Going Home

What's up with all this crazy a/c? I'm freezing here!
I'm at the hotel in Dallas getting ready to go to our LST End Meeting. Our travel here went smooth. It was very hard to leave Natal. I have grow close to my readers and to the church there. I am so thankful to God for giving me this opportunity. I can't find words to express how wonderful it is to do an LST project. It is great to spend 6-8 hours a day reading the Bible with people and talking about God. It is great to know that you are being used by God for his work. And it is great to know that you are living in the center of God's will!

Adventures in the kitchen

WARNING! This whole long blog is about food and cooking. Greg, I understand if you don't want to read it, I know how you hate talking about food and cooking, but since it is one of my favorite subjects, I must share!
Those of you who know me know that I enjoy cooking from time to time, so, I am excited to have the experience of cooking in a foreign country. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Would I find the same ingredients in Natal, Brasil that I am used to using in Russellville, AR? Would I have the same equipment and tools? Would the difference in another hemisphere change the way some things tasted and reacted? Well, for the most part, I can find the staple ingredients that I need. The packaging is often completely different and of course it was a challenge to locate what I was looking for because I couldn't read the package. Most things that I want to cook I have to make from scratch because if I find the convience foods that I am used to, they are very expensive. Many of the Brasilians want to taste "American" dishes so my challenges where before me and of course I don't have time or resources to do a practice run on the things I was making. Now, don't think I'm complaining, not at all! This is the kind of challenge that I love. But, I have been often defeated!
My sweet husband, who prefers to stay away from the kitchen, has graciously looked up and emailed several recipes for me. First I must locate the necessary ingredients or at least an acceptable substitution. Then, I go about the business of translating from cups, pounds, farenheit, etc. to grams, ml, celsius (or celsinheit as I called it one day), etc. My measuring has definatly been off!
The worst creations to come from my foreign kitchen have been chocolate chip cookies (but we served them at one of the parties and everyone loved them and asked for the recipe, believe me, no red blooded American would have called this a chocolate chip cookie!), and birthday cake (this one went in the trash because when I went to grab the package of sugar out of the refrigerator [tropical location, many ants and bugs] I must have grabbed the wrong bag and added 4 cups of salt instead of 4 cups of sugar, YUCK! Thankfully I knew it didn't bake right and tasted the toothpick that I used to check for doneness and noticed this disaster before I served it at a party with 50 people.), and I don't want to forget about the banana pudding that wouldn't set (I could tell from the package that it was not instant, but even with the help of a translator, I still did something wrong in following the directions. When I pulled it out to serve, it was liquid vanilla with floaties in it. This I was serving to the missionaries, and those crazy Brasilians and Brian ate it anyway!) There have been a few success, chicken and dumplings, roast, biscuits and tortillas. And despite the fact that it was humid here, we made some pretty good fudge for the christmas party.
I can now recognize a few food and ingredients in Portuguese and translating the amounts and temperatures has gotten a little easier, but if I ever come back, I must have adequet measuring utensils!!! It has been a lot of fun cooking here, but I look forward to turning on my stove and oven without trying to use a damp match or risking explosion.

Belated Update!

I didn't realize I had been neglecting my blog. The time just got away from me. We have had an unusual amount of rain here. Natal usually gets rain every day in June but it normally just rains for about 15 minutes each day and stops. We've had several days of almost constant rain. When it rains here, the people don't like to get out and sometimes the buses don't run regularly. So we have had some readers who had to cancel their reading time. But the sun has returned to Natal and our days have gotten back to normal.
I am working on a blog to introduce you to some of my readers. I now have some very special friends in Brazil and I want all of you to be praying for them. I know the Lord is working in their hearts and I want to keep bringing them before His throne.
Love to all!

More Comunidade De Cristo

Comunidade De Cristo

I want to share a little more about the church here. They are so wonderful. They work hard, love greatly, and serve faithfully. I've mentioned to a few of you that this church is the poster child for LST. They have hosted a team for seven years and many of the members are former readers. When we arrived they already had enough readers ready to sign up and they had thought about and prepared for our every need. This program means a lot to them, probably because so many have been through it and know that it works. Many of the members are young (early to mid 20's). They host a variety of classes to the community; a cooking class, Enlish class for children and adults and of course Bible classes. Most days there are people at the building meeting for various reasons. The missionaries work hard and so do many of the members. At least to an outsider, it looks like they are very good at sharing the work load. We are so blessed to be at this place at this time. I am so thankful to God for the opportunity to get to know this christian family and I am so thankful to them for allowing us to be a part of it. I will always remember my brothers and sisters working and worshiping in Natal!

Parties

Wednesday nights we host a party at the church building. The purpose of this event is to introduce our readers to the church members and give them an opportunity to start developing a relationship. It is very important that the readers have a connection to someone from the church. When we leave the church will continue to contact the readers for follow-up. This will be more successful if the reader already know them.
So far we have hosted two parties. The first was an Arkansas Shindig where we introduced them to our home. We had a skit talking about some stereo types of Arkansas, played some games and taught them to call the hogs. The second was an American Christmas Party. We made ornaments, decorated cookies and served fudge. Both parties went well and we had really good attendance. The church members seemed pleased. They really like it when we serve food from home or have things that we brought from America.

