Seasonal Confusion

Have you ever experienced Seasonal Confusion before? Seasonal Confusion...what's that?!? Ok, I confess that I made up the name of my condition, but that's exactly what I'm experiencing...confusion about the seasons. While almost all of you are heading into the cold winter months, here in Brazil we're heading into summer heat....and boy is it hot! This is causing so much confusion for me.

I read my friends' blogs from back in the States and see them bundled up and I go on recipe websites and see postings for hot stews to warm your toes. Meanwhile, it's in the 90's here and very humid! Palm trees are in full bloom and just walking out your door makes you want to take yet another shower. It's very, very confusing to my internal calendar! What time of the year is it really?!?

The strangest part of all of this is the idea of getting ready to celebrate Christmas. To me, (almost) every Christmas I remember has looked something like this:



But this year, this picture better describes what will be the reality temperature wise:

Good thing Christmas is all about celebrating our Savior Jesus Christ and is not dependant on snowmen and fireplaces! Not that those things are wrong to enjoy...but maybe my Seasonal Confusion will allow us to focus on the real reason for the season a little more than usual.

Lessons Learned....from a Cake

Every two weeks, the ladies from Asas and from SIL (Wycliffe in Brazil) get together for a time of encouragement, prayer, and fun. Recently some of the women had the idea to use this get together as an outreach opportunity. Rather than just us missionaries get together, why not use this as an opportunity to invite women who need to hear about the Lord? So, this past week that's just what happened.

In addition to our time of encouragement and prayer, we all invited our friends out to learn how to decorate a cake using fondant. Fun fact - fondant is called "American Paste" in Portuguese....I had no idea that it was such an American thing! On that note, do you know what place mats are called in Portuguese? (Of course not, but I just thought I'd ask :) They're called "Americans"! It's so funny to see what people here in Brazil view as American when we don't even see it as uniquely from our country!
Anyway, my student (and friend) Nina came out as well as my mother-in-law. Even though Nina didn't know anyone, she seemed VERY comfortable and really enjoyed herself. She even commented about how much she enjoys activities with little moments hearing about God....talk about open!



Her interest in coming made me wonder...why don't we as Christians open up more opportunities to invite friends to hear about the Lord? Why so often do we just have activities with each other? When I invited Nina I was surprised that she immediately said she'd come. Maybe you'd be surprised how many of your friends would say yes if you invited them! (This was lesson #1 that I came away with)

Anneke (left) translated for Katie as she decorated the cake, since she just arrived here in Brazil and is still learning Portuguese. At this point there was just a layer of fondant on the cake, icing, and green coconut to look like grass.

Here are some of the ladies watching the cake decorating...

It was a lot of fun and we all got to participate making flowers to put on top.

I imagine when Katie started teaching herself how to decorate cakes that she never would have guessed it would be used as an evangelistic opportunity....but God can use any talent or ability if we're willing! Can you play an instrument? Do you know a good recipe? Can you play a board game? Is there a big sports game coming up? I imagine anything could be used as a way to get people together for that and to hear a little about the Lord. (This was lesson #2)

And Katie did an excellent job putting it into practice...

Finishing up...so cute and delicious too! What sweet lessons to learn :)

101 Posts

As I was getting ready to write, I saw that this is my 101st post! Wow! When we started this blog I had no idea how much I would wind up writing so far, and how much I would ENJOY writing too! This blog has turned out to more than meet our goal of creating a way to show pictures, it has really been a major way for people to keep in touch with us and feel a part of our ministry. Thanks for following and please stick around for the next 100 posts :)



Well, onto some quick pictures from around the hanger...

Last week, Jeyson was working with 2 other guys to redo the side of this plane. Asas's plane needed new identification numbers to be able to fly in Brazil, so it was time to put away the wrenches and get out the sandpaper and spraygun.

Here's Cleo...you might remember he grew up on a tribe, which is where he first became interested in Asas. Now he is a missionary mechanic.
Jeyson getting the spraygun ready....I think I see a hint of a smile about getting to airbrush the plane :)

Hard at work

Meanwhile, Joel is getting the stencil of the new ID ready. Just in the few minutes I was taking pictures, I got a sense for how great it is to work together as a team.

There was a lot of hard work going on, but also a lot of fun as these men work together on what they are passionate about....using their gift of service in a very hands on and practical way, to be part of bringing the Gospel to those who would otherwise probably never hear it.