my 2 front teeth

It seems so long since I could say,
"Sister Susie sitting on a thistle."
Gosh, oh gee, how happy I'd be
If I could only whistle.

news without the paper

I wanted to encourage all of you to check out our latest newsletter (without the paper and without the stamp). It's been an interesting start to the year... a lot to think about. The more you guys get involved both in prayer and in thinking with us about these challenges the better. I went mostly with images versus words in the newsletter but if anything could stand out I would hope it would be the part about the change in focus of our personal ministry. We are now working with recent graduates in our church most of whom were involved in the campus ministry. It's definitely a challenging time period of life, full of surprises. We are praying that these graduates could be the examples and leaders of the future for our church (John 15:8).

view from Diego's

This past Wednesday our graduates group met at Diego's house. He lives on the other side of town so the picture is actually facing back towards where we live. I won't try now to show exactly where it is (you actually can't see it... it's blocked by another building). We continue to discuss relationships. We opened up with 4 or 5 studies on marriage. Diego prepared a study on dating this week. It's been really difficult to find good resources about relationships that really discuss things in a way that's relevant and focused on the gospel and not on law. If anyone knows of anything, send it my way.

Carnaval retreat

Last night we rolled in around 9 P.M. from our Carnaval retreat. For the last three days we've been meeting down by the Lagoa da Pampulha at a rented space with a covered area, a swimming pool, a volley ball court and a soccer field (a small one). I thought that having a hundred or so people there would overwhelm the space but we fit pretty well. The only moment I felt like things were getting out of hand was when the kids found the empty-two-liter-bottle stash behind the kitchen. They pulled out 50 or more bottles and filled them with water from the pool and then went pouring it everywhere and anywhere. The time was encouraging. We were able to sit and talk with different people for most of the day. The time was also tiring. Knowing we were going home each day, we didn't stop. The students probably didn't feel it as much as us older folk though.

Valentines

We celebrated Valentines with our small group at our last meeting. Coincidentally we've been discussing marriage so that heated up the discussion a bit. Actually, they don't celebrate Valentines here in Brazil. Later in June, they have boyfriend-girlfriend day. We played a game where everybody wore a headband with a common relationship character written on it. For example, "totally independent" or "single and desperate". You didn't know what was written on yours but everyone treated you accordingly. Once we sat down for pancakes we played a little longer before everyone guessed who they were.

back to school

The boys are now back in school. We ordered curriculum again from Sonlight... we've really enjoyed their approach. Simon is also taking a swimming class and Braden a soccer class. It's been good for them to burn some energy. Amy painted their faces for school the other day like the Indians do, each representing an animal. Braden's is an antelope, Simon's a howler monkey, and Lucy's a cow.

Rocky

This Thursday night... guys' night... Rocky!

staff training

Tonight wraps up our staff training. We've had meetings all week to discuss the state of the ministry and our team. It was an important time to come together after most of the team was away at the beach project and some of us were here working with the church and the adult communities. Please pray that these plans we've made would be God's plans.