Life At the Braun's

Well, it's spingtime in the States, so it's the perfect time to post some pictures of life at our home....litterally, the living things around our home, that is!

You may remember how when we moved in our backyard had a lot of potential, but at the moment it was a medium sized garbage heap with few plants and trees thrown in. Then, a month later, Jeyson's mom came (armed with TONS of plants from her garden) and helped us shape up our garden. Here it is, looking much better!

We found the above rocks dumped in a heap. We loaded them in our car and put them around the plants. It added a great touch!

This is a really neat plant that I'm not sure exists in the States. I love the bright pink stems and green leaves...doesn't it seem like it was painted backwards?

Our grape tomatoes are in bloom and a great addition to our salads these days

These petite yellow flowers are perking up the yard

This lemon tree has been so much fun! We've made all kinds of treats and it is especially neat because there are no seeds! You can just cut it in chunks and put the whole thing in the blender with water, and it is instant, fresh lemonade!

Our passion fruit plant is a new addition and is just peeking up.

Mint has turned out to be one of the easiest plants to grow....it just won't stop spreading! Now if only I had an ice cream maker for some homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Our papayas are looking riper by the day...we can't wait to eat them, but aren't sure exactly how we'll get those really high ones down

And our other lemon tree

Of course, no tour of life at the Braun's house would be complete without an update on Sam, our "extreme sport" kitten that arrived in Anapolis stuck in our friend's car engine :) We have really enjoyed this fun addition to our home, but the real reason I wanted to include pictures is to show how much he has changed in the 2 short months he has lived at our house. Take a close look, not just at his size, but at his face.....

Isn't it amazing how much the dark spot on his nose spread? It's now completely covering his face! He's looking cuter (and bigger!) by the day :)

One of his favorite activities is hunting. He loves to hide behind shoes and plants (where we can't see him at all ;), he patiently lies still waiting, and then at just the right moment he springs out at us as if we were totally taken by surprise!

Well, flowers, lemons, and kittens aside, how is life at the Braun's? Although life is not perfect, we are so glad to know God's immense love and grace and to follow Him each day.

- One last note - Our next Cafe Club is this Friday...please pray that many people will come out with open hearts to hear about His love!

Our Support Team - What What Would We Do Without You?

Recently, we've been thinking a lot about our support team and just how truly blessed we are to have so many people and churches faithfully partnering with our ministry here in Brazil. A few years ago when we were beginning to think about raising support and living on gifts, it was a pretty intimidating thought and we had so many questions about how it would work.





We wondered, would we be able to clearly explain our ministry to others in hopes that they would partner with us?











Would we be able to explain our desire to work with others to bring people closer to Jesus Christ?








Would people understand what a missionary really is and who we are? Would they understand that we are still "normal" people just seeking to serve Him? That for us, serving Him looks like this....





And not this (We are not eatten by cannibals on a daily basis :)That for us, serving Him looks like this....

And not this..... (We still feel, act, and dress like us :)

However, contrary to our fears, even from the very beginning God has just blown us away with a wonderful support team that He has brought up alongside us to pray for us, encourage us, support us financially, and logistically.

My (Stephanie's) home church, Calvary Bible Church, has come alongside us, which has meant so much to us. It was a missions trip with this church to Guatemala that really was my first step towards missions work, so is so meaningful that CBC sent us and is partnering with us. CBC has grown a lot over the years and is filled with caring people who often write to encourage us to keep pressing on. The church has also been wonderful about keeping us involved and feeling like part of the body, even from across the world. (I searched for a picture, but unfortunately I was unable to find one)

Years ago, Jeyson's family met members from this church, Walnut Community Bible Church, at a Bible camp. The church took an interest in the Braun family and adopted them as missionaries. Later, WCBC chose to also support Jeyson when he joined Asas (before getting married) and continues to support us as a couple. Walnut is a tiny town and definitely has that small town feel. The minute you walk in the door of the church, you instantly are embraced and invited to be part of the family.

It has also been an amazing blessing to be supported by Winnetka Bible Church. We often mention to people how incredibly faithful WBC has been to Jeyson's family over the years - with about 20 years of support in so many ways, prayer, finances, logistics, etc. As with the case of Walnut, Winnetka also chose to bless us by taking us on as missionaries (in addition to continuing to support Jeyson's parents in their ministry). This church is filled with incredible, kind people of all ages who express their love for us in special ways.

Also (not pictured) is the wonderful church The Union Church of Lavallette, a small church near the shore that has also been a tremendous encouragement to us. The pastor and members of the church are always so welcoming and they are willing to partner with projects like the PETI program where I teach English. The church is so special to us and also to the kids from the PETI program.

Last, but DEFINITELY not least, should be a picture of you and many other individuals and families who partner with us in different ways. We are SO thankful for you all and wish we could post a picture of everyone. We pray for your often and would love to pray for a specific need if one comes up. Please feel free to let us know!

Before raising a support team there were so many uncertainties about living dependant on support, and although there are still moments when we long for the stability of a "normal" job :), we can truly say from our hearts that God has been 100% faithful to meet all of our needs and that we are truly blessed by you and blessed to experience this life of faith.

