Ephesians 4:1-4

¹ Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. ⁴ For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

Meet. LILY

I would like to slowly introduce you to each of my teammates.. starting with LILY!

• she is quirky.. BEAUTIFUL..and brilliant
  
• the coolest chinese person I know
• she can sleep anywhere in any position for HOURS! haha I wish I could get as much sleep as she does :)

São Paulo:Brazil

well.. I have arrived :D

I got to São Paulo around noon on the 6th very tired from not getting any sleep on the plane the night before haha. The place we are staying is a small YWAM base its basically one house, a chapel/classroom and another building that I believe is a guys bathroom/ other classrooms maybe. Where we are staying there are lots of trees surrounding the house so its nice and cool and blocks us from the Brazilian heat :) Brazil is very tropical so it is humid and sunny during the day and usually showers late afternoon/ evening.. Sao Paulo is a city of about 15 million... their largest slum holding 1 million of those people. our hearts have already been burdened for the homeless in the area and we hope to do some ministry with them in the future. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what a Bazillion looks like. This city is one of the most diverse I've been to. Some are dark, some are white some have African American decent while others look Japanese. It's been neat getting to know the culture/people. They are all very friendly :) So far we've have lots of orientation and getting to know the area, tomorrow starts our photography class and "normal" schedule. There is a team from Nashville staying here as well so it is very crammed.. its taken a little bit to get used to community living again :) Adjusting to being away from home/ the comforts of your normal life again was harder than expected.. knowing I wont be going back for a very long time I think made it worse. I'm still trying to find my place and purpose here/on this team trusting in God during all the transitioning. We had some beautiful prayer time as a team and really got sort of a direction for this years Track Team.. I will post more about that later. Yesterday we took the subway and a bus and walked around down town for a bit..after standing in a 2 hour line to exchange our money haha quite the experience :) Not many people speak English here so that has been an adjustment as well.. but we have been learning some Portuguese :) its fun and I like being able to speak a few phrases here and there :)

This is my home for the next three months

the wildlife around base :) ..reminds me of home haha

a huge famous church that we found shelter from the rain in

JOSHUA.

⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

.....

¹⁶ Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

thankyou

I am so blessed to be surrounded by such faithful supporters and prayer partners. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to my fundraiser the other evening and listened to me share! It meant a lot and was it was a joy to be able to let you in on these next few months. I just got my Brazil visa and tickets are all booked so it looks as though im well on my way. Still have a few little things to wrap up :) continued prayer during this time of transitioning out from home is welcome :) thanks so much!

Photo update

update

we are still currently in Tuguegarou. Doing the same old thing..eat, sleep, share testimonies haa. We are thinking of making t-shirts :P It has been rather repetitive and getting a little old. Everyday we visit a new church and play a song and share testimonies then pray then maybe eat lunch with them, then go house to house and pray. Or go to a high school and go room to room doing the same skit over and over again and sharing testimonies. It leaves you feeling as though they don't really get the point of why we are here and I can see our energy and excitement draining from having to do the same thing all the time :( Our team really misses doing bar ministry and working with prostitutes. We found some bars in the main city the other day so we are hoping our contact will take us in and let us work with the girls. I think its different here, I don't think they usually do bar ministry in these parts so Pastor Samson seems skeptical about how it all works..and I don't think he understands that we have been working closely with this type of stuff our entire outreach so far. So things like that have been frustrating and draining. Its hard to believe we fly out in two weeks! I know I will miss this culture and all the adventures we've had so much. But I will defiantly not miss the bug-bites haha I am currently COVERED! and itch soooo much! its awful :( my legs burn from the bites. Where we are sleeping is crawling in ant and flea looking things. You really cant get away from it. Some good news though haha I have been able to make connections with two neighbor girls next door. I met them at one of the churches and found out they lived so close so its been fun going over and hanging out and meeting their families :) We've also made good connections and relationships with the two boys that help drive us around places, they are student helpers that the pastor knows. I'm realizing that my passion is one-on-one discipleship rather than speaking in front of churches and school. I'd much rather just hangout with someone for the day and swap stories and mentor to them...so i'm thankful for getting to know the girls next door. The other morning I was restless and couldn't sleep so I went out at around 6:30 and decide to go for a walk and go shooting. I met this sweet grandma next door (lola is what they call grandma) and I sat down with her for about 45 minutes just talking. She is so sweet and loved having her photo taken which is always a plus :) her english was pretty good and we were able to have a nice conversation. great way to start off a morning. days start early here in the Philippines so when you sleep in you miss a lot it seems. so i've been trying to get awake and get out early. I'm realizing God's faithfulness so much in my life and his protection. I would have never imagined my life to be taking me to all the places it has and how God was preparing me in different ways through my past experiences with things for now, and how he's going to use now and things i'm learning and going through to prepare me for the plans he has for my future. It's so comforting knowing we serve a BiG God who is totally 100percent in control :) His strength has been so evident throughout this outreach, I haven't had a time yet where I have fully "crashed" or gotten sick..he's kept me going day after day and given me energy and joy. This past 6 month adventure and time with my father has been incredible and grown me in many ways, i've discovered new things and realized things in my own life and heart that need working. He is so faithful in the way he gently shows us these things. I seriously can't believe we will all be heading home soon, it has gone so fast! haha. anyway I believe thats all the updates for now. untill next time.. thank you so much for reading and checking in! :) above is a video my friend the lovely bethany jeffery has made of our outreach thus far. The video I made from our time in the tribes is in the process of being uploaded... so that is soon to come! enjoy!