Lucivan & Claire's Life Adventures: If home is where the heart is...

...then I have more than one home. I am currently in the Atlanta airport waiting for my next flight in my journey "home"to Brazil while earlier this morning I left my "other home" in Virginia. One "home" means family and friends who have been apart of my life for a long time, comforts and conveniences of the US and being in my culture of birth. My other "home" means another type of "family" and friends including my fellow missionaries and the Brazilians I have come to know and love, a different culture and people in which I find myself often more comfortable with than my own and the place God has called me to be to share the love and saving power of the Gospel!

I am coming back from almost 2 months of a furlough that has been such an incredible blessing in my life. I can truly say I took advantage of the time I had to reconnect with friends and family and to also make new friends. The Lord opened the doors for me to speak at a few different churches and to some different groups of people. My previous entry was about my first month of furlough so I want to catch you up briefly on the second month.

In December, I was able to make a trip to Liberty University to spend a couple of days with my sister at her apartment and get to know her school and some of her friends. I was also able to spend some precious time with so many extended family members and to reconnect with friends that I haven't seen in years.

I was blessed to be able to share at Igreja das Nações Unidas a Brazilian church in Richmond. My parents were amazed at how while speaking in English at some of the American churches I seemed a tad nervous but at the Brazilian church speaking in Portuguese for over 20 minutes I transformed into a totally different person. I think I am Brazilian at heart :). I was also able to share at Calvary Chapel in Richmond, a church my family was a part of for a few years. It was so nice to see old friends and be encouraged by the body of Christ. An old friend of mine from high school invited me to share with the youth at her church which was a surprise invitation but was proof once again of God being faithful and opening up doors.

The second half of December, I was busy spending lots of time with my family. We were able to take a family vacation to NYC and boy did we have fun. God even showed us favor with the weather. It was cold for sure but each day was sunny. We didn't have a drop of rain or snow which was such a blessing. All of the snow came after we left and just in time for us to have a "white Christmas". I am so thankful to God for my family and the time I was able to spend with them in the past couple of week. Saying goodbye was definitely hard but skype will help us get through :). Now it is their turn to visit me in Brazil (and anyone else who wants to come just let me know).

Please keep me in your prayers as I continue my journey back to Brazil and get back into the swing of things. A couple of days after I get back, I will be participating in a leadership conference for about 5 days out at our camp and then will jump into a 3 week training for deliverance.

As the new year begins, please consider how you can be a part of the work in the Amazon by supporting me with a one time gift or regular support. May God bless each of you in this new year of 2011 and may it be the best year yet for you and your loved ones.

Some pictures...