What's that song? "I Left My Heart in Brazil"?

Ok, maybe that's not it.  But I DID.  I think we all did.  I don't even know where to begin to blog about it.  You can go HERE to see what we blogged while on the trip. 

I think I'll just let pictures do the talking for right now. 

                     

                     

                     

                     

                     

                      

                       

Remember her?? 

                       

                       

                        

Look how much Daisy has grown!!

                          

And do you remember stories about Baby Wendi HERE and HERE?

                        

                        

Look at her now!!  I KNOW!!

                          

                         

                        

                        

                        

                         

                         

                          

                          

                          

                          

                          

                            

                          

                          

                            

Souls were saved, relationships were made and strengthened, a roof was raised, and GOD WAS PRAISED!!  Glory!!

Missions and Fundraising

If you've been reading my blog for more than 5 months (or if you know me in real life!), you know I've been on a few mission trips to Brazil in the past year and a half.

And I'm so excited because WE'RE GOING BACK!!!!

Daniel has the opportunity to go on a vision trip to the Amazon in June. Y'all, I'm talking canoes, tents, and fishing for piranhas. So yes, we have a little bit of crazy up in here!

Now in September, the saner of the two of us is going back to Solidao. Well, he's going too because he's LEADING the trip. See, I told you. CRAZY.

AND we are super excited that our friends Chad and Faith have finally decided to go with us! We've been bugging them to go since we went the first time, so I'm pretty sure they're only going so we'll get off their backs. Nah, actually Faith wrote a great post today all about why they are REALLY going.

Of course the funding for these trips is always an issue. We're starting fundraising early this time, as in on April 16!! You can go here to find out about World Outback Ministries and the golf tournament fundraiser.

More than anything, we covet your prayers. We can't and don't want to go without being bathed in prayer. You can pray for the team as it comes together, travel, health, opportunities for sharing the gospel, and the people in the villages that we'll visit.

Right here's what it's all about.

Praising the Lord for a Bible

One of the cool stories from Brazil we told on the ministry blog was about the lady at the library in Ingazeria. Daniel, Sheila, Cheryl, Bonita, Kesia, and I were doing door to door evangelism and honestly, it was very frustrating. We visited 3 different houses and all were older people, very set in their beliefs and not open at all to what we had to share.

As we left the last house a young girl we had met previously found us and asked us to come see her mom. She was working at the public library and wanted us to help her encourage a friend who was a new believer. So we headed over to the library.

When we got there, the friend was already gone so we visited with the girl's mom. She was so excited to see us and was just joyful. She really had the joy of the Lord and it flowed from her. We were chit-chatting and she told us she had a verse she wanted to share with us.

As she looked for it, someone asked if there was a Bible in the library. She said no and so somebody pulled one from their backpack and handed it to her.

THIS was her reaction:



She immediately lifted her hands and started praising the Lord. It was amazing. I was like "give her another one!"

We asked if her daughter had one and when she said no, we gave her one too. That got this reaction:

Well, we just started emptying our backpacks at this point. We ended up giving both daughters a Bible and left one for the new believer friend. We left a few for the library and for her to give to other believers she knew who didn't have one. She told us that Bibles were very expensive there and that people had to share. Even the ones in the library had to be read there, not taken home.

The Portuguese Bibles we bought to give were only about $7! Before we left a friend gave me $20 for Bibles and apologized because "it wasn't much." Well, it basically bought 3 Bibles and changed 3 peoples' lives forever! Don't tell me that's 'not much'!

To see her raise her hands and praise the Lord EVERY time we added to that stack of Bibles was the most moving and emotional display of gratitude I have ever seen. Her first reaction was to praise God! Not us! And thank you Lord for that. Because it wasn't about us. We may have been the bodies actually physically giving her the Bibles, but she knew where the blessing came from and she gave Him glory!

Oh Lord, may I forever be changed by the gratitude I saw that day. How often do I take for granted all that I have and it is ALL from You. And it's all YOURS.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home.....

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to figure out where to start. I told my friend Bonita last night how glad I was that Daniel was with me in Brazil because I'd hate to have to come home and try to tell him all about it. She agreed because her husband went too. It's just so hard to put into words!


