A New and Better Way

Tomorrow I fly home. Its hard to believe how fast it has gone. The official good-byes all happened today. Went out to lunch with friends, was prayed for at Morumbi´s two morning services and then the big farewell at Villa Andrade at the end of the evening service. Lots of tears, speeches and gifts. Not sure how everything will fit in my suitcase but somehow it will. There are so many stories to tell. My heart is full. I know the reality of leaving won´t really sink in until I´m on the plane. Thank-you for all your prayers. These last few days have not been easy but they have been good. So many God moments. He is so faithful.

Came in to work this morning and found out that someone broke in to the church kitchen and some other rooms that are behind the main building. Thankfully nothing was taken except some food items. This happened last night when no one was around so no one is hurt. Morumbi church was also robbed a few weeks back and they took off with quite a bit of money from that Sundays offering. They are tightening security up at Morumbi but there is not much we can do at the Vila I don't think. The upstairs where all the computers are already has alarms and video servalliance. This final week has been and is very bittersweet. Every once in awhile I realize that I am doing something for the last time. Palmyra and I went out for lunch together for the last time, Ana Clecia and I had our last piano lesson/discipleship time, this will be my last Sunday here etc. Part of me hates dragging out good-byes and wishes I could be on the plane home already. Another part of me is avoiding the whole aspect of

Yesterday I was responsible for staff devotional. I chose to have us reflect on what season of life we are in. We read Ecclesiastes three like we did at our last staff meeting and then I asked everyone to share what season they thought they were in and what they felt God was teaching them during this season. Then we broke in groups of two and three to pray. I wasn`t sure how it would go but everyone shared willingly and it was a great time of fellowship and team building. Answers included, `I am in a season of thankfulness` or `I am in a season of learning or restlessness.` I think we all learned a bit more about each other and knew better how to pray for one another as a result. As one of the counselors from Projeto Ciranda shared about her work with victims of sexual abuse and how this really made her question God and His will this thought kept running through my mind: Who is looking after these leaders? My heart breaks for the staff here. Often their jobs are very thankless and they

It has been a week of adventures yet again. This Tuesday another group of Americans came by the church and I filled in as a translator. They came to the small group I am a part of and shared their stories. It was a powerful time. As soon as they left a family crisis ensued in the home we were in and it left me pretty shaken up. Thankfully everything is fine now. Your continued prayers are appreciated. This past Saturday the VBS re-cap went really well. There were not many kids but it was a good time. Almost all my volunteers came and a basketball team from the States was passing through and they came and played with the kids. Three of the guys were actually Canadian and I knew one of them! Such a small world it is. Please pray for me this coming Saturday as I'll be sharing with the youth group of Morumbi church about my time at Vila Andrade (Morumbi is the mother church of Vila Andrade and we could really use some volunteers from there and just volunteers and helpers in general). P

There is a little saying around here that says landing a job isn´t about your IQ but your QI (quem indicou) which translated means ´who you know.´ While who you know is also important in Canada Brasilians have networking down to an art form. They are definitely more relationally oriented than task orientated. Often they work very late hours because through out the work day it is common and accepted to chat with co-workers (which doesn´t make you all that productive). Often lunch hours extend from one hour to one and a half and no one says anything (now this could just be the context I´m in). The great thing though is that when you need a favour you have a whole bunch of people you can rely on because everyone is used to scratching each other´s back AND you have strong relationships from all the time spent together. This is true not just for jobs but for discounts at stores, restaurants, the mechanic etc. Here is an example that I overheard: `Just tell the guy that Paulo sent you and th

Well, after a whole month with no rain (which is super rare in this climate during winter) it seems like we are now making up for lost time. The streets around the church flood easily as garbage blocks sewage drains and on Tuesday some of the homes flooded quite badly. I saw lots of people coming and going with wheelbarrows piled with dirt and rocks as they tried to clean up the mess. Getting home tonight will be intersting as I didn´t bring my raincoat like I did yesterday (but thankfully I do have an umbrella). While the rain does cause problems it is neat to see community members helping each other out so readily. I hope my neighbours back home would do the same and I´m sure some would but we don´t even all know each other unlike here where it seems like everyone knows everyone´s business. The mom of one of the kids in the project is spreading gossip and being very malicious because a boy in the project bothered her daughter (who is also in the Compassion project). The children´s t