Cafe Club is Growing!

This has been a crazy last few days, but we've made it though and I now finally have a few minutes to blog and catch up with you.

Friday was our latest "Cafe Club" at our church....a new ministry that we are part of leading. Cafe Club is a fun, hang out environment for teens and adults to come to have fun, practice English, build relationships with believers, and hear a short message about the Lord. It is a relaxed, informal cafe environment with colored lights, food, games, music, video games, conversation, etc. The first time about 40 people came and this time about 70 came! It is growing quickly and we're very excited! Finally this week I remembered my camera so below are some pictures:
This shot gives you a good idea of what the space looked like

The band did a great job leading the group in some English praise songs...a lot of them were by DC Talk, which brought me back to my early teen days. It's amazing how the lyrics somehow stay in the back of your mind over many years :)

Clapping and singing along with the music

We had a "Mini Subway" bar and an ice cream sundae bar. One of my students, Nina, came to the event and brought along her two children (10 and 12 years old), teenage nephew and his girlfriend. Nina came last time and liked it so much that she even volunteered to make and bring items for the sandwiches. It was great to have her not only participate, but bring others and get involved!
Jeyson shared a short message in English about the wise man who built his house on the rock. He did a terrific job and several participants told us afterwards that they were very excited to have understood almost everything he said in English. We were glad to know the very practical and evangelistic message got through!

Here's a shot that's a little closer up.

Most of the above pictures have been of people's backs, so I thought I would include the next few pictures that I took of people sitting at tables. To us, each face is so special because it represents an actual person that we are here to serve...not just the impersonal "Brazil" that we often say we are ministering to.

Above is the table I sat at. You may recognize some faces since they are people I already had relationships with...my students. Second to left is Nina, and on the right is Angelina - these to are my students. The others are part of the group that Nina brought.

We were also really happy to have several people come who are connected with Asas (pictured above along with some people they brought with them)


And below are a few other tables....

Above - While most people who came were young adults, we had participants of all ages - including the president of our mission (left) and a couple he was chatting with who also came out to practice English.

Friday night, after a long clean up at the church, we collapsed into bed exhausted and spent Saturday recovering.

Then Sunday we had a very special mother's day with Jeyson's parents, Iria and Jonas. They came to our house and we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and Italian themed lunch. The above picture is of us enjoying appetizers, which were a funny blend of our heritages - antipasto with Brazilian style tea (mate), that you can see Jonas taking his turn drinking. It's a lot of fun to see how Jeyson and I have created a new mini culture for the two of us that includes the best of various worlds :)

Sunday afternoon (after calling my mom to wish her a wonderful day) I headed back to Goiania with Jonas and Iria so I could spend Monday in downtown Goiania with Iria transferring my US driver's license to a Brazilian driver's licence. (Now that I'm far enough in my visa process that it was time to do this so I can drive here). Unfortunately, this process can only be done in Goiania, so Iria was so kind to offer to help me get this done. Meanwhile, Jeyson stayed behind in Anapolis to continue with normal life.

I could write a whole blog about my experience Monday at the Brazilian "DMV". WOW!!! I had no idea what bureaucracy was before! We were at the DMV by 8:30 Monday morning ready with all of my documents, figuring it couldn't be THAT hard to transfer a valid driver's license from the US to Brazil. I was SO wrong! We were sent from one window to the next, to the Federal Police (across the city) to get a special paper, to another line, to talk to another person who happened to be on a 2 hour lunch break. We had to make 2 deposits into the federal bank (which meant going there in person) but unfortunately we were not allowed to pay them both at the same time. We had to pay once, return to the DMV in order for them to print out the second "bill" and go back to the bank to pay again. Then, I had to get a psychological test across town by a designated psychologist. This was a $30 exam that last almost 2 hours and involved everything from drawing zig zag lines while blindfolded, to an interview about my family!!! By then it was 5:30 and I still had 3 steps to go in the process, so I wound up sleeping over another night to tackle it again first thing Tuesday morning. The next day we were at the DMV's offical doctor's office by 8:30 for an exam....another $30 later we went back to the DMV with a slip of approval. Finally by 10ish I had completed everything and after a total of 12 hours, 8 different locations we were sent to (not including ones we had to return to many times), and $180 I was given the green light (ha ha :) that I could get my license transferred. Yay!!! I was SO thankful for God's provision in a very discouraging situation. I took the bus back to Anapolis and Jeyson picked me up at the station. I am so thankful to be home (which is very clean and included a beautiful bouquet of flower, thanks to my wonderful husband) and I am SO thankful for my mother-in-law who put up with me and the process for so long. She's so helpful and even willing to go back and pick up my license which will be ready in a minimum of 5 business days (might I add). Thank you so much, Iria! And to all of you who have to go to the DMV in the USA....be thankful for how wonderful, efficient, and convenient it is in comparison! Well it's off to normal life now and catching up with many things to do this week.

If you think of it, we would really appreciate prayer for Cafe Club that it would continue to grow and that many people would come to know the Lord through it.