Saudades do Brasil

It’s 6:30am. I can’t sleep. I’ve been awake since 4:30 and there is probably no going back now. About 40 teens here right now on a short-term mission trip. It’s been a lot less noisy than I feared – and a lot busier. And we have kept them busy right from the start – so I’ve been pretty occupied also. Mostly sorting gifts for Brazilians and prepping for English Camp. It starts in about 2 hours. All I think about is English Camp, but I’m trying to make sure I have time to pack, too.

I don’t really know what to think. Things change so drastically so fast. Last week we didn’t know what we were doing next. Now we know we have to go back to the US. We'll be going back next week thanks to an awesome flight deal from my cousin. I’m heartbroken, nervous, a little excited (about seeing loved ones), and trying hard to remain a hopeful. We’re going back a little more visa savvy this time. We know that it might still be a while before we get this work visa. We know there are still mounds of red tape. We aren’t even sure that this work visa will go through. We’ll be living out our contingency plan (see the post on July 06, 2008), meeting up with family, visiting our supporters, and trying to recruit some new English teachers for the school.

We do still believe that God wants us to serve Brazilians. We feel like we fit in here more and more. We feel like we have a place here and that they need us. We’ll be back. It might be one month. It might be one year, but we’ll be back.
So, see you soon.

-Lindsay

Update #4

Etc. (The Beach)

A couple of weeks ago was a holiday called São João (St. John the Baptist day). Saint John festivals are a big deal around here; they’re a country-style harvest party where dishes made with corn are served. The best part is school is out for two days. Perfect time for a road trip to the beach, right? We thought so. Tele let us (Roberto, David, Alyssa, Emily, Jeff and I) visit his parent’s beach house for a few days.

When we arrived the electricity was out. We were fine with our food situation; the neighbors let us keep food in their fridge and stoves in Brazil are all propane. We bought candles and made a fire on the beach at night. We might have had more fun because there was no electricity. Jeff and I slept out on the beach beneath the stars each night and I got up to watch the sunrise each morning. One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching monkeys in the wild! We saw them at the neighbor’s house two doors down. It was pretty cool, until they came to watch me…

The last day of our trip, while everyone else was at the beach, I stayed back to take a shower. I was almost finished when I heard some mysterious scratching. I looked up to see a monkey looking back at me. I screamed grabbed my towel and belongings, and ran to the next room, where there were two more monkeys in the rafters watching me. I finally found a room that was monkey free, so I locked the door (monkeys can totally open unlocked doors) and changed quickly. It was on my list of things to do before I die. See monkeys in the wild. Check.

Back to the USA

Our last documents we sent to the lawyer were rejected because they were not "legalized" by the Brazilian consulate. This news gave us our answer about wither we needed to go back to the USA or just wait and see if we can get our visa soon and take a less expensive trip to Argentina and get the Visa.

I really like the reaction from my good friend Jon when I told him the news. He said "it seems like you probably should have everything legalized, notarized, blood sealed and consecrated to several different gods in order to make sure everything is setup ok". We have in no way given up on staying in Brazil and we will be coming back here as soon as we get this visa. But, it is nice to have an answer from God about where we should be right now. Even though this answer is frustrating we are looking forward to see how God uses us back in the USA for a while.

We don't have tickets yet but we should be coming back early August.

Update #3

Ministry

July is a busy, busy month for the ministry. There are a lot of outreaches that happen through out the year, but July is the biggest month because of the short-term mission groups that come from the states. The first of the three groups have already arrived two woodworkers and Jeff’s dad. The second trip arrived on the fourth, a medical team, and the third group (40 some teens and adults) will arrive on July 15^th. Jeff’s dad comes every summer to coordinate the groups. We have really been enjoying having him around. If you want more info on what’s going on in ministry you can always check out the ministry blog, wrbrazil.blogspot.com.

New drug ring or medical mission trip?

Update #2

Life

Jeff and I are gypsies. Ok, maybe we’re not real gypsies, but we are really starting to feel like we can’t stay in one place for more than a year or so. Here six months. There a year. Here six months again. Living with my parents, his parents, my brother, at the ministry building, in a tree, on the moon. Where are we going next? What are we doing next? What are we even doing for dinner tonight?

We still don’t know. We still don’t have a permanent/semi-permanent visa to stay in Brazil. We’re trying every avenue we can. We are still working with the same lawyer. He still says it will happen soon. He says that the judge has all info he needs now, hopefully. We’re also trying to pull some strings with some political connections Tele has. In Brazil sometimes it is all about “who you know” to get things done. We’re also going to give the case number for our visa to a friend who’s in law school. He’s studying international law, labor law, and immigration law and he thinks he might be able to help work things out. It’s all still taking time. If things pan out soon we’ll go to the Brazilian Consulate in Argentina to pick the visa up, because we found out for sure that we have to be out of the country to get the work visa.

