Celebration

Next week, we are having our monthly Women's Day luncheon. After service, the women of the church stick around. We share a meal together and then have a lesson time. For the last year or more, the women have been working through Richard Foster's book on spiritual disciplines. I was asked to give September's lesson, the final one in the series. I will speaking about the spiritual discipline of celebration. It's been a neat topic to explore, and I do have to say, we have had many reasons to celebrate recently in our church family. Let me share a few with you.

This is Gisele, our newest sister in Christ. She is 14, a member of our youth group, and this is us praying over her before her baptism. Leandro, her cousin is on her left and Dona Dulce, her grandmother is on her right.

Here is Leandro, her cousin who was just baptized in August baptizing Gisele in the ocean across the street from our church building.

We all surround Gisele to pray over her again after she comes out of the water.

We had a barbecue for all of our small groups at church. This is several of us playing Uno Attack. It was a lot of fun to celebrate together!

And of course, I had to include a picture of baby Calen. Isn't he sweet?

Thanks for reading and joining us in celebrating the good things God is doing here in Salvador! Please pray for my lesson with the women next week and my continued work with the children's ministry and beginner's English classes.

Return to Blog World

I'm such a bad blogger, I know, I know! Please forgive me for not posting more often. I really do want to be better at this and keep all of you informed about what's going on in my life here in Salvador. Above you can see the biggest change in our lives in the last month. This is my newest teammate and adopted "nephew", Calen Xavier Sass. He is so precious!!! I love holding him and letting him sleep in my arms or on my chest. There's just nothing that ministers to your spirit like a sweet newborn baby!

So, what's been happening since my last post, you ask? Well, my parents and brother came for a visit. We had a great time!! I showed them around Salvador, and they were huge helps in getting our building ready for the inaugural service we had on August 17. It was of course hard to see them go, but I'm so glad they got to come.

Now I'm trying to settle into the "routine" (if you can call it that) of "normal life" around here. I am down to two LST follow-up studies, and I'm shadowing Mary on an evangelistic Bible study to learn how to conduct one myself. I teach all of the children's time on Sunday mornings since Alicia is on maternity leave. Today, I also began teaching the beginner's English class now that Val is on furlough. I really enjoy that! Teaching adults is a new experience for me. It's a little different than teaching my peers in Spanish lab at ACU or the first-graders I'm used to, but it's still a lot of fun. Adults know how to take responsibility for their own learning and ask good questions, so that is neat! And I still get to teach them silly songs to help them remember the days of the week and months of the year! I'm also continuing my twice a week Portuguese class, and we're still offering a free hot lunch to our neighborhood every other Saturday.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a visitor come to our church named Ana Carolina. She is my age, and she has jumped right in to our life at the church, helping out with lunches, participating in English class and Women's Day. Last night, I went out to the movies with her and Leandro (see previous post), and tomorrow the three of us and some others are going to the beach. I think I might finally be making friends my age...yay!!!

I have to confess that I still get pretty homesick every once in a while. Alicia said I was going through some culture shock. My mom said I also have job shock (first September since kindergarten not to be in a school setting). And add to that fly-the-nest shock. Yeah, sometimes my emotions get the better of me. But I know there are lots of people praying for me daily, and that really keeps me going. Beginning to make friends here also helps. Please pray that I will continue to develop good relationships with the Brazilians here and to deepen my relationships with my teammates. Please pray also for our work here and that we will continue to glorify God in all that we do.

That's all for now, and I promise to be more consistent with updating from now on. Thanks for reading, everyone!

And now for an update...finally!

I'm sorry that I have not been blogging very consistently. Weeks have slipped away from me, and when I have been at the computer, I have not felt very creative. But I decided it was time for an update before everyone gave up on this blog altogether. Anyway, we are busy as always here in Salvador! The LST campaign left last week, so we are busy with follow-up studies. We are also still settling into our new building and busily getting ready for our inaugural service next Sunday, August 17. Though we have been in the building for nearly eight weeks, we will have our official dedication next week, and we are inviting many friends and neighbors, as well as our new neighbors in Boca do Rio.

In July, I started being responsible for the children's sermon that we have during worship every Sunday, and I am also helping to plan Bible class as we get ready to implement some new ideas. We began offering a free hot lunch to the neighborhood every other Saturday, and there are lots of kids who come to that. It gets me excited for things like our big Children's Day celebration in October and the VBS we eventually plan to start in 2009.

