A lot has happened in a short time including flooding that has caused a lot of people to be displaced in our state of Pernambuco. None of that has affected the areas that the community churches are at though and besides trying to navigate the flooded streets of Recife to pick Doug Hood up at the airport, it has not effected us either. Speaking of Doug, he is Pat and Harold’s son. If you keep up with our blog you will know that Pat and Harold are the wonderful teachers that helped the school a few semesters back and left a huge impression on everybody here. Doug came to speak at a conference and help counsel some members of the church. It was a big blessing to have him here and I saw a lot of people get the help that they needed from his counseling sessions. We also picked up Seth and Kari Bartal from the airport in June. They are the newest missionaries to join us in Brazil. They will be teaching at the school while they are learning the language and transitioning over to help start a church plant in Recife. Last, but not least, we have Roland who is from Greenfield, Indiana. I invited him down as a general discovery trip and to see if he fit into the ministry here. It has been super awesome to have him here and he has been a huge help in many areas. He will be here until July 19th. We are trying to convince him to stay for to teach this semester, but we also want him to listen to God about that decision and not just us.
With the influx of people that speak English here, it has been a little different for Lindsay and I. Most of our time has been spent helping people adapt and get things that they might need. I spent some time helping Emily get her apartment furnished for her parents to stay with her. We did most of the shopping at just one store because they consistently had the best prices. I think they really love us at that store now.
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| From Jeff & Lindsay |
The big groups are here now and they are doing Medical Clinics and a VBS for the next 3 days. But on Wednesday we are taking our big trip, which I think I will let Lindsay write about.
Like Jeff said things are hectic with the short-term groups right now, but that will all mostly slow down again after this week. This year’s big July mission trips have actually been more June mission trips. With exception of a couple stragglers, all the short-termers will be gone by the end of next week. This gives us and the other full-timers here a much needed break. This is especially exciting for Tele’s family. While having groups down in July is extremely beneficial, trying to find other vacation during the school year is difficult.
Jeff and I are taking this rare break from responsibilities to take a dream vacation. We are going to Europe. How can we as missionaries take such a huge vacation? We were blessed last year in a way that we didn’t really want to be blessed. My Aunt Pat passed away last year in June and she left us an inheritance. As most people who receive inheritances can attest, we would much rather have her than a penny of her money. God knows best and we are thankful that we know she is with him right now. It was a substantial amount (especially for poor missionaries) and so we have determined to use the money wisely. We purchased our car with some of the money, put aside money into retirement accounts, tithed, and now with some of the money we are taking our vacation. The best part about this trip is all the good friends we will be seeing/staying with! We are going to meet up with my cousin Amber Cart and also Joanna Cart from the US, a former exchange student, a Dutch friend and her family, and also Roberto and Karine (friends from here who are at Bible College in Europe). We just feel so blessed to be taking this opportunity!!
We may not be in contact much until after the 28th of July, but if you need to get a hold of us the best bet may be emailing Jeff.
Até então!
