Lots of Good News

I am glad to be back in internet world after a week away due to computer problems. I really missed blogging and sharing with you what is happening here - and really there's a lot going on!

Here's some of what you missed:

We are most of the way through our couples FamilyLife study on conflict. Here is a picture of last week's group in our living room. Unfortunately, because of my trip next week to the States and several others who are traveling, we're going to have to put the last 2 lessons on hold for a few weeks. We're looking forward to what's ahead though, and we are thinking about me bringing a few more of the FamilyLife studies back with me to do in the future.

Also this past week I had a conversation with one of my English students that made all of the work of the conversation course so far more than worthwhile. Our group has dwindled over the past few months and now most weeks it is only me with my two most committed students. They both speak English very well, so we are able to have some great English discussions and meaningful Bible study times. To me the number of students in each setting that I teach is not nearly as important as the depth of the relationships - and often the smaller the class, the meaningful relationships are. Well last week something came up and only one lady was able to make it. Even though it was only the two of us, the Bible study opened up a wonderful, deep discussion about salvation and faith. She was so interested and we talked for over a hour. The time went so fast as we discussed her honest questions and looked at the Bible together. It convinced me, more than ever, that teaching English is a wonderful door for relationships of both evangelism and discipleship. Please continue to pray that God will prepare the hearts of those He brings into our lives.

Well other than that exciting news, there's also great news on the Portuguese learning front.
Over the past months I have been learning Portuguese mostly just through the normal routines of living and serving in Brazil. Many of my Brazilian friends (and even students) correct me in every day conversation, which has helped so much! Also, I have been meeting my language learning partner, Cininha, from Portugal. She has helped me with some of the nitty gritty grammar, reading, and vocabulary that I've needed throughout the week.

Although I have been making progress, I began wondering if I should consider paying for an actual Portuguese tutor who is experienced in teaching Portuguese to foreigners. I spoke to another American missionary who has learned Portuguese successfully and she suggested I meet with a Portuguese teacher for an evaluation to listen to my Portuguese and consider whether I should take classes. I liked this idea a lot because I really didn't want to look back 5 years from now and wish that I had done more to learn Portuguese than I'm doing.

So, now for the good news. After 2 hours talking with a Portuguese teacher I was so happy to hear her conclusion. She said that while there is always more to learn and perfect, she feels I have passed the point that I need a professional teacher and that I will be able to learn the rest just through everyday living. I was so excited to hear that and really thank God for having enabled me to make it through this first, hardest part.

So, is language learning over? Definitely not! This teacher gave me two whole pages of things I need to work on, and gave me suggestions such as certain books to read and suggested that I continue to meet with Cininha. I feel relieved though to have a professional opinion saying I'm on the right track.

On a totally different note, we have even more good news. (See, a lot really did happen over the past few weeks!) The news is about now finally having reliable transportation! If you have been following our blog you know that we've really been struggling with transportation since we only had Jeyson's beetle from 1967! Despite him doing a great job with the maintenance, it was falling apart due to....well just being old. Also despite Jeyson patiently trying to teach me to drive the beetle, I had no success on ever learning all of the tricks since you really had to be a mechanic with a tool bag to drive the car. Well anyway, the problem was that here cars, even used cars, are drastically overpriced! For example, an ordinary car from 1997 is sold for equivalent to $8,000, and this without airbags, air conditioning and power steering or windows or anything! Just to get an idea, a new car starts out at 3 or more times the price of the same car in the US. Cars lose very little value and because of inflation and other factors, some used cars gain value from one year to another!

While we didn't like that aspect of reality here, we really felt we needed to buy a good, reliable car at a price that we could afford, and recently we did just that. We met with a car dealer that has helped several missionaries and he gave us a great deal (for here) on a reliable Ford Escort in great condition. It has really helped us a lot as now we can get around town without feeling stressed about our safety or about making it there. It has also helped me to adjust as now I will be able to drive too. While getting a new car may seem like a very materialistic thing for a missionary to report about on their blog, it truly was an answer to prayer that we want to praise God for and share with you!

So what else is going on?

Jeyson is continuing to get his hours of flight and study for his theoretical commercial pilot's test. The test is much more complicated than a driver's test - it involves what would normally be a whole semester's worth of material covering five different areas. He has been pretty overwhelmed with the material, but has started taking some practice tests to help him get ready for this big exam. He still feels he has a lot to work on to pass the test, so pray that God will help him absorb and understand what he need to pass and really be a prepared pilot.

Also, of course around here there's never a shortage of churrascos - Brazilian BBQ.

Here's some pictures of the most recent one with some friends from Asas.

And also for fun, last weekend we went on a great outdoors adventure with Andres and Camila, our friends from Asas. We decided to go to Salto Corumbá -a waterfall about 45 minutes from our house that we had never seen before.
We headed out first thing in the morning, eating a very Brazilian breakfast the car - fruit cake (Brazilians love it!) and mate, the Brazilian communal tea that is passed around and is sipped from a special gourd. (I'll have to explain that in more detail sometime, it's very interesting though I can't imagine it getting popular in the States :)
Anyway, when we arrived we decided to go a more challenging route that involved hiking about 2 miles to the fall.

Taking a breather on the hike...it got rather intense at points!

Finally we arrived at the top of the waterfall. It was gorgeous!

And high! It's hard to see from the picture how high we really were.

Looking down you can see how tiny the people on the rocks were, to give you an idea how high this was!

Me and Camila

After taking pictures at the top of the waterfall, we decided to climb down the steep trail to get to the bottom of the fall. In this picture I look nice and calm, but the actual moment was a bit scarier!

Finally we arrived and it was worth the effort! It was just magnificent! You can see how small the people look in comparison to the water coming down on them.

It was quite a challenge to even stand under the waterfall since the water was so strong! This man was having a wonderful time getting what he called a massage, but I felt like I was getting sprayed with a power sprayer!

Needless to say, it was a lot of fun...

We have really enjoyed getting to know this wonderful country where we now live.