful!!). They always called every person they met “sir” and “ma’am” and always touched them in some way, hugging or keeping their hand on the person’s back, shoulder, or arm, to give comfort and transmit their love in a tangible way. It was truly a life-changing experience, to watch the people I came to serve and love serving and loving others in such a profound way. It was humbling. On the way home from the event all the kids would talk about is ideas to do the same thing here in Recife where we live, because they don’t think it should be a once-a-year camp thing. Of this, too, I’m proud, and I hope that in a little while I’m blogging about watching the love of Jesus flow from the hands and mouths of our youth as they serve the people of their neighborhood in ways like this.
The second day I was part of a group called “AME Saúde”. This means “Love Health”. Once again we took to the streets, armed with a blood pressure cuff, a scale to weigh, 2 physical therapists, a huge tray of fresh fruit and 5 gallons of water, some excited youth to call people to where we were, and myself and another of the sponsors to share “mental/emotional/spiritual health” AKA give counseling. Armed with Bibles and smiles we got to talk with people on the street about how they were doing, if they were connected to a church, what they thought about God, and to talk a little bit about the church in João Pessoa, including inviting them and giving them a pamphlet to explain where and when. We talked, laughed, cried, and prayed with the people who came our way. One lady came up to us just to thank us for what we were doing. She explained she’s a Christian and it was so good to see people serving others. She told us she’d been in ministry when she was younger, then said she’d had breast cancer not too long ago and that she thinks God is done using her. We talked with her a bit about her situation and if maybe God could be using her to encourage others passing through the same difficulties she had been through. It was like a light came on in her brain and she started smiling and nodding. We prayed with her, that God would give her strength and courage and open doors for her to keep serving Him in the midst of hard times. Her name is Silene, so please take a moment to also pray for these things for her. Our kids were relentless, inviting passing people on the street to what we were doing, often running after them if they kept walking. It was encouraging to see them so enthusiastic about reaching out to others in this way, as well, and such an interesting experience to pick up random people off the street to love on and pray for.

I can’t express the joy I feel having experienced these things together with the youth here in Brazil. It’s a beautiful thing to serve God in whatever situation, especially knowing these youth who are so eager to do it so young. It’s a rich learning experience to watch the nationals serving others in their own country and I kept thinking to myself, “this… this is the natural outcome of the Gospel...” This is God working in the world today. Serving the needs of others, both the physical and spiritual needs, taking on the yoke of the ministry of reconciliation as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”


Jeremiah 20:9, “If I say, ‘I will not mention Him, or speak any more in His name’, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” I pray that you’re all encouraged by the examples I’ve shared of our teens serving, and that the Good News of Christ is to you what God’s word was to Jeremiah- you couldn’t hold it in if you tried!

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Expect only the Unexpected

Hello everyone!
I am very sorry I haven't been keeping up with my blog very well. My first month's newsletters should be on its way to you already. Please let me know if you haven't received it or if you want a copy, email me your email address (riachonoermo@gmail.com)

This first month has been a good mess. I have learned in traveling and now living in Brasil that the basic rule of life is: have no expectations. Things always go better when you don't set firm expectations like "in a month I'll be comfortable enough with the language to start having Bible studies with people" or "within a week of arriving I'll have my house set up how I want". Or "man, I can feel the plywood through two mattresses... I think I need a new mattress and soon".... 6 weeks later I finally got one. In 5 days I will receive a washing machine for my clothes. Life moves at a slower pace here, but it's anything but relaxing to the person adjusting to it. I still feel anxious walking into the grocery store, because in the states I knew where everything was and what brand I wanted and I could go right to it, grab it, go to the front and pay for it, and leave. Here, the aisles seem organized haphazardly, they're cramped and full of people, and I only recognize a few brands. Errands that took 5 minutes back home take an hour here. I still don't know how to receive my mail! 
I say none of this to complain, because honestly none of it bothers me! I just want to give everyone a small look into my day-to-day life of adjustment. I have loved every second of my new life here in the past month and a half!
The missionaries and a couple of families here have been so precious to me, helping me so much to adjust and figure things out. I'm grateful to God for people who are so patient with my lack of language skills and knowledge about what I'm doing!


All of that being said, here are some of the millions of highlights from October 1st to today (if I shared them all you'd get tired of reading!):