If things don’t pan out before August 10 (the date our tourist visa runs out for the year) we’ll be headed back to the States. I applied to go to school at IUPUI as a contingency plan if all of our visa arrangements fail and Jeff has some possible job prospects back in Indiana, too. Whatever happens we know that God is with us and that he has a plan for us. No matter how mysterious and nomadic our life seems to be, we continue to trust him with our future.

Lindsay

Update #1

Jeff does a great job as the communications link to Brazil, but when it comes to my contribution to the blog sometimes I get caught up in daily life and procrastinate for weeks on end. Jeff asked me to write a post about three weeks ago and I’m just now doing it. Oops. We have been finished with all school business since Tuesday. Now, since I have even more free time on my hands and I am out of excuses, I’m writing several posts to try to get on his good side again.

In the next few posts will hopefully catch you up to speed with school, life, ministry, etc.

School

There were two end of the semester programs to prepare for and present the last two weeks of school. Since I mainly work with the preschoolers the last two weeks were filled with repeating the same songs and dance moves, over and over again. The first program’s theme was focused on Pernambuco (the state where we live here). The international school kids presented special projects, sang songs, and performed skits. I learned my first full song in Portuguese as a result of helping the preschoolers with their presentation!

The preschoolers singing for the first program

The second program was a fund raiser event called “Nations’ Celebration.” The children performed dances from around the world and then sampled international food with their parents. We even held an “art auction,” selling the paintings the children made in their art classes this semester. The event raised around R$1,800 for a children’s hospital in Recife. I contributed by helping guide the preschoolers in their South African dance and by making chocolate chip cookies for the American food booth.

Joyce, one of our preschoolers, and her mom dressed up
for the Nations' Celebration

We completely wrapped up the semester with parent-teacher conferences last Friday and a teachers’ meeting on Monday. At the teachers’ meeting Emily Taylor and I presented a new English program that we formed to create a bridge between Portuguese subjects (ex. Math, Science, History) and the English language. We’re really excited about starting the program next semester!

Emily & I being awesome at the beach

-Lindsay

Dia De Namoradas

Happy Valentines day!! Well at least the Brazilian version which actually translates to "Day of the Girlfriends/boyfriends".

Well for every concerned friend of Lindsay, don't worry I am taking good care of her and giving her plenty of chocolate and goodies. She wanted me to take pictures of her and her presents so that other people can see how happy she is.

School is almost out and my Dad will be arriving on the 24th! I am pretty excited. If all goes well we will be going to the Beach house with Tele and his family this weekend. Please continue to pray for the Visa situation.

The Fundemental Elements of waiting

We still don’t know much about the status of our work visa and our Tourist Visa only lasts until August 10^th. We currently don’t have tickets back to the US or to anywhere. These things have been stressing us out like crazy. But, it has been becoming very obvious that God wants us to wait and trust in Him.

The past couple of weeks have been busy for me (Jeff) because I have had to help out with the Learning Centers in the afternoons. I usually help out with that one or two days a week, but recently I have had to do it every afternoon. I really haven’t minded it that much. Most of the time I am in Learning center with Lindsay which is nice and I think we work well together in those situations. I have been struggling a little with trying to figure out what else I should be doing here to keep people informed and it has been a slow month. I think with the start of Summer in the US that not as many people check the blog site and such. Plus up until a few days ago we didn’t have a memory card for our camera. Ours broke about 3 weeks ago. Thanks to Roberto’s friend we have a temporary card until my dad arrives with some new cards.

I think the whole theme behind this post is that Lindsay and I need prayer for guidance and that we will not just do what we think is best but wait on God for direction. I am really thinking the smart thing for me to do is go ahead and buy plane tickets now because they will be more expensive the longer we wait. The problem is, I don’t think that is from God. I just think that is the best choice in my head.

We have been able to do some fun things while we are here. We went to the beach with Roberto and Emily Taylor because Emily had yet to go. It was a good time even though it is starting to become the rainy session.

Yesterday was a holiday. We went to Recife and were able to watch the new Indiana Jones movie. We also ate at Burger King. It was a very American day for us.

We still don't know anything with our Visa and Tele is sick right now. We need to have Tele call the lawyer and see about going to Brasilia to get this taken care of. At this point I don't see anything else we can do to speed up the process. I am finally at peace about the whole thing. If we end up going back to the US I will be fine with that and I know God has something for us there. I think if we go back to the US we will stay for a while and Lindsay will go back to school. If that is God's will that is. We have thought about a lot of things. We just want to do what God wants us to do.

Iron Man and Visas

Last Thursday Lindsay and I renewed our tourist visa for 3 months. It went very smoothly and afterward Tele wanted to go to a Money conference so he dropped us off at the mall for a few hours. We had a wonderful time together. We ended up finding a Donut place inside the mall which you can't find to often. So we sat down together and enjoyed a banana and cinnamon donut. Lindsay said it was the best donut she had ever had. I think I would agree with her, it was pretty amazing. We also went to see a movie, since there was a cinema in the mall. We got to see Iron Man which I had been wanting to see. It was an amazing super hero movie and I think they did a perfect job on keeping true to the origins of Iron Man. Overall it was a very good trip to Recife. I even ran into somebody I knew there, which is really weird when you actually know so many people in a foreign country that you can bump into people almost everywhere that you know.

