OWWWWWW!!!!

Yes, that is what I thought in the middle of the night when I rolled over. You, I am sure are wondering what happened? Are you Okay??? Is everyone safe?? And I would have to answer yes, we are fine, I just was stupid enough to play capture the flag last night with the teens. Scott volunteered us to sponsor the event, and of course, I couldn't just sit by at watch, NOOOOOO!! I had to play, then I ended up guarding the flag, cause I thought i would be nice and quiet, and I wouldn't get tagged, and that was fun, for the first half hour, then they started coming in groups and we had to defend our ground, after about an hour of that I was pretty much done in, I was begging them to please get our flag. I would have been fine though if I hadn't collided with my team mate trying to catch the girl who had gotten within inches of our flag. I didn't realize until the middle of the night that we had collided at the knees and I had a very sore muscle above my knee. So today, I am moving slower and more gently. I am sure I will feel worse tomorrow when the sore muscles kick in ( I walk every day, but I am not use to running in circles).
Today was nice. Scott's dad shared in church and told some neat stories about training to be a paratrooper, the kids were fascinated and so were the grown ups. The best part was how well he made the comparisons to our Christian walk. Emma made it through the whole service, and did each of her Strawberry Shortcake puzzles once (Thanks Charis!!!)
We got some yummy rotisserie chicken from downtown, and made rice, veggies and Brazilian "French Bread" for lunch with Grammy's chocolate pudding for desert. A quick Junior's meeting, the Senior banquet is coming soon and we have lots to do. Then I helped Gina decorate the back wall of the chapel. I will send a picture later. It was a busy day, but after last night it is probably a good thing, keep those muscles moving.
I am enjoying Beth Moore's study on the power of words, It is from that Lifetoday.org site, very good!!!
I hope you had a nice Sunday

a playground!!!

Emma will show you where we are going to be spending a lot of our free time soon.

Yes, we are getting a playground. There is a Wycliff volunteer team here for three weeks building an amazing place for our kids. It has been so fun watching it go up piece by piece and trying to imagine what it will look like. Even since I took these pictures a couple days ago things have changed. I know they have a ways to go, but already we are just in awe. I guess when it has been almost 2 years since our kids had such a place to play, you forget what they look like.

This platform and the other one will have a bridge connecting them, and then we have heard rumors of spider webs, and climbing walls, slides, swings, etc. etc. How special our kids feel to know that 5 people have taken off time from their busy lives to come and invest in something just so they can have fun. I think it communicates to them that they matter. That yes, the unreached are why we are here but they are high on our list of priorities. One of our Portuguese students (Eric Pfister from Germany ) has been welding for almost a week and a half straight. What a blessing that the language school was closed until next week and he could volunteer.

The kids have had to practice a lot of patience this week when they were told they couldn't play on the half built stucture the rest of the week as they were painting everything ( Again, something that took us by surprise, it would be functional and pretty?) Then they had wait even longer as it has rained a ton this week. But maybe one more week and they will have a park to call their own.

newsletter

Scott came in today with a victorious step. The work generated during our annual workers conference is almost done. What a busy month. Starting from day one and I am sure through to the end. Scott of course, gets pulled into anything that is technology oriented. This year he worked on a presentation promoting the retirement center for Brazilian missionaries. Showing them what a nice place it is and how they can come and be cared for by the resident nurses. Then he worked hard to finish the mission presentation to have the copies available to those at the conference along with copies of other shows he has made. Then just as he was ready to calm down and enjoy the conference, an hour before it started one of the coordinators showed up at our doorstep and asked if he could film all the meetings for the five day conference. At first he thought he couldn't because he didn't have any blank tapes and they are quite expensive and hard to come by. But then we remembered the tapes he had used for another seminar and that they could be reused since the content had been mastered to DVD. So he spent the next 5 days filming and since then (the 12th) he has been getting those shows mastered to DVD and making copy after copy. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Scott has also started his Bible class for the junior high class. He is enjoying being back into teaching again. He is looking at the possibility of next year cutting back the video work and teaching full time at the school, all their Bible classes. We will see if it works. I have a much lighter class schedule this semester and I am so enjoying that. And starting next week I will be babysitting a little guy just a month old for and hour or more each day while his mommy is taking Portuguese classes. I am quite excited about that. Emma didn't seem to mind him at all when they stopped in for a visit a couple days ago.

Scott is also taking care of the English service here at the school on Sundays. After he gets back from church where he is responsible for recording the Sunday message, he gets things all set up for the worship team ( we meet on Saturdays to practice) and then he also is preaching a lot of the Sundays. It is a special time. Even though we go to church in town, to have a time to worship God in our heart language and be challenged in specific areas that apply to our different life is very good.

So now

Well, I don't even know where to start. We had such a nice time with Charis. What a treat to have family visit and time to enjoy each other. She left last night and made it to JFK airport before she missed a flight (pretty good stat these days) and now she probably won't arrive at my parents until very late today, so that makes for a long trip.
Scott's folks arrived safely Wednesday, after 4 days of travel hassle, too long of a story to explain, some visa misunderstandings and then delays and missed flights. We are so glad they made it finally!!! They will be here for a couple weeks than travel around Brazil talking and working with Brazilian pastors who use the Chronological Bible Study called the road to Emmaus.

