Casa Marlin

family window.

2009-12-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

Anna,Alexandra and Adrienne started school back in August and they are doing great. It took a couple of months to get totally adapted and feel confortable with having "everything" new again. We are so amazed at how many friends they all have.

Recently we had Anna's 16th Birthday party here at home and she had 26 young people over. She is very involved with ministry. She is helping in the children ministry, youth, evangelism and worship. Anna has a big heart without a doubt.

Alexandra is also involved in evangelism and youth ministries. She loves to do mime, dance and laugh. Lots of people has told us that she reminds them of the Energizer bunny, well......that is who she is. Praise God for energetic people!

Adrienne is having a great time with her little Brazilian friends. She loves to speak Portuguese. I love her sense of humor and her wonderful attitude. Her favorite phrase is "I can do that!"

I'm posting the Christmas Play we had on Dic 13th.I had a great time organizing and working with these kids. Had several non christian families menbers attending and they loved it. Some of them expressed the desired of come back and visit the church. I truly enjoyed seen the kids working hard on this, trying to ministry with all they can to reach out there friends and families. God did wonderful things throug these little ones lives!
On the same day we were celebrating one year anniversary in Brazil! Yay!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Since June.........finally an update!

2009-12-14T16:13:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time since I wrote anything here and lots of things had happened since. As many of you know we moved to Sao Paulo city during the month of June after spending 5 months in a city located in the interior of the State for language school. When we got here we were placed in a missionary house that, to our surprise, needed a lot of work. So we spent the first five months working on making this house livable. We painted, replaced the 19 year old carpet, added counter-tops to the kitchen........... Needless to say, that when we finished we were elated. I got to tell you, on a very positive note, that we learned a lot of new vocabulary just because we had to deal with all the workers. In a way it was lots of fun.

Meanwhile we were visiting different churches in town, getting to know many pastors and leaders in this huge city of Sao Paulo. We teamed up with a couple of pastors who have the vision and desire to start new churches. Please pray for Luiz and Isaias. They are wonderful men of God. Steve is working on the final details for launching this project. Please pray for:

1. For The new church planting project in Vila Mariana.
2. For more Baptist partners with a desire to plant more churches to reach out the middle and upper middle class of Sao Paulo.
3. Some teams for 2010. We would like to have at least 4 teams come to help over the course of the year. We have a couple already lined, up for the months of June and perhaps August.
4. For our family physical health, as well as our spiritual health.
5. Pray that we can mobilize Christians, on both sides of the ocean, to help in fulfilling the Great Commission here in Sao Paulo!!!

Thank you so much for everyone that is part of this ministry we could not be here if it was not for your continued support and prayers.God is good!

Having a good time !!!

2009-04-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Beach party of five!!

2009-04-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a couple of days off and went to the beach. I had almost forgotten how relaxing it was walking on the sand with the water splashing on your feet. We truly enjoyed our time and had great fun. Adrienne found a couple of sand dollars and even some crabs!

It definitely was a nice break from language school. Portuguese is coming along well, to the point that we feel comfortable with it. We even understand TV in Portuguese YAY!!! We are getting a proficiency test later this month which will really help us to know where we are, what we still need to work on and where we are headed.

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Easter! I'll think we'll all be missing the Sunday service this weekend, and being with family and friends back in the states.
Enjoy your time this week as we celebrate the VICTORY we have in Christ!

Vezinhas.............Neighbors

2009-03-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors Thais and Letizia, the two girls in the picture, are so wonderful. hey brought us a "passion fruit" mousse welcoming us to Brazil. They had just learned in their English class that this is what American's do when someone moves into their community. We are baking a cake for them!! We are forming a nice relationship with them. They spent over an hour at home talking about everything. Very sweet!!!

Busy Month!

2009-03-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Youth Group is a very important aspect in our everyday life. We have a couple of teenage daughters that are very involved in the youth group. Anna just taught her first Bible study last Friday in Portuguese, we are so proud of her! Her little sister Adrienne keeps saying... GO ANNA GO!!!

