Next Monday...It's around the corner!

Since our wedding we have been "suitcase people". For the last two months we can really identify with the saying "home is where you lay your head"....we have stayed in 9 different places! One of the most refreshing places we have stayed was our 8th stop - the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA where we were this past weekend.
Realizing all of the changes we are going through, Stephanie's parents sent us to a Family Life Weekend to Remember conference in Hershey. We knew it was going to be a great experience from the time we got out of the car. Since Hershey is where the Hershey Chocolate Factory is, we could literally smell the sweet time in the air!
At the conference we learned a lot about the new roles and life we have found ourselves in and really gained some tools to strengthen our marriage. We realize for our ministry to be effective we first need to have a strong marriage. During the time we were especially excited about the HomeBuilders studies the organization puts out. HomeBuilders is material for a small group Bible study that focuses on building your marriage. We have realized how much we have to learn and how much we benefited from what we learned this weekend and we would love to learn along with a few other couples in Brazil. We purchased some material and are praying about beginning a HomeBuilders small group in Brazil eventually.
Of course our weekend in Hershey would not be complete without a tour/ride through Hershey's Chocolate World and we did not pass up the opportunity!

Now we are back in NJ at our 9th and final stop in this journey -Stephanie's parents' house. Stephanie's family is away for the week in Arizona so other than Christa and Joseph (Stephanie's siblings) we are on our own :)

The day after they left town a snowstorm came through. It was funny because for Jeyson, growing up in South America, snow is still very fun for him. When he found out he was going to have to help with snow removal, he got so excited he did the whole thing himself! Christa and Stephanie were happy to stay warm inside and get things done!

This week we have been facing our massive to do list that must be accomplished before we leave for Brazil next Monday. (Wow I can't believe I just said that - it is almost here!!) We have been busy with everything from getting health records to meeting with our pastor to setting up finances. If anyone reading this has ever moved out of the country you understand how overwhelming this can be! We are so excited that the final document that Stephanie needs to bring with her to get her permanent visa came through. She will go to Brazil on a tourist visa and once we are there she will apply for her permanent visa. Hopefully she has everything she needs for the process to go smoothly in Brazil, but keep praying about this since there are always new hoops to jump through. We have also started to say our good byes to many friends and family and even to pack - two very big jobs!

Meanwhile on Sunday we are headed to southern Jersey to Lavallette. When Jeyson was in Brazil he met a pastor from New Jersey who was visiting the area. Jeyson started chatting with him and he invited us to share at his church, which we did in November. They have invited us again to speak on Sunday so we are headed there again. After that we are on the homestretch for Brazil!

Visa? Check!

If you had the chance to read our earlier post about our "not so exciting news" you know about our visa dilemma. We were facing a problem getting Stephanie's tourist visa to enter Brazil because she only has a one way ticket. We just wanted to share the exciting news that we were able to get the visa this week! We did a lot of research and made a lot of phone calls and were able to find people who were sympathetic to our problem at the consulate in Chicago...just where were aheaded for 2 weeks! Everything went so smoothly and quickly! What an answer to prayer! Thank you for praying!
Tomorrow we are headed to a marriage conference for the weekend in Hershey, PA. We are excited about the conference and also about being in "chocolate world"...yum!

Back in Chi-Town

On Friday we left New Jersey and took our long anticipated trip out to the Chicago area. After several years of living in different countries, we have made so many trips to airports to see each other off and head home in different directions. Standing in line to board our plane together to Chicago we couldn't get over how excited we are to finally travel TOGETHER and not be saying good-bye!
In Chicago we were greeted by Jeyson's stateside "home church", lots of friends from the past, and tons of snow! We have been staying in the suburb of Winnetka about 40 minutes from downtown Chicago. Winnetka Bible Church has supported Jeyson's family as missionaries for many years and we were thrilled that they had shown interested in our ministry. One of the purposes of this trip was to meet with their missions council and they made us feel right at home. The church has beautiful, recently redone apartments where the church has allowed us to stay and they have let us borrow a van that belongs to the church - what huge answers of prayer! In addition to it just being a blessing to function, having an apartment has let us feel like we finally have our own little home, even if it is just for a week or so!
So, what have we been up to? A lot! We have spent a lot of time getting together with supporters and friends who we have not seen in a while. We have also been working on Stephanie's visa/documentation situation in the downtown area. On Tuesday we met with the missions council and were so excited to find out that they are going to be part of our support team! We really feel so excited to be part of Winnetka Bible Church in this new way especially because the church has really been Jeyson's church family over the years. We also feel so blessed to have our support base continue to strengthen! Praise God!


