Errand Obstacle Course

Have you ever left your home on a mission to run a bunch of simple errands, and somehow the simple sounding trip turns into an obstacle course? Well multiply that by 3 and you get a glimpse at how tough running simple errands can be in laid back Brazil. This week the errand obstacle course seemed to be the theme of the week as each simple thing we tried to accomplish turned out to be...not so simple. Fortunately, we kept a good sense of humor and wound up laughing a lot.

Here's a few errand obstacles we ran into:

- We had several thank you notes to send to the States. Since we no longer live close to a post office (where I used to walk when I had letters to mail) we decided to buy a bunch of international stamps to have them on hand and make this process easier. During our lunch break we made what we thought would be a simple trip to buy stamps at the post office, and after waiting in line we were informed that the post office was out of stamps! Ha! Who knew a post office could run out of stamps!

- Then we made a quick trip over to our local butcher shop to buy several packages of chicken for a bbq we had planned - only to discover they only had 1 small pack of chicken in stock! (We bought and wound up picking up the rest somewhere else)

- Then, came an important errand. Since we moved houses, by law as a foreigner I am required to give the new address to the federal police within 30 days. The deadline we coming up so Jeyson asked to get off a little early for lunch on Friday so we could get this done. We arrived there ready to get this taken care of, only to discover that the whole police department that deals with foreigners had changed their office hours only open in the afternoons!

- So, by that point it wasn't worth driving back to Asas since it was only a few minutes before the lunch break, we decided to make one more quick stop that we had to do anyway - pick up forms to pay our Brazilian taxes. Taxes are due in about a month so, we drove past the IRS equivlent building and I ran in to get the form, only to discover that NO forms are available yet and the government worker didn't know when they will be!

At this point we really had to laugh and remember the key word of living in another country (or even in your own!)....FLEXIBILITY!

Well, on a totally different subject, Jeyson has been working on a unique project at Asas when the "normal" projects are done. One of the leaders asked him to fix a special board on wheels that the mechanics lay on when working under the airplanes. He wound up pretty much rebuilding the whole thing and enjoyed the creativity involved so much that he started on another project, the stool on wheels below to work on planes. Knowing that a lot of times while working the planes tools wind up all over the floor, he built it with a shelf with a ledge underneigth to hold the tools while working.


The picture really doesn't do it justice to show how much thought and work went into it. Each board is nicely varnished and Jeyson welded the frame together...something he didn't mind doing at all since it is one of his favorite things to do (or read about or watch youtube videos about in order to improve). Great job, Jeyson!


And now for some pictures of some of our "co-workers" at Asas, since there are many that have never appeared on our blog yet. This week one missionary couple's son had a birthday party so I was able to take some pictures.



Below left to right: Leandro who is going through mechanics training and girlfriend, Vanessa who is a volunteer in the mission; Lauro and Rose (who you have met on our blog before); the birthday boy, Daniel; Jeferson, who just joined Asas after studying 4 years in a nearby Bible school to meet the Bible training qualification with the mission; Sara, who works with the medical outreach area of the mission; Camila, who know you well from our blog; and Milena who is the mother of the birthday boy and the wife of one of the men in mechanics training.

You also know Andres well from our blog and on the right is Bruno, who just arrived this year. We were so glad to have the chance to have him over and get to know him this weekend with some other of the young missionaries who were in town.

The birthday boy was a little camera shy....

Until later when he was so proud to be drinking mate - the traditional Brazilian tea drink, which you've probably seen before on our blog.

It was such a sweet time to celebrate with this family who left so much to follow God's leading in their lives.

Giving a Tour, Giving a Challenge

It is not often that our ministry at church and our work with our mission intersect, but this weekend was one of those occasions. A while ago the leader of the "pre-junior high" at our church asked us to be a part of a group of lessons challenging to kids to really dedicate their lives to God. This could mean considering missions or another ministry for the future, as well as living for the Lord in the here and now. The leader asked us to get involved by sharing about our lives in ministry and how we knew God was calling us to it. We watched "The End of the Spear" with them and then as a follow-up, this weekend the kids took a trip to the mission hangar for a tour.

I'm not sure that I've ever posted a picture of the hangar before, so just in case, here's a glimpse.
Jeyson's parents also came from Goiania to spend Fri-Sat with us at our home. It was great to have them over! They also came for the tour with us.

There was a great turn out of kids - about 15 kids plus leaders. We were so surprised and pleased in their interest, especially because they had to come at 8 am on a Sat morning! Many of the kids have never flown before or seen a plane up close, so they were fascinated and asked great questions about planes and missions.

Here Jeyson is describing how the plane moves.