Steve and I had the chance to attend a couple of conferences during the month of February. They were great times of being able to meet fellow missionaries here in Brazil and learn more about their ministries.

Another occurrence during this past month was the holiday they call "Carnival". This four-day, pre-lent spectacle is a mixture of a Roman Catholicism Holiday and African Celebration. It quickly evolved into a massive celebration of indulgences - one last gasp of music, food, alcohol, and sex before Lent - before the 40 days of personal reflection, abstinence, and fasting until Easter (not exactly what the Church probably had in mind). 40 days of purging sins, preceded by a week filled with virtually every known sin. The word itself comes from Latin, "Carne Vale" or "Farewell to the Flesh".

We feel we are learning and adapting more and more everyday as we learn the language and the culture. It's such a privileged to be here in Brazil taking the good news to Brazilians!.

Know............. certainty!!!!

2009-03-11T04:04:00.000-07:00

I Just realized I haven't posted anything for over twenty days or so. My..... It's been busy!!!
Moving to another country, learning another language, adapting to that culture, making sure your kids' needs are taking care of etc... IT'S NOT an easy thing to do. I read this verse in Romans 8:28 so many times and always strengthens and assures me that good things, bad things, neutral things work together for our good. Like the verse says "We know" that's certainty.

Also in Psalm 119:165, "Those who love You and Your law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble." It doesn't matter what goes wrong, you know you're loved.
It doesn't matter what changes, you know you're loved and you're secure in that love.
So, loving God is basically defined as an attitude toward God that meditates on His glory, that trusts in His power and that secures the peace of the soul. What an awesome promise!!

Bible study!!

2009-02-20T11:57:00.001-08:00

Hebrews 4: 12 "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts".

For the past three weeks, we've been part of a couple's bible study. While there, we met a couple named Geremias and Adriane, both fairly new believers. You can see them in the pictures. They are on right side of the picture. She's wearing white and he is stooped down in front. The kid with a green shirt is their son.

They asked us if we could disciple them, which really surprised us because our Portuguese wasn't that good at the time, but we agreed to it. We thought this would really be helpful, and it sure has been. When we see how hungry this couple is to learn about the Word, it's really refreshing... it feels like having a tall glass of cold water on a very hot day.

Their comments last Saturday were "I'm learning so much about God's word", "I'm a different person thanks to Him", "Can we meet more times during the week?".

To God be the Glory!!

School!!

2009-02-09T01:34:00.000-08:00

Alexandra and Adrienne's first week of school went well....... Alexandra was misplaced the first week and a half. The school put her one grade under the one she was supposed to be in (I don't know why they did that) but we just talked to the Principal and they are going to fix that. Their schedule is a little long though. It goes from 7:30am to 5:00pm and as you can imagine they are totally exhausted when they get back home. The very positive thing about having such a long day in school is that they are learning Portuguese sooooooo fast!

Anna is doing really good in school. She already has several friends that help her with any anything she doesn't understand. Definitely Marina, Bia and Tomas had been a huge blessing for Anna. She's also playing Volleyball which she loves ..........I have to tell you she is good!!. She wants to be a great testimony to these kids. She prays for their salvation every day and I'm so proud of her.

Well, seems we are getting into a routine here and thank God for everything that He's doing in our lives.......

Crazy little people in our home!!

2009-01-30T04:10:00.000-08:00

Our girls sure find ways to have fun.........I just downloaded the pictures on my computer from my camera and found this, I had a great laugh!!

Well summer vacation is almost over (here south the equator) and the girls are starting school next week... ay, ay, ay!...they keep saying everytime they think about it.

Anna will be starting ninth grade and it will be totally in Portuguese. She already knows a guy from church that goes to the same school so she feels a little bit better but if you know my Anna you know that she has no problems making friends. Alexandra and Adrienne will be going to a different school called "Escola do Amanha" wich they have half days with american curriculum and the other half is in Portuguese.