To start, you can go to the ministry blog and read our day by day posts from the trip. That was really cool to be able to do. We all contributed stories and highlights and hopefully soon there will be pictures too. I'll have to get on that in the next few days.

First things first though......meet the Wendi's!!!! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about and you're saying "who in the world is Wendi and why are there two and why is that a big deal?", then go here to catch up.)




Can I just tell you how awesome it was to see Wendi get hold of that baby for the first time? It was so sweet! Damiana was so excited to see her that she came looking for US! We were actually on our way to her house and she came walking down the street. A few of us went back to her house and visited for a while. We brought baby clothes for her (thanks again Melissa!) and Wendi was thoughtful enough to bring gifts for Damiana and her other daughters. It was an amazing experience!

They had baby Wendi dedicated the next day at the church and they asked Wendi to come up front with the family. Baby Wendi had on a dress Wendi brought that had been her niece's. She looked so sweet. And did I mention she is only 4 months old? Um, yeah. Go back and look at that close up again.

So anyway, there's my first story. Short and sweet. And there are so many more!

Right this very minute.....

Just a reminder....

Check out the ministry's new blog! Hopefully we'll be posting from the outback!

Hi ho, hi ho. It's off to Brazil I go!

So remember when I said "Here I am, Lord. Send me again" here?

Yeah, we're going back to Brazil NEXT WEEK!

I am so excited and yet in a little bit of denial as I have not even thought about packing. I keep forgetting that it is NEXT WEEK. As in, the week after THIS WEEK. As in, one week from this moment I will be on a plane.

But I'm not exactly an early packer (think day before) so it's not really stressing me out or anything.

We'll be going to many of the same villages and towns we visited on the previous trips. We will be able to see and encourage old friends, disciple new believers, and evangelize on the street and in homes.

And guess what else? Remember Baby Wendi?

American Wendi gets to meet her!!! My friend Wendi is going and has been collecting baby stuff to take with her! Isn't that going to be awesome? I'll definitely be taking pictures of that meeting!

So keep us in your prayers----travel, health, safety, spiritual warfare, financial provision, and our families.

"and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Acts 1:8

Mission Trip video

Check out these videos about our trip!

In Portuguese, that's Atos 2:42

On Day 4 of our Brazil trip (the day I started getting sick), we went to a town called Ingazeria. We spent some time there in October so it was familiar territory. In October, we stayed in the actual town and did ministry. This time we hopped on this:

...and took off for a more rural area outside of town. It was basically about 16 houses like the ones below on a one-lane road (and I use the word "road" loosely).

On the way into the area, we passed this couple. There is water in those barrels and I guess they were taking it to all the houses. I never really got the details on that.





We divided up into teams and went out to the houses. There were five on my team, including our translator. We ended up at the house of the couple from the water cart! The husband was not there so we talked with the wife, Glesiane. She was very interested in hearing about how to have relationship with God. She had a book of the Psalms and she had been reading it and was just hungry for more! We shared the plan of salvation with her and she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior! Praise God! We also gave her a Portuguese Bible and she immediately started reading it.

Of course we were bummed we had missed her husband, so we asked her if she had ever talked to him about Jesus or if she would. She said, "No, he's not interested. He would never believe." After encouraging her to pray about it and to share with him, we left to visit other houses.

A while later when we joined up with the rest of the team, we found out that not only had another team met Glesiane's husband at another house, but they witnessed to him AND he accepted Christ too! How awesome is God! Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall of that house when he got home? What neat things they both had to share with each other!!

Here's our team with Glesiane in her house (minus the one taking the picture).




And here are DeLynn and me with Glesiane and her son at the church in Ingazeria. She brought him to the kids thing we had (face painting, clown, balloon animals).

I can't wait to go back and see her again. Hopefully they are going to church and developing a personal relationship with Christ. Discipling and encouraging is often left to the local churches and in this town that's pretty much one pastor and a small group of believers.

