Seja bem-vindo ao Brasil!

Barra Beach is only a short boat ride from the school across a lagoon.

Almost one month has passed since we arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and we are amazed at how our lives have changed in just a few short weeks.  Over the past month, there are many stories we could share. We could write in detail about our continued wait for an apartment to live in, how wonderful the staff is at the school, how delicious our Brazilian cafeteria food is, or, of course, the beach. However, these are simply details. Let's get down to the most significant part of our lives that is often neglected in our everyday conversations: the Lord's work in our lives.

With some of our friends, we may have tiptoed around the subject of our faith because of fear of offending or putting you in an uncomfortable situation. However, God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, and so we will speak unabashedly about Him and give him the glory He deserves. Our Lord is good all the time, and I know it even more so being far away from home. While we are well-taken care of here by the school staff, we have uncertainties and difficulties that cause our hearts to ache for comfort from the Lord. We talk about staying here for a while, then remember that we still do not have legal permission to work here. We want to teach well but struggle to accomplish simple tasks due to limited equipment. We are still living out of our suitcases while we wait for an apartment to open up near the school, which requires us to be very dependent on others to take care of us in this foreign place and prevents us from getting settled.

As I write these things, actually they seem rather silly things to feel discouraged about. Of course, if God clothes the lilies of the fields, won't he provide for us, his children, so much more? When I stop to think, I realize that He is providing for us in ways that we do not even recognize. After staying the first ten days in dorm-like accommodations, we have been staying with our director's gracious assistant, who is completely bilingual and bicultural. She has been a helpful cultural bridge as we transition into Brazilian life. We learn so much from her that we could not do on our own, and we feel comfortable in her home with her fiance and ten-year-old daughter, who is a student at the school. I also believe that living at her house rather than on our own has encouraged us to treat each other with more respect and love, forming good habits in our marriage as we start our new life here. And rather than feeling a need to focus on setting up both a home and a school, right now we can focus all our energy on school (especially since our host hires a precious, sincere woman who cooks, does our laundry, and patiently speaks Portuguese with us)! We praise God for the way He takes care of us always, while we also admit that we need Him desperately to guide and comfort us, to meet a need so deep in our souls that only He can.

I invite you to pray with us for patience and trust as we wait for our visas and that we would fight off any discouragement that creeps up on us. Please also pray that we teachers would be living examples of the Lord's love so that lives are transformed. We also pray that our Lord will bring health to our school, since many teachers and students have been sick, including Z who has been struggling with headaches and body aches.

Please write! We love all of you and miss you so much and appreciate your encouragement. A thinks of home often and longs for the comfort of that stability, routine, and familiar, smiling faces. But the Lord has shown her that her home is with Him, that it is a state of being with him, not a place of being. We continue to seek comfort, joy, and peace in Him first, and we pray that you will find the same.