I'll take the opportunity to ask you to pray for them this coming week everytime you remember. Please pray that they will adjust fine and that they can make good friends and especially that they will understand and learn the language fast. Thanks in advance!

Our mailing address.............

2009-01-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Several people have ask about our mailing address. The following is the language school address were we receive all our mail. So here it goes. Just in case..........someone wants to be a blessing to the Marlin family :)

Steve Marlin
R. Floriano Peixoto, 2065
Jd Sumare
14025-220 Ribeirao Preto, SP
Brazil

As you can see on the map, Sao Paulo is the city in red and that's where we'll serve once we're done with language adquisition. We're studying Portuguese in the city of Ribeirao Preto wich is located about four hours north of Sao Paulo... and it seems that we will be moving to Sao Paulo in the begining of July. We ask you to keep praying for our family too.

We are building relationships here and as I stumbled upon this picture yesterday of Steve, and some friends from church, joking about Jesus shining in our hearts (They had lights in their pockets)... I thought of the verse in Matthew 5:14-16 that says,

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

I pray that these new relationships will see Jesus in my everyday life.

Today I was missing Spain y la comida de Espana!! ..............

2009-01-06T15:40:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Many people have asked me about my country (Spain) and it's food... For some reason, when people think of Spain, they think of burritos, chili, quesadillas, frijoles, salsa and very hot food. Please do not misinterpret me... I love all those things. But there is a misunderstanding about "La Cocina Espanola". It may be because of the proximity to the USA of other Spanish speaking countries. OK !?

I'll try to solve this mystery! let me share with you........Spanish cuisine is typically Mediterranean, which means we use a lot of olive oil, tomatoes, vegetables, sea food, chicken, bread, cheese, pork, etc... Our tortilla is called "Tortilla de patatas" and is nothing more than potatoes, olive oil, salt and eggs. It looks like a cake, just like the one you see on the picture.

The most famous plate and usually well known, is "La Paella". It consists of rice and lots of seafood. The only thing hot in this plate is the black pepper. Here's the recipe:

Paella

1 tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
2 cups uncooked short grain white rice
2 cups clam juice
2 cups dry white wine
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. saffron or 4 envelopes puro ground saffron
1/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups peeled, diced plum tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1 jar(8 oz) roasted red peppers drained, thinly sliced, divided
1 lb Bay Scallops
10 clams, rinsed
10 mussels, scrubbed
20 large shrimp (1 1/2lbs) shelled and cleaned

Heat oil in large paella pan over medium-low heat until hot. Add garlic and cook just until garlic sizzles. Add onions and rice, cook and stir 10 minutes or until onions are soft. Stir in clam juice, wine, lemon juice, and paprika; mix well. Combine saffron and boiling water in small bowl; stir until saffron is dissolved. Stir into onion mixture. Stir in tomatoes, parsley, and half the red pepper. Bring to a boil Turn down to low heat . Stir in scallops and peas, clams and mussels, shrimp. Cook until rice is al dente. Serve Makes 10 servings.

I Hope you enjoy it!!! And hopefully, I answered some questions too about food from Spain.

A SMILE!

2009-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

"There is nothing more magnetic or attractive than a smile" and isn't that true!!!

Smiling makes us appear more confident and more attractive. When you smile the world sees you as friendly and they want to get to know you and find out "What’s the good news?" It's a great tool. A frown does the opposite. It propels people away and you are seen as less confident and even less attractive.

It's been proven when you smile your body naturally releases chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins. These chemicals are natural pain killers and they are also known as the feel good chemicals that makes us happy. You may notice that it is hard to be smiling and be negative at the same time. In fact when you smile you can turn negative emotions into positive emotions because your smile is communicating to your body that everything is okay.

What makes you smile? please feel free to add a coment I would love to hear from you!.
As for me, I can think of millions of things.........but I'll list 5. Add your 5 things please!

My little Adrienne's sense of humor.
Praising and thanking my Jesus.
My husband's silliness.
Finding a good deal.
The happinnes of others.