The Work Visa situation is still really up in the air. We are in Brazil for another 3 months for sure but are uncertain what will happen after that time. We got a call from our lawyer telling us that we would have to leave the country in order to get the work visa and we told him to send it to Argentina if it comes. That way we only have to spend about $300 on plane tickets to leave the country get our visa and come back. But that is only practical if it comes in the next 3 months. So, we still need a ton of prayer about this.

Also, because of this stress and being in ministry we are getting attacked emotionally at lot by Satan. Please pray for Lindsay and I's emotional states and stress. Even though we had a fantastic Thursday the weekend was the most depressing and emotional weekends for us. Maybe it was because it was Mother's Day weekend, who knows. We just could really use your prayers about stress.

15 Years of Ministry

World Renewal Brazil is celebrating 15 years of ministry and it is very weird to think that I have been coming down here for 14 years of that. I first came when I was just 10 years old on a short-term missions trip with my family. I guess that is what happens when a family does stuff for God together.... God uses you for His glory. So beware parents if you send your child on a short-term missions trip they just might get involved with missions and furthering God's kingdom.

To celebrate the 15 years the Churches held a Forum where several Pastors talked about different areas of ministry and everyone shared about their experiences. The last one was Pastor Ricardo Silva and he was talking about the Unity of the Community Churches. The example he used was getting all the strong, big guys to circle up.

Then he had Duda (the all around handyman at the Alcance) pretend to be a "problem" or "difficulty". His job was to get inside the circle.

It was awesome to watch and even though Duda gave is his best, he didn't manage to get in the circle.

The whole forum was amazing to be apart of and was so uplifting to have so many of the Church Pastors around to share about their Churches and experiences. Gary Wright came from Indiana for the celebration and he started it off with a sermon on Jesus movements.

Holiday & Boxing

This weekend was back to Lagoa De Itaenga!! But I (Jeff) was sick. It was very frustrating because I really wanted to go and help out but my stomach was bothering me a lot. That morning a group of people from the Alcance went to a lake in Paudalho and had a picnic for Karine Moraes. She will be leaving soon to go to England and then to Word of Life Hungary in August. But, I was not able to go to that either. I am feeling better today but please pray for health. I haven't been nearly as sick as everybody else has been recently so I most likely got the tail end of the stomach virus thing going around.

Lindsay and Emily were still able to go to Lagoa De Itaenga. They were 20 mins late so they only had 4 kids at the English class, but the class went really well and they have decided to do it every Saturday now.

Lindsay & Emily teaching the English class

The Youth program will still only be every other Saturday. By having the English class every Saturday it will help a lot more with the comprehension of the kids. It was just to much time in between classes to retain English that have no other outlet of learning it.


At the end of this month Gary Wright the president of World Renewal Intl. will be coming to Brazil. The month marks the 15 year anniversary of the Ministry in Brazil so Gary is coming down to be apart of the celebration. He is also bring some things down for us, which will help a lot. The current internet here is really bad with only 15kps download speeds which is about 3x faster than dial up. Then there is usually about 5 or so people online at one time which makes the internet nearly impossible to navigate. So after talking with Tele we are hopefully getting better internet this week. It should be going to about 60kps download speeds and then Gary will be bringing down a Bandwidth control router with him. Basically it will be able to set programs on a priority list and gives more speed to the things higher on the list. So I will be putting things like Skype on super high priority and downloads as a low priority. This should solve most of our internet problems.

When Little Kids paint.

Lindsay has her hands full sometimes with these young artists.

We are doing well here and it has been a big blessing to have Emily Taylor here now. Lindsay and Emily are becoming friends fast, as for me I am happy to have another Settlers of Catan player. The school schedule is changing a lot because of Rachel Winzeler leaving at the end of the month. Emily has taken over David's classes and David is taking over Rachel's classes. It all is a bit weird, but the transition seems to be going well.

We will be going back to Lagoa de Itaenga this Saturday to teach an English class and help with the youth group. This time I will bring the camera! Pray for this time, that God will bless it.

Sickness & Work

So, it seems that some type of stomach virus has been going around and has made people like Tele not eat for a long time. The funny thing is, neither Lindsay or I have gotten the stomach virus. But, Lindsay did get sick. It is more of a bad cold. This is partially why I haven't updated this blog for a while. Too many sick people making me feel down also.

