Mum and Dad on tour in Brazil

Well, I cannot even to begin to explain the shock that I encountered when I discovered that my parents were thinking of coming to visit me, yes thinking of visiting me... and then a week later they booked their flights! It was really happening... I cried... pure joy! What a blessing... my parents were going to come to Brazil to visit me, to see where I live and see the work I do!! I cannot describe my excitement! And they came... made it safely here without any hitches!

They arrived on the 12th of July and stayed until the 30th of July... sufficient time to see my city and work and also do a bit of site seeing. So they started off in Belo Horizonte for 10 days. The got to experience a bit of daily life with me and to see the work I do. I absolutely loved introducing them to the kids and families we work with. 

And a specifically favourite day of mine was when we gave the kids curly wurlys (a chocolate bar from United Kingdom). The boys were super excited to have some chocolate that they cannot buy in their own country and that came so far for them to try. Mum and dad had a laugh asking the boys to say 'Curly Wurly' ... also made the boys laugh a lot!!

After 10 fantastic days in Belo Horizonte we got on a bus and headed for Sao Paulo ... 8 hours on a bus! I don't know how my Dad managed it with his sore back.. but it was all good. We spent 3 days with Gary (a missionary from our church at home) and his wife, Claudia and their son, Nicholas. We got spoilt by them; my favourite was a typical Brazilian BBQ they made. We enjoyed resting and spending time with them and seeing the area where they live. We even went to their church although mum and dad didn't understand much!!

Our final destination was RIO DE JANEIRO!!! I was super excited to get here... for the beach!!! We had a great week chilling and relaxing! We had some beach time, some eating time, and some walking, and of course we couldn't miss going to see the statue of the Christ. Pretty impressive!

(for more photos click: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151330940801124.565176.509796123&type=3 ) 

What I most enjoyed though was having my parents with me for my birthday... my 30th birthday! Everyone has been telling me it's a big one... I am now in the 30's club... and I think I got to celebrate it in style - with my parents in Rio!! I was super excited to have so many presents and cards to open on the day - totally unexpected! And I loved all the pressies I received - Thank you.

As I wrote in a previous blog - God cares about the details and I wholeheartedly believe this. He gave me a fantastic time with my parents. I am truly blessed by him and in many ways especially through you, my supporters. Thank you for continuing to be faithful to Him in supporting me. 

Phillipians 1: 3 

"I thank my God every time I remember you."

NEW challenges!!

This picture is of the translators who went to Porto Seguro from Belo Horizonte, and yes, thats me... part of the group!!! So the story goes like this; the three guys in the photo are part of a 'mission trip' that happens every year in Porto Seguro. They go to translate for the group of Americans that come to Porto Seguro for 10 days to evangelise there.

This map shows you where Belo Horizonte is and where we went - Porto Seguro, looks close right? Well by bus it would take 17 hours, thankfully we flew!!

Anyway, I have no idea how it actually happened, that I agreed to go, how my bosses liberated Helen (my room mate) and I to go and how it all turned out. But we went!! And it was a challenge of a different sort.

The mission that the americans do each year is choose a church to work with there in Porto Seguro (with the help of a missionary there; Eduardo). With the church, they work in the community evangelising through house visits, dramas, giving kids trainers and toothbrushes and the adults glasses, they have a construction team too. Each person they meet they give a bracelet and through it tell the story of Gods love: 

Gold: Heaven - Gods wants us all to go there... but we can't because of...

Black: sin! We are all sinners and therefore separated from God.

Red Heart: But God loved the world so much that he sent his only son to die on the cross for our sins.

White: Now we can ask God to forgive our sins and have our hearts made clean. 

Green: Growth. As a child of God we need to grow, by reading the Bible, praying, going to church and walking daily with Him.

My job was to translate for the Americans, it was a fantastic 10 days, God Blessed me so much with the words I needed to translate both from english to portuguese and from portuguese to english. I was amazed at how in our weaknesses Gods strength is made perfect.

There were a lot of times together worshipping and receiving a word etc so a lot of opportunities to 'be fed'. The two things that I learnt the most during this week was:

* Obedience. I had been questioning God about the point in doing things if I couldn't see the point in doing them, I couldn't see the fruit or the difference that it may make. Throughout this week God spoke so many times to me about obedience. God doesn't ask me to understand everything, he just wants me to obey him. Through obeying him, he is pleased and our relationship is strengthened.

*Faithfulness. I was blown away by the example of the Pastor and his wife that we worked with. Their church was in the misdt of a small community, a poor community, a community that had gone through a lot of death, destruction, hurt and fear. The Pastor and his wife worked fervently in obedience to Gods call on their lives to minister to this community. They saw no fruits. Many times they wanted to give up but God told them to hang on. They did. And throughout these 10 days we were with them, I believe the american group encouraged them, they saw many in their community come to know God as their personal saviour, also the construction team finished the walls on the church. On the Sunday night the church was full!! And the team are going to get the money together to build the couple a house on the premises where the church is. Faithfulness to God is hard work, but worth it.

There are many other things I learnt this week but these two were the main ones. I thank God for an awesome 10 days being able to participate in this mission trip, meeting many amazing people and that God showed his power through my availablity.

Church on the beach!!