And out showing the runway, explaining how to take off and land.
They also found it so interesting when Jeyson demonstrated all of the complicated things pilots have to communicate on the radio. (Though of course he didn't actually have the radio on as he showed it) This is the room where a person who is accompanying a flight by radio can see the runway and talk on the radio. The kids were especially fascinated that a pilot has to use so many words on in English while talking on the radio, since that is the international language of aviation. For example, when you talk on the radio you have to identify your airplane with the letters in English. When you are flying the PT-MBI airplane, you have to refer to it as "Papa, Tango, Mike, Bravo, India" - using a word for each letter. This is much easier for Jeyson than it is for the other pilots who can't speak English!!

And demonstrating how to use the "aeronautical chart" - not to be confused with a map, as I myself learned yesterday during the tour! Group picture - we're on the left in the back

Speaking of looking around our mission, here is a completely different type of room in our mission that unfortunately this week I had to get to know a little too up close. This is the dental office in our mission. I know I've mentioned that our mission does medical/dental/evangelistic outreach trips to poor and remote areas as a ministry, but I don't think I've ever mentioned that our mission actually has a small, one room dental office where people from the community can receive very low cost dental care by Omar, a dentist, and his assistant, Matilde, who are missionaries with Asas. They meet physical needs while ministering to the patient spiritually. When on Monday I needed to go to the dentist, Omar treated my teeth and challenged me spiritually almost the whole time my mouth was open. I truly can say I left with improved teeth and feeling ministered to. What a practical and unique outreach.

This week was also the last meeting of our small group training. Now, each couple is going to start their own evangelistic neighborhood small group. Jailson (third from left), who lead the training will continue coming along side us for the next 6 months as the groups get off the ground. We're really going to miss meeting together with these other couples, but as Jailson challenged, this group is very comfortable, but we were not saved to stay in our comfort zones, but to step out and reach out to others.
As I mentioned, Jeyson's parents spent this weekend with us and here is our wonderful dinner Friday evening. We also invited Andres and Camila so Jeyson's parents and them could finally meet. It was a hot evening so we enjoyed our Chinese food out on our small porch.

Saturday morning, Jeyson's parents were a terrific help to us. Now all of our curtains are sewn and up thanks to Jeyson's mom. (In addition to the curtains we bought last week, we bought fabric to make some for the other rooms) Also now, our garden is well underway thanks to them! Jeyson's parents brought tons of plants from their farm and we set to work digging up weeds, turning over dirt, and planting. Now we just have to plant some herbs and then put grass in the open areas. We'll post a final picture when it's all done.
Finally, last night we went out to dinner for Valentine's day, even though Valentines' day is in June here in Brazil. We enjoyed some great Italian food and when we came home had the special treat of chocolate and peanut butter covered pretzels that my mom had sent to us in the mail....YUM! We hope you had a great Valentine's day as well!

A Curtain Lesson

Well another week has gone by and we're feeling much more settled into our new home. I am going to show a few AFTER shots, to compare with last week, but fist a picture:

You'll never imagine what trend has recently made its way down all the way from the States....that's right...crocs!



We had seen imported, expensive crocs a few times before in more specialized stores, but today we saw affordable, imitation shoes in a more everyday kind of store. I imagine they will become popular here as well. Now, if only bagels and tortilla chips would make their way down here!

And now for a few pictures of our home. (Please excuse that things aren't perfectly tidy, we were running around a bit today.)

The living room where you enter the house.



The kitchen is looking much better than it did last week when there was JUST a sink. It still needs some curtains or doors under the sink, though.


Our bedroom


Our bedroom is VERY bright in the morning so we searched everywhere for simple and affordable, but nice looking curtains to put up. Wet took the motorcycle downtown Saturday morning and went to countless stores trying to find something, ANYTHING that would work with no luck. Everything came in wild colors (like neon green or mustard yellow) or was extremely ruffly or frilly. I really wasn't being overly picky, just trying to find something that would work and it was so frustrating! I kept thinking about how easy curtain shopping would be in the States! As we walked from store to store, motorcycle helmets in tow, I can't tell you much much I longed for Bed Bath and Beyond or Target where the good options are endless! I know maybe it sounds strange to bring these things up, but that's my new reality - living in a place where things are just different. However, it's in these little moments of frustrations that I have to remind myself that life is so short and that we cannot get caught up in the little things that are going to be gone before we know it...like curtains. In the end it is just a piece of fabric to block the light, and what really matters in this life are glorifying God in everything and bringing others closer to Christ. Who knew God would teach me so much during while shopping for a curtain! Anyway, in the end we found these and they will not only block the sun, but also remind me to focus on what matters.


Anyway, to finish off the house tour, the backyard is looking a little better already and next week Jeyson's mom will come help me plant my garden! I can't wait!


For other news, recently things have changed a bit in the hangar at Asas, as there has been some turnover of people serving in Anapolis with us. Over the past months, 3 families who have been in Anapolis for mechanic/pilot training were sent to the Amazon to serve there since their training is complete. We will miss these families a lot, but hope to see them again soon when we move north too. In their place, 2 new single missionaries have arrived and are now just beginning their training. This year will be a good opportunity to reach out to those newer missionaries and be a support to them as so many have been to us.