Another great part of our trip has been founder's week - a huge yearly conference at Moody Bible Institute. We took a trip to the Moody area on Monday - we spent time with our college friends, ate deep dish Chicago pizza, and went to an evening of the conference. It was just such an encouraging time to be around so many believers, great teaching, and just step back into the "Moody bubble" (as it's called) to be refreshed.

(A photo of the conference is on the left and a photo of us with Stephanie's college roommate is at the top - I wish we could say we made the igloo!)

Tomorrow we are heading to Walnut, IL to visit our friends at Walnut Community Bible Church, one of our supporting churches and early next week we'll head back to New Jersey.

Our Commissioning

On Sunday we were officially commissioned to our ministry by our sending church, Calvary Bible Church. This was a very significant day for us that we have been leading up to for many years. In the service we shared our testimonies and the elders, deacons, and missions committee stood with us and prayed for us. We know it is impossible for us to be "lone rangers" in ministry, so we are so glad our church is willing to officially take on the responsibility of encouraging, supporting, and keeping us accountable in ministry.

Sometimes it seems so unreal that we will be getting on a plane in a few weeks to head to Brazil. It is moments like the commissioning service though, that helps the truth sink in. As each day passes we get more and more excited to get established and "dig in" to what God has in store for us in Brazil. Also as reality hits I, Stephanie, am beginning to process more that I will really be leaving my family and all I have known - it can be emotional at times. So many changes all at one time!

Tomorrow we will be making a trip to the Ecuadorian consulate in order to get Jeyson's Ecuadorian passport renewed. Although this does not have to do with the situation with Stephanie getting a visa, we have to do it so Jeyson can continue to get long stays in the US next time he comes. Then on Friday we will be leaving to spend about two weeks in Chicago. We are so excited to return to our college home as a married couple! For now though we are headed out to dessert with Stephanie's family to "live up" our last weeks with them!

Our Trip Down South and Some Not-So-Exciting News

This weekend we took we went our our first ministry sharing trip as a married couple. Stephanie's sister, Danielle, and her husband, Adam, had shared about our ministry with their church in Virginia and we were invited by them to come share more with the church.
We had a short time to share in the service and we went out to lunch with the missions committee after. The church was so welcoming to us and we walked away from the opportunity feeling so encouraged by their passion for missions. Although the church is relatively small and is working hard to raise funds to replace a building, they still place a HUGE priority on funding ministry outreach overseas. It is such an encouragement to us to see that kind of excitement and dedication - it helps us become even more excited and dedicated too!Here is our table in the back of the church where we met some new friends and were able to share more about our work in Brazil.

In addition to our time sharing with the church, we also had a great time with Danielle and Adam. They have been married four years and are both teachers. Danielle teaches elementary school and Adam teaches middle school history. We took a ferry ride, played games, visited Danielle's classroom, and ate LOTS of Mexican food - a treat for us! These pictures are of our nacho making and our ferry ride.

Now yesterday and today, back in New Jersey, we are back to the grind. We have a lot to do to get ready to move out of the country and to prepare for more trips to share about our ministry. One of the major steps in the process of Stephanie moving to Brazil is getting her permanent Brazilian visa (this of course not a problem for Jeyson because he is Brazilian). Since we will be doing this process while IN Brazil, in our research we had previously learned she would have to get a tourist visa to get TO Brazil where she would apply for her permanent visa. This seemed like a straightforward process since Stephanie has gotten tourist visas several times before. So, today as we were beginning to plan our trip to NYC to get the visa we called to confirm what exactly would be needed to get the tourist visa (to prevent showing all the way up on the city only to discover we are missing a document). Anyway, during this phone call we found out the very "not-so-exciting" news that the Brazilian embassy requires a ROUND TRIP ticket as one of the documents to get the tourist visa. Unfortunately, since at this point we have no foreseeable plans to return we only purchased a one way ticket and to purchase the other way will cost about $1,000! Of course this doesn't even make sense in our situation to get a round trip ticket because the whole purpose in going is to not return like a tourist does, but so far we have not had success explaining the situation to get an exception. For several hours we pursued explaining this situation to various people at the consulate but everyone so far has wanted to stick to the book because it's a requirement to have this round trip ticket. Anyway, with all that said we began to pray about the situation and we sought more people who might help and it looks like we may be able to make our case to the Chicago consulate when we are in the area in 2 weeks. So, please pray for us as we face this dilemma not only as we seek to get this tourist visa, but also as we try to get the permanent visa in Brazil!

