Time flies when your having fun

We can hardly believe that we have been here for 4 months now. In some regards, it doesn't feel like that long, but then when I think about all the "stuff" that we have been through, it seems like 4 years! We actually have 10 weeks left in Campinas before we head down south to Porto Alegre. We are looking forward to joining the team that is already down there and moving forward in the call that the Lord has placed on our hearts. We have talked about the different aspects of leaving Campinas and even though we are ready, we will miss this place that we have called home. We have met some great friends here. Preston and I have befriended several elderly neighbors and they just love him. He still hasn't gotten used to all the Brazilians wanting to kiss him! We have grown close to one couple in particular at church that has blessed our hearts they way they pray for us and care for us. I (Keri) might just cry when I have to leave the Tia's from Peyton and Pierce's daycare and Preston's teacher, Professora Rose (as seen in the photo). She has been a true answer to our prayers.

Life here has been tough at times, but as always, the Lord has proven and continues to prove Himself faithful. And His faithfulness has nothing to do with me or my faithfulness to Him. My brain has a hard time understanding that, but I am so thankful for it. This has been such a rich time in our lives and I can't wait to see what the rest of the journey holds. I have much more rolling through my brain, but I will stop the rambling for now. Thanks for listening.

Please continue to pray for Paul and I we have our second language evaluation test this Thursday. We both feel more confident than we did the first go around, but it still gets our stomachs all in knots. Please pray that no matter what we do we will glorify the One that has sent us here.

Please remember to pray for the Isbelle's

Please remember to pray for Jon and Rachel Isbelle. They are our friends that have served the Lord in Rio for the last two years. They are with the Network of International Christian Schools. They are leaving Brazil tomorrow. Their time in Rio has been a great time of growth both for them and the teenagers that they touched. The Lord is leading them back the States, so please join us in praying for their transition back into that culture.

To Jon & Rachel: Thank you for being obedient to God's call. You are a true inspiration to us all!

16th Wedding Anniversary in Brazil

I just wanted to write this short blog to share with you how neat it was for Keri and I to spend our 16th anniversary in Brazil. It has been a hard 3 months since arriving in Brazil, but the times of refreshing that the Lord sends our way are just as exciting as the hard times are hard. Am I making any sense? It seems that every time we go through a difficult period either in language learning or with the health of one of the 6 of us or whatever else, the Lord is always faithful to turn around and give us a sweet time of refreshing. Well, that is what we got on our anniversary. We didn't necessarily do anything spectacular, but it refreshed us. Our "date" started at noon. I had another missionary couple, Paul and Toni Dillard, lined up to take Kati and Preston to lunch and a movie. The babies were taken care of by my language teacher. So, with all the kids taken care of, we could just relax and enjoy our day. We went for a walk, just the two of us! Something that never happens. Then we went to a movie and dinner at a very nice restaurant, all of this by ourselves. Something that never happens. Like I said, it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a nice, relaxing afternoon and evening with my bride of 16 years. We needed this down time desperately and the Lord blessed our time together. While we were out, we talked about all the Lord is revealing to us and just how special it is that we are here following His direction. We have had some of the hardest times of our lives since we have been here, but there is no place that we would rather be right now. I asked myself and Keri this question, "Would you do it all over again if you knew it would be this hard?" We both had the same response without hesitation, "Yes!" We are learning just how faithful our God is and we are learning first hand what it means to trust Him and totally rely on His power and His power alone to get us through. Ok, that is all of my short blog. More later. Thanks for reading.

Passion Conference

Can you believe that I (Paul) got to go to the Passion Conference World Tour in Sao Paulo Brazil? I can't believe it either. I have always wanted to go and never got a chance in the States, but the weekend of May 23 & 24 I finally got to go see Louie, Frances, David & Chris live and in person. I have seen the Passion videos so I had an idea of what it would be like, but I was not prepared for what I saw right in the middle of Brazil. There were about 2200 students there and it was amazing. Louie & Frances had translators on stage with them and that worked well and got the message across. But one of the things that blew me away was the music. It was all in English and the words were on the screen. The words were in English and then under that were the words in Portuguese. I don't know exactly what it was that I was expecting, but to hear 2000+ college students that were not all English speakers singing in English was not it. But that is what I got. It was the most amazing thing to just sit back and watch and listen. And they worshipped! It was a true God moment and it took me by surprise. When Louie called on them to pray for each other, we witnessed a group of young people crying out to God on each others behalf and I can't even find the words to describe it. It was just so exciting for me to be in a foreign country that I will be calling home for awhile and see true God worship. It is the kind of thing that people say doesn't happen, but I saw it with my own two eyes and heard it with my own two ears. God used this weekend in my life to refresh me and show me that I am not alone here. We serve an awesome, mighty God and He is the God of entire world, including Brazil!