Join me, if you'd like, in praying for this couple's new lives in Christ. And for the pastor (Carlos)to be encouraged and strengthened daily as he seeks to do God's work in the outback.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Acts 2:42

Finally! Another story from Brazil!

It is taking me forever to post something else about our Brazil trip! Here's another cool story.

Last year on our first trip to Brazil we spent a few days in a town called Solidao (which means solitude or loneliness, by the way). Daniel, Wendi (one of our team members), the local pastor's daughter Julianne, and a translator were on a team to do door-to-door evangelism. They went to visit a lady named Damiana. While visiting with her they found out she was pregnant . They presented the gospel to her and she prayed to receive Christ as her Saviour. She came to the outdoor service we had that night and the next 2 nights. Daniel and Wendi kind of bonded with Damiana and looked for her every night and talked to and encouraged her. Before we left Damiana told them that if her baby was a girl she was going to name her Wendi. Sweet, huh?

Well. Allow me to introduce to you......Baby Wendi!


I KNOW!

We went back to Solidao this time. We were with Julianne again and Daniel asked about Damiana. (Wendi didn't go on this trip.) That's when we found out that she had the baby, it was a girl, AND they named her Wendi! Oh it was so cool. A few hours later Julianne took us to Damiana's house and we got to see Baby Wendi. Damiana was glad to see Daniel and of course asked about Wendi.

Sometimes when you go on a mission trip, you see people come to know Christ but you don't get to follow up. You don't know if they are going to church, if they are growing in their walk or being encouraged. And you might never know. It was amazing to re-connect with this family, see how they are doing, and pray with them.

Hopefully my friend Wendi will be able to go back one day and see the woman on whom she had such an impact that she named her baby after her. Oh I hope I get to see that!

Jehovah Rophe, The Lord Our Healer

Ok, raise your hand if you're in the south and are wondering when they moved your state to the SURFACE OF THE SUN. I mean, it wasn't this hot in Brazil! And the equator runs THROUGH IT! My word!

So here's a story from my trip.

On about day 4, I started getting sick. SO. MUCH. FUN. Started out as just a cold and cough. I thought, "I can handle this, ok." Then came the fever, aches, and chills. In Brazil. People. I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt. OUTSIDE. Did I mention I was in Brazil? Near the equator? (and no I did not take a hooded sweatshirt to Brazil. One of the kids who went with us who has NO meat on her bones and is cold all the time took it and let me borrow it.)

Anyway, fever finally broke, aches went away, but the cold part stayed. Days go by and we're at the resort where we spent our last 2 days. (I know, suffering for Jesus). So then I get the sinus pain. You know the kind? Where your BONES in your face from your eyes to your jaws hurt constantly? And I'm getting on an airplane the next day. Where the air pressure in the plane is bound to make my head explode. I had been on medicine for 5 days and nothing was working. To say I was getting nervous is an understatement.

And my encouraging friends. What with all the "oh girl, I'm really worried about you flying. You're just going to be miserable. I'll be praying for you." Oh I kid. Not one person called me "girl."

Man, I'm really making this a long story. ha! It's good, I promise. SOOOO, we're sitting on the plane on Friday, 2 days of sinus pain, no relief. Everybody is praying, probably waiting for the screaming to start. I'm holding Daniel's hand, waiting for take-off. You know how they pull the plane to the end of the runway and rev the engines before you take off down the runway?

Well, they did that.

And all the pain in my face? IT WENT AWAY! And I don't mean it faded away like my Tylenol had finally, after 6 days, kicked in. I mean it WENT AWAY!

And I actually gasped. I put my hand over my mouth and gasped. And Daniel said "What? You don't have anymore pain, do you?" And of course, I cried and laughed all the way through take-off. Sweatshirt girl was on the other side of Daniel and she thought the pain had gotten a lot worse. I finally composed myself and we told her what happened and got word around to our team members.

God is so good. I mean, what an understatement, right? He kept that pain away for 3 flights!