New Home Tour

We we did it - we officially moved to our new home. Since we were moving to a house only a few minutes away, we borrowed a trailer and asked a friend to help us for the morning. The guys just kept loading up the trailer with the big items while I loaded small boxes into the car. Other than one dramatic moment when a rat ran out from our garage area and Jeyson killed it with a broom (AHH!) and countless trips up and down our stairs to bring items down to the car, the move was pretty uneventful - just long, tiring, and HOT since it's the middle of summer here!

And now for some pictures our new house before most of our items arrived.

I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the house, but here is a picture of what you can see when you first walk in the door to the living room. There is a living room, kitchen, office, bedroom, bathroom, and a room that we will use as a little storage/Jeyson's workshop room.



The rooms are very simple looking, just tile floors, cement walls, and windows.


The kitchen is very big for a typical Brazilian kitchen, which is a plus. As you can see the kitchen literally comes with nothing but the sink. Fortunately we already own some counters and cabinets, so we brought them along. An interesting note is there is only 1 outlet in the whole kitchen, near the door where the picture was taken. Jeyson has had to do a lot of eletrical wiring for us to be able to plug in the microwave, fridge, and still have outlets for small appliances like the coffee maker and mixer. I am SO thankful at moments like these to be married to a handy man, otherwise I'd be totally lost!



The bathroom also comes bare. The way it works here is you bring your own shower curtain, shower curtain rod, mirror, shower head, and even toilet paper holder rod! Once again I am thankful for my handy husband!



Culture shock is part of everyday life, but we've really felt it during the last few days as we've noticed interesting things about our new home. Here are a few of the positive and negative things we've noticed about our new home that are different from the States.

To begin with - 2 negatives
1. The paint job done here was...less than careful. This is just a small example of the interestingly painted trim around the house (note the bottom ledge). Although we don't want to invest too much in a home we're renting, we are thinking of buying a can of paint and at least repainting the trim.



2. The kitchen sink - While we are thankful that at least the sink was provided in the kitchen, it is QUITE different than what I'm used to in the States! We've installed our water filter/faucet though so it's already looking a little bit nicer and I hope to put some curtains under the sink. From up close it is clear that the sink is very old so we talked to the owner who seemed open about changing the sink in a few months, so hopefully!



Overall the house needed a thorough cleaning before we moved in, so we hired a woman that weekly cleans our friend's house. She cleaned our WHOLE new house in detail for about $15, which is actually a bit above the going rate since she worked so hard! Already the house was looking nicer and now that our furniture and pictures are here, it is beginning to feel like home.



And now for the positives about our new home:

Some nice features of the house include this big outdoor laundry room, which is perfect since I hang our clothes out to dry. Being outside in the first place just makes it easier.



We also love the little backyard area where we will be able to have bbqs and plant a garden. Although there is a lot of dirt there now, I already can see flowers and herbs in my mind :)



There are already 4 great plants in this little area. Here is a big lemongrass plant. This plant makes terrific tea or even juice - you just blend some with water in the blender, strain, and add some sugar. Yum!



There are also 2 huge lemon trees. I have always wanted to have fruit trees so this was very exciting. I can already taste the lemonade and lemon poppy seed muffins!



Last, there are pumpkins growing in this patch. Are of them are still in the first stage of growth, but I'll post some pictures when they're bigger. Also in this patch is fresh mint. Does anyone know any recipes that involve fresh mint?



On a totally different note, I just wanted to mention how thankful I am to be blogging on this computer. First, I'm thankful that we have the internet up and running in our new home as of yesterday. Second I thankful this computer is still working after a terrible accident that happened!

Last weekend we went to Jeyson's parent's home for me to participate in a ladies workshop Iria was hosting. Jeyson brought along our laptop so he could keep busy. While using the computer his brother-in-law asked him to take a short trip with him and Jeyson left the computer out on a bed. During the short time he was gone, a massive thunderstorm hit. When he returned a little while later he discovered the computer was absolutely drenched in water that had entered through a hole in the roof JUST above where the computer was. For a while we didn't even know if it would turn on again. Jeyson did a little "surgery" and opened up the computer for it to air out as much as possible.



We also blew air at it. After a few days of letting it try we turned it on and were happy to see everything working normally!!! The only evidence of the accident was a large blotch of water inside the screen. We blew a fan the screen for a long time and it got a little smaller. We knew we could live with the problem but were disappointed anyway. Then over the last few days we have seen the spot shrink and shrink until today I turned on the computer and it was totally gone and the computer is working great! We truly are thankful that God cares for us even in the little things!

And now here are some pictures of the ladies workshop day. About 12 women who are pastor's wives or missionaries came to participate and be encouraged in their ministries. The three pastor's wives from our church in Anapolis came so it turned out to also be a great way for me to get to know them in a deeper way.