I feel like I should write someting super insightful but today is my day off so I'm afraid this will be rather basic. I even had a great idea for an intercultural journal entry (which is what this doubles as by the way) but it has totally disapeared into thin air so I will write on hospitality instead. One difference I have noticed between Brazilian and Canadian culture is how we entertain guests. Brazilians do a lot more entertaining in their homes and they feed you super well but they do not constantly entertain you. Life carries on in the home and you simply get to be a part of it. Yes, they may have cleaned and cooked for you but that is not the main point and it is much more acceptable to just drop by. It is normal to have the TV on during the visit and your hosts are perfectly content to leave you in one room while they go to the kitchen to continue cooking. You are welcome to join them in the kitchen or stay in the living room watchign TV, your choice. If you feel like goin

Working hard catalouging books Beach bums in Santos

This morning at staff devotional I was left completely in the dark. The people at the far end of the table were saying I needed to visit this certain older lady who lives in quite the dump (for the cultural experience to quote them). Then they asked me if I had ever eaten shrimp. I said I certainly had and they all laughed. I have no idea how these two things are related. Clearly shrimp was a slang term for something else. Just because you speak a language does not mean that you can understand everything said to you or make yourself understood. This afternoon when I was trying to tell one of the kids that the computer mouse was ancient I said it was old and she did not get it. When my friend described the mouse as being ancient she got it. Then he said, 'It's because Julianna's Portuguese isn't very perfect that we can't understand her all the time.' He wasn't trying to be offensive and it is certainly true so I took it just fine. The reality of the situatio

The weekend away was absolutely lovely. A total gift from God. The hide-a-bed left a lot to be desired but other then that it was great. I went with my friend Palmyra and everything we needed was in walking distance, so perfect. There were some lovely moments with Jesus and just being by the ocean was such a balm. I love His creation. The sad part was seeing how poorly we have treated his handiwork as there were several plastic bags floating in the water. The breeze, the palm trees, the sand all of it was such a boon though and I thank-you for your prayers for rest and refreshment. Both Palmyra and I were blessed by our time in Santos. I continue to wrestle with the thought of leaving and yet part of me can hardly wait to be home again. I have learned so many things about myself and have noticed a new confidence in my relationship with Pastor Marcelo. God is teaching me to live out of who I am and not out of who others hope and expect me to be. Of course this is a life long learning pr

I come home in 30 days. I can feel myself mentally and emotionally disengaging at times. I want to guard my heart. Its already going to be so hard to leave. Please pray that I won't hold myself back just because of this. Speaking of guarding my heart....Yesterday I found out that one of the girls I am mentoring is pregnant. She turns 16 on Sunday. Now she will have to step down from her ministry position and may be forced to marry the baby's father which I believe will only lead to more problems. She is really hurting right now. And then this morning one of the preteens that always hangs around the church and follows me around was verbally and physically attacked by her mother. Her mom threw a large stick at her right in front of the church and called her all sorts of names. Thankfully she missed but it was a close call. Myself and another person witnessed the whole thing. I wish I could have intervened sooner. Afterwards I just held her as she cried. It certainly is a privileg

In my moments of quiet time I am coming to several realizations. There is a driveness about me. A fear, if you will, that somehow there won´t be enough time or that time is something that I can bend to my will. I must be in control. When I walk into Vila Andrade I am sometimes able to catch a glimpse of how absurd this thinking is. At 10 a.m. I see children carrying brown bags full of bread to their homes for breakfast. At that point I have already been awake for several hours but here time does not matter as much. When I simply greet the children or people I recognize instead of stopping to talk with them, not taking the time to be with them because I am already almost late. It is like there is a rebuke in my spirit. What is the greater thing? These people or being on time? All my reflexes fight such thinking "what will my boss say if I am late.....but I am helping by working at the church" and the list goes on. Someone wise once said that hurry and busyness are the enemies

Tomorrow is the last day of VBS. Of course we had several adventures yet again. Today the lady who hands out the snack was sick so I had to find someone to fill in at the last minute. The person didn't have the keys to the kitchen where the snack was....And as per usual some volunteers came and others didn't but it all worked out again. There were also some instances when I would make a decision and then the pastor would change the plans. That was a bit frustrating. We replaced the worship leader with myself and Aline. The kids were fairly well behaved. Yesterday and today´s numbers were lower than Wednesday but that was a blessing since it made things more managable. Tomorrow is the big wrap up. We are doing a treasure hunt, giving out prizes and having an extended worship time. My friend Palmyra will be helping out and my roomate´s sister Monica will also be there. Monica has actually been helping all week by doing the sound. Here are some pics! Thank-you so much for all your

