Hey everyone,
It's been raining here since last night after days and days of heat. For me, the cooler air has been a welcome change even if it means bringing the clothes inside to dry.
A couple of busy weeks have launched us into February. Here are a few of the highlights:
Here's a pic of our visit with Bernardo. Many of you may remember Bernardo from waaaaay back when I met him as a student. Bernardo, his wife Arabela, and their son Ian had us over for café da tarde (afternoon coffee) and it was such a treat. Meeting up with Bernardo and other "old" friends has been such a great reminder of God's continued work in us.
Speaking of old friends, we've also gotten to meet so many of their children. Here's a pic of Everett at our favorite neighborhood popsicle stand with our friend Mirella's 4 kids. Sometimes the kids are the best language teachers. They often don't care that Simon, Lucy, or Everett may not understand something they've said. They go right on talking! It's been amazing in one week to see how far Simon, Lucy, and Everett have progressed with the language. This week during class they had to go to a local store and make a purchase on their own, while asking specific questions to the shop owner.
We've also made some great new friends since we've arrived. Here's a pic of a Sunday lunch we had recently with Elias and Vitor. Elias and Vitor both got involved with Campus Outreach while students and Vitor started an internship with the campus ministry this January. He's become a quick friend to our family. We just met his friend Elias this past Sunday. It was such a treat having him lead us in worship at the church earlier that day. He's a music student at the local university, UFMG.
This past Tuesday Everett got to do a "test" with a local basketball team. The coach was fantastic and even spoke English (he lived in Ohio for awhile). Next week Everett will start practice with a group of 10 year olds! The group was all 13 year olds for his test, but he did such a great job keeping up!
Thank you for your continued prayers. God has shown great care for us, providing cultural adjustment, friendships, and a great start to the ministry at the church. My feelings of not being enough or worry about the kids still show up. But recently, the Lord has reminded me that even suffering does not undo our great hope! Pray that we could keep close the reminder that we testify to him and not ourselves, and to our eternal hope and not momentary pleasure.
One last prayer request before signing off: please pray for our documents for our Visas. We submitted one specific document in early December and never received it. I tried calling today and they told me to call back in March. We understand the delay because of COVID-19, but in the meantime please pray that it wouldn't cause complications for our Visa process and that we could even receive them before March.
In his love,
The Dowdys
