Mould, sickness and culture shock then confinement!!

"What is that on the wall?!" I asked Nico, as we get closer we see mould all over the wall that backs onto the bathroom. This is what we arrived back to at the end of the year... Our bedroom wall and the living room wall that back onto the bathroom - covered in mould.... we had a leak!! The builder came and tried to change something in the shower but a few days later we could see the mould was growing. It hadn't worked. Result - reform the whole bathroom!!! 

He said it would take a week.... it took 2 and a half.... without a bathroom. Here in brazil things are never straight forward, one problem is followed by another one! We had moved most of our stuff into our 2 bedrooms including arm chairs! and used the main bathroom from the Rock House - not too far away but not pleasant for night time! Lorenzo did not like to be so cooped up! I didn't like the dust and the dirt and the disorganisation!! 

Then in the middle of all this Lorenzo got sick and then I got sick. Lorenzo's turned into bronchitis! We had to give him an inhaler to make it better.... 10 days of him being off form, and being confined to just his bedroom didn't make it easy on him. Then we were both getting better... and I fell down the stairs with Lorenzo in my arms!! But God is good! Lorenzo didn't get hurt, just scared. I didn't break anything but my foot was swollen to twice it's normal size! Lots of ice and trying to not use it meant I was back on my feet in no time - actually with an active one year old it's kind of impossible to be bedridden!!

So with sickness over and me hobbling, the bathroom was finally finished! It took us 3 days to clean up after the builders - This is a continuous culture shock for me - The builders don't clean anything.... they leave the house so dirty, they don't take any precautions to try not to make the house dirty!! Not like Europe at all! Anyway, deep breaths and get to cleaning, finally it was ready to use and our apartment back in order!! Just in time to receive Nico's aunt and uncle from France!! Whoopy! 

If I look back over the 3 weeks and all that went on, I think how did I cope with that! I can only say, by God's grace! It is crazy how in times like that we really see this verse come true:

2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

So, I can admit - alone I couldn't cope, and it was difficult. But God helped us through this phase and as I reflect I can see that He made us strong. And He gave us a lovely present at the end as we went away for some days with Nico's Aunt and Uncle to a place called Tiradentes (Lorenzo loved the horses pulling carts around the city) and then to see a coffee plantation in Varginha. Such a wonderful time away together. God is faithful, God is good and He knows exactly what we need and when we need it! We also had very good moments with Nico's uncle and aunt, showing them around Belo Horizonte, tasting some typical food and watching Lorenzo spending time with members of our family!

Their time here was also marked by all this pandemic situation caused by the coronavirus. We followed from here the evolution in Europe and the start of the virus in Brazil. The 2 last days that Nico's uncle and aunt were here we could not go out as we also started the confinement here. We had to stop all the activities of the Rock House and close our doors, not really as a nation measure but more as a Minas Gerais State and YWAM directives. 

Since then we are confined but we still meet every morning for worship and prayer as a team. We believe that one positive thing in this "lockdown" is the increase of the time we can spend seeking God. We also want to invest time in our team and so we meet in the afternoons as well for an activity that one of the staff will have prepared. 

For the kids its fun time!

Sniff and taste competition!

We received from God that although we cannot physically be with the community during this time we can pray for them. 




Also use technology to to send messages - we try to send messages to the families regularly to see how they are and we are creating "1 minute with the Rock House" videos with encouragements to send to those we can! (This one is "God is God, doesn't matter the circumstances)

We do not know yet how long it will take before we can reopen the Rock House but we pray that this time will be helpful and rich time for the rest of the year.