I wish I had pictures folks but lots of other people have taken photos and so I'll borrow from them. Day 2 is over now. We had over a hundred kids though some counted 89. Not sure who is right but it seemed to lean more to the 100 number. One of my volunteers has a cold, one was totally discouraged and another group leader didn't show. Thankfully there were others to take his place. Please pray that my volunteers will keep coming and not lose heart. Some of them aren't sleeping well so that could use prayer too. With the increased number of kids its harder for them to be in control and in charge at all times (and some aren't super mature which doesn't help). The kids themselves are having a great time and overall it continues to be a lot of fun so I praise God for that. Again during story time the Gospel was shared so the kids are also hearing about Jesus which is what matters most. The smaller ones are kind of too little to get much out of it so I'm hoping to f

Good news! Good news! Everyone has survived the first day of VBS! The power point was down 20 min. before we started, the sink in the girl's bathroom started leaking half-way through and we had to do some improvisation in the programing but in the end everything worked out and it was even FUN! My volunteers were awesome ( even if half of them showed up late and 20 kids showed up early)! There were 60 kids in total and every day the number will increase as each kid tells their friends. I just don't know what I'll do Friday and Saturday when Marisa (the pastor's wife) isn't around to lead the worship. She did a fantastic job and threw in a bunch of games that involved one team competing against the other. Pray that someone will step up for that. While I love children what most thrilled me was seeing the young people of the church stepping up and serving. Many of them have leadership gifts and so it was really neat to see that coming out. I just wish they'd stretch

I am currently sitting in one of the offices at Morumbi waiting for Pastor Marcos to get out of a meeting so we can have our lunch meeting. It is sunny and warm outside but freezing indoors. Yesterday we finally had our planning meeting for next week's VBS. I walked out of there feeling so stressed! Aline (who is 16) and I are the one's in charge and we have no idea how many kids will show up. We will need quite a few volunteers and the curriculum we'll be using is being purchased today (so we haven't even seen it yet!). Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. Unless I manage to let go and leave things entirely in God's hands there is no way I'll get through next week (without a hernia or grey hairs at least). It is at times like these I seriously wish I was a more laid back person. Thankfully I am feeling less anxious today and I know that is definitely a God thing. I am definitely learning how to rely on him at all times. Perhaps you are thinking, its

Yesterday was a bit of a stressful day. When I showed up for my mentoring meeting with Pastor Marcelo he had another meeting they had booked at the last minute so we weren´t able to meet. This now means that nothing is planned for the VBS and it is less than a week away. I have a few game ideas and some potential volunteers and that is it. Now I have two choices I can get all stressed or just go with the flow. Guess I´ll just have to change my expectations again. That and a few communication breakdowns have me less then enthused at the moment. Well, my roomate has a cold and now I think I´ve caught it. I feel feeverish and I have a sore throat. Please pray that this blows over before the VBS. It is winter here so I guess its cold season. Today is a holiday and since the bags under my eyes look more like suitcases than carry ons I decided to stay home. Thankfully that allowed me to finish a book report and catch up on e-mails even if it meant being anti-social. Tomorrow is a full day as

Was talking with my parents on the phone last night. Now that I finally feel more settled in here Edmonton seems very far away. I know I will probably go through major counter culture shock and I´m not looking forward to that. While there are still things I miss about home at the moment I am having a hard time picturing myself back in Edmonton. And to think that I leave next month already! Time has really flown. Speaking of time I feel like I have really grown in this area. While I don´t appreciate all the waiting and lack of punctuality that surrounds me I can honestly say that I get much less frustrated and have learned to simply find something else to do as I wait for the person who shows up half an hour late or who doesn´t show up at all. Standing in lines has also become a norm. I simply day dream or choose to think about things other then the fact that I could be spending my time elswhere. My focus on punctuality hasn´t left me entirely and I still show up way too early to things

This morning I had to be at the church by 8 a.m. The pre-adolescents were leading the prayer meeting and as one of their leaders I had to be present. I played keyboard for the two worship songs. Only two pre-adolescents came (they have a hard time waking up early). When I left the house it was chilly and foggy. I could see my breath but could hardly see more then 10 feet in front of me because of the fog. Now it´s sunny and clear and has warmed up some. The prayer meeting went well even though only a few people showed up. On the way home I stopped at a padaria (café) and had a sweet roll and some coffee while sitting in the sun. I like Saturdays. The whole city seems to have a different rhythm. There is less traffic and the pace of life seems to slow down, or maybe I am finally learning what it means to enjoy Sabbath. The home visitations yesterday also went well. Thank-you for your prayers. In the afternoon there was no one who could go with me until around 4:30 which was quite frustr