I have been working on the Brazil website and it is pretty much done for now with the content part. I just need to get the outreach section complete which is actually going to be called Church Planting Strategy... section. This last Saturday Lindsay, Emily Taylor, and I went with Ricardo to Lagoa de Itaenga (The town which has one of the newest church plants in it) and we had an English class for the youth there. We also helped with the youth group later on that night. It was awesome to finally be able to use my Nintendo Wii for the ministry again. We really tried to get the youth group going with the Acacias church here at the Alcance but only one kid ever showed up. Anyway, the weekend went really well and the kids loved both the English class and youth group. We had one kid that was new who was very interested in the Wii and then came the next day to help out with a street market sale the Church was participating in. He also showed up to Church that evening.

It was good to see the Church raising money to make it a more Church like building. Right now the Church is a house that they are renting and it is pretty small. The Church sold about R$85 worth of clothes and items at the Street market, which is a huge deal for them because most of the Church members are not employed and they only give about R$6 a month in tithe.

Easter is coming

This last week went by really fast. My work with the website was slow but steady and on Friday at Brookville Road Community Church, they had a fund raiser for the summer trip which they had information about the website. So, even though the website is not complete it is getting foot traffic. That is ok with me. I am pretty sure they told everybody it is still a work in progress.

We had a big scare with the graphic design computer on saturday. The power in the graphica dropped a little which made the converter not put out enough volts and shut off the computer. When we turned it back on, it said it had shut down because it overheated. It also wouldn't boot into windows from there. So, we opened the computer up to see the fan that keeps the processor cool completely caked in dust. It was really bad. We did our best to clean it out without having a can of compressed air. When we went to turn it back on the picture wouldn't come back up. So, through all of this Roberto was freaking out a little that he had lost all of the graphic design data. Which despite me reassuring him that the data was fine, he still was worried. Anyway, I basically let the computer sit over night and cool down some more, then in the morning I turned on the computer and got into the bios and from there everything was fine. This morning Roberto came back to the graphica was a PC that is working like normal.

This weekend we also stopped at a new grocery store that I hadn't been to. It is called Tudo Dia which just means "all day". It is the newest grocery store in Carpina and also just so happens to be owned by non other than WALMART. Thats right walmart of all places have invaded Brazil. It was creepy walking into that place because it really felt like a mini walmart. I guess it is good for that town a little, since they do offer lower prices on a lot of their stuff. But, Lindsay and I really can't stand walmarts business practices. I doubt we will be shopping there much if at all. The good news is they have a atm at there store that I bet we will be able to get money from. The other banks in town used to have an atm that worked internationally and we would get the official exchange rate which is better than the underground rate right now. But, this trip we couldn't find any atms that would work. That meant we were giving Tele a check to exchange for us and that is just one more thing Tele had to do. We are all about helping him and not adding more things to his plate.

Ok, I have gone on for too long now. This week is a holiday week because of Easter. That means we only have two days of school!! Happy Easter.

A Fun Weekend

Since it doesn't have a single thing to do with the ministry I will briefly mention that we went to the beach this weekend. We went to Porto De Galinhas. It was a lot of fun and now we are burnt a little. Ok now back to work.

Post by Jeff

Lindsay

Jeff really wants me to post a little about what school is like for me this year. It has been quite a bit different from my teaching experience back in 2006. There were only a handful of students and I taught a variety of ages. Back then we had 2 preschoolers, 4 kindergarten kids, and an afternoon English tutoring program for around 7 kids. This year I have an English nursery program for 6 toddlers (ages 18 months to 2 ½ years) from 8-10am, an English class for 5 Kinder One (preschool ages 3-4) from 10:15-11:30am, and Learning Center* for 1-2 grades in the afternoons on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. In some of the in-between times I’m a hall monitor, playground supervisor, girl’s shower overseer, and 4-5 Grade Learning Center overseer. It sounds like a lot written down, but I actually feel like I have tons of spare time.

At 4pm things slow down for me. I do some lesson planning on Saturdays and prep a little in the afternoons. Unless Jeff and I are practicing Portuguese that day, I have my evenings free. There isn't a lot of paper grading for babies and preschoolers. I feel pretty lazy (especially since we got our hammock put up).

I'm really blessed with the opportunity (and free time) I have, but like most jobs or ministries it has ups and downs. Some days I think my students are the most gifted and brilliant little toddlers on the planet. There are also days I daydream about tying them to their chairs.

Alright, enough gibber-jabber. Here are some pictures from yesterday. We talked about healthy foods with the younger kids and shared a fruit salad snack. Here they are with their fruit masks.

Adorable aren't they?
Keep them in your prayers. Especially this last one:




















She's got a major problem with biting! She's bitten everyone in the class (including me twice) and bites every new kid who comes in the class. It seems to be a security thing half of the time and jealousy/anger issues the other half. She bites pretty hard.
Please be praying for change in her and for the safety of the rest of us!

I'll write more on school and the kids some other time.

