Thinking....

Do you ever have those moments where you are thinking so many things, your mind is full, and then when you go to express yourself, you know that if you say what you are feeling, even though you really want to, you will regret it later. Like God, graciously, doesn't give you the freedom to talk to others because He knows that in a few days or possibly even a few hours, you will look back, seeing more of Him and what He is up to, and not understand what you, the little human, were thinking. I am there right now, not understanding, not seeing, wanting to question so many things. But I know that it is better to keep my mouth shut and wait and trust. God is good and He knows what He is doing even when I can't see. Praise be to our God. At all times. 2 Samuel 10:12 "Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight."

Adeus Bauru

We are saying goodbye to our friends in Bauru. These are some pics from our last few weeks: This is Jane with our professora Livia. Jane made some of her famous chocolate chip cookies for all our professors. They were a big hit!

I took a trip to the "kartodromo" (go-kart racetrack) with John Pedro and Godo a couple of weeks ago. They might think twice about inviting me in the future. It didn't take me but 15 seconds into the race to cause a 3 car pile-up and blow out a tire!

Formula 1 driver wanna-be's!

Our host family surprised Janie on her birthday with these flowers, note and breakfast basket.

Our primary means of transportation these last 4 months! This is a picture inside Comunidade Batista, the church where we have been worshiping the last several weeks. The church is lead by a group of missionaries from Michigan. They have been so welcoming and we have been so blessed to be a part of there community of believers. This is the worship team: Jean, Adam, Ryan, and Val. This is Shelly, daughter of one of the missionary couples (Dave and Val Smallman), and our friend Carol. We came to find out about Comunidade Batista through Carol.

Feijoada

For all of you don't know what Feijoada is, it is a great bean and meat soup/stew with historical roots in Brasil going back many years. It is served with couve(collard greens), and rice, and sometimes oranges, and farofa (A common side dish in Brasil, which is a flour made from different types of bread crumbs-wheat, corn or mandioc). If you ever get a chance to get eat some, go for it, it is wonderful. We just had a delicious lunch at the home of one our Portugese professors. Watch out for the pig's skin, ear, and foot. They mighty get you! Nowadays everyone just adds what they like but originally the soup was made of the left over parts of the pig along with black beans. That is all for our history lesson today kids. Hope you enjoyed it!

Glory to God!

Do you ever have those moments where you just realize in the midst of life happening how much grace and provision that God has for us? A few weeks ago we were running around trying to get some money into our bank account here. .. Much more complicated than we thought. At some point in the middle of it all, we finally were able to get the money and pay for school and it was like I just had a relevation, "Wow, God paid for all of our school." Even if everything continues to go wrong with the whole process and it is really complicated, blah, blah, blah.... The bottom line is that God totally provided for us. We made our last payment for our intensive language study in Bauru about 2 weeks ago. That is just amazing to me. Without going into the details of the cost of it all, lets just say, God provided big. Praying that this update will help you to think of something in your life that you totally couldn't have done without God's amazing provision and grace. Even if things are or were rocky along the way God's provision is always perfect. Give Him the glory for all that He does. Praising God right now just for who He is and for how He encourages us in this life. Revelation 7:9-12 "After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" '

April Happenings

So what's been happening down here in Brasil since our last blog post? Well, we can sum that up in one word...Portuguese! Most of our time is consumed with classes and homework, but it has been paying off. I actually heard Jane dreaming in Portuguese the other night! I don't know what she said, but I know it was Portuguese. In spite of our grueling schedule, we have managed to find some time for a few extracurricular activities. Check out the pics from my birthday party and the pro soccer game we went to:

Jane and I decided to treat our host family to some Texas size burgers.

These are some of my most favorite things: Jane, Jane's famous homeade chocolate cake, Guarana (a Brasilian soda), Jane's famous homeade chocolate cake...

John Pedro and his friend Eduardo on our way to the soccer game.

This is Estadio Alfredo de Castilho, home stadium of Bauru's professional soccer team Noroeste. This was the championship game for all the teams within the state of Sao Paulo. Noroeste was playing Guaratingueta (say that 3 times fast) but ended up losing 1-0. It was still alot of fun!

This is Neto, the director of our language school.

Weeks 3 & 4 in Bauru

Jane's been teaching Stella how to bake all kinds of things in the kitchen. Here we have Jane and Stella making some of Jane's famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. They made some awesome homemade pancakes this weekend.

OK. Here's an interesting story. The Bauru Tennis Club, of which Godo is the Executive Sports Director, held a 12k run. Godo said that he and Maria Clara were going and suggested that Jane and I participate. I tried to politely explain that I didn't think that was such a good idea and that I could probably only make it about half that distance (12k is about 8 miles). He said not to worry, that there was an option to run only 6k. Jane and I thought, "Great", we can probably handle that. It sounds like a leisurely, informal, everyone-is-invited type of event. So, we show up at the starting point about 9:25 am on Saturday morning. The race starts at 9:30. As we pull up, we notice about 70-80 runners. And I mean RUNNERS. The people who only have about 0.5% body fat. Everyone is stretching and jogging in place. They all have there running gear, sun glasses, and visors. There are groups with team uniforms and sponsors. There are city officials, reporters, and paramedics standing by. I'm already not liking this. So, Jane and I go to register and...there is not an option to run the 6k. Oh my. Now what do we do. The spots have been paid for, this has already been planned. OK. We'll try to do the whole thing. But I'm not gonna like it I can tell you this much already. Now, you should know that Jane and I OCCASIONALLY run 3-4 miles for exercise. I can't remember the last time I voluntarily ran 8 miles. Have I ever run 8 miles? I told Jane before the start of the race that she could count on me finishing dead last. BANG. Off we go. OK...off THEY went, and we watched as the pack sailed off into the horizon. The first 2 miles weren't too bad. One big hill that I walked aways, but things evened out for the most part after that. Jane and I stayed pretty close the first 6k or so. Right up to the point where we turned off the pavement and into the sugar cane fields. Yes. You heard me correctly. The second half of the course led us through someone's cane fields, literally, in between two rows of sugar cane. The funny part was that it had rained the night before, and lo and behold, it was raining once again. God does have a sense of humor. Trying to run a "race" in 6 inches of mud can be a bit of a challenge. However, the good thing about running through the cane fields is that no one can see you when you have to stop to go to the bathroom. Jane and I actually finished the race together, and as it turns out, we didn't finish last. Godo and Maria Clara showed up about 10 minutes behind us. The lesson in this story...I need to learn Portuguese!!

These are our muddy sneakers after the race!

On to Bauru

This is Luis Carlos, but everybody calls him Godo. He is our host dad and this is his pet arara (macaw) whose name is Tete. .............The lady at the far right of the table is Maria Clara, Godo's wife and our host mom. .............John Pedro is 12 years old and likes to play futebol (soccer), ride bikes, and go swimming. He's been pretty impressed that I can dunk on their 8' basketball rim. The indoor pool with retractable roof! Makes for a great place to cool off after the bikeride back from school. Our bedroom: Cable TV, Air Conditioning, Surround Sound Stereo, Wireless Internet, Private Bath. Ahh, the sacrifices we make! ..........This is the outside dining area. Jane and I like to study here. .............Our professor, Agnaldo. He is a Christian and has been a real blessing. Part of our homework every night is to memorize a bible verse in Portuguese. ...This is a picture of the front of the language school we are attending. ............Our classroom. This is where we spend the 6-8 hours of our day Monday-Friday.

Godo's team playing a futebol match at the club. They are in the semi-final round. Here's Jude with Tete, the oldest of Godo's two araras.