On Sunday Pastor Marcelo preached about total consecration since that is the topic of the week during the 40 day prayer journey. God has really been speaking to me through the topics and I felt like I need to surrender a few things so I did. Frankly I have felt quite a lot better since then. I´m still not sure what all happened but I do know that it probably also has a lot to do with the prayer time they had for me on Sunday. After I finished singing my solo Pastor Marcelo had me stay on the stage and he shared how this internship has been rather challenging for both of us as we figured out that I am really more Canadian than Brasilian. The whole thing could have been humiliating if he hadn´t shared about his own missionary experience in Monte Videu. He only had 3 days left to complete his internship but he couldn´t stand it anymore so he took a bus and got the heck out of there. Once his story was over he asked if several women of the church would come and pray for me. So I knelt and

Rahel, Karen and I at the Passion Conference in May Erika and I then Pastor Marcelo and I Morumbi Baptist Thiago, me, Rahel, Andre and Erika Suzana and her husband Tiago and me Vila Andrade Vila Andrade church and community center

There have been several schedule changes lately. The situation at the Compassion project is over I think. I am no longer helping out there in any type of full-time capacity, just reading with some of the kids Tues. and Thurs. afternoons. The director is speaking to me again so that´s a total answer to prayer. Two of the kids don´t know how to read and I don´t know how to teach them. The 7 year old at least knows all the letters in the alphabet but one of the 9 year olds doesn´t. Any ideas? Not sure I should continue with this but I know that the extra attention is really good for these kids. If nothing else this internship has taught me that children´s ministry is not for me. In other news....I start teaching an English class next week and I also gave my first keyboard lesson on Thursday. I may start counseling two other moms as well. Last week the mom I was counseling didn´t show due to some family issues and the new convert I´m supposed to meet with on Tuesdays didn´t come either. Ev

View from my bedroom window Sleeping room Living and dining room Kitchen and laundry room Hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea of my surroundings home wise. It´s very cozy. :)

I do not need a change of heart. I do not need to change my circumstances I need to change the attitude of my mind. As Mark Buchanan so powerfully puts it in his book `The Rest of God´ in God´s economy nothing really changes until our minds do, or to quote another section, ´God is more interested in changing your thinking than in changing your circumstances.´ That´s what I read this morning. And here´s another thing I learned. The Hebrew word for sanctify means ´to betroth´ or to commit oneself. We are to commit ourselves to keeping the Sabbath (that´s Mark´s point) but as I continued reading it was almost like the next sentence was written for me - ´you pledge to commit yourself, all of yourself, to this time, and then you honor that commitment whether it´s convenient or not (p. 33).´ As you may have noticed already this time in São Paulo has often felt less than convenient. In many ways it would be easier to be in a cultural where I do not know the language or customs at all ( Pr. Pa

It seems like the days that I am meant to do home visitations to the families who have kids in the Compassion project are especially challenging. Yesterday was no exception. These visitations are every Friday morning and afternoon. I know I am always asking for more prayer but if you could especially remember me during those times I would appreciate it. It seems like everything conspires to discourage me and make me think that I am incapable of doing this task. I arrived at the church yesterday morning in a fairly good state of mind considering how tired I was. However, that quickly changed. The pastor and some others on staff were teasing me. Whenever there is something I don´t adapt to well or dislike somewhat they say ´that´s because you´re Canadian.´ Many times this is quite hilarious but yesterday I didn´t find it overly entertaining. (You can pray that I´ll grow a harder shell or is that thicker skin? lol I can´t remember. :) The whole cultural identity thing is what it is. I am

The mom I ´counseled´ this morning has 4 children and only two have the same father. Currently she is unemployed and her last boss did not pay her what they had agreed on initially. Rita (not her actual name) has less than a grade 8 education and frequently asks God to end her misery. Her father is dying of cancer, her 9 year old son is always getting into trouble at school and 3 men have left her over the course of her life. She has every reason to lose hope. Please pray that she will find a job soon and that God would lift her out of her depression. Next session I will ask her if she has ever attempted to take her own life and will try and present the Gospel message to her. Today I also had a good chat with Pastor Marcelo. We juggled around my work load so that I don´t feel as overwhelemed. However, I was supposed to be at the church tonight but did not manage to make it. I hope he isn´t too disapointed tomorrow. I have been having trouble falling asleep for the last couple of nights

Lyndell and I in Porto Chicken hearts The infamous sofa bed The Cathedral da Se in downtown São Paulo There are more pictures on facebook if you are interested and have access to that. I can´t figure out how to put the text under the photos and blogger takes a long time to download images....