Make a choice to smile it will change your day and it will also affect those who are around you.

God is good and He wants to use you for His glory!!!!

Food, Friends and Fireworks for the new Year!!!

2009-01-01T03:35:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a good time celebrating New Years Eve with the church here. We had a special service with a lot of people sharing and giving thanks for what God has done in their life... very sweet. After that, around 10:30 pm, we had dinner... and let me tell you that Brazilians eat rice and beans everyday, yums! It's really good. We also had shrimp in a yellow sauce and another typical dish called Salpicao, which is some kind of a chicken with noodles. Oh, and also barbecue chicken... everything was delicious.

We had plenty of oportunities to practice our broken Portuguese with some friends. It's kind of a funny feeling, we can understand 80% of what they are saying but we can't speak back....and when we do, it comes across like we're chopping and destroying the language!. But we've definitely seen progress and that is encouraging. Oh well... we'll keep trying. Thank God Brazilians are so gracious and smile a lot, which makes us feel soooo much better.

...that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord........

2008-12-29T02:24:00.000-08:00

Everytime time I see this picture, it makes me think of the pasage in Philippians 2:9-11 that says:

"Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name wich is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Is Lord, to the glory Of God the Father".

On a personal note, He transformed my life, giving it purpose and meaning. It's a MIRACLE that He just wants to keep loving you no matter what you do, say or think. He will be there and love... love... love you. I know His grace and His mercy have no ending. His determination in loving me makes me fall in love with Him more and more every day. I pray that no matter what we go through that I will always remember His Love for me...... yesterday today and forever and that this same love will be passing from me to others.

Merry Christmas!........Feliz Natal!.........

2008-12-25T03:12:00.001-08:00

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

And this is our gift from God, JESUS.

This relationship between man and God, that Jesus makes possible, is the most important decision of our lives... Through it, God gives us forgiveness of sin, eternal life and a relationship forever with Him.

Now, isn't that the best present ever!? Thank you Jesus!

Love you all!

Fingerprinting!

2008-12-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

Today we took care of the second part of the paperwork to get our Brazilian identification card which included getting our fingerprinting done at the "Oficina de Estrangeiros" at the Department of Immigration. While there, I met Sheila a Brazilian gal that was renewing her passport so she can travel to Italy to visit her mom for Christmas. I was able to communicate with her. It seems that everywhere we go there's someone always with enough patience to talk with us.

Anyways, these last days we've been quite busy.........getting a cell phone, internet access, bank work, meeting our neighbors, meeting with the principal of our kids schools, Portuguese clases, barbeque with new friends, church service, getting bread at the bread store down the block... mmm...good, well seems like we are doing good. It's quite exciting for us and definetly we've learned to laugh at ourselves.

God has put a deep love for this country an its people in our hearts. Please pray that we can learn the language so well that they will think we are one of them.
God is so good! " Count your blessings name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Long trip to Brazil...........

2008-12-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

We are finally here!!! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for our trip here to Brazil. We made it with no problems at all and even our luggage made it too. Right now we are getting all set up in our apartment. It has three bedrooms and 2 little bathrooms. We live on the fifth floor and yes......there's an elevator!! I'll post some more pictures next time. As you know we are in the city of Ribeirao Preto for language school. Ribeirao Preto is located four hours northwest of Sao Paulo and we will be here several months learning Portuguese. It's summer here and it really does not feel like Christmas at all until you go to the stores and see all the decorations...

(Santa wears silk and not flannel.....ha ha ha).

The Visas Popped up!

2008-11-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

The visas are here, fully cooked and in our hands! We are very thankful for your prayers on our behalf. We know God is Sovereign and his timing is perfect.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that there is always a purpose for what we go through. There are new things to learn and new lives to touch, and even... time to rest. Well, now... a new season in our lives is about to begin and can't wait to see what plans God has for us in Brazil. We'll be traveling to Brazil on Dec 10. Our family is so excited and ready to run the race.....we are going to be spending these last days packing and saying goodbyes to our friends and family, of whom we are so thankful for. They've been so supporting and loving through this whole process.