The Before The After

Yes this means we have our air conditioner installed now. It is working great!! Lindsay and I don't like the cold very much, we are very glad we are missing the bad weather in Indiana about now, so it might seem strange that we got an air conditioner in the first place. The main reason we got it was to protect our electronic equipment from overheating and also from moisture. That isn't much of a concern right now, but come rainy season it will be. During the day we keep the doors open and let the breeze cool our room. Then when it gets dark we turn on the air conditioner. Here is the funny part, we keep the temperature set at about 27 degrees C. That works out to be a little over 80 degrees F. Yep, we love the heat.
We ended up rearranging our room again. Also, when they put in the air conditioner, they saw we had a hammock and hooks for the hammock, so they went ahead and put up the hammock for us. Hammocks are awesome!! To have one in our room is even more awesome. I feel so spoiled now with these two things.
Here is our little kitchen area that we setup. There is a stove just down the hall from us that we can use. They also have a microwave in the main kitchen. All in all we really like how we have things setup now. We could use some kind of surface with maybe shelfs or drawers below but we are really happy about our room. God is really blessing us here. Now I just need to get Lindsay to tell you about her classes and the biting kid.

Leaving you with one last picture. We moved the computer closer to the air conditioner.

Culture prevails

We are starting to settle in a bit now. Lindsay and I took some time to unpack and make our room a little more livable. We still need to purchase some things like another cabinet thing for our clothes and books, but Lindsay is very creative and has used our luggage crates as books shelves and a desk.The crates are in the same corner together because we were making room for the guy who will install our air conditioner. Ahh yes the air conditioner which was suppose to be installed today but isn't getting installed until Wednesday now. Actually, I am pretty impressed that this whole thing isn't taking much time at all. It did remind me about the Brazilian culture of putting things off and always showing up late. I guess I am putting that a little negatively, but in all actuality it is nice to live in a culture that is more laid back and not rushed. It does have its frustrations that I am sure I will be encountering and sharing on future posts, but for now I have adjusted rather well with this cultural habit.
Here is our huge hole in our room that is ready for an air conditioner. The funny thing about this is that the type of air conditioner that we are getting installed won't actually use this hole. We bought an expensive air conditioner that is super energy efficient and silent. I am all about saving money for the ministry even if that means we spend a nice sum up front. One of the Alcance's biggest expenses is the electricity bill, mainly due to old air conditioners in the classrooms. Currently there are two other energy efficient air conditioners in the two learning center classrooms. I think there are at least 4 maybe 5 other classrooms with normal electricty hog air conditioners. The ultimate plan is to replace them all.

More Pictures of our humble abode

I am pretty happy about our living situation and am very thankful for a wife that does amazing things with very little.

So, in the middle of writing this post our network went down and I spent about an hour fixing it. I feel like I haven't gotten much done today because of all the little things that keep happening. Maybe I shouldn't always be in the grafica (graphic design shop) because so much happens here. This way I also get to practice my Portuguese.
Well, I should conclude now and maybe in a few days I can get Lindsay to tell you about teaching at the school and how the school is going.

Post By Jeff Turner

In Brasil now

Lindsay and I have arrived safely to Brasil with our entire luggage. Thank you for all the prayers. Going through customs was easy because all they did was take our "nothing to declare" paperwork and waved us on.
It has been a bit overwhelming being here and seeing the ministry again, because it has grown so much this past year. It is a huge difference going from 15 students at the International school to 57. That also means that the Alcance (where we live) seems so much busier. The ministry has a whole has grown because of the money that the school is bringing in, but it is still difficult to pay for the upkeep of the Alcance. They still make sure they are supporting other parts of the ministry though.
Well, I really feel good about being here and I have had assurance from God that this is truly where He wants us to be. Please pray for Lindsay right now, she is sick with some stomach problems. I think she got it before she came, but the transition hasn't helped. She has begun to feel better this afternoon. I have been doing fairly well, but I know I internalize things. I had some problems with stomachaches and acid reflux on the airplane. They only real time I almost lost it and cried my eyes out was when I gave Nathan (my brother in-law) a hug goodbye. Nathan and his wife, Joanna, have been amazing and have let us live with them at their house these last 6 months or so. We only had one vehicle and so did they, so we were really able to help each other out a lot with rides. I am so thankful for them.

The Christmas update we never posted.

This past year was so very different than what we expected. We thought we would be back in Brazil before March. It feels like we spent a year waiting in anticipation for our return to that country! It’s not until we’ve sat down and really looked at what God has done this past year that we have seen a purpose for us being in the US. God has given us innumerable blessings through unusual and trying circumstances. We can’t give ourselves any credit at all for how He has provided. We want to give Him the glory by sharing a glimpse of what He has done for us with you, our friends and family.

• November/December ’06 – We returned from Brazil and stayed with Jeff’s parents for the month of November while we shared our experiences at various Community Church mission conferences. We then began living with Lindsay’s parents while we applied for a visa through Lindsay’s credentials. A good friend recommended Lindsay for a seasonal job working part time at Go Fish (a missions based clothing and jewelry store).

