All in a Day's Work

This week Jeyson had an awesome opportunity to get back up in the air and be part of an exciting trip....

He went along on a two day trip with Joy, a Wycliffe pilot.

Here are Jeyson and I just before take off in Anapolis

They flew to a tribe in a neighboring state (about a 5 hour flight) to pick up a missionary woman in her 70s who has been lives among the people and has been translating the New Testament into their language for the first time ever. From what I understood, she just finished her translation and has been revising it with the tribe. It is set to come out in print next year or so. This missionary is a single woman who lives alone in the tribe, but Jeyson said she seemed to feel so at home there and blended in so well with the people (except for physically :)

Villages they flew over...

The landing strip that the plane usually lands on was too muddy, so they landed in a nearby village of people from the same tribe. The missionary was able to get a ride with someone to this village, but she had to supply the gas....but there in the middle of nowhere that doesn't mean giving some money for the gas...it literally means bringing the gas! Joy and Jeyson brought gas from here in Anapolis to fill up the truck again after she was brought to the landing strip.

The people from the tribe gathering around...

The missionary was dropped off in the city and Jeyson stayed with a missionary couple for the night and Joy stayed with a friend. The next day Joy and Jeyson started the 5 hour trip home, but it turned into about a 7 hour trip. Because of bad weather, they had to stay about 2 hours at an airport in route...and my goodness was this a small airport! A family lives at the airport and are the caretakers of it. This picture will give you an idea of the feel of it...the family's laundry hanging out to dry by the runway.

And chickens hanging out :)

What a neat and meaningful adventure! We are so privileged to be part of what God is doing here - and how exciting to be a tiny part of getting the Gospel in to the hands of these people!

A Penny for Your Thoughts

It seems like frugal living is a popular topic to blog about. I love reading tips and ideas that others post about how they cut costs to live within their means, and I thought it would be fun to blog about some things we do to keep our living expenses low. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do some of these too or have some other ideas.

1. Budget - The most important thing we do is keep a written budget. This allows us to plan exactly what we will do with each month's support and to know our limits.

2. Drive one car - This may be a bit extreme for the US, but the cost of gas here is over double the costs in the States! We drive our car together when we're going to Asas, and when we're headed in different directions I drive the car and Jeyson takes his bicycle or motorcycle.

3. Eat at home - A big way we save money is by eating almost all of our meals at home. Of course we do enjoy meals out as well, but always within the limits of money budgeted for fun in our budget. One thing that is a major help with this is meal planning. If I know what I'm planning to make, we're much less likely to grab something out.

4. Avoid the grocery store - This may sound a little crazy, but here's what works for us. At the beginning of each month I make a list of all of the meal ideas I have for the month. I go out on one huge grocery shopping trip for everything to make the meals except for the very basic fresh stuff like fruit/veggies. (I even buy meat and freeze it in potions for the two of us). Then every week I decide which of those meals I'm going to make and buy just the fresh food to go with it. I try to avoid going to the grocery store more than once a week because I know I'll always come home with way more than I had planned on! If I need something before the week is up, I try to be creative and use something from the pantry/freezer unless I'm really stuck!

5. Lights - We invested in economic light bulbs a few years ago and it has REALLY paid off! Our light bills are SO much lower as a result!

6. Clothes - We don't often go clothes shopping. The clothes here are no where near as nice as they are in the States, so we bought back new stuff with us. Now, we'll only go out to the store to buy something if we are looking for something we actually need.

7. Gifts - In general, we try to keep gifts meaningful, yet simple. After all, it truly is the thought that counts!

8. Homemade stuff - We both love creating things, so this one comes naturally to us. I make lots of food from scratch - bread, granola, croutons, pizza, and even now yogurt....just to name a few! They turn out so tasty and healthier. We've also made gifts (Jeyson recently made an adorable puzzle to give to a baby as a birthday gift), curtains, lamps, bookshelves, and pillows.

9. Contentment - I guess the biggest thing we do is choose to be content with and grateful for what God has given us. This helps us to keep our life simpler, less expensive, and happier!

YWAM English Class is Off the Ground

So much to blog about and so little time! I am hoping to catch up on blogging a little in the coming days (we'll see if it really happens :) but in the meantime here are some pictures of the class I'm teaching at YWAM. This has been an absolute blast! The students seem to be picking up on the material very quickly and are anxious for more. On the second week of the level one class, one students said to me "It is my goal to be having conversations by the end of the week". I tried to help me see that it will take a little longer than 2 weeks to be fluent :) but also tried to encourage him that he could already have a very simple conversations telling about himself, his classmates, etc. He's on his way! But it's fun to see how seriously they're taking this and how much that is helping them pick up on the material! These are some pictures of some activities we've done as a class.
The stuents are pretty young, the above girl is only 18 and so sweet and open. She came from across the country to be part of the course.

I love to keep the class moving - working in groups, standing up to mingle and ask each other questions related to the topic.

Tonight Jeyson and I are headed over to Goiania for an activity night that the English class and the YWAM discipleship training school are having...crazy hair night! The students will be presenting some skits in English, which I'm anxious to see what they're prepared. Then we'll spend Saturday with them and with Jeyson's family. It should be fun!

The Rule of Three

One wonderful part of Brazilian culture is that people here tend to be extremely optimistic. Whenever you're facing a problem, a common saying that you hear is "Don't worry, it will all work out". Generally speaking, Brazilians like to imagine that the best case scenario is always going to happen. It's wonderful to be around such positive thinking....except for when you're trying to buy something or get a service done. In these cases, I've learned to apply what I like to call The Rule of Three.
What is the rule of three? It's very simple. Whenever you are told the amount of time that a service will take to be done or an item to come into stock, just multiply that by three and you'll have a much better idea on when to REALLY expect that it will happen. But even then, it is only the beginning of the window of when it might happen. It very well might take longer, but after multiplying by three you can start to check in and follow up on it. For examply, you're told your car will take 2 days to fix...it's best to only call your mechanic to follow up on it after 6 days to save yourself a headache. Your friend says she'll stop over in 10 minutes....she probably won't make it over for at least 30 or more so feel free to write that quick email or whatever as you wait. Your visa will take 6 months to process....mine took over 1 1/2 years! No reason to sweat about it as you wait!

The rule of three helps me to feel less frustrated by no longer expecting things to happen in the mentioned time. I simply calculate in mind when it really have a chance of happening and it usually does - this way it seems right on time!

So the other day I stopped by the one store in town that had started selling tortilla chips when we were leaving for furlough. Sadly, they were out of stock :( "Don't worry" the manager told me "They'll be back in next week". After a week I was dying to stop by again, but I had to control myself as it would 99% likely be a waste of gas! Now it's been 2 weeks and I'm still putting it off. Next week I'll give it a try, and maybe, just maybe they'll be in! Though I'm not counting on it. I'll make my salsa to go with the chips only after they're in my kitchen.

Finding your way in another culture is always an adventure! But as they say here, "Don't worry, it all works out!"