I sound like a 3-year old

So the lockdown has made it more difficult to meet people but thankfully I had already joined a bible study. We have been able to continue doing that online! It has been so great! It is partially in english and partially in portuguese which helps with my language learning and understanding. I also do both my portuguese class and my CC class online. They are both in portuguese as well but I’m glad, because they have really helped me become more comfortable speaking portuguese even though i have a limited vocabulary and probably sound like a three year old when I talk! Praying that lockdown will be over soon! 

Lucy 

We decided to paint our 'sala' to make use of the lockdown. Lucy even scraped and 'mudded.'

 

Read Simon's update. 

 

online basketball is not easy

 Dear Friends

Dad has asked if I could do a little update so here it is. We have been in quarantine for about two weeks. It makes it a little tough for dad to share the gospel to people when we have to stay inside all day. I do online basketball which is not easy. One advantage of online basketball is that when you do situps and pushups they can't see you. I have also started online Classical Conversations class which is hard in general but now it is portugeuse. Yesterday was April Fools day. I did the best tricks. Dad got all of us, he asked us to put on our 247 365 day a year shirts (pictured below) and he said that a picture guy was coming to take our picture and he tricked us!!!!(ask dad for more info) Apparently April Fools Day is not a thing in Brazil it is actually called Lying Day where you just lie. Portuguese class has been great. If we went back to a resort called the Hotel Fazenda when I did not know any portuguess it would be much better. (We went to the Hotel Fazenda for christmas.) Tchau tchau!! Eu gosto muito do Brasil. Bye bye!!! I like brazil very much.

From Everett

PS. I saw two monkeys a few days ago. The popsicles are the best here!!!! Surprisingly kiwi is a great flavor for popsicles. BYE!!!!   

 Read Lucy's update. 

this week in belo

Hi friends, 

We introduced ourselves at church last week. If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, I'm not sure what I said. 😂 

Over the past few weeks we've been able to spend great time with many families from the church. These conversations have been crucial for us to better understand how God has been at work among them. Pray with us that we could join in seamlessly. 

In other news, we started Portuguese classes! On Tuesday and Thursday mornings we walk over to the church building (not far from our house) and, first, Amy and I have class, and then the kids all have class together. They manage the walk over and back on their own, which is a cool way for them to grow in their autonomy.

Pray with us for growth in our language abilities and for a great friendship with our instructor, Viviane.

Here are a few recent highlights, at least the ones where we remembered to take a picture:

Top to bottom: the kids with a few of our favorite products, the grape juice, Lucy loves the powdered milk and açaí (not pictured), I love the bananas, and we managed to find semi-sweet chocolate! 2nd row: our pastor Rafael, a typical lunch with rice and beans, farofa and vinagrete, a recent get together with our long-time friends Lorena and Juliano and baby Donata. 3rd row: Amy and I in class, Lucy playing Spikeball with new friends, and Everett buying cheese at our local grocery store. 

We would love to hear from you all!

Jeff, Amy, and family   

yes!

Thank you all for your prayers today! Our visit to the Federal Police went better than expected. I was fully prepared to hear, "come back when you have all your documents." Instead, we were granted the "protocolo," which means it's all in motion now. We will receive our Visas in 20+/- days!

Thank you for praying! Thank you, Father, for providing!

Just before our appointment outside the Federal Police. 

Love, 

Jeff & Amy

afternoon coffee

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   

settling in

Hey friends!

Our first days of the year have been full. We are still getting our house in order, so we've had visits from the plumber, pest control, the butcher shop, etc. Part of the adjustment, which won't always be the case, has been all the walking since we don't have a car yet. Fortunately, the bank, the bakery, a small grocery store, and the fruit and vegetable store are all within a half-mile of the house. Unfortunately, I'm out of shape and the hills are getting the best of me. 😰  

We've gotten to visit with many families and friends from the church. I know we were warned before that our capacity would be low, but this weekend it seemed like we were arriving home each night wiped out. Between the long treks across town by taxi, lots of Portuguese (especially for the kids who haven't started classes), and the heat, we are definitely still "adapting." But we are thankful that so many have opened their homes to us and invited us to be a part of the work God is doing in their lives, in the church, and in Belo Horizonte.

1. Lucy visiting with a friend's "hamster" (looks like a mouse to me!), 
2. Lucy, Mary Kelly, and Simon using the public workout equipment scattered across many of the parks, 
3. Braden and Everett with Santa(s) at the airport, 
4. Lucy and Simon picking acerola during a visit with some friends, 
5. Everett meets Angry Bunny (its name in English!), 
6. One of many, many Uber rides after getting caught in the rain, 
7. Amy at the park, look at that amazing tree!, 
8. The family waiting at the airport after Braden's initial flight was canceled (he made it fine eventually), 
9. and Everett in his room having "desk time." 

Not pictured: It's not all fun and games. There is plenty of stress and fear involved in the transition. We are actively trying to battle those fears with truth... the fear of not being enough or up to the task, the fear that the kids may not like it or adjust well or that they may not make friends, the fear today of the unknown as the city shuts down again partially due to COVID, the fear of seeing the scary images from the U.S. from the continuing pandemic and political turmoil and worrying how that may be affecting you all. There's plenty to cause us to be anxious. And we feel it. So, let's pray for one another. That we could renew our trust in our Father daily and that others would know us as Christ's disciples by our love for others, those near and far. 

