Pictures of Camboriú

Yesterday when I updated, I was at an internet cafe and had no way of posting pics, but thankfully, Fabio was able to get our internet device working again yesterday, so we are back in touch! And now we can post pics!

This is Fabio and Vamilson painting the outside of the church building. Vamilson was recently delivered from drugs which held him captive for 22 years! I asked him how long he had been free, and he said 16 days! Now I think it has been 20. :-) He started smoking cigarettes at 9 years old, marijuana at 11, cocaine at 13 and crack at 15. He comes to the church early every morning and stays all day long, full of energy to help with whatever needs to be done and eager to be with people to strengthen him so he doesn't fall back into old ways. Pray for him to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty POWER!

This is Diego and Dodo (short for Douglass), two brothers that need a lot of prayer! They were recently saved, but having a hard time standing firm. Pray for them!

Today was awesome! I got to go to the favela (the Brazilian slums which are poor, dirty, dangerous and controlled by druglords). The pastor's wife and I dressed like clowns, and Joshua and Dominique accompanied us while Israel and Johann slept.

We went to play with some kids that another pastor does a sort of Bible school with every Saturday afternoon.
We played games with them and just loved on them. They come from every sort of difficult home - parents who do drugs, drink, beat them, etc. Many don't ever go home, but sleep on the streets instead. They are so starved for affection and just eat it all up!
Here four little girls are fighting for my lap:
This time they took my hat off to get in closer. :)
This is the pastor's wife. One day soon I will take a more "natural" picture of them! lol. She was wonderful with the children. I think there were more than 30 there.
These boys would not join us, but stayed next door looking on. They would take the suckers we offered, though! It was so wonderful to be there. My heart feels like it is still there now! The children asked me if I was coming back tomorrow? Ugh. Saturday afternoons with them are wonderful, but I think much more needs to be done if their future is really to change - for them really to not fall into the same lifestyle as all those around them.....

Lord, show us what is in your heart!

Tribute to our Children

Here are our children, minus one of course. This couch sits on the veranda outside our room. I just have to say how wonderful our kids have been. Not perfect, for sure, and they all have their moments, but they have really rolled with the punches well! They dont complain about the heat as much as we do! They have never carried on about all their toys and bikes and scooters they had to leave behind.

They have eaten rice and beans twice a day with only minimal complaning. ;-) They have walked miles at a time, and Joshua has rarely complained about that either. (The other three take turns in the stroller. ;-)

They have learned to be creative with what is available to play with, like this clothespin gun Joshua made yesterday. :) I am so proud of them.

Joshua said recently to us: "One thing I have learned is that you really have to be flexible when you are traveling!" When we asked him in what way, he said: "Well, you have to learn to eat things you are not used to eating, and you have to learn to sleep on the floor when you may not be used to it. Stuff like that." So true.

Since we got to Camboriú, they have been hard workers! The first day, Joshua asked for a broom to start sweeping, because we came to work, not rest, he said! He swept almost the whole first two floors with no prompting from us! Dominique has been eager to help most of the time as well.

We sing this song together every day, to the tune of "Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary":

Lord, prepare me to be a missionary

Pure and holy, tried and true

With thanksgiving, I'll be a living

Missionary, for You!

The Next Step of our Journey Begins...

WHEW!

I wish I had had more opportunity these past few weeks to keep you updated! SO very much has happened, and it will be impossible to even summarize half of it.

WE ARE IN CAMBORIÚ!!!!

And, our internet devise does not work here. :-( So I am sorry that I have not had a chance to get back to emails and facebook messages, but know that they were ALL very much appreciated! Maybe someday communication will become easier....... I am at an internet cafe now. I will try to find a way to post pics soon.

We were able to take care of my ID situation in Santos, and all went smoothly, praise the Lord and thank you for your prayers!

Fabio is feeling quite well now! Again, thank you for your prayers! We now know that it takes many people months to get over fully over dengue fever, also known as breakbone fever, and recover their strength, so in light of that, it was quick! :)

We arrived in Camboriú, Santa Catarina by bus on Tuesday morning of this week, March 9th. It was a 10 hour bus ride from Santos, south. We had had limited communication with Pastor Facundo, so we really did not know what to expect.

They have recently gotten a new facility, where we are living. It is a large three story building. There is another family living in the bottom floor, who are leaders in the church and have 2 daughters. They care for many things, including a community breakfast and lunch. There are other offices and a community area downstairs as well. The second floor is the "sanctuary" , which looks like a theatre. I think it used to be. And the third floor is our room, and another room where another guy from church lives, and a tiny kitchen as well.