• January/February - Lindsay’s work permit (a precursor to the visa) was denied. Jeff was offered a job by an another good friend to work at Roche Diagnostics in their IT department. Lindsay started working full time at Go Fish as the assistant store manager.

• March/April/May- We decided to apply for a visa through Jeff’s credentials. Jeff studied for the A+ test (which was paid for by Roche). Roche began donating laptop and desktop computers to World Renewal. Jeff had a rough bout with the flu that landed him in the emergency room and added to his stomach problems for the following months.

• June –After Jeff took the A+ test in May we began to apply for a visa on our own with Jeff’s credentials. We moved in with Lindsay’s brother & his wife. Lindsay quit her job at Go Fish – in anticipation of returning to Brazil shortly.

• July/August – After having no success getting visas on our own we hired a Brazilian lawyer to help us with the process. The lawyer told us it would take 30 days to produce a visa. When Jeff was hired at Roche it was as a temp; his contract was up so we headed to California for a vacation to visit Jeff’s grandparents.

• September/October/November/December – September rolled around and still no word from the lawyer on the visa. Jeff was offered another position at Roche and Lindsay was offered an administrative assistant job at Hugabug Family Entertainment (a friend’s entertainment business) in November. Jeff went to the doctor after continued problems with an upset stomach and was diagnosed with acid reflux. His insurance at Roche paid for medication to treat it.

We can’t thank God enough for all He has done for us. We have been able to encourage some of our friends through some rough times this past year and they’ve helped us immeasurably through this confusing time as well. We continue to pray about our return to Brazil and we do have confidence in this:

“… I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

Back to Brazil

Yup. Really. No joke. We're going back February 11. After 13 long months we're going, but our situation is complicated.

Why so complicated? Well, we aren't sure about how long we'll be there. Honestly, there has been no joyous uproar about returning, because we still haven't gotten our long-term visas. We are working with our lawyer on a visa, but it hasn't happened yet. Five months ago we were told by said lawyer that we would be back in Brazil in a month, but we're still filling out paperwork and trying to get through maze of red tape.

So, what to do? We're praying and instead of just waiting here twiddling our thumbs, we've decided to go back on short-term visas. We'll be staying for six months again, or if our long-term visa gets through 2-4 years.

So everything is up in the air again, or maybe it's still - Everything is still up in the air again. Things are complicated, and to be honest I'm afraid.

Life is great here right now. It's safe. We have our family around. We're happily living with my brother, his wife, and a dear friend. The house always busy with friends. Our Christian friends are loving and supportive of us. We have an awesome new church family. Great jobs. Savings set aside. A soft bed. Fast internet. Health insurance. Taco Bell. Comfort. Ease.
Returning to Brazil stirs mixed feeling inside of me. I feel great joy and excitement about returning to our friends. I have missed so many people so much!I can't wait to teach again. I want to see how things have changed! I want to get back, but but I guess the long wait has stirred up fear.
I'm constantly running through the 'What Ifs.'
What if I feel out of place? What if we don't raise enough support? What if I am really a horrible teacher? What if I never get to finish all the schooling I want? What if we dry up all the savings?

What if we end up back in the US again in 6 months?



Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. - Psalms 37:5
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you... -Psalms 55:22

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! - Psalms 40:17

-Lindsay

Hello October, Goodbye Summer

Perhaps you’ve noticed that we have been putting off another communication. We had hoped that this message could deliver exciting news about our visas, but now we are fairly certain that we won’t be back in Brazil for a while. We still aren’t sure how long “a while” will be. It may be two months, six months, or two years before we are able to return to Brazil.

Here’s the skinny on where we are with things.

What’s with our visas? We are still trying to obtain work visas with a Brazilian lawyer. We were originally told that it would take 30 days to get our visas; it’s been about two months and we still haven’t gotten them. We have just learned that the Federal Police have had strikes on and off for the past 9 months or so. Any visa other than a tourist visa must first go through the Federal Police so we are left to wait. They are in part striking for structural reform that will help ease the process of issuing visas, but reform takes time. We are still being asked for more information so there has been no denial of our visas yet.

Lindsay with an old pal, former exchange student, Fernanda

What have we been doing? Before visiting Jeff’s grandparents in California we quit our jobs believing that we would leave for Brazil shortly after our return. Since we’re still here we’ve found ways to keep busy. Jeff has worked on various ministry projects and continues to do freelance work fixing computers. We’ve also spent a lot of free time visiting with out of town family and friends.

Jeff helping Lindsay's brother rebuild his deck.

What are we going to do now? Returning to Brazil may not happen immediately so in the interim we are hunting for jobs. While there is still a good chance that we will be going back soon, we want to be prepared for being in the US for a while. If we do have our visas denied, we will need to go back to school. We are hoping to find jobs at universities or jobs that offer tuition reimbursement.