We miss you all and would love to hear from you,

The Dowdys  

happy new year

Dear family and friends, 

Happy New Year! We've only been in Brazil for 13 days, but our time has been power-packed with delicious food, time with old and new friends, summer heat, language learning and fails, walking, more walking, and now saying good-bye again (Braden leaves tomorrow to start his new semester at Wofford). 😢 

We are so thankful for you all. You all have faithfully stood beside us this past year and supported us as we followed God's call. Thank you for all your messages and prayers as we look ahead to the new year. Specifically, we are so excited to have connected with the pastor and his family. Please pray for our upcoming meetings and that we could come alongside in full support for the church's vision for the new year. Also, pray for us as we continue to get settled, specifically that we could find a car and finish setting up our apartment.

Many of the pictures above are from a trip that Mom and Dad gave us for Christmas. We got to spend 3 days at a hotel on a previous ostrich farm! All the food was included and we got to enjoy the pool and play a little pickleball. Everett got to ride horses and milk a cow. It was a great distraction from missing family over the holiday. 

We'd love to hear from you. Hope you have a Happy New Year!

Jeff, Amy, Braden, Simon, Lucy, and Everett 

p.s. Braden's passport was a wild ride. I'll try to summarize: After turning in the passport and waiting the allotted time, we knew we would be cutting it close if it didn't arrive soon. Instead we heard back that Braden's pictures were no good. He rushed off and took new ones and mailed them in. After waiting a week or so more, we checked in; the pictures still hadn't arrived! Amy suggested that Braden contact his professor, former U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, to see if he could help. Amazingly, he responded the same day saying he was forwarding on the request. Tim Scott's office contacted Braden and asked that he send a new set of pictures directly to them. Braden rushed off, took 4 sets of pictures to make sure they worked, and sent them off. Later we learned that the pictures had not arrived in time. This was the day before the trip. On top of that, a winter snow storm was blowing in, so any mail was unlikely to make it. Instead they made Braden an appointment in Atlanta for the next day, the day of the trip! And we were flying out of Birmingham! So, Braden and Amy's mom drove over and stayed the night in Atlanta with new pictures in tow. Thankfully, this part went off without a hitch and Braden made it to the airport in time to make the flight. Thank you for your prayers! What an amazing journey! Only later did I learn that Gowdy's newest book is titled, Doesn't Hurt to Ask! 😁 How much better is it to remember that God invites us to ask Him!   

we've arrived

Dear friends, 

We made it to our apartment yesterday late afternoon. Thank you all for your prayers and support to get us here. Braden got his passport literally the day of the trip! It's quite a story that I hope to share soon. 

We are trying to settle in today, unpacking and resting. 

Love, 

The Dowdys in Brazil ;)

10 days

Hi all, 

I'm testing out a new support update method. Hopefully, those of you who were not receiving our updates will now. We are leaving in 10 short days! Unbelievable. Above all I want to thank you and thank our Heavenly Father. You've all been a tremendous encouragement to us through this lengthy process, not only as willing givers but in speaking truth, and expressing excitement over what's to come. Thank you! 

A few prayer requests: 

1. We still haven't received Braden's passport. Please continue to pray for its provision. 
2. We are also waiting on a few documents to arrive that we will need for our visa application. Pray specifically that our FBI background check would arrive and Amy's birth certificate. 
3. Finally, today we are having our final debrief for LEAD U. We realized last week that from our small team we will have someone on each continent next year! Pray that from our debrief today we could remember key lessons God has taught us over the past few months. 

Here's a few highlights of late (top left clockwise): going away party in B'ham, family goodbyes over Thanksgiving, preaching at Grace Church, one of several visits to the storage shed, and our going away party in Bainbridge.

Love, 

Jeff, Amy, Braden, Simon, Lucy, and Everett

p.s. Please reply, we'd love to know that you are receiving our updates! 

if the Lord wills

 

Despite being mostly homebound and experiencing some momentary despair about support raising, we've surged up to 77%! We are once again reminded that the Lord is writing the story and not us.

Pledge today! Shelter in Place. Last month we asked you to join us in praying that we'd see a 15% increase in our support within the month. Little did we know the extent that the pandemic would turn the world upside down. I'd worked it out in my head how the ensuing months would go and how we could leave at the end of July. James 4 says:  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” This verse was meaningful to us when we first started this process and so much more so now. It's as the Lord wills and not how we would do it. With everything that's going on, I (Jeff) was pretty low. It seemed like such a backbreaker. But God has reassured us through conversations with friends and family and times of prayer -- He is in control. So, if we have to shelter in place, let's go to God as our shelter and "abide in the shadow of the Almighty!" (Psalm 91:1) So far we've managed to entertain ourselves during the shelter-in-place order. God is at work globally through the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, he has his eyes on us. What an unexpected blessing it has been to have this time as a family before our move to Brazil!  Thank you for partnering with us. We'd love to know how you are fighting off cabin fever or, more seriously, how we can be praying with you! Please reach out!  Love, the Dowdys