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!

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!!!

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!.

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!!

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!!

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.......