Christmas in September

As you might remember our "newlyweds" Bible study group finished up our original commitment to go through a 4 week book about marriage. (Actually the group is all newlywed couples plus one couple who has been married for longer but does not have children, so they have a lot in common since their family is just the husband and wife.) The group decided to study about conflict. Since it would take weeks for the book to be shipped to Brazil, I quickly ordered the new book online and had it shipped to my parents' house in NJ. Then my sister scanned and email ALL the pages and I downloaded and printed them here. Wow it is amazing how technology changes life overseas!! Well anyway after the whole process, last night we began our new book in the FamilyLife Homebuilders series. It was interesting, humorous, and also comforting to remember that conflict is normal in marriage - it is how you handle it that matters. Here are some pictures of the group




Having a yummy Brazilian snack after the study - hot dogs cooked in tomato sauce with corn and potato sticks on top! Really a lot tastier than it might sound to an American :)

On a totally different note, a story I have been looking forward to sharing is about one of our partnering churches, The Union Church of Lavallette (Lavallette, NJ). A few months ago we got an email saying the wanted to teach about our work in to the kids in their VBS this summer. They did all kinds of creative activities, watched related movies, learned words in Portuguese, tried mangoes, and much more. Then, as a way to be involved with our ministry, they collected school supplies to send to the children's program where I teach English. This program has hardly any money and a serious lack of supplies, especially art/school material. (I have talked about this on previous blogs)
Anyway, a few weeks ago we received the supplies in the mail and were blown away by how thoughtful and generous these families were! I had imagined they would send a mailing envelope of supplies, but instead they sent 15!!! We passed on the exciting packages to the director of the program and the kids and everyone was SO excited! It was like Christmas in September! It was so neat to be a part of these very poor kids hearing and feeling the love of God from others very far away!
Here are some pictures:
Everyone gathering around in anticipation
Smiles

Two cute girls holding a bag of "wordless book" bracelets that tell the Gospel message.
Eliana, the director telling all about the church and kids who sent the generous material to the program.
In VBS they even made paper airplanes and wrote "Wings of Mercy" on it - Asas de Socorro in English. The VBS leader told me the cute story that one child accidentally wrote "Wigs of Mercy" on the plane!

Some of the girls looking at a photo album of the week of VBS that was sent in the package. They loved looking at pictures of the people who sent the gifts.

Me with some of my English students
Everyone wrote thank you notes and sent them along with crafts back to the church in NJ.

Thank you once again for the wonderful supplies!!!