What are we praying for? Please join us in praying: We are praying that God will continue to lead us and open the doors that he chooses to open. We are praying as we search for the jobs that God has planned. We are praying that we will continue to trust God as we wait to hear what will happen. Pray that we will feel at peace with what God is doing in our lives.

Jeff at the Cart Family Farm

In God's Hands

Well we have done everything we can on our end for the Visa and now the lawyer in Brazil is working on getting our visa for us. We haven't heard much from the lawyer at all so I guess no news is good news. Please continue to pray for the process.
We did just get back from a trip to visit my Grandparents who live in Southern California. It was a really great trip and we were able to spend a lot of time with my Grandparents but we didn't wear them out. We were able to do a lot of really cool things while we were there, including a trip to the San Diego wild animal park and a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Lindsay has some picture up on her Facebook site . Check it out here.

Legalized

After having to take another trip to the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago, we finally have all of our documents "legalized" by the Brazilian government. Basically meaning we can give all the documents to the lawyer and we should have our visa within a month.

Praise God

Things have gotten rather complicated with the Ministry of Labor and they are giving Tele the run around. The good news is that through researching the requirements for the Visa, Tele ran across a lawyer that knows the process and can get us our Visa.
So we have hired the lawyer and now all we need to do is go to the embassy in Chicago and get our credentials certified. The Brazil government does trust documents that haven't been certified by a Brazilian.
We will take a trip to Chicago on Tuesday June 19th. Please pray that is process goes smooth.

Good News

Tele went to the Ministry of Labor and they like my credentials!! So now Tele has to write a employee contract and get it approved by the Ministry of Labor. More news soon.

So much time

Sorry we haven't posted in forever. It has been a weird but wonderful time here in the US. Yep thats right we have been in the US since November 06 because we have had trouble getting our work visa to go back to Brazil. The Brazil government pretty much said that we didn't have enough schooling to be qualified to teach at the International school. So, I (Jeff) have been studying for the Comptia A+ computer certification exams because the Brazil Government has said if I have a computer certification they will give us the work permit. In the course of starting to study for these exams a good friend of mine offered me a job in the computer field that would also pay for my exams (they are about$158 each). So the last couple of months I have worked for Roche Diagnostics in there IT department and have been studying like crazy for the Comptia A+ exams.
Well, the LORD is faithful and I have passed the exams!! Which means I am official a Comptia A+ professional, translation= I know a lot about computers and could work as a general computer repair guy. So, as I write this I have been getting my resume updated and I will be getting my college transcripts and sending them all to Brazil in hopes of getting a work permit so we can apply for the work visa!!
Keep us in your Prayers

Another way to get a Visa

A+

Well the newest way that we are trying to get our work visa is now through Jeff. Tele has been in communication with the ministry of labor and they didn't approve our visa through Lindsay.They did say that if Jeff had a computer certification that they would give him a Visa to teach computers at the International school.
So, this means that Jeff has started to study a ton in order to take the Microsoft A+ certificate test. It is two tests one hardware and one software. Please be praying for Jeff as he is studying for these tests and will take it in a couple weeks once he feels secure that he can pass.

So Lindsay and I have been living with her parents in a two bedroom apartement for the past 2 months. We have really enjoyed living with her parents and like the apartement also but sometimes wierd things happen there.

Like the other night it started raining inside the aparetment.
So it turned out that the new neighbors upstairs didn't have toilet paper and one of the girls thought it would be a good idea to use paper towels. Yes that is right it was raining toilet water down upon us. Luckily it was only in the two bathrooms that it happened.

Still in Indiana

Yes we are still here but things are looking good for getting the work Visa and heading back down to Brazil.
The International School now has the government number from the IRS of Brazil that will make it possible for us to get a work visa. We are praying that everything will be processed fast and that we will be in Brazil in March!

Keep Praying for us!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Jeff and Lindsay Turner!

It was exciting to start off the year by adding a new member to our family. No, we haven’t had a baby – someone had a wedding. Lindsay’s brother Nathan married Joanna (Krasnichan) on St. Patrick’s Day. Lindsay was the Matron of Honor and Jeff was a groomsman.

This year was also good for us personally as we reached goals that we set when we first got married. We were finally able to move down to Brazil, South America and begin serving in ministry with World Renewal Brazil. Jeff works at a ministry print shop/ graphic design center and Lindsay teaches children English.

You can get all the Brazil updates you can handle by reviewing our posts for the past six months at our weblog (www.jlbrasil.blogspot.com). It reflects on how blessed and honored we feel to be serving God at such young ages.

Our hearts are in Brazil, but Christmas and Thanksgiving with our families has really been wonderful. We returned to the States on November 2^nd to participate in missions conferences. We had hoped get new visas quickly, but it is not moving smoothly. Lindsay’s tourist visa expired in November, so returning to the US has been all about trying to get two-year work visas. The process is time consuming and difficult.