Half Way

I can't believe we are half way through our trip. In some ways it seems like we just got here. In other ways it seems like we have been here a long time. But either way, the feelings are positive and I am so grateful to be here. Of course I miss my loved ones at home and don't completely feel whole without Greg. But I am really enjoying the opportunity to experience a different culture and I love the work we are doing.
Most days are full with 7-8 readers. I have already had some reading sessions where I have been able to share my faith. Two in particular went really well and I can tell those readers are searching. Please continue to pray that God will work in the hearts of all my readers and that He will give me His Words.
On a personal note to any of the Stamps family reading this blog: I know we are all feeling the loss of Aunt Lou. Although I can't be there for the funeral and to share in those times together, I am there in spirit and am continuing to pray for Uncle David and their kids and grandkids. I love our family so much and am grieving the loss of our dear Aunt.

The Work Begins

The day after we arrived in Natal we had an information meeting to sign up readers. We had a good turn out and scheduled our first reading sessions. We all have about 15 readers and we have a waiting list of people who want to sign-up. Hopefully we will be able to fit everyone in. The people here who are learning English are very excited to spending time with Native English speakers and so many of them are excited about reading the Bible during our lesson time. One of my readers told me the other day that he hasn't read his Bible in over a year and he is really glad to have this class as motivation. It is exciting to see how the Lord will use us during these few weeks. Please pray for these readers: Roberto, Sonia, George, Andre, Amanda, Tatianna, Fernando, Emanoel, and Andrea.

Team Pictures

I added a picture of our team standing on the balcony of our apartment. Scroll down the page to see it.
There are also more pictures of our trip at www.facebook.com.

a little about our life in Natal

So far I am not having any luck getting pictures posted on this blog. I will continue to try but I can't guarantee any pictures.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS
We have a wonderful 3rd floor apartment above the church building where we are working. The girls share a room and the guys share a room and we all share a bathroom. We are very blessed to have hot water for the shower. Out our front door is a balcony that overlooks the city and the girls bedroom window overlooks the street. I enjoy looking out the window and feeling the breeze. It is rare to have a/c here so we have the windows open and fans blowing all the time. But, there are no window screens, so we have to be careful about spraying for mosqitoes often. I am a little crazy and often at home the a/c is too cold for me so I don't mind not having it most of the time. Everyone else is sweating too so you just live with it. The church here has gone to great lengths to give us great accomodations and we feel so very blessed and know that they have made great sacrifices for us.

FOOD
Since we cook most of our meals ourselves, we have not had as many opportunities as I would like to eat the local food. I know that will change and we will get to try many new things. There are suppose to be lots of great fruits here and the ones we have tried are amazing. (pineapple, banana, coconut). We get our bread every few days from a bakery down the street and it is wonderful. We buy rolls to make sandwiches and sweet bread for a treat (my favorite is a coconut bread).
Each team member is responsible for fixing lunch and supper one day a week and everyone is doing a great job! We can find most things that we need to fix what we want or at least an equivalent that will work. There is a supermarket that we can walk to that has been bought by Walmart and we buy most of our food there. There are definately some differences from Walmart at home, such as slabs of meat set out unwrapped (we buy the wrapped stuff). As in most big city, we can go to restaurants that offer a local version of food from all over the world. At the mall the food court has everything you can imagine and more. My favorite place to eat out is just a few blocks from here. It is a "hamburger" stand that is only there at night. The owners wheel out a big canopied cart that has a big grill/griddle and everything they need to make the burgers and they set out plastic tables and chairs. They only make hamburgers, nothing else. They aren't quite like the usual burger at home but they are very good. You can order it with some unusual things one them (eggs, hot dogs, green beans). We can get a sandwich and a drink for about 2 US dollars.

WEATHER
The people of Natal never watch the weather report. It is almost always the same. It is winter here but it feel like our summers at home (I don't know how they stand the heat of their summers). The sun comes up at 5 AM and goes down between 5 and 5:30 PM. It is VERY HOT directly in the sun. It does not rain very much. We are in the rainy season and it has only rained twice. Usually it will just suddenly start raining and stop after a short time. Today has been very unusual because it has rained almost all day. The locals are so cold. We are loving the relief from the heat but not looking forward to more mosqitoes.

WORSHIP
Because of the heat, the church only meets at night (Sunday and Thursday). We have a short English worship service on Sundays at 4:30 PM. This is a good time for us to invite our readers and also for us to be renewed. Bible class is at 5 PM and the Portuguese worship is at 6 PM. We are done with worship by 8 PM. The church here seems to have about 50 people, but I can't remember for sure. They love God and His church and are full of life and zeal! I don't know what the preacher was saying but I know he really meant it!

WORK DAYS
We have readers coming Sunday through Thursday. Sundays we go from 9-4. Mon., Tue. and Thur. 9-9. Wed. 9-5 because we have our social events that night. According to Brazilian culture, we have a two hour lunch break. We take one hour for dinner. We usually don't read with more than 8 people per day. Our social events are important because they are a time for us to get to know the readers and for the church members to start developing relationships with our readers.

