Meeting Neighbors with our (daily) Bread

Wow the idea of submitting legal paperwork has a whole new meaning after this past week in Brazil. The bottom line is - things just are more complicated here (meaning more steps to the process) and each process takes a lot longer too. We have spent ENTIRE days waiting in lines, meeting with people, making payments, etc. to get all of the steps in this process complete. However, by the end of this week we successfully submitted everything necessary for me (Stephanie) to get my permanent visa to stay in Brazil! All that's left is the final step which is a surprise drop in from the federal police to check if Jeyson and I are really married. (Since I am applying for the visa based on the fact that I am married to Brazilian) So any day between now and the next six months we will get a visit and we have to prove we are really both living here by showing them we both have clothes here, we have pictures of our wedding, etc. It should be interesting! So we have done everything we need to do in the process, it is now just a matter of waiting for the government to take the next step in the process. We'll keep you up to date when we get our visit :)

So anyway, this week as part of the process we had to take our marriage license to Goiania (where Jeyson's parents live) and have it validated by the Brazilian government. Since Goiania is the only place in the state where this can be done, we were glad it was only and hour away and where we have family! So we drove there and spent time getting this (and some other documentation) done and then spent an afternoon at Jeyson's family's "farm". Here's a picture of them putting Jeyson to work on job they needed done.

It is so nice to be able to have family all the way down here in Brazil! It makes the transition easier for me. Speaking of family, people have asked how I talk to my family back in the States. Here is a picture of me doing just that in our living using our computer and a program called Skype. You can call between any computers and talk as long as you want for free over the internet. It is such a blessing to have - I can't imagine the days when letters were the only way of keeping in touch!

Anyway, once we got back to Anapolis we decided to focus next on our own neighborhood - beginnigng to reach out to our neighbors. Below are a few pictures of what the area looks like. So, to meet our neighbors we made two loaves of bread and went with the first one to our neighbor across the street. There we met a family with a mother and twin daughters about 18 years old (not married), and each of those twins also has a baby who were born only 1 month apart! We were invited in chatted with one a of the daughters for a while and she seemed very interested in spending more time together...maybe sometime this week. Then, we walked down the street with our other loaf of bread looking for which house to stop at. We decided on one and met a older woman who (after we convinced her we were not trying to SELL bread, but only to GIVE her bread) came out and talked with us. She told us her husband had divorced her years ago and he recently found out that he has cancer and she is now taking care of him in her house. She has a Catholic background and he is a Spiritist - (see the bottom where I copied an explanation from Wikipedia). Anyway, she was very excited about our visit and bread. She then brought us next door to visit her daughter and granddaughters. This family then brought us to another neighbor to meet their family. It was quite exciting to see what a few loaves of bread can do :) One of the woman said she would like to take me to the school where her kids attend to see if I can help there with English. I told her I am not looking for a JOB as a teacher but I would go with her to see what opportunities there are...you never know what could come up, plus it is a good way to know her better. We are looking forward to getting to know them all more.

The last major area with new things happening is our church. We are really enjoying our church and getting involved there. Previously I had mentioned we were going to attend a youth Sunday school class this week, which we did. It seemed though that the kids were much younger than we had thought and already had a new teacher. Next week we will be going to another class with older teens (16+) so we're looking forward to see if that will be a better fit for getting involved. I also met a teen girl from that age group who is very interested in getting tutored in English...perhaps this will be a way to build a relationship? Here are some pictures from our church just to give you an idea.

Our pastor

The praise band

There are a lot of different directions for me to go in (a few I didn't even have time to mention) regarding how to set up spending my time and I'm still seeing the options and praying about what steps to take next. Please pray for me as you remember.

*(Spiritism is a spiritualist philosophical doctrine, established in France in the mid-nineteenth century.
Spiritism, or French spiritualism, is based on books written by French educator Hypolite Léon Denizard Rivail under the pseudonym Allan Kardec reporting séances in which he observed a series of phenomena that could be only attributed to incorporeal intelligence (spirits). His assumption of spirit communication was validated by many contemporaries, among them many scientists and philosophers who attended séances and studied the phenomena. His work was later extended by writers like Leon Denis, Arthur Conan Doyle, Camille Flammarion, Ernesto Bozzano, Chico Xavier, Divaldo Pereira Franco, Waldo Vieira, Johannes Greber[1] and others.
Spiritism has adherents in many countries throughout the world, including Spain, United States, Japan, Germany, France, England, Argentina, Portugal and especially Brazil, which has the largest proportion and the greatest number of followers.[2])