Cookies, Stuffing, Weddings, and Wii

I'm back in Brazil after my wonderfully refreshing trip to the States for my sister's wedding. I was so happy to see Jeyson again, who has been hard at work while I've been away. Fortunately though, I was able to bring him some of his favorite treats from the States...which I may just have to enjoy along with him :) Since recently I have written more about what is going on with me, in an upcoming blog I plan to zero in a little more on his work.



Well I do have a bunch of fun pictures to post from my time with my family, but first let me tell you some other exciting news. You might remember from previous posts about how we are working with our church to receive training on beginning an evangelistic small group in our neighborhood. The training we receive each week is participating in a small group where we learn about being leaders of our own group. So far we have had many discussions and even one week we had got to lead the group. Yesterday though, each couple was encouraged to invite a friend outside the church to participate with us as a larger small group. I decided to invite my friend and English student who has been very interested in the Bible studies we do in my English conversation group. Since I just returned home Tuesday night, I wasn't even able to call her until Wednesday, the day of the event. I called her, fully expecting her to say no due to the short notice or lack of interest, but to my pleasant surprise she said yes and decided to even bring her daughter. The leader of our training, Jailson, lead a a study based on a parable and we had a group discussion about values. We were encouraged to see that even all of the guests participated in a very engaging discussion and it was a very worthwhile time! I told Nina how in the coming year we will begin a study at our own house, and I hope she decides to come!



Speaking of the study at our house, since this will be an outreach to our neighbors, we decided that we want to try to reach out to all of our neighbors again before inviting them in the new year. So, since cookies are not only not a Christmas tradition here, but almost unheard of, we decided to bring our neighbors each a plate of cookies, reintroduce ourselves to those we have not built a relationship with, and give them something different and memorable. So, this weekend I plan to get baking and we will deliver the cookies soon after. Please pray for us as we make these contacts! We would love to be able to build a connection so they will come to our small group and hear the Gospel. I will post an update on how it goes!



With that said, now on to the fun pictures from my trip.

My new brother-in-law, Jeremy, is an air force pilot....a love for airplanes seems to run in the family! While we were in Charlston for the wedding we got to take a tour of the base and the GIANT C-17s that he flies.

Look at the size of these planes! Several of our mission's planes could fit inside of these.

There were so many of them, too.

The inside view

Me, my dad, and brother-in-law, Adam on the seats along the sides of the plane.

Adam and my sister, Danielle, in control of the plane :)
My sister, Christa, my dad, and my grandmother under the plane's wing.

Me with my grandmother

Speaking of my grandmother, one of the most amusing moments of the trip was going to a Mexican restaurant with both sides of the family. Rather than getting tacos, my grandmother thought she might get something light and fresh instead. She asked the waitress if she could order a bowl of fresh fruit. When the waitress said there as none available, my grandmother paused for a second, and said that since fruit wasn't an option, instead she would order a bowl of fried ice cream! I was impressed by her letting go and having a good time, and hope to be the same way when I'm her age....and still in good health like her!

Wedding day finally arrived. Here is a picture in the salon with Jamie the morning of the wedding.

The wedding was at this beautiful gazebo in the park. It was a small wedding, with only about 40 people and it was just perfect, even though the weather was rather chilly! (Especially for me who has been living in the tropics :)

A pre-wedding shot. Left to Right - Adam, my grandmother, my mom, my other grandmother, my sister Danielle, and my sister Christa.

The beautiful bride and her new husband.

My parents with Jamie at the reception

I was so glad the wedding was close enough to Thanksgiving that I was able to stay for the holiday. We headed back to NJ and enjoyed Thanksgiving with some relatives who were not able to come for the wedding.

My grandfather also celebrated his birthday.

My uncle somehow got stuck sitting in the corner :)

My sister, Christa, and her boyfriend, Andy

After dinner we played some exciting rounds of Wii bowling. Here's my grandmother bowling - she's an expert and beat the whole family!

And even a Wii Guitar Hero rock band....we laughed SO hard!

I can't tell you how fun, refreshing, and relaxing this trip was. Some of the best parts of being home were seeing my family (of course!), sharing about our ministry in my home church, being at my sister’s wedding, enjoying convinces such as steamy hot showers, and eating many of my favorite American foods (especially around Thanksgiving!).
However, being away also gave me the opportunity for a fresh perspective on our ministry and life in Brazil. It helped me to see that this is definitely where God wants us serving Him now. Sometimes while living overseas it is easy to miss home (meaning the States) but going there helped me really see that Brazil is home. My trip also helped me to see that God has been so faithful to provide for every one of our needs. And it has helped me to see how important it is to build relationships to bring others closer to knowing the Lord - and I came back so glad to be doing that full-time, both directly and indirectly.
Visiting my parents, setting up the Christmas tree with them, passing turkey around the table, and understanding absolutely every word spoken was so refreshing! I’m so glad I went to the States and now I’m so glad to be back in Brazil too.