Okay, I think that is enough for today! I will give you as much information as I can as I have time. Please continue to pray for the work we are doing here and for the people we are reading with. We already see the Lord working here and are excited to be involved.

busy, busy, busy

We began reading yesterday and it was great. We started our day at 8 a.m. with a team devo and ended at 9 p.m. According to Brazilian culture, we took a 2 hour lunch break so that really helps us get through such a long day, along with a few short breaks. I read with 8 different people I should have 15 total before long. The people here are very warm and friendly and easy to converse with. We have a lot of college students signed up, and I have a little experience relating to college students so I feel that I will be able to make some good relationships. I had some great conversations. So many of the people are very open to discuss their personal life.
We had the day off today and while the others took care of some shopping, I stayed at the apartment and did some laundry. It was nice to have a slow morning. This afternoon we went to a street market and tonight we are going to a birthday party of one of the church members. Even though we have a day off from reading, we still have lots of work to tend to taking care of our personal needs and building relationships with the church members. One of the church members is our angel! His name is Bob (not really, but that's what we call him). He was a reader several years ago and now he is a very active member of the church. He has taken us everywhere we need to go and is often available to give us direction and translation. He is amazing and so giving. LST means a lot to him.
There is so much more to tell but I will have to do that another time because I need to get ready to go.

just checking in

We arrived in Natal yesterday afternoon and every moment except a good night's sleep has been full of activity and responsibility.
It is 10 PM and I need to go to bed soon because we will start our day early tomorrow, but I wanted to take a minute to let you know that I am well and very glad to be here. We have had so many blessing that I want to share with you and I will take time tomorrow to write more. Until then, Boa Noite (good night).

Brazil Facts

Here are some interesting facts that I have learned about Brazil through internet research. It will be interesting to see what holds true after I actually go there.
These are just a few facts that I find interesting:
-language is Portuguese (Brazilian, not European) (I'm struggling to learn just a few basic word to get me by)
-Largest Catholic population in the world (about 80% of the people)
-It is a melting pot, similar to the US. Large groups of people from many other countries have made it their home. (Portugal, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Africa because of slavery) (I read that after you have been in Brazil for several years you are considered Brazilian, very unlike the Southern US)
-A common greeting between females and male/female is an "air" kiss on the cheeks. That will be a challenge!
-It's capital is Sao Paulo and it is the 3rd largest city in the world.
-Natal is in the Northeastern part of the country and as you go north the culture gets more conservative. So, no nude people on the beach, the insist you wear at least a little bikini. Interesting that it is okay to be practically naked on the beach but women in the N.E. don't wear shorts otherwise. That's okay with me, I don't either.

I could share a lot more but will stop for now. Maybe more in another post!

Training

I know a lot of people are curious about LST training sessions, so I thought I would take this time to give you a little info on that. So far the training has been very rewarding and so helpful to prepare me for the trip. They are also good to keep me focused on the work we are going to do and to help me stay positive and excited about going.
A typical session includes a devotional time, prayer, research about our site, preparation for the work, learning about team members and often a chance to eat together. The team members are really getting to know each other better and that is important since we will be together almost constantly for 6 weeks. My favorite part about the training is getting to see the others using the talents that God gave them and seeing how strong they are in Christ! My least favorite part of training is the role playing sessions when one of us pretends we are a reader and the other practices reading with them. But I know that this is important and I will be glad when I am on site that I had the opportunity to practice.
LST really knows their stuff! They've been doing this for more than 20 years and they know what we will be encountering. I feel very blessed to benefit from their years of knowledge and experience.

Picture

I added a picture of the beach in Natal. Scroll Down!

A little background.

At the CCSC we have had a relationship with LST for the last 7 years. All that time I knew that I would eventually be a part of a team. Each year as we started putting the teams together, I would think, "maybe this is the year for me", but then I would realize, "no, it's not time". This year, as usual, I thought, "maybe this year", and that thought didn't go away until I thought, "definately this year". When I talked to Greg about it, he was supportive and encouraged me to go. I have had a peace about this decision the whole time and God has given me comfort about it by making everything fall easily into place.

Our team has been training off and on since November and consistantly since January. This training has been a great experience and I look forward to continuing it. As our team was forming and getting finalized, it was obvious that God had put us together and that we shared the same goals and desires for this project. I feel so blessed and honored to be a part of it all and I pray that I will be worthy of the work He has given me to do.

Here goes nothing!

Okay, so I thought it would be nice if I communicated via blogging while I am on the LST mission trip to Natal, Brazil. That way if anyone is interested in how the trip is going, they will have an easy way to get an update. Of course this is contingent on the availablily of internet use while I am there.
Although it is still ten weeks until I leave, I figured I'd better get started practicing with blogging before I go so that it will be easier for me to use while I am there.
During this time I will use this site to share about training and trip preparation.
So, I'm taking one more step into the world of communication. Who knows what is next. God is constantly surprising me with the opportunities He places before me.