So far, we have done cleaning and painting, cooking, and settling in a bit. They recently became responsible for a school in the favela, and I will be teaching there next week, and I think every Friday. Fabio is building a website for the church as well.

There are many young boys and men who have been recently saved out of drugs that come to the church every day to help with the fixing up of the facility, eat together, have Bible studies and receive strength to keep on keeping on! This is the heart of what is going on here.

Last night, a few of us were sitting on the front step and a teenage boy walked by, looking dirty and carrying a sack over his shoulder. I smiled at him as big as I could and said HI! He kept walking to the corner, stood there a while, then came back to ask me what the building was? We started talking to him, found out his mother had abandoned him as a small boy, and he was living with another lady who was taking care of him, until she died 2 years ago. He has been living on the streets since then. He is 17. We talked with him a long while, and then took him to a home. But the desire of the church is to prepare the church facility to receive others like this young man.

There are two castle-looking buildings by us, one on either side of the church. One is a transvestite theatre, and the other is a Masonic lodge where they do all sorts of rituals, etc. What a strategic spot! The building next to the church is a small hotel-type thing, also mostly inhabited by transvestites. There is much to do in this place!

We have encountered MUCH difficulty since we came to Brazil, much of which I have not felt at liberty to write about, but the spiritual warfare is very real and is raging. PLEASE continue to pray for us!

Pray that we would be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power!
Pray that we would have boldness to share the Gospel with the least of these!
Pray for supernatural protection and a shield around us and our children.
Pray that the Lord would give us diving DIRECTION to know what to do from here on out.

We love you all!!!

Just For Fun - Surviving the Heat

This is a conversation my kids had with my mom while video skyping:
Dominique: Grandma, it is so hot here I just sleep in my underwear!
Israel: Grandma, it is so hot here that I don't even wear underwear EVER!

hehe. It is true. We had totally given up on forcing that extra layer on him. He would just shed it the first time he used the bathroom during the day. You do what it takes to keep cool!


And boy, it has been hot here! Even in Japan, I never experienced heat like I did here. I kept wondering during the hottest times, what the temperature was, but never found out because weather doesn't appear much on the news or the radio. It is probably just too depressing to talk about! hehe. But, in talking to people, it seems that the hottest days, the actual temperature was around 110 degrees, not counting heat index, which I'm sure was insane! And it was also probably God's grace that I never found out specifics.





Here are some other survival tactics:

*Fabio and I slept with our heads at the foot of the bed to be closer to the center of the room where the ceiling fan is.

*We slept on towels to absorb all the sweat and feel a little dryer than the sheet. yuck.

*Fabio's cousin freezes wet rags, then wraps them around her neck to cool off.

*Take a shower 3-4 times a day to remove stickiness.

*Forget the fridge when it comes to water storage. Go for the freezer. I was amazed that a 2 liter bottle of solid ICE could be reduced to room temperature water in about an hour!

*Eat a lot of ice cream in place of real meals.

*Most people don't wear much. At the beach, it is pitiful. I think I can count on one hand the number of one-piece bathing suits I have seen on people. While I'm sure this fact accounts for a lot of the tourism draw, this is in fact in spite of the person's size, age, or fitness level. I have seen nothing that might qualify for Baywatch. Picture instead (if you are brave!) a sixty-year-old woman, fifty+ pounds overweight, in a string bikini complete with a thong. I just don't get it... sigh. And for men? Speedos abound! :-/

*Try to spend as much time as you can at the mall, the only place you can experience air conditioning!

*Pray for cooler weather! The Lord has answered our prayer and yours and this last week has been rather comfortable. Thank you Jesus!!! And thank you for praying!!

Francis Chan's Balance Beam Act

This is a fantastic video that Fabio found last fall when we were taking faltering steps toward Brazil. It greatly encouraged us and challenged us! Now with the Olympics going on, I keep thinking of this again and thought I would pass it on. Be blessed!

Hallelujah Praise Report!!

(If you are on our email list, you may have already received this. If you are not and would like to be, shoot a quick email to tsukayama99@hotmail.com)


YAY!

We have TWO answers to prayer to report! THANK you all for praying!