Welcome and Housewarming party
     A couple of Sundays after I arrived the ladies of the church held a housewarming party for me. I can't even describe what a blessing this was! I was given sheets, kitchen gadgets (some of which I'm still learning how to use!), towels, and other miscellaneous things for my new apartment. This was a blessing in two ways. 1st, I needed these things and it's weird to shop (as mentioned above), and there's no store where I can get home goods within walking distance to my home. 2nd and most importantly it is a blessing to feel you're already loved your brothers and sisters in the church, and so good to get to know them a little better as these are the people I will be doing life with for the next two years!
Cheiros
     This is a bit personal, but I hope it makes you smile. It certainly made me smile. The family I stayed with last year when I was here has become some of my closest friends. They have helped me so much in my adjustment with anything from going to the store to enduring my endless questions over culture and language. They are so dear to me. The mom of the family is like my mom here. She takes ridiculously good care of me. Well. Brazilians in general are very touchy-feely and are always giving hugs and kisses on the cheek for greeting an saying bye. I'm very touchy-feely to so I love this! Parents give their kids a special kind of affection (and maybe to other people they love, but I’ve only ever seen it between parents and kids) “cheiros” (pronounce it shay-roos). To describe it from my experience it’s like a kiss on the top of the head but with it the person audibly inhales a little so they can smell their child’s fragrance. It sounds weird but it’s really cute! We were at church one Wednesday night about three weeks ago, and as we were leaving my “mom” was saying goodbye to me. She hugged me, then grabbed my head with her hands and gave me cheiros. I actually teared up a little because it really touched my heart. It caught me off guard and I probably made a very surprised face. I told her that was the first cheiro I’d ever received and she said “oh! I’m sorry! I know, you’re American, sometimes I forget that you’re not used to affection like that! Do I need to be sorry?” I replied no, that it touched my heart a lot and she hugged me and told me “I love you, so of course I would give you cheiros”. I can’t begin to describe the magnitude of love I feel for this family.

Christmas
            Christmas will be hard, being away from family and friends and it coming during the hottest time of the year here. The seminary that our church runs is on vacation for a month starting in the middle of December, so there will be much less activity around the church. I was having a conversation a few weeks ago with my “mom” and my “dad” here and my “mom” brought up Christmas. Christmas is very important for Brazilians here in the northeast part of Brazil. It’s important to be together as a family and nearly everyone travels for extended periods of time. She said “how are you going to do Christmas?” I replied that I’d be staying here in Recife and she said “No, I can’t accept that. N and I were talking and we don’t want you to be alone, so we want you to come with us to Salvador, where N’s parents are from and where we will be staying for the holidays. I won’t have a good time there if I know you’re stuck here by yourself without family.” So I will be spending a week and a half, from December 23rd through the new year with my Brazilian family in Salvador, a city in the state of Bahia that’s about a 12-13 hour car ride south from Recife, where I live. We found a great sale on plane tickets (it’s already very cheap to fly domestically here, and the flight is only an hour and ten minutes!) so we will be flying. Once again I can’t express how grateful I am for a family that loves me like their own here.

A Bump in the Road
            As many of you know I went on a two day trip to a famous beach nearby with an American who was here visiting. She gave me an opportunity to debrief and ask questions about life in Brazil, as she lived here for one year starting in 2012. It was a great trip and I learned so much from her. Unfortunately, though I was being very careful, I had an accident with my computerized prosthetic leg… it got water in it and this caused serious problems with the computer. I sent it home to the US with the American who took me to the beach and she is sending it to my prosthetist. They will be loaning me a new knee until my knee gets fixed, maybe in 2-3 months. From everything I’ve asked and know this little accident will be covered by warranty. Please pray that this is true. There’s a church member from the missionaries' supporting church coming to watch the seminary’s graduation in the beginning of December. We have asked him if he will bring my leg (with the borrowed knee) back with him when he comes. Please pray that he can bring me back my leg. My old leg does not fit me well and, though I really don't want to complain I'll be honest that it’s causing me a bit of pain. As Brazil is a country in which people walk A LOT, I’d love to have my leg that fits back with me as soon as possible.

One-on-one Bible Studies
        One of the women in the church is currently studying with a couple of the members who have been recently baptized and I have been tagging a long to get a sense of how to do Bible studies here. One would think there's nothing different between a Bible study in the States and one here, and that one would be right, but also very wrong. There's a way to talk with people, to come to them from their cultural perspective, that I am learning more and more about every day. I want to always make sense culturally and be relevant. Christianity is the same at the foundation, but it's expressed and talked about differently sometimes in some things. For example, try talking about the importance of the weekly monetary church offering to someone whose culture has for its examples of giving the greedy Catholic church, where in the past (and perhaps even today!) you can pay for the pardon of sins and the even greedier Pentecostal church, where the Prosperity Gospel (see Joel Osteen or TV pastors, or google it to know what that looks like) is preached to fill the pockets of "pastors" who often own mansions (PS the huge majority of people here doesn't even own a HOUSE- most of them live in apartments and even small houses are ridiculously expensive). I've gotten the impression that people sometimes have a hard time trusting the church with his or her money, and for good reason! I hope to soon be confident and culturally proficient enough to begin studying the Bible with others one-on-one myself.

 Disclaimer: Remember, all of these things I'm sharing are my impressions of things here- things through my eyes. I could totally be wrong about things like the emotional significance of cheiros or how I'm relating things about how it is to study the Bible. I'm still basically a child in this culture, and I'm learning about a million things per day. 


In a bit look forward to a blog about Acampamissão, a camp all about missions and serving God that we took our youth group to. It has changed my life in a way I can compare to nothing else I’ve ever experienced.

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