"Goin' to the Chapel"

Well the big day has finally come and gone. After hours of preparation and countless trips to pick up guests from Newark Airport, we are now officially Jeyson and Stephanie Braun! It is impossible to capture in a single entry all that has happened in the past few weeks, but here is our best shot.

In the beginning of December Jeyson's family, Jonas, Iria, and Lika Braun, flew in from Brazil to spend several weeks with the Ciotta family before the wedding. It was such an exciting time because our families had never met before.

The Brauns had never been to New Jersey before, so there were so many new places to take them to show them around. We went down the the shore area (even though it was SO cold!) and up towards New York. We introduced them to NJ/NY style pizza and of course put them to work on some last minute wedding prep. We had a lot of fun and especially enjoyed spending Christmas together. The picture here is of our Christmas dinner. (left to right is Stephanie, Jeyson, Jonas, Iria, Lika, and Bruce). We had Chinese food for Christmas...a little unusual but we all loved it and and with the wedding in 4 days easy was just what we needed!

After Christmas, each day new family and friends arrived in town. Stephanie's siblings came in from Virginia and South Carolina and Jeyson's brother and his wife came from California. It was so fun to all be together! There was so much to do, but we made sure to just enjoy the moment too knowing it is unlikely we will ALL be together again anytime soon.

The day before the wedding was such a crazy day - this was the day to tackle all of the behind the scenes tasks. Then we had the rehearsal and a very casual dinner of pizza back at our house following the practice. Wow, you don't realize how big your family is until they are all in one kitchen! It was definitely a bonding experience!

The next morning of course was the wedding. It really was such a special day for us and so beautiful to make a lifelong covenant in front of everyone who means so much to us. One of the most meaningful parts was having our fathers come up with us and bless us.


After our wedding we went on our honeymoon. With so much going on with support raising and family coming in town, we decided to go with an easy honeymoon that involved no planning - a cruise. Stephanie loved the idea of beaches and and Jeyson loved the idea of the all you can eat buffets :) We left on a cruise from Bayonne, NJ and went to the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico. It was so relaxing to just wake up each morning at a new destination without having to worry about traveling. Each destination was so unique and we loved trying different foods and activities like snorkeling and hiking. There was so much to do on the huge ship (almost 5,000 people including the crew!). It would have been impossible to do everything.

We came back to "real life" on Sunday and have a lot of catching up to do. Stephanie finished up her job before our wedding so we are both focusing full time on support raising and preparing to leave for Brazil. We will be traveling to Virginia and Illinois, speaking at several churches and meeting with missions committees. Please pray for us as we travel and continue to raise the funds we need to head to the field.

Our Sending Church

This week I, Jeyson, made it to New Jersey in time to join Stephanie's family for Thanksgiving. Of course Stephanie I are really excited to see each other again after almost 5 months apart. After over two years in different countries it seems too good to be true to finally be together for good! It is so nice to talk face to face instead of over scratchy phone lines and to actually be with each other instead of only seeing pictures. It took 24 hours of travel on 5 different flights to make it from Goiania to Newark....it was really exhausting and I was glad to finally arrive Saturday evening.

Some exciting new news is that Stephanie's church approved to officially support us and be our sending church. The church's name is Calvary Bible Church and it is located in Whitehouse Station, NJ. Stephanie grew up in the church and has been communicating with them for several years about our direction into missions, so it is such an encouragement to have them officially standing behind us. Also on Sunday we took a trip to south Jersey where we had the chance to share about our ministry at a church. I had actually met the pastor of the church in Brazil and he happened to live close to Stephanie's house in the States so we kept in touch and met him and his church again yesterday. We have a few other churches lined up to speak at in the next few weeks as well, which we are looking forward to.

Everyone has been asking about wedding plans and it is so fun to see things really coming together. Yesterday we went to pick out a tuxedo and we are planning the ceremony, it is starting to feel like it is really going to happen...only about four weeks now!