FIRST - Fabio is doing very well today. He is still a little tired/ weak, but it seems he is out of the woods after having dengue fever. Praise the Lord!

and

SECOND - my document finally arrived today!!! It took six weeks from the time it was sent. So, tomorrow we have to go to the Federal Police Department to apply for my Brazilian ID card. PLEASE continue to pray that everything goes smoothly for the rest of the process, and especially that they will excuse the fine we are being charged, because it was completely out of our hands. It was the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago that "forgot" to send the necessary document in order to put my application in, and then the postal system that sent the document for too many trips before bringing it to our address....

Also, several asked if the weather has cooled off any? No, unfortunately not. The time changed on Sunday, signaling the coming of fall here, but the weather did not follow suit. It is at about 110 degrees heat index right now, OUTSIDE, but it is much hotter in the apartment, not sure how much hotter, but I am sitting here doing virtually nothing and dripping in sweat. Nice, right? We shower many times a day, but even that brings little relief, because the water tank for the apartment is on the roof where it bakes in the sun all day and provides us with a nice, hot shower when we most want COLD water!!! It is supposed to rain tonight, which is the only time we get a little relief. :)

Thank you all for your faithful prayers and encouragement!!!

Love,
The Tsukayama Family

Bootcamp Continues

For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
~Psalm 66

Here in the land of Brazil, in the "home" of the Tsukayamas, the intense Bootcamp of the Holy Spirit continues! We have much to be thankful for. First of all, THANK you for praying for us and for sending notes of encouragement. We really, really appreciate it so much!

The constuction I described a few post back is mostly done, so the apartment once again has a useable living area, for which I am very thankful. As are the children! Funny, the apartment seemed quite cramped when we got here, but after having been trapped only in our bedroom for two weeks, it not seems quite spacious! God really has a sense of humor!!

HEALTH NEWS:
Once we all got over the virus, we enjoyed several days of perfect health, and then I got a relatively mild case of mastitis, which only lasted two days. Then, we enjoyed another few days of perfect health, and this time we were hit with the most serious one yet: Fabio came down with "dengue" last Wednesday. Dengue is a mosquito-caused disease that is currently an epidemic in this area, and for which there is neither prevention nor cure. The symptoms are fever; head, eye and body aches, and later on, a rash all over the body. In some cases, hemorrhage may occur, and the joints also may be attacked. Thankfully, Fabio seems to be over the worst of it, but is still not totally out of the woods yet. We have to keep checking his temp and blood pressure over the next couple of days... So, please pray for a full and quick recovery for him.


DOCUMENT NEWS:
We finally got some word about the where-abouts of my document. It has been shipped back and forth from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro five times!!! It never has reached Santos, and we have no idea why. It has been six weeks now since it was sent, and nearly two months now that we are being fine for each day that goes by without registering for my ID card (which we need that document to do). So... that has been extremely frustrating. Waiting for the document's arrival is the reason we have stayed in Santos all this time - trying to avoid further fines. If we had known it would take so long, we could have gone and come back -- several times! So, the Brazilian post office is looking into things for us now and is supposed to have an answer for us this week. Please pray about that too!


MINISTRY NEWS:
We spoke to our friends in Santa Catarina, where we plan to travel first, and they are looking forward to receiving us and it seems there is much work to do there, so we are anxious to find out what is going on with that document so we can be on our way.

Here in Santos, however, the Lord has also opened doors for us. I have developed two very special mentorship relationships with two girls here that are going through some tough times, but have soft hearts to learn from the Word through it all. Likewise, Fabio has had special mentorship opportunities with two of his cousins, and that has really been a blessing.

I have also made friends with a girl named Margareth, who is a Jehovah's Witness, and is moving away from Santos tomorrow. She really wants us to come visit after they move, and we have had some interesting conversations about the Lord. Who knows what His plans are?

This past Saturday, we went to visit an orphanage. Fabio could not go since he was sick, but the children and I went, just to play with the children and talk with them. We had a wonderful time and hope to go back. They asked for me to not take close pictures of the children's faces, so these are the shots I got:
Dominique found some make-up to play with and paint the other little girls with:


Sunday, we went to the Japanese church again. We wanted to introduce Fabio's dad to the pastor and the people there. He had made a decision for the Lord in Japan, but has not been in church here since coming back to Brazil. We thought he may feel more at home there since it is small, etc. Fabio could not go, so I went with him, and the children. They had a potluck afterwards, since they had a special speaker come.

