Cheguei!!! (I arrived!!!)

Some days I wake up and think it is still a dream but then I get out of bed and realize I am actually here in Brazil.  I have been here in Santarem for about a week and a half and I still do not really believe that I am here and this time to live.  I am so thankful to the Lord for bringing me here to the Amazon of Brazil and to the ministry of Project Amazon.  Because of the obedience of my parents several years ago to the Lord’s call, I was exposed to a ministry that I have incredible respect for and am excited to be a part of now.

So many of you are probably wondering what I have been up to over the last week and a half.  Primarily, I have been getting adjusted to being here.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to live in someone’s house for them while they are traveling so thankfully I do not have to “set up” house yet.  I did make my first trip to the supermarket so I can actually have a real meal.  This is definitely going to be an adjustment for me because in the States, when I lived on my own, Lean Cuisine was the extent of my cooking :).  So I have some new learning experiences coming.  It has also been an adjustment getting used to the heat.  August until December are pretty much the hottest months of the year here in Santarem.  We are currently in the dry season so it only rains at times which isn’t very often.  It did rain the other night for a bit which was nice.  I think the heat seems so much more intense because there are not very many places to go for relief as very few places have air conditioning.  Other than a couple things here and there, adjusting has not been too difficult.  I have a great team here surrounding me, Brazilian friends and also the prayers of you all holding me up.  

Over the past week, I have also been learning about some of the ways I will be ministering and getting involved.  Every Wednesday we have cell group meetings which is basically a group that gets together for a time of worship, prayer, reflection on the message given at church the previous Sunday and fellowship.  I will be helping to lead a cell group of teenage boys and girls as the current leader will be traveling for several months.  I am very excited to get involved in the cell group ministry.  I also plan to participate in the Encontro (Encounter) a few weekends from now with my section of cell groups.  The Encontro is a weekend retreat where the focus is to have an encounter with God as you set aside the weekend and completely focus on Him.  I have lived here before and have never participated in an Encontro so I am really excited to be able to go in a few weeks.

Another ministry I will be working on is forming and training a team with another missionary here at PAZ to go into public schools, churches and pretty much anywhere else we can to teach about sexual purity.  We will be using a curriculum from Focus on the Family as our base and then adapting it according to the need here in Brazil.  This is an area very close to my heart and I am excited to see what the Lord has and the doors He will open with this ministry.

A couple other things I will be working on during this time is taking on some of the responsibility of communicating with people interested in short term opportunities here with PAZ and also working on getting my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification which has the potential to open many doors for the sharing of the Gospel.

Random Fact/Story:

Here in Santarem (and I guess in all of Brazil) it is election time just like in the US.  It is interesting to see the difference in the way things are done.  In the US we have bumper stickers, yard signs and televised debates.  Here, there are cars that drive by with loud sound clips and music about the candidates.  People have the candidates’ pictures put on their cars to cover the whole back window and sides of the cars.  Their are parades of motorcycles that drive up and down the waterfront promoting a candidate and little boats that go by with music and advertising.  

Well, that is it for now.  Please do keep in touch and keep me in your prayers.  If I do not get back to you right away please do not be upset.  I do not have internet in my home yet and the internet here is also very unreliable and slow at times.  I do appreciate each of you and pray for God’s blessings to be poured out on your lives and homes.  

I hope to get some pictures up on the blog soon for you all to see!

God Bless and All For His Glory,

Claire