The Best of 2010 in Pictures!!

These are random, and not in order, so bear with us! Just a smattering of some highlights of 2010. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? I will just add a few short captions so you can follow along.


Our Big Move with eleven seventy pound suitcases:
Fabio's sister Luciana's visit in September:

Dancing in church:


Fabio translating for Roosevelt Muriel at a conference in September:


Fabio and Luciana at the Conference. This is the door of our church here, MANG:

In our home with Luciana, Bob Moffit, his translator here, and veteran missionary Cleiton Oliveira. What encouraging times! We learned so much from them!


Fabio playing soccer with the kids from our neighborhood:


Joshua and some of the neighborhood kids:

Dominique working on a school project (a lapbook of Colonial America):

Joshua working on same project at our homeschool:


Time of worship at church:

Cookies for the neighbors! (Israel at the table drooling over all the cookies!)


Fabio cradling the new arrival, a bunch of bananas from a local tree. ;-)


Finally in our own home! The first month with no couch to sit on:


Before we had our own house, our one-room palace on the third floor of the church building:


Reaching out. Much of our work here is people work - visiting in homes and sharing one-on-one with people the Lord puts in our path.

Johann and Dominique:


A local pizza place. I just love the way they bake the pizza in this huge stone oven! Yum. :)

Fabio translating for Pastor Jim Epley, who stayed with us for a week and a half in November. During that time, he preached every night in different churches, with Fabio translating, and praise the Lord, we saw many people healed of various infirmities and disabilities, and many also believed on the Lord for the first time!

Fabio and Pastor Jim:
Joshua and pet ducky. This picture was on the last day we had him. We then gave him away to a nearby orphanage. The kids sure enjoyed him! He loved them too, and cuddled up to their necks. He was pretty cute!Here I am with one of my classes at the PETI school. I taught English classes to these children in the favela, the Brazilian slum. It was a very good experience, and we feel it was also a strategic way for us to begin to reach into that needy area. We built many important bridges and relationships through this opportunity that we feel will still be fruitful in the future.
At the PETI school:
Another one of my classes at PETI:
This was our Thanksgiving outreach! Here, two of our guests are discovering pumpkin pie for the first time!
Thanksgiving also. Here I am with my arm around Andressa, the young girl from the group home that we took under our wing.
And one more picture of Thanksgiving:
This is the "favela" - the slum. The PETI school is in this neighborhood.
The PETI school from the outside:
Our pastors, Dave Prince and John Leitzel come to visit in November!! Here they are in the back of our car, with me and the kids! (We had another passenger in the front, besides Fabio driving!)
Time with Dave and John and many other pastors from both Brazil and Argentina. Their time here was really important to broaden our horizons and open up to us the BIG picture of our connections here and part of what God has us here for.
Three pastors from Argentina (one of which lives in Brazil), one wife, two pastors from America, and what would we call Fabio? Brazilian? American? Japanese? All of the above! hehe.
Worship at church.
Receiving a care package from America always brightens our day!!!
This picture should have come first, but anyway, this is the first day we got ducky. He was one day old. SO cute!
Here Joshua and Dominique are planting our garden in the rain! I will post recent pictures of it soon. It is thriving!
Kids Club, in our neighborhood, thrived from about September through December. Right now we are in a down time because the kids are on summer break and rarely stick around the neighborhood.
Israel and Johann with a little boy from our church:
Flavio, our friend from church, manning the Brazilian grill:
Enjoying some fellowship with friends from church, over Brazilian churrasco (grilled steak!):
Fabio and our friend Bill talking with a director of a local school. We are looking into how to help this school. Their playground is totally un-usable because it is badly in need of repair.
This was on Children's Day in October. We delivered toys to over 200 children in the favela (Brazilian slum).
Children's Day:
Children's Day:
Children's Day:
Back in our carport for Kid's Club. Fabio teaches the Bible and the kids pay close attention!
Our family Shabbat dinner. We try to make it a priority to enjoy this special family dinner once a week:
Dancing before our Shabbat Dinner! :)
Our friend Sônia enjoying chi marron, a hot herbal tea. It is very popular here in Southern Brazil. These "mugs" with the metal straws (complete with little filters to catch loose herbs) are passed around and shared. It is served VERY hot and is rather bitter, and neither Fabio nor I have gotten to be fans yet, but it is supposed to be really good for you!
Hard to believe how fast they are growing! Here they are, ages 2,4,6,8.
2010. A year full of adventure, a year full of hard work and challenges of every kind, a year of seeing God's powerful hand in so many ways. It was also a year of trying to find our place here, trying to figure out what we are doing here (lol), and trying to get used to a totally different world and lifestyle. We are not "there" yet, but we have made progress, and are excited to see all that God will do in 2011! We are sure it will be a full year and we pray that much will be done toward the advancement of His Kingdom here on earth! Please pray with us, and if any of you would like to come and join the fun, please let us know! We would LOVE to have you!!! We love and appreciate all of you who have prayed for us, encouraged us, and supported us in so many ways. We feel so well cared for and blessed by you! THANK YOU and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!