Just had to share this pic with y'all, just because it was so yummy! Makizushi:
ENCOURAGEMENT AND CHARACTER NEWS:
The BEST news of all is that God is good! He has not abandoned us for a minute and on the contrary, He continues to make His Word come alive to us and strengthen us from the inside out. He has many creative ways of encouraging us.
For "some strange reason", when we were packing, I threw in a little paperback of which I knew nothing. I ran across it the other day and started reading it: The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson. I had never heard of David Wilkerson, but how timely! After my last post of wondering how to reach people in the favelas, I read of David Wilkerson, whom God called to the "favelas" of New York City, and the victory God gave him there working with the gangs. It gave me so much faith to do whatever it is that God is calling us to here, even if that means moving our family to the favela!

The minute I finished the book, I went to check my email, and there was an email from Bill Prince, sending us a link to a message by -- of all people, David Wilkerson! I read it several times, as did Fabio, and cried. I highly recommend it to you: The Making of a Man of God.

And another creative way God has encouraged us is with a song - an oldie but goodie: So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt. It is a humorous/sarcastic song with a powerful message, but until now I mostly just saw the humor. Now I got the message! Especially this first stanza:

So you wanna go back to Egypt where it's warm and secure
So you're sorry you bought the one-way ticket when you thought you were sure
You wanted to live in the land of promise, but now it's getting so HOT
Are you sorry you're out here in the desert instead of in your own backyard?

Nope, we don't want to go back to Egypt. On the contrary, in spite of the difficulties, we are more sure with each day that passes that we made the right decision to come here and we are even thankful that the Lord is dealing with us in this way. Fabio pointed out last week that if we had had unlimited funds to go our right away and purchase a car, an air conditioner, a washing machine, our own place to live and other creature comforts, we would have missed out on a lot of what God wanted to teach us. We would have cushioned our cross...

And Fabio emailed me more encouragement last week too. I will share this from his email:

Being stagnant is not when we are not performing as much as we thought we should.
Being stagnant is when there is no work of God being performed within us.

PRAYER REQUEST SUMMARY:
*Full restoration of health for Fabio and continued health for the rest of us
*Super-extra abundant grace as we continue living in someone else's house (this has been a big part of our bootcamp experience!!!)
*Expedient delivery of my document, like NOW!
*Clear direction for the next step of our journey


FAMILY PICTURES:

No one has bathtubs here, only shower stalls, so this is our make-shift bathtub inside the shower stall:
Fabio and the kids the day before he came down with dengue:
Two little sweet peas in a pod:

Just Some Pictures of the Kids (and us)

Well, I know my "normal" family blog has been rather impoverished in the photo department lately, so I thought the Grandmas and all would like to just see some pictures of the kids, who just don't stop growing!


Two days ago, on Monday, we were finally all well enough to leave the house! We had been invited to the Japanese pastor's house, and we were finally able to take them up on the invitation. We had a nice visit and it was a very welcome change of pace and scenery.

There really isnt anything special about this next picture, since the kids aren't even looking, lol, except that I am in it, which is rare indeed. :-)

I just LOVE this picture of Johann, because it is SO hard to get a good picture of him these days! He is so on-the-go, and does not stop for a second, much less look at the camera, and even less to smile too! So, this is a rare treasure of a picture. He is nearly 17 months now! And, he rarely wears clothes. It is too hot to put him through the torture, and it cuts down on laundry that way too. ;-)
This is Fabio's father, about a month ago, when we took a walk with the family:
We've gotten to enjoy lots of family togetherness, even at nighttime and naptime:
And, on January 19th, Fabio celebrated his 31st birthday - the first birthday he had celebrated in Brazil since he turned 17.
Also about a month ago:




The last day we were in São Paulo, my sister-in-law Carol's family took us to the zoo! Especially after a full week of not stepping foot outside the door, it was also a very welcome change of scenery. :-) It is a nice zoo and we enjoyed our time there. I also enjoy new locations to photograph my beautiful treasures (children).




I think this pic was a fave of the day because it was not posed. How wonderful to catch a moment of spontaneous brotherly love. :)
It has been neat to see these two interact as Johann gets older. They really play well together most of the time. Two peas in a pod! And, if any of you remember these shirts, I took advantage of the cooler weather in São Paulo to take a snappie of these two in them. Here is a pic of Joshua and Dominique in them, and then of Dominique and Israel in them.


And I ask again.... I wonder where these shirts will be in two more years??