Right before it happened I had been praying. And I don't think I have ever prayed so expectantly. I actually prayed "Lord, I know you're going to do something amazing through this." And I had such peace and I KNEW He was going to do something. I was nervous, yes. Because I did still have the pain. And I'm human. But something in me just KNEW. And yet I was surprised when it happened. What's up with that? I know I'm not the only one. We pray and pray, ask the Lord to move, say we believe that He will and then have the nerve to be surprised when He does! Like the man in the Bible who said "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!"

O Lord. Forgive me for putting You in a box. For putting human limitations on You. For not REALLY believing, but saying I do. Thank You for the awesome way You showed Yourself to me on that plane. For the amazing ways You showed Yourself to us in Brazil. Thank You for giving me the courage to go where You called me to go and do what You called me to do. Here am I, Lord. Send me again.

Boa Tarde!!

That's "good afternoon" for all you non-Portuguese speaking folks! We're home!! And oh, how I wish I could have blogged daily from Brazil. Because I have SO much to tell, it will take forever to get it all out!

It's been an afternoon of laundry, paying bills, playing with the kids, and picking up antibiotics (see, the stories will be GOOD!). So thankful to be home and just so thankful. We saw over 150 people come to know the Lord as their Savior! God is good! I am blessed to have been a part of this mission and in awe that the Lord is allowing me to witness firsthand the things He's doing in the "outback" of Brazil.

Thanks to those who commented on my posts while I was gone. Sorry I didn't get to respond to all your comments (limited computer access) and I don't know if I'll get around to it today either. How about me getting all techy and scheduling posts to post while I was gone! I know! Next thing you know I'll be writing HTML or something.

For now, I'll just leave you with this image of a new believer.



Ciao!

AND I plan to learn to samba!

Guess where we're going! Go on, guess!!

Do you know your country flags? Maybe this will help:




Sim, Brasil! And THAT is all the Portuguese I know! Yay for me!


We're leaving for a mission trip soon. Not getting specific in case there are some crazy people out there. In case, ha! It's called a security system, people, and the police, they do love to respond to it. So if you set it off, please stay or make it obvious that you were here so we don't get charged $250 for a false alarm, 'k?

So pray for us if you think about it. Or if you think about us. Or Brazil. Or see some Mardi Gras beads. Or a soccer game. Or if you wake up at 3am. You know. Just pray.

Adeus!

(Oh, and to my friends down south of me who I just found out are reading? Hey y'all! Miss seeing you!)

I'll get to the point eventually

I'm kind of having a hard time thinking of something to write about. I could talk about how I went here and found all sorts of cute things, for $8.98 I might add. And then to Target to get this, in gray, and this cutie, in white. Oh my word I'm so excited for warmer weather! Where is it??

But that's really all I have to say about that and that's not much of a post.

So I was over at BooMama's, (well not actually AT BooMama's because that would have been quite the drive), but you know, at her BLOG reading this. And it got me thinking about my mission trip that is coming up in May. To Brazil. Or Brasil, if you speak the language. Which I do not. I do however speak a little espanol. And you know what? That doesn't help me one bit in Brasil. Because that Brasil country? How about it's the only one in South America that speaks Portuguese. Not very convenient for us spanglish speaking people, but apparently it's not all about me. Huh.

So, Daniel and I are going to Brasil with a group from our church. We are so very excited because we have been there before. Last October actually. And I have PICTURES!

The Brazilian dentist who went with us. He is talking to a whole elementary school (public) about oral health and relating it to spiritual health. It was so cool! Many kids prayed to receive Christ that day. The rest of us were in the back witnessing to teachers. The principal of the school accepted Christ later that day. God is good!

Here's Daniel keeping up with the Brazilians on the soccer field. Nice field, huh? The rocks added a nice bumpy element not usually found on soccer fields.

This is Christian Lady. No lie, that is her name. Isn't she beautiful?

We're looking forward to seeing friends we met last time and making new ones. The people are so gracious and inviting. We'll be going to some very remote villages to do street evangelism, hold worship services, play with the kids, provide free medical and dental care, and just show God's love to the people there.

We'd love to have you pray for us even now. We're having a fundraiser this week and we're praying for God to do amazing things there. Team unity, physical health, safety, and protection and safety of our families left behind are other prayer requests.

"and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" Acts 1:8