A "Normal" Week is Finally in Sight!

Before beginning, I first wanted to introduce you to our new pet around the house....our very own gecko! No, this is not a real PET in the normal sense, but we noticed this little guy on the ceiling of our living room this week. A few years ago the idea of a gecko living in our house would have made me pretty nervous, but actually (surprisingly) it is great because geckos eat bugs...so he is actually quite handy so we don't mind him being around! We have quite a few mosquitoes here at this time of the year and it is especially noticeable because there are no screens on the windows so anything to keep the number down is great :)

Moving on, this week has been great because we actually started with a "normal" routine. Jeyson has started the routine of going now every day to the hanger from 8-5:30 where he so far has been working on maintenance. Tomorrow he will be having a meeting with the leaders to discuss when he will begin flying again. This really is up to the flight instructors since we are ready whenever. They had originally (in November) suggested waiting a bit after returning and focusing on maintenance for while, however it seems maybe there is more flexibility to begin again sooner. We'll see. No matter what happens will be fine because maintenance has the benefits of more predictable hours to return home and less stress usually, but flying is great because it brings us closer to our goal of moving to the Amazon region.

Meanwhile, what my week will look like is also starting to become a bit clearer. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings I will also go to the mission base to help out in the office area. I will be working in the department that organizes the medical/dental/evangelistic clinics. This is a good area to start because it involves less need to speak Portuguese. I can help with preparing and cleaning up medical supplies and other material used and help plan the clinics. Speaking of which, there is one coming up next Saturday in Brasilia - the country's capital. Then Monday and Wednesday afternoons I meet another woman from the mission, Cinneha, for Portuguese classes. Today was the first one and it went really well! I really feel like I will learn a lot from spending these 4 hours twice week with her. We don't sit with books the whole time, we spent time chatting while cooking and even plan to do some crafts together while we just practice normal conversation...it should be fun! We of course also do the book part too, which is also a necessary part of learning. Although the class was a lot of fun, it was really exhausting too. Mentally it is draining to work so hard learning to communicate. (more on the other days of the weeks in the next part)

For some other news, Jeyson and I have been praying about how we can serve in our church and community. This past week it was so neat to see what opportunities have come up. Last week at church the pastor approached us asking us to be part of a "pilot" small group. This means we will meet with him and several other couples at his house on Tuesdays for the rest of this year. Then at the end of the year we will all begin leading our own small group ministries in our neighborhoods. This was such an answer to prayer because we had really been sensing God putting on our hearts to be small groups leaders but we weren't sure how to start. This seems really to be the prefect answer and we are so excited about it! It is also encouraging to see how God was putting the same desire on the church's heart that He was putting on ours, as this small group ministry will be new for the church.

Also, we had been praying about helping as leaders with the youth at our church. Then this week we were also approached again about helping lead, specifically through building relationships with the students who are really in need of it. Several have backgrounds of very difficult family situations that really gripped my heart. We will also be helping plan activities to keep the kids involved, since as of now there are no "regular" meetings. On Saturday we are helping lead our first event with the youth and we are also now involved with one of the Sunday School classes. My hope is also to begin discipleship relationships as I get to know some of the girls better.

Another part of my regular week is going to be working with a ministry in our city named PETI. It is a program for children through young teens. Here in Brazil students only go to school part o the day (either in the morning or the afternoon, depending on the individual student's schedule). So as a result, kids have half of the day free each day. This program was started by some Christian women who wanted to reach out to these students during their free time. 70 kids are involved in the program and come every day to do all kinds of activities - breakfast, games, art, music, etc. The women build relationships with the students and share the gospel with them. Though it is not a Christian program, the parents do not mind because of the other benefits it brings to their kids. The leader of the program asked me to be involved by teaching an English dynamic to some of the older students. Since many of the activities are not as age appropriate for them this is a good way to keep them interested and coming! So, my plan right now is to being just going to the program one day a week and getting to know the students before starting a class. Then, I hope to teach for 2 hours and have the rest of the time to meet with kids individually to also build relationships. Since it is not a problem to speak openly about the Bible there, my hope is to bring my children's English Bible there and use that in the classroom. Many of these children come from very hard situations and have never been exposed to the Gospel outside this program...what an opportunity! Here are some pictures of the program:

And just to finish off, a quick picture of Saturday when Jeyson's parents came to visit us in our home.So, with all of that said, it is exciting to see things starting to come together here. Please continue to pray as we really are dependant on the Lord each day. Also, feel free to leave a comment or send an email, we'd love to hear what is new with you!