Missionary Bootcamp

"All those things which go against MY will and MY desires are things which God intends to use to shape me into the image of Christ." ~Elisabeth Elliot

"...we also glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." -Romans 5:3-5

Well, these have been a trying last couple of weeks; we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. (2 Cor 4:8)

First, a couple weeks ago, we had a, um, necessity for a little space, so we went to Fabio's brother's house in Sao Paulo for the week. In many ways, it was a nice respite, but at the same time we faced new struggles. The nice part was that they live in a house rather than an apartment, so the children had more freedom in the house without worrying about bothering the neighbors. It was kinda funny, actually, that as soon as we arrived, Israel asked my sister-in-law's mother if he could jump? Like he had been fasting from being able to jump all this time! hehe. Here are the kids, with cousin Leonardo, at the house in Sao Paulo:

They also have a washing machine, which was really a wonderful break. :-) The other thing that was huge for me is the difference in climate. In spite of the short distance between Santos and Sao Paulo (about an hour if there is no traffic), the difference in climate is HUGE because of the altitude. It was more like Chicago summer - plenty warm, but rather comfortable most of the time, and it cooled off at night enough that I could stand to use a thin blanket. I hate sleeping uncovered, but it is so hot in Santos that I can't even stand to have a sheet on!

However, they live in a dangerous area, just a block from the mouth of a dangerous slum - a "favela". So, we could not step foot out the door, or barely even look out the window. When we did leave the house, my brother-in-law would park the car about a foot away from the door, check to make sure the coast was clear, and then quickly usher the women and children into the car without stopping for a second to stand and look around.

From the car, I could see the favelas as we drove by. Here is a picture I took from the car - a drive-by shooting (lol). How sad! How could these oh-so-needy people be reached? How could we venture into their territory without being harmed? It made my heart feel so heavy! We could not be effective in ministering to the most-needy people while being too afraid to venture out of our door. And yet, we also could not throw caution to the wind and put our family in danger. Most importantly, what is it that the LORD has for us to do here?? What is His plan? I spent a lot of time in prayer, cautiously peering out the window from where we slept. This was my view:

The first three days I was in SP, Fabio stayed in Santos to take care of some things, and then he came to SP by bus. After two days in SP, he and his brother Fernando went on a mission to visit a cousin who is in a bad way, hoping to bring him the hope of the gospel. Nothing apparently ground-breaking happened, but seeds were planted. (And he forgot to take a picture...)


While Fabio was away, he emailed this to me:

I am still glad we are going through all this.
I look back and I see us living the American dream lifestyle. I am glad that God shook off the shakeable and is bringing forth the unshakable and establishing us in that way. Character. Godly character before any circumstances. It's been tough for you. It's been tough for me. It's been tough for the kids. Each one in a different manner. But I see that together we are all being refined - as a family (my joy). Not one alone. And we grow together to live what it really means "as for me AND my family, we will serve the Lord".

I'm still wondering why the second month is coming by and we are still "stagnant". Really "stagnant"? I realize not. He is building our roots deep down in the ground in different areas of our lives. Soon, we will bud. We will grow. We will flourish.

He could have done things a lot differently but he is in the business of softening and hardening people so that he may display his power in us so that his name might be proclaimed in all the earth. A power we did not know we had. The power of godliness and unconditional 1 cor 13 love is irresistible. This power will be brought forth and we as we count our own lives as dead so that the life of Christ may spring out.

Now we are learning how to pray for our dear cousins with the same broken heart and understanding. It is painful but we do not live for ourselves nor for comfort, but we live as Hosea - willing to die to our own desires and even reputation in order to become a new generation of mighty prophets in the land that will shake the empire of darkness in this place.

His words greatly encouraged me and still do.

The following week, coming back to Santos, was even more trying. First, the weather went from miserably hot to murderously hot. I know all of you in the Northern Hemisphere think I should not be complaining about the heat, but trust me, it is a little too much of a good thing here in Santos at around 100 degrees F and probably about 300% humidity! So, anyway, it was the hottest week since we got here. And, like the laundry dilemna in my last post, there is no escaping from the heat here like in the States - an air conditioned building is a rarity indeed.

Then, Fabio's parents decided to do a remodeling project: to replace the flooring in the living room/dining room area and hallway. Other than this main area, the apartment only has a tiny kitchen and three moderate-sized bedrooms, two of which were now piled high with the furniture out of the living room! So, while the apartment had felt quite snug before, we were not confined to our bedroom all.the.time....

Now, if the bedroom confinement coupled with the heat was not enough to do us in, we had to get some kind of wicked virus that went through the family one by one.... So my original strategy to find somewhere, anywhere, to go during the day to get out of the house during the construction failed miserable because of the sickness. Once again, there was no escape. We were stuck in that little room, suffocating and puking. lol.

