OK. One thing that I’ve been very surprised by has been the absence of tears and the fact that there’s been no crying since we’ve been here. Because honestly, I was expecting a lot of it (crying that is) once everyone saw where we were living and when they started to think about all the things (friends and conveniences) we left back in the States. And the fact that there’s been no crying has been amazing. I haven’t said anything because I didn’t want to jinx it (not very spiritual, I know.) and thought that since everyone was doing so good I wouldn’t draw any attention to it. But last night it finally happened. We made it through another day and when MJ got into bed I just asked her a simple question... “you want me to get you a snack?” And that’s when the tears started flowing and she said, through a barrage of tears-snot streaming, “I want a mint chocolate chip Klondike bar.”
Man, who knew? Who knew that the lack of Klondike bars in the country of Brazil would be the one thing that pushed her over the edge? Live and learn, I guess. Haha! (OK, for all of you who are psycho-analyzing the situation, I know that wasn’t the only thing that bothered her... I’m not that dense.) But really, the fact that there hasn’t been a lot of crying and complaining can only be attributed to the fact that God has dealt with the hearts of our entire family. Everyone knows we’re suppose to be here. And that has been a major blessing. I think the fact that we over-communicated with them about the “why” we’re doing this only helped as well. Sometimes as parents I think we miss the opportunity to help our kids grow spiritually because we don’t ever tell them what God is speaking to us. We just expect them to follow us and listen “just because.” We don’t ever share with them our doubts, our worries, our fears, our faith, our beliefs... and that’s not good. And believe me, I’m guilty of this as well. But in this (leaving everything to go to the mission field) we started communicating with them from day one. And it’s paid off. I believe it’s allowed them to stay focused on “the why” we’re here (glorifying God by sharing the Gospel), which is the most important thing.
Today Maryssa had the opportunity to go to the local elementary school in Terra Boa and help teach English. This is an opportunity that Brad and Carolyn have been leveraging to get the Gospel preached in the schools and they do it 2 times per week.
Tonight Matthew and a few of my nephews were given the opportunity to participate at an outreach ministry that a friend of ours started by using sports as an in-road to sharing the Gospel. They do a short Gospel message up front then they play organized soccer, table tennis (ping pong), muay thai (kind of like karate on steroids-it’s one of the disciplines in MMA) and basketball to draw teenagers and young men in.
We just got here and God has already given our entire family the opportunity to minister. Wow. And I always thought ministry was just for adults!?... I'm just being sarcastic, of course.
Well it's getting late and It's time to take that long walk home with my flashlight, here in the pitch-black mountainous jungle we call home... yippeee! I'm complaining, sure, but at least I'm not crying.
Love Ya,
Jim
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