If there is anything I can say whole heartedly it is this - Cross cultural work/ministry shows you a whole new side of yourself. The three most important qualities for successful cross cultural ministry/business according to my Interculturall Communication class are the following: 1) Ability to fail 2) Flexibilitly and 3) A good sense of humour. Tonight at church I went through all three. Showed up for the worship team practice and had quite the experience. It seems like everything that could go wrong did. The keyboard player needed the song book with the chords in it which was locked upstairs. Since the church secretary is the worship leader and she had to be elsewhere no one had keys so we had to practice sans keyboard. I didn´t know all the words in Portuguese so I had to look at the Power point. But of course those songs are on the Pastor´s laptop and he wasn´t there yet. Then there was a lack of clear leadership so everyone was making suggestions on intros etc. etc. Gong show!! By

Praises are in order! This has been my best week so far folks. Thank-you so much for your continued prayers The internship is going better now as I find more of a pace/routine. Its a very eye opening experience all around. Yesterday as I sat in on one of the classes for the Compassion kids I was able to see just how poor the public education system here is. In a group of thirteen 8-10 year olds only 2 kids knew for sure what the first day of the week was (Sunday). Several thought it was Saturday. Only one kid knew how to subract 40-13. And their spelling is atrocious. One boy has dyslexia and there is no one here who can help those with learning challenges. Very sad. Most don´t even know their birthdays! But that´s understandable when you are raised by your aunt, have no dad and stay home alone most of the day. One girl´s dad is a drug addict and the stories go on and on. Similar to Chain of Love. Right now I am making some posters to teach them a couple of songs. I will be playing key

Yesterday I had my very best day at Villa Andrade. I think I have begun to hit my stride. Thank-you so much for all your prayers. There are still tons of challenges but I am starting to feel more able to keep my head above water. I will write a bit more about my day later. The reason I have titled my post the way I have is because a dear friend from Edmonton just lost her father. If you could kindly remember this family in your prayers I would so appreciate it. The church secretary here, Erika, is also feeling ill and is in the middle of exams (which she gets very anxious about). My friend Tiago who lost his mom a month ago and is also going through a really rough time and his dad just got laid off. My roomate Marcia is going on a missions trip and needs to raise her prayer and financial support still. Needless to say many people are needing your prayers besides me. If you could remember these people in your prayers it would bless my heart. Also pray that I would know how to encourage,

Its my day off today. Yesterday I taught my first Sunday School class to the pre-teens. It went alright. There were only about 10 of them and they actually listened well compared to my classroom experience last week. It would have been nice to follow some of the fancy poster and game ideas I found in the SS material here but lugging stuff around on the bus when its already so crowded on Sunday´s didn´t appeal to me. So we played some games, read Psalm 139, talked about how we are all unique and God knows everything about us. I let them pray with their hats on and eyes open (shocking I know). Not sure what I´ll do next week as I´m sure the novelty of having a gringa for a teacher may soon wear off. Just getting everyone to read the passage was kind of challenging as many are emberassed about their reading level since some are quite behind. However, in the end I managed to get each one to co-operate and was able to encourage those who were hesitant about their skills. Not surprisingly I

Give me something to do! I whined to Iva the cook for the Compassion project. She just laughed at me and told me to go find Mariza the director. I am learning that while there is plenty to do a day at Vila Andrade is not defined by tasks. I am expected to just show up and then see how the morning develops. Yesterday this meant playing with the children, having lunch with them and then coloring and reading until 2 o clock. My afternoons are more planned out and Pastor Marcelo is doing his best to stick with our schedule. I have been told that I do not seem to have a good attitude at times and I think the lack of a pre-planned, task focused day is 90% of the problem. Now that I know that showing up and just going with the flow is the main expectation my stress and frustration levels have gone down significantly. However, being able to deal with and be game for whatever comes up is challenging. Take this morning for instance. I was super tired and barely managed to drag myself to the 8 am

Good news! Marcia´s house has a landline and we are getting along swimmingly. Commuting from here is simple and I now have my very own cell phone. There is of course the challenge of no running hot water except in the shower, no dryer and quirky appliances due to the lack of funds to fix them. However, I am getting to experience what it is like to live ´alone´ as a single gal in Brasil. So to a certain extent I feel like I have ´gone native.´ As I mentioned previously last weekend things started to look up. I could really sense your prayers. Last night I went to a small group in the very heart of the slum when it was quite dark. Not to worry I had someone who took me there and then gave me a ride home. There are 30 people in this small group. About 12 are children and since the people are poor there were not enough chairs for everyone so some people stood. We sang along to a slightly off key guitar listened to a devotional by yours truly shared prayer requests, prayed and then ate cake