As unappetizing as that description sounds, the Lord's comfort was sweet. I think that He does not often choose to work on our character flaws when we are in our comfort zone. And, He brought to mind so many Scriptures that just came alive when applied to our present situation. The one I started out this post with, from Romans 5, especially came to mind often and forcefully: tribulation produces perseverance, tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance, perseverance.... PERSEVERANCE! There were times I thought, "If I can survive this week, I can survive anything!" And then that verse would come to mind again: perseverance. And I would pray that verse for our family, that our current "tribuation" would product the perseverance that the Lord could foresee we would apparently need at some point in the future.

So, at this point, our lifestyle is not what we had pictured, exactly. My document that I need to take care of before being able to travel within Brazil has not arrived. It has been four weeks and counting, and we are paying a fine for every day we are in Brazil without it arriving! And not having it means we cannot leave Santos. We are stuck here! And apparently for a very good reason. We have come to believe that this time has been for us a kind of missionary bootcamp that we would not have planned for ourselves. God has it all planned out. He knows about my document, the timing of the constuction and the weather forecast and the state of our health. He knows it all and we are in the palm of His hand. We are trusting that He will work all things out for our good, and we are confident that we are here in Brazil on His orders.

Please continue to pray for us! We so appreciate knowing we are being upheld in prayer, and we have felt it so many times. Don't stop now!

I will try to post more pictures sometime soon - it is just taking too long for right now. :)

(The quote at the top by Elisabeth Elliot may not be word-for-word, because I read it years ago, and could not find it online now. But that is the general gist of it.)

We are Still Here!

I'm sorry I haven't been updating as often as I would like. Frankly, just adjusting to life here has been a fulltime job. I think we are making progress, though! Thank you, SO MUCH, for praying for us! We have felt your prayers and SO appreciate them and you for remembering us!

UPDATE ON NIELTON:

We are very happy to say that the fellow we met at the coconut water stand has come to church both last Sunday and yesterday, in spite of the fact that he had to come by bicycle, very far, and it was raining both times. He has not made a commitment to the Lord yet, but he is seriously seeking and we feel sure that it will not be long. Keep praying for him!

From left to right: Fernando, Fabio's brother, Pastor Evandro, Neilton, Fabio, me and Johann

We continue to meet people as we go places, and we continue to seek opportunities to share with them about Jesus. Two others in particular: an Italian man Fabio met at a store, and a lady I met at the park named Margareth. We feel sure these were also divine appointments, and pray for their salvation!

Fabio and I both have also been giving informal Bible studies here at the house, Fabio with his cousin who is a new believer and in great need of discipleship, and me with my sister-in-law and another friend of the cousins. We ourselves are also always blessed by sharing the Word in this way and I think it will be a time of growth for the family as well.

Another thing that both Fabio and I think is "weird" is that Fabio keeps getting invited to preach! He had preached four times since we came here, in three different churches. We have never sought these opportunities, nor tried to "market ourselves" as ministers as such, but the doors to minister keep opening up. And the times Fabio has preached, the Spirit of the Lord has accompanied the Word with power and it has really ministered to those present - even me! =)

We are starting to learn our way around here, even though we don't know if we will end up staying on in Santos or not. Either way, it is nice to have some sense of orientation in our present location. I still feel lost a lot of the time, but not as much as in the beginning. Walking is good for us, I think. We are getting used to it too. Our feet hurt most of the time for the first month, but both Fabio and I commented yesterday that for the past week or so, our feet have not been hurting at all! I guess we were more out of shape than we thought!

The children have been troopers, and yet it has been challenging for them as well. One of the greatest challenges is living in a apartment with neighbors downstairs, so they cannot run, jump, walk with heavy feet, or make noise in general. It gets tiring for us also, to keep them occupied during the day with quiet activities when they have explosive energy! We often have to just leave the house to get out - somewhere, anywhere! LOL. They are doing well, though. Their Portuguese has improved drastically, and this is our third week of trying to accomplish schoolwork here. It is going relatively well.

Here they are having "fun" with their cousin Leo:

On Saturday, they were having some beach games for kids sponsored by Nickelodian (yes, they have the same programs here too!). Joshua entered a surfing contest and actually won it! We were surprised and excited for him. He won a talking bull dog - that speaks Portuguese. ;-)

For me, I have had a hard time finding my groove in someone else's house! Actually, I don't think it will ever be possible and that has been difficult. Not that I thought it would be easy... I just have to keep reminding myself WHY we are here and that YES, it is all worth it!