I, of course, have a horrible cold today, the usual let down after having a nice time with family, but it is busy and for some reason I seem to get the sick the minute the leave. Is it my form of coping with being home sick???
Scott has a million ( and I am not exaggerating) things to do these days, and I am not sure how he keeps them all straight. It is a good thing my schedule has lightened considerably. He has to make a ton of copies of all the sessions he filmed during the conference and try and get them to the people who ordered them. He has a number of prayer cards he is working on, people he saw at conference that he could take their picture and design it so they could approve it. He is very busy these days transfering audio tapes to CDs for missionaries, things they use in their ministry. Video tapes to DVD, and just making extra copies of things for people. It is crazy!!! And that isn't even his main job. Now he has Sunday services to prepare, and a Bible class he is teaching at the school. It is quite busy!!!! I think I will just stay home do laundry and cook, that keeps me busy especially since I still haven't gotten my washer fixed, maybe I will ask Scott's Dad??
And so it goes, nothing different, just the usual busy.

Just pictures

While my sister was here we ran away for a day (from the missionary's workers conference)

and spent the day at a water park just about 2 hours away. It was a blast.!!!

Jonathan really liked the innertube slides, Laney loved the regular slide, so did my sister Charis and I, but we didn't enjoy getting our spine bruised in the process.

Here is Scott screeching down into the pool.


Laney and Jonathan sitting on the rock walk through the "jungle"


Charis brought down these dresses, what fun it was to dress them up. I thought we would go to a friend's wedding but when I realized it wouldn't start until 8, which means 9 as most weddings run very late, I decided to just dress them up at home and take lots of pictures.

Emma sure likes her big sister and

immitates her every time she can

Before Charis left we made sure we took her to

a nice Brazilian restaurant, where the meat

comes to your table straight from the fire on a big roasting bar,

YUMMMMMM

computer

help, please pray that I can get my computer fixed. The computer stopped working this morning and all I have is a green light now, the mother board is not turning on. Please pray that it was just a glitch in the system, or a wire that got bumped when Scott installed the wireless modem last week. I can check my mail on my sister's computer, but I can't access most of my e-mail address.
Thanks
without a brain,
Jenny

conference, and answers to prayer

We are on our third day of conference and things are going well. Of course, the usual happens where Scott is asked last minute to record stuff. But he was able to re use some tapes from another conference that he has already mastered to DVD so that was okay. He is busy, though, so I am just enjoying staying home most of the time. I figure of a meetings was really important for me to see, I will watch it later ;o) I am enjoying the chiropractor who came from the states just to help us poor crooked people out. He even worked on my foot that has been so painful for months now, and I feel much better. Before my left foot didn't rest in my shoe, like the arch support couldn't reach my arch, but yesterday I noticed that my foot was resting in my shoe again, and the support was touching the arch, ahhhhhh.
Another answer to prayer was that Scott was getting stuff together for conference and came across 25 DVDs he didn't know he had???? and they were just any old brand they were SONY!!!! Isnt' God amazing!!!
We are so thankful to have some extra funds come in this month. I am praying with a specific amount that we need. And can't wait to see God bring it in so that we can "catch up".
Thanks for being there for us, your prayers and friendships, you are precious!!!

Prayer Requests

I know so many of you lift us up in prayer each day, and often, if you would continue and keeps these things in mind we would appreciate it.

Scott - starting a new class at school Bible for 7-8th grade and as he would like to possible move to a full time teaching job (Bible ) next year, along with smaller video projects.

Scott - to finish and get copied onto DVD the mission presentation, that many will purchase it (for about $2.00 ea copy) and use it. And for the Bible School presentation he is working on. I ordered him 200 blank DVD's but they didn't make it to Charis in time, so now he is scrounging to find enough good DVD's in town, there are so few, he found 25 but it won't be enough.

For our finances, we are down to 63% support, and with the low dollar, life is just gone from hard to almost impossible. But we know with God all things are possible, so we wait and see how he will provide as we go forward.

For conference this week. We will be busy trying to do all we can to serve the many missionaries here starting monday, it really isn't a break for us as much an opportunity to serve. I know Scott will be running full tilt to do all he can, prayer cards, personal presentations, and ministry clips, plus fill in on the sound booth. and then School starts on the 14th.

Christmas and Charis

Yes, we had a fun Christmas, it came in stages, first Santa and packages from relatives and churches, then with Charis. The kids loved every moment from beginning to end.

Daddy reading the Christmas story

Jonathan trying on his new clothes

Laney, Christmas morning with her new PJ's and a flower accessory

Charis is here!!!!

A quick stop at McDonalds, before the 2 hour trip home,

nothing like introducing Charis to Brazil at McDonalds

We spent Thursday in Perinopolis a quaint colonial town just 2 hours drive from home

It is nice to have someone with us to snap a picture, so we took advantage

of Charis and got a nice shot (why do I always think I am thinner than I look in

a picture??)