It was even a special treat that I got to have my picture taken with my good friend David Crowder! He may look a little different, but he is a nice guy!

Please don't stop praying!!!

We still need your prayers, so please don't stop praying. Our language studies continue to go well and we are seeing signs that we are slowly, very slowly, getting it. We are making progress, but have so very far to go. We covet your prayers!

Please also pray for our stress levels to stay low. We are extremely stressed out and that isn't getting any better. They keep telling us that language school brings out the worst in people. That just thrilled my soul to hear! This would be hard with no children, but juggling all 4 of ours is proving to be more of a challenge than I originally thought it would be. Our schedules have been changed once again and we think this will be our schedule until the end. Today was the first day on this new schedule and it has already helped Paul tremendously. So, please don't stop praying for us!

Also, so many of you have asked how Kati is doing and I would like to announce that she is doing fantastic. She has been with her Portuguese tutor for 2 weeks now and it is already paying off. She learns something new everyday and she is even teaching us. They are teaching her some of the slang words that the kids use and she is loving it. She has however been a little bit under the weather with some kind of stomach bug that she can't seem to shake. So, please continue to pray for her also.

Preston is still doing great and so are the babies.

Blooms of Fall

One of the things that we have found fascinating in Brazil is the flowers and flowering trees. It is beautiful here and it seems to be this way all year 'round. Remember it is fall here and a whole new set of blooms are emerging. We don't have this kind of color in the fall where we come from. So, we wanted to share some of the beauty with you.

Preston and I (Keri) went walking yesterday with the sole purpose of taking pictures of flowers. We just walked down our street and these are the pictures we took. Some of them are breathtaking and they are even prettier in person.









The best part of our walk came as we were heading home. We stopped at a gate that had all kinds of plants and flowers and we were talking about them and taking pictures, when we noticed there was someone in that garden. She was staring at us and she scared me to death. When she realized that we were talking about her flowers, she came out to greet us. I told her that we were admiring her beautiful garden and taking pictures of the flowers and she was so thrilled. I'm not sure if it was our interest in her garden or just someone to talk to, but either way she was excited to see us. She invited us into her fence to get a closer look and took us all through the garden. She spoke only Portuguese so Preston and I didn't understand much and she knew that, but it didn't slow her down any! Once we went all through the garden and Preston took all the pictures he could, she then invited us in to see the plants on the inside. So, Preston took pictures of everything. It was nice to see the inside of a Brazilian home and see that they really are nice and warm and cozy, not hard and cold like ours. She said that when we came back we would have coffee, so I think we need to go back to visit. Well, before we left, I asked her if I could have a picture of me and her and she got even more excited. She couldn't believe that I wanted a picture of her! See the picture below...her expression says it all, doesn't it?

We think that Ms. Julietta lives by herself and I'm not sure that she gets too many visitors. So, Preston and I will go back to visit her again very soon. It was a nice visit even if we didn't understand much of what she said, it was nice to think that we may have been the bright spot in her day.

We can show the love of Christ even if we don't speak the same language!

Prayer Request for Team Gaucho

Pray for Jeff Dunson of Porto Alegre’s Team Gaúcho as he leads a team of Brazilian evangelists to minister in the city of General Câmera on June 7. The pastor of the small church in this city has a vision to see 17 new churches started in the city and the surrounding region, and this impact will serve as part of the kick-off for this new church planting and evangelism push. Pray that God will raise up workers for the harvest in the area, and that God will bless with an abundance of first fruits that will be just a small part of a great move of God to come in the following months and years.

Pray for the preparations that are underway for the September Month of Prayer for Urban Gaúchos. Four videos which will highlight various spiritual strongholds which interfere with the spread of the gospel in Porto Alegre are in the initial stages of production. Pray for the video production process, that it will go quickly and easily, (without any more computer problems), and that the Holy Spirit would guide in what is presented. Also pray for the production and distribution of other materials such as bookmarks and refrigerator magnets which will be used as prayer reminders for prayer partners in the U.S.A.