Enjoy music and learn Portuguese at the same time!

2008-11-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

Listening to music is a great way to learn a language, or at least that's what they say. So here we go ............I know Roberto Carlos is Brazilian and well known all over the world. I found this and totally felt in love with this romantic song. Called "Se eu nao te amasse tanto assim" Enjoy!!

Some facts about Brazil

2008-11-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Brazil shares a border with almost every other country in South America--only Chile and Ecuador are untouched--and covers almost half the continent. It is the fifth largest country in the world, behind Russia, Canada, China, and the U.S.A., with an area of eight and a half million square kilometers.
Brazil has the sixth largest population in the world--about 148 million people--which has doubled in the past 30 years. People concentrated mainly along the coast and in the major cities, where two-thirds of the people now live: over 19 million in greater Sao Paulo and 10 million in greater Rio de Janeiro.

The Portuguese were the first European settlers to arrive in the area. The immigrant Portuguese language was greatly influenced by the numerous Indian and African dialects they encountered, but it remains the dominant language in Brazil today. In fact, the Brazilian dialect has become the dominant influence in the development of the Portuguese language, for the simple reason that Brazil has 15times the population of Portugal and a much more dynamic linguistic environment.

Sao Paulo overwhelms the senses with its sheer size. With over 19 million inhabitants, it is the world's third largest city and the largest in South America. Sao Paulo possesses significant ethnic minority communities, including substantial Japanese, Italian, Lebanese, German, Spanish, and Portuguese, neighborhoods.

1 corinthians 1: 30-31

2008-11-17T06:14:00.000-08:00

I just started reading 1 Corinthians today for my devotions and here are some of the thoughts I gleaned or you can say, thoughts that touched me.

Verses 30, But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

The only reason we are in Christ Is because of God. Man’s wisdom can do nothing to reach salvation. Man’s wisdom can’t help us to know God. We got saved because of God’s wisdom and the purpose of salvation was that “God may be glorified”. Isn’t it marvelous that God chose simple, humble people to be His people. Influence, power, intelligence are all totally irrelevant to Him. But it does not end here. As soon as we became Christians, God began doing a work in our lives. We did not stay ignorant. Instead, through His word we received wisdom, HIS WISDOM. He made us the wisest of all creation!!! God gave wisdom that he might receive glory. That’s the whole idea. I want this to be part of my DNA, always remembering that the glory belongs to Him.

Great weather!!

2008-11-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

The weather today called for some time playing volleyball in our backyard. We all get really competetive when it comes to volleyball, so as you can imagine there were some really good shots there, specially Anna and Steve......... they are just good at it. After the game the girls and I baked chocolate chips cookies and watched a movie "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck which we totally enjoyed and recommend to anybody. I like family time without a doubt, one of my favorite things to do.

Fun Day!!

2008-11-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

Today I spent some amazing time with my brazilian friends and I had so much fun.........We ate "pao com queijo," had a "cafezinho" and talk, talk, talked forever. They spoke portuguese almost the whole time ( I needed help on many occasions ) but I was so surprised that I was able to understand a lot. I have to say that I was exhausted afterwards, I was trying so hard..........that it wiped me out!
Brazilians are such warm, caring, friendly, fun people......I love them. It's really all about "relationships" and that more than fine with me!

The Journey

2008-10-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to be on this journey to Brazil. As missionaries we will be encouraging, disciplining and mobilizing believers in the greater city of Sao Paulo to plant multiplying churches. A lot of work is still ahead of us and truly we can't wait to get there. But before all of that, we ask you to pray for us that we would obtain our visas. You see, we already applied three months ago and we understand that it usually takes around four months to get them. We would appreciate if you could pray that we would find favor in the eyes of someone at the Brazilian Consulate.

Today reading Romans 12:12 says "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer" it simply taught me how to deal with this situation.........God is so good.

Check us out

2008-10-28T13:35:00.000-07:00