Last Monday, I had a "moment". It had to do with laundry. For the most part, washing our clothes by hand has been working out okay. It has really just been a matter of changing the way I think about it. Rather than a once a week all-day ordeal, it becomes more like a morning chore, like the breakfast dishes! And it does have to be in the morning, first thing, because it rains almost every afternoon or evening, so it has to be dry by then.

Anyway, because of helping to plan Fabio's brother simple wedding (more about that later), I had not washed clothes for four days. Times that by the six people in our family, and it is a LOT of clothes, plus the towels needed to be washed too. Fabio told me not to worry about washing clothes all day - we could just take them to the laundromat to catch up. Whew, what a relief! I knew I had seen signs for laundromats here and there, so I thought it would be a wonderful idea. So we started to ask around and call around to find the best, closest, cheapest place.

Imagine my disappointment when we learned that laundromats, as we know them in the States, do not exist in Brazil! What they call laundromats are more like dry cleaners. You drop your clothes off, and they wash and dry and iron them for you and you pick them up the next day or whenever. You could even take regular clothes to a place like that, but they charge per item, and even a pair of underwear turns out to about $1.50!! So, it was simply out of the question. I remember thinking, "There is NO way out!!!"

By the time I learned that, it was too late to do it on Monday, so early Tuesday morning I had to buckle down and get it all washed by hand. Whew. Once the mission was accomplished, I breathed a sigh of relief and started school with the children. And I hope to never let it pile up for FIVE whole days again. Ever. :)

Looking on the bright side, this is a good way to learn to be more disciplined in areas like this and not get lazy and leave things for later. Also, I actually think the clothes get cleaner this way, scrubbing each item individually. I have gotten out every single stain and I know the machine would not have done that. Then, the hardest part - wringing them out. It is making my arms buff. :)

Sorry to rattle on so long about our laundry, but this is a major part of my life now, so I thought I would share the joys and the struggles. :)

Now, as promised, more about Fabio's brother's wedding. His only brother, Fernando, met his wife Carol in Japan and they got married in papers shortly after. Since then, they have both gotten saved and the Lord has been doing an amazing transforming work in their lives! They decided that they wanted to have a simple wedding ceremony now, to say vows to one another before the Lord and before their loved ones, and seek the Lord's blessing on their marriage. It was beautiful! They had a simple ceremony on the beach at 7:30 in the morning last Sunday, and even at that time, it was HOT! I had the privilege of photographing their wedding, and I posted more pictures of it here, if you are interested.

One more prayer request: Before coming here, we applied for and received my residency permit to live in Brazil. The Consulate in Chicago simply took my documents and explained nothing to me. Upon arrival here, I learned at the airport that I needed to go register at the Federal Police Dept within 30 days to receive my ID card.

We did go, although with the holidays we didn't make it there until the first few days of January, and we had until January 9th. We were then informed that we needed a particular document "that the Consulate had sent us". I had NO recollection of such. So, long story short, we contacted the Consulate, and they had "forgotten" to send me the document!!! My mom had to go to Chicago for us to pick it up and send it registered mail, which takes 2-3 weeks. And, we have to pay a fine for every day after the 30 day mark that we are in Brazil without my ID. Ugh. Also, we cannot travel to Santa Catalina until we get that taken care of. Sooo.... please pray that it gets here QUICKLY! and that everything else will go smoothly once it arrives.

Whew, I think this post is worth ten! Hope I didn't bore you to death. We thank you again for your love for us and for continuing to remember us in your prayers!

The Christmas and New Year Holiday Season in Brazil

Hello Friends, Family and Prayer Warriors!

We would like to start this post by asking for prayer for our family, as we have felt under attack many times since our arrival here. We usually think it is something "normal" happening, but when we pray about it, it is GONE immediately - like the kids getting fevers randomly, or waking up at night with bad dreams or just crying and when we begin to pray for them - POOF! they fall back asleep peacefully!

As a little background, there is a lot of "macumba" here in Brazil, otherwise known as witchcraft or voodoo. They are very active in "praying" against Christians, offering sacrifices, etc -- and we know the devil does not want us here! But greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world! We have the victory in Christ and we will not be scared off by the devils scare tactics. But we sincerely desire your prayers for our family, for a shield of protection and for discernment as well.

Now for a little update with pictures:

Here is Fabio's dad and the little boys playing in the only "yard" available. It is really a driveway. The wall to the right side of the pic is the apartment bldg, and the wall on the left is to separate our "yard" from the neighbors.