My family is arriving for a visit tomorrow, and I am so excited to show them everything about my new life here. They will get to be here for the inaugural, which is pretty neat. Another exciting thing that happened this Sunday is that Leandro decided to be baptized!! He has been involved with the church for a while. Lots of his extended family are members at ICOS. He went on the youth retreat in June and decided he wanted to begin studying the Bible with Travis. While LST was here, he was constantly at the building, helping out in any way he possibly could. Then last week, he told Travis he was ready to give his life to Christ, so after service this morning, we all trooped across the street to the beach and watched Leandro get baptized in the ocean. Here are a few of the great pics we got today:

Travis and Leandro heading into the ocean

Praying over Leandro after his baptism (He is in the navy jersey.)

All the church members who were present as witnesses for this great event

Here are some things I would like for all of you to be praying for in the coming weeks:

- my family's visit
- inaugural service on Aug. 17 (Pray for many visitors and curious neighbors!)
- my work with the children
- LST follow-up studies
- our new brother in Christ, Leandro

Thanks for your prayers, and thanks for reading! Ate mais, gente!

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope that everyone at home is having a great 4th of July. We actually had our team celebration on July 2 because that was a holiday here in our state of Bahia. It was Bahian Independence Day. Apparently, it took the natives in our state ten more months to kick the Portuguese out, so they have their own Independence Day, which was Wednesday. We celebrated by cooking out burgers and enjoying all the traditional side dishes: potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, pasta salad, deviled eggs, etc. Not to mention the fantastic desserts: brownies, homemade ice cream, and Val's red, white and blue poke cake. We all had a lot of fun!

This picture was taken at the party that day. Here are all the missionary kids. I'm holding Samuel Porter, Jackson Quirey is hiding behind his book in the swing. Beside him is Kelton Porter. Tiffany (an LST campaigner) is holding Aubry Mabery, my across the hall roommate, and in the front is Ceara Sass. I hope to eventually take a better picture, but for now, these are my nieces and nephews. (And baby Sass #2 is on the way soon!)
I promise to post some more about my Brazilian adventures, but for now, a little taste of home was sure welcome! Thanks, everyone, for all your prayers. Please keep them up!

Lar Doce Lar

So sorry that it has taken me so long to post here. Life has been a little busy ever since landing in Salvador! From spending a couple of days shopping for my room to being a full-fledged campaign member when the Highland group arrived, I have just now had the chance to settle in a bit. My house and room are beginning to feel a little more like home. I'm starting to learn my way around, slowly but surely. And I LOVE the new church and am looking forward to getting to know my new friends better. :) In the next week or so, I should develop a bit of a routine, at least for the next few weeks while LST is here.

I know this post is not terribly interesting. I will post more news and pictures later. But for now, I just wanted you all to know that I am adjusting and would appreciate your prayers as I continue in this time of transition. Blessings to you all!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, today is the day! I will be leaving from the Abilene airport this afternoon and flying to Miami where I will spend the night tonight. In the morning, I will get up and take an all-day plane ride to Salvador. Please pray for safe travels and a smooth transition into my new life in Salvador.

Many of have asked how I'm feeling at this point. The answer is: a lot of different emotions. Am I excited? Of course; I've been waiting and preparing for this for a long time. Am I nervous? Oh yes; this is a new adventure for me. Sure, it's somewhat familiar, but there will be lots of new things to get used to as I make Salvador my home for two years. Am I sad to leave my family and friends? Absolutely, but I know that we have many ways to stay in touch, and God will comfort us in our separation.

I appreciate all of your prayers as I embark on this new adventure! The next time I post here, I will be living in South America!! Love you all!

Send-off Reception and Blessing

For anyone who is in Abilene and interested, there will be a reception honoring me before I leave for Salvador. It is this Saturday evening, May 31 from 7:00-8:30 pm (come and go). It will be in the Living room (right next to the gym) at Highland Church of Christ. Also, there will be a special time of blessing for me in worship on Sunday morning, June 1. All are welcome! I appreciate your continued prayers as my departure date gets closer and closer!! I'd love to see you before I leave if you are in town, so stop by the reception or give me a call sometime in the next two weeks!