I love having poppy seeds in my teeth...

Why? Because it means I have poppy seeds in my pantry! I love poppy seeds and they are one of the many very distinct flavors we don't have in Brazil that there is simply no substitution for. Peppermint is another. When my parents came down they offered to make a trip to the grocery store to pick up some items to bring down. I thought you might find it interesting to see what kind of things we requested.

Those 2 big silver bags are poppy seeds! 1 lb each! (I actually found them on amazon.com for a steal!). I always try to think of some items that you can use more than once, rather than just consume quickly. Hence the poppy seeds, cranberries, peppermint hard candies, and mint and butterscotch chips that can be tossed into recipes. The taco seasoning and ranch mix can be used countless times and we have already enjoyed many cups of coffee with the flavored creamers. The rest? (wing sauce, blueberry and cherry pie filling, york peppermint patties, altoids, deodorant, and Caesar dressing) Savor it as it goes down!

Also, being from the NY area, bagels are a way of life for us! I miss them a ton and try to make them at home (though they are not SO easy!). My parents made a last minute stop of the way and brought us some bagels! We froze them and are enjoying them a little at a time.

So, what am I going to do with 2 lb of poppy seeds? Bagels, dressings, muffins (already made these) and whatever else I can think of. I'm so glad to have a ton and not have to painfully ration out each scoop as it is used! And I'm also thankful my parents didn't get questioned by customs. How would they have convinced them that 2 lb of poppy seeds really are for innocent baking by an expat with some serious cravings???

Family Flight

One of the highlights of my parents' trips was getting to show them around the mission. I gave them a tour around the administrative building, and Jeyson gave them a tour around the hangar.

It was fun to show them these tools that had been my grandpa's. When he moved into an assisted care facility, he gave them to Jeyson and he uses them all the time to work.

The hangar is much more than just the open space where we keep the planes. There are all kinds of small rooms where specialized work is done. I'll have to do a detailed blog about that sometime.

Then, a second part of showing around the mission was Jeyson taking me and my dad for a panoramic flight. My mom quite happily stayed home babysitting (we are grateful she was even willing to come on the commercial flight to Brazil...forget trying to convince her to go on a small plane!!)

Doing the very involved pre-flight safety check.

I haven't flown with Jeyson for a long time because of feeling bad with the pregnancy so it was really fun to get back in the air again.

It was just a 30 minute flight or so over Anapolis, but great to not only show my dad around the city but to allow him to experience our ministry up close. Who knows, maybe someday he can go along to a village? Never hurts to dream!

I was so relieved to not feel bad on the trip since last time I flew with Jeyson I felt queasy for some reason.

A great time was had by all! Speaking of flying, Monday-Tuesday Jeyson will be flying with a Wycliffe pilot to take a missionary to a village. This will be my first overnight alone with Elijah. Please pray for a peaceful night for us if we come to mind!

Our First Visitors!

It's been a while since blogging because we just had my parents in town for a visit! My parents are our first visitors here just to see us and we had SUCH a wonderful time! We have tons of pictures so I'm going to post just the first part today and not necessarily in order of all that we did.
Waiting at the airport for their arrival
My parents meeting Elijah for the first time
We planned for Elijah to be dedicated in church when they were here. Jeyson's family also came and some friends. Exploring downtown Anapolis

Checking out snake and aligator boot options at the local market (couldn't convince them to buy any :)
A family run stand we stopped at for a snack
Enjoying G-ma and a present she brought down. The $2 toy never failed to make him smile!A bakery we went to where you can order cake by the sliver. Here in Brazil it's totally acceptable to eat cake any time of the day - breakfast, before dinner, etc. The place was filled with cake eaters when we went at 5:00 pm! You can have as large or small of a piece of as many kinds as you want and pay by the kilogram. We had lots of fun hang out time :)
We took an over night trip to Jeyson's parents' house and spent lots of time relaxing and eating.

For lunch at the Brauns' we had a Brazilian style barbecue where you fill up on meat so much as it is coming off the grill (cut into bite sized piece you pick up with your fingers), that when it's time to eat you aren't even hungry anymore.

A tour of the YWAM base where Jeyson's sister and her husband serve.

Lots of time with Popi...he even changed most of the diapers during the week!

A motorcycle ride around our neighborhood with dad driving!

And one of our favorite activities was having breakfast at the local bread store, which we did several times.

Elijah was a hit! We even got free babysitting while we ate :)

More to come!

Goals

This month we had time to sit down and plan out some of our goals for the year. It's a great way to for us to refocus on what we would like to accomplish and to reflect over what our past year's goals were and evaluate whether we met them or not. Of course in all of life (and especially in ministry) God sometimes has plans that are different than ours, but this just helps keeps us motivated and focused. More for our own sakes than yours, I thought I'd share what we accomplished last year and what we're working towards this year.

Accomplished last year:
Continued to build evangelistic relationships within the community – including opportunities to clearly share the Gospel.
Evangelistic/discipleship small group ministry
Determined with our mission leadership that we will be most useful continuing to serve at the base in Annapolis for a while longer, while making periodic trips to the Amazon area.
Jeyson - continued refining his skills as a mechanic and was the lead mechanic on airplane maintenance projects.
Jeyson – Passed a government approved inspection for his full mechanic license, allowing him to oversee missionary apprentice mechanics.
Jeyson – Spent a month at a mission base in Boa Vista (in the Amazon) flying into tribes as a co-pilot and doing maintenance.
Jeyson and Stephanie – Taught a government required course for mechanics (a technical course and English) to both missionaries and people from the community (evangelism opportunities)
Stephanie – Continued building discipleship and evangelistic relationships with her students in and out of the “classroom” setting. Was able to clearly share the Gospel and give a Bible to some of her students.
Stephanie - Assisted a partner mission in developing and teaching an English course for Brazilian missionaries preparing to serve overseas with English speaking missions.

Stephanie – Oversaw the donations department of Asas for 4 months while the missionary normally responsible dealt with heath issues.

For the coming year:
Continue to develop evangelistic relationships within the community.
Lead an evangelistic/discipleship small group ministry with couples from the community.
Jeyson – lead maintenance projects on the mission’s plane and help teach and oversee apprentice missionaries.
Jeyson – continue co-piloting to tribes/villages, gaining experience
Stephanie – A large part of her ministry now will be caring for our new son while he is still very young.
Stephanie – Teach English at home in a tutoring setting to build evangelistic and discipleship relationships
Stephanie – Continue to build friendship and evangelistic opportunities with women in our neighborhood.
Stephanie – Assist in the part time administrative job of processing donations received from the US.