Divine Appointment with Neilton:

A couple of weeks ago on the beach, we stopped to buy a coconut water at a kiosk, and Fabio began to talk with the man working there, Neilton. The conversation almost immediately and naturally led to the Gospel! I realized that it was a divine appointment and began to pray silently for Fabio as he spoke, and for Neilton's heart to be open. Just then, a drunk man came over and started interupting the conversation with loud nonsense! I quietly ordered the devil to stop perturbing the sharing of the Gospel, and the drunk man immediately walked away!

Fabio and I went back again, and then Fabio and his brother went to take him a Christmas card. The same thing happened that time - a different drunk man tried to distract the conversation! Again, prayer caused him to leave immediately.

Pray for Neilton's salvation! We believe he will soon belong to the Lord!

Here are a couple of pictures of Israel and his cousin Leonardo enjoying a coconut water:

We found out over New Year's that our children are going to have another cousin in Brazil sometime around next September - Leonardo's first little sibling!

The beach continues to be a welcome reprieve from the sweltering heat inside the apartment, and provides some much needed energy-wasting opportunity for the children. They never tire of it, but they always tire from it, which is great!

The picture below was taken just outside the door of Fabio's parents' apartment. Johann is really getting to be a big boy and is an extreme handful these days! He is truly into *everything* and very difficult to keep up with! Especially in someone else's house and without handy constraining devices like high chairs and cribs. ;-) I believe he is more active than the other three put together!

This was on Christmas Eve, which is when they have their big Christmas celebration. I also made a cake and we sang "Parabens" (Happy Birthday) to Israel as well.

I could post more pics, but I can't stand to at this internet speed! It has taken well over an hour to do this post, because of how long it takes to load each picture, one at a time.....

Anyway, we appreciate you all and will try to keep updating when we can!

Happy Birthday to Israel and a few pics from Brazil

My big boy Israel turned three today! He had the privilege of being the first in our family to celebrate his birthday in Brasil! We went to the beach this afternoon, where I took this picture in the beach garden. He is afraid of the water! Daddy took him in for a little while, but he hasn't gotten over the fear yet. Otherwise, though, he seems to be adjusting fairly well and enjoying life in general. :-)

This is the view we have out the window of our bedroom. Just to give you an idea of the feel of Santos. In the background you can see some big apartment buildings - and there are many more in construction presently. Then there are smaller, older homes as well. And most have these clay tile roofs. The three-year-olds of the family: Israel and Leonardo. This is the kid's only cousin here - Leo. He was happy to finally have some cousins to play with! They stayed here last weekend, and will be back this weekend. It has been really nice to catch up with them and get to spend some time together.

Joshua and Dominique on the beach, claiming "Brazil for JESUS!" Pray with us to this end, and that the Lord would use us here and our family for this purpose!!!

First Week in Brazil!

Well, I am not able to post pictures at this time, and I was waiting to blog until I could, but I think we wont have internet after today for a while, so I thought I would at least write. Hopefully pics will come soon!

We arrived a week ago today. The trip was tiring, but we really can't complain. There were so many things that could have gone wrong that didn't! And I even slept for about three hours, which was wonderful compared to last trip when I didn't sleep at all. :-)

The first few days were nuts, trying to find things in our luggage. Ugh. We had had to divide things up so randomly in order for none of the suitcases to go over weight, so it took a while to re-organize.

There was a lot of movement through here all weekend of family members coming to visit. Fabio's brother, wife and son were also staying here all weekend. They have a three year old little boy who was super excited to finally have some cousins to play with!

Now, a week later, I feel that we are getting adjusted and finding some kind of new routine. They kids are starting to adjust to the time change (4 hours)- which was a challenge! I had a really hard time getting them to sleep before midnight!! It is getting better now. :-)

The kids are doing fairly well. They miss the USA and get bored in the house at times, but in that regard, the beach is a lifesaver! We have gone most days and the kids can run and yell and get out all their energy!

On Sunday we went to church here and it was so neat to see the Lord's work in the family! The last time we were here, one of Fabio's cousins and our sister-in-law got saved, and the Lord spoke to my heart that it was only the beginning to what God was going to do in his family. Now, his brother has gotten saved, two more cousins, and their girlfriends. We filled up two rows at church! Hallelujah!!

I better stop for now, especially since there are no pictures to break it up! More soon, hopefully. Thank you for praying for us. Don't stop!