Pursuing visas does not take up all of our time, so we have both sought ways to bring in some money. Jeff has kept busy by helping people fix their computers and Lindsay got a seasonal job at a Christian store called Go Fish in the Greenwood Park Mall. God has really blessed us with some interesting connections through Lindsay’s work. We are praying that these relationships will benefit the ministry in Brazil.

The when and how of getting back to the country seems to be up in the air for the time being, but we still serve the ministry as much as possible from long distance. We try to stay on top of the news from Brazil and update the World Renewal Brazil blog (www.wrbrazil.blogspot.com).

Please continue to pray for us as we trust in God for the plans that He has for us.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Lindsay has taken a part-time job at a store in the Greenwood Park mall called Go Fish. If you are in the area please stop by.

We are still working on getting a work Visa to stay in Brazil for 2 years. Please pray that the process will go smooth.

Tele is only here for one more week and we have been all over to the different community Churches. Thanks so much for all the churches that have let us speak and be apart of their mission conferences! After things settle down and while Lindsay and I are trying to get our new visa, we might be taking part-time jobs. We also still need to raise some more support before we go back to Brazil.

Please be praying that we will get our visa in a timely manner and that we will be able to raise more personal support.

We made it safely to Indiana!

We will be going around with Tele visiting different Community Churches and talking with people about the Brazil ministry. We are very excited to see people and look forward to the big group that will be at the Reunion next Saturday.

If anybody would like to get together with Lindsay and I our Cell phone # right now is
317-508-1960

We leave tomorrow at 6am. It doesn't quite feel possible that the time as come already for us to return to the States. Things feel a little uncertain. We don't know for sure about our visas. We don't know how long we'll be in the States. We don't know so much. I guess it just gives us a great chance to trust in the Lord. God has been so good to us and provided for us this far - we know he will continue to do so.

Please pray for a safe trip for Jeff & I and for Tele.
See you all very soon!

Lindsay

By the way - today is Jeff's Birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!

Lindsay and I are starting to pack our things and figure out what stays and what goes. It is a very emotional time and if we had a choice we would stay.

On the bright side of things! We got a lot done for the Ministry like the Short-term Missions Brochure and a General Ministries Brochure that describes all the various parts of the World Renewal Brazil Ministry. ( all the links will lead you to PDF versions of the Brochures that you can download)

We also have finally finished the Brazil Broadcast for the fall session. ( This is also a PDF version of the Broadcast that you can download.)

Jeff and I can hardly believe that only a couple of weeks remain until we leave for the States. Where did the time go? This past month has been a busy one. We've been working on wrapping up a dozen projects, as well as trying to keep up with our normal routines. Life is rich and full.

Things are busy at the International School. I've been working on teaching the Kindergartener's how to read in English with the help of a really great Phonics Book called Systematic Sequential Phonics. They are picking it up fast, often having to learn the meaning of a word as they are learning to read it. We also had a huge event on Wednesday for Children's Day. If you want to know to know more about that, I'm afraid you're going to have to pick up a copy of the latest Brazil Broadcast... it will be out in about 3 weeks. :)

ok here's a couple of pictures from big bash at least - to tide you over for the Broadcast

Jeff's main focus has been on projects we need to finish for Mission Conferences in November. Like we've said before, it is less expensive to print things here. So, we have stacks of brochures and the Brazil Broadcast Fall 2006 to finish laying out, collating, and printing!

Please pray for us as we try to finish these tasks and as we continue to work out long-term visas. Right now Tele is working on registering the International School with the Brazilian government. After he does that we can get a volunteer Visa through the school.

Anyway it's all taking more time that we'd like it to and we could use the prayers for patience and for the process.

post by Lindsay

Brazilian Food

Food in Brazil is not really like Mexican food, with the exception that we eat a lot of rice and beans. You can't find refried beans or tortillas here. We eat normal Brazilian food for lunch most weekdays. Normal food is usually rice, beans, and some kind of meat dish (like baked chicken or meatballs, etc) They don't really use a lot of spices here with foods, mostly just cumin.
Here are some pics of some of the other food that Jeff and I like to eat in Brazil!

This is a coxinha
It is fried and breaded with chicken and cheese or shrimp, etc. inside. Jeff really likes these.This is my favorite that Cafe Impresso (the ministry's coffee shop) sells. It is an empada. It's smaller than the coxinha and less filling. It is like a little crusty, flaky pie thing. It can have cheese, or shrimp, chicken etc. inside, but it also has a little olive inside. Yummy yummy! They also have desert ones that rock my socks.This is Tapioca - not like the bubbly pudding though. It is made from the manioc root and is fried. You make it kinda like an omelet in a pan. The outside is a bit bland, but inside people put fillings like coconut, cheese, and different jellies - yummy!we also eat a lot of yummy fruits that you can't get in Indiana, like graviola & acerola. The graviola looks creepy, but makes amazing juice & ice cream.Fejuada is the most typical dish of all Brazil. I like it ok, but it make's Jeff's stomach upset. -probably because it has crazy random meat in it