Feliz Dia das Mães!!

Hey everyone, and a special hello to all you moms out there! Love you, Mom!
Well, in case you didnt notice, i kind of slacked off last week, so this blog is gonna cover two weeks of God's awesome work in NE Brasil! Let's see if i can remember everything...
Well,the weeks are kind of running together, but i can give you a pretty good overview of what happened. The teens have spent the last two weeks selling food on tuesdays and wednesdays to raise money for their retreat in July. The boys team sold pizza, hamburgers, and coke, and the girls sold mousse, cake, and chicken pie. (the guys may, or may not be the ones with the most money at this point, and they may, or may not be making sure that all the girls know it!) The girls have had some problems with communication and organization. There was actually a point where a lot of them wanted to just quit raising money, so that sparked some..creative discussion, but im happy to tell you that the Enemy didnt succeed in tripping them up, and the girls are gonna persevere!
For my devotional last week, i asked Patrick to translate for me instead of me doing it in portuguese. and before you make your assumptions, no this was not just because i was feeling lazy and didnt want to try to give the study in portuguese! Patrick is gonna be doing a lot of translating this summer when Rob Lauter and I work with the teens, and when the other missions teams come down in July, so he needs his practice! He was also an illustration of sorts for my lesson. He doesnt like to translate, just like some people dont like public speaking, its just not his thing, but he did it anyways cuz he decided it didnt matter if his friends made fun of him a little bit, because what God thinks of His relationship with God is more important to him that what others think of his relationship with God! amen? Also, i was really blessed this week at the teen meeting cuz I got to see how God is changing their hearts. See, two of the guys that are newer to the group were supposed to give devotionals, but they didnt show up, so Pastor Eudes asked for volunteers to just share something that was on their heart, even though they didnt prepare anything. Now, im pretty sure if he would have asked that question a few months ago, there prolly wouldnt have been any takers, but, I'll admit, to my surprise, Renan, Douglas, and Joyce all three shared something from the Word! Isnt that cool?! it makes me wonder how many of me and my friends would have been willing to step up in that sittuation...
Well, im happy to say that God still hasnt stopped helping me learn the language! (as if i ever had reason to doubt, right?) But as i learn and understand more portuguese, the material we cover in my classes at school gets harder. (dont you just love irony?)Our midquater tests start a week from monday, so keep prayin up Patrick, Douglas, Amanda, and me! In other school news, Brenda, the girl i mentioned last post, ended up not going to the school bible study last week, but she did come this week! I feel like God is really preparing her heart to her His Truth, so please pray that im sensetive to the opportunities He opens up!
As far as the pre-teens go, they've had stronger times. There are still a bunch of them that regularly come to service and Worship on Fridays, but, from what i can tell in the moment at least, they dont have quite the same hunger that they've had before. Keep them in your prayers. They're a great group of kids that have amazing potential for Christ! Oh, and speaking of Childrens Worship, do any of you who read my blog last summer remember a girl named Sula? well i got pretty close with her the last two times i was here, but had only seen her twice in the past 3 months. That is, until thursday. She came with her 3-month-old baby girl, Riana, to Childrens Worship and we got to talk a little bit. (Riana was wearing TINY little knitted flip-flops. SO cute!) Sula told me she would be at church on that sunday, but for some reason she didnt come. i shouldnt have been too surprised, because she had been known to do that before, but thats the thing about inconsistency, you never get used to it. I still love her to death though, and i hope you join me in prayin for God's Grace and Truth to explode in her life, as well as the lives of everyone in this young church!
The past 2 weekends have been awesome times to just relax from the past week and prepare for the next. This weekend Erika's family came over and we hung out in the pool for a while on this beautiful, Brasilian Mother's Day!
You know, i dont think i'll ever really understand why God chose me, why He loved me enough to save me from what i could have been and give me such a clear understanding of how to serve and praise Him. But i dont have to understand it. What i know is that He did save me, He does love me with a Love greater than any that i can even imagine, and i love Him! And every day that i discover something new about His Love, the more passionate i am to share it with everyone else so they can experience this sense of peace and purpose for themselves!
My time here maybe be half-way over, but God is just getting started. So please, dont stop praying, and dont stop believing in what He has planned for my life, for your life, and for the lives of the people you and i encounter every single day!

"None of us walk around with mere mortals." -C.S. Lewis

Thanks for the all of your support and love. = )
Until Next Time,
Jo