Getting into the swing of things...

Wow!  An update is long overdue.  Has it really only been 5 weeks since I got here?  It seems like I have been here for so long already but yet at times I feel like I was in the US just yesterday.  Time is a funny thing.  Lots has been going on with here in the Amazon Basin of Brazil from getting adjusted to moving and getting adjusted again to weekend “Encounters” with God and learning what my role will be at the mission and building relationships with the Brazilians.

First, God is so good and faithful and He continually reminds me of that in His response to the big details of life to the very small details.  My first month here in Brazil I was blessed with the opportunity to live in the home of a missionary family as they were traveling in the US.  I was living with a Brazilian named Dolores who lived for 12 years in the US.  After my first month, I was blessed again to be able to live in the home of another missionary family (which happens to be next door to the other home) until possibly mid-March or later.  Both of these families are huge blessings to me as I am able to save on some of my expenses in the coming months (although I still desperately am in need of your one-time gifts and monthly commitments).  The first month I was here I kept think about when I would be moving into the other house and how I would be  living alone.  I like to be alone at times but I was really hoping to find someone who could live with me.  God put Dolores in my heart.  I knew she was looking for a place to stay as her parent’s home does not have space for her so I asked her what she thought.   She loved the idea.  I can tell you how good God is because her and I get along so well.  We are able to talk to each other about different things going on in our lives and to encourage each other in the Lord.  So a week ago today we moved into our “new” place for an indefinite period of time :).  

Many of you have asked me what I am/will be doing down here and the truth is, a lot of different things.  It looks like a role I will be stepping into is one of administration which is good cause that is what my degree is in.  I will be helping PAZ with various proposals for buildings, projects, etc. and also writing reports/testimonies on the progress of those particular projects to the donors.  There is also a possibility that I will trained on the accounting process here at the mission so that I am able to step in as needed.  I think it is great how the Lord has called me as a missionary and I am still able to use my degree.  I mentioned some of the other areas I will be working in in the last update so check it out.  Please be in prayer for me as there are many needs and ways to get involved.  I want to do exactly what the Lord would have me to do.

O Encontro foi TREMENDO!!!  “The Encounter was tremendous!!!”  Last weekend I went as a participant in the Encontro.  It is similar to DeColores and other weekend retreats many of you have participated in in the US.  Anyways, it was a little less than 3 days of “one-on-one” with God time.  We were not worried about the people around us but rather focused on HIM.  It was a wonderful time of refreshing for me.  It was so awesome to see one lady accept Jesus into her life and see many water baptized out in the Tapajos River (tributary to the Amazon).  The weekend was great and you should have seen the celebration when we arrived back at the church on Sunday night.  We all went in together jumping, singing and giving praise to the only One who has the power to save, set free and transform lives!  I wish I had pictures to show but as participants, we couldn’t take pictures.  Next time, I will be working the retreat and will definitely get some pictures.

Random Fact/Story:

Monday afternoon I was sitting in the living room/dining room of the new place I am living and I had the door open to get a breeze in the room.  There is an outside door that is made of iron or something and most houses it has screen in it to keep bugs and things out but this house doesn’t have it.  Anyways, I was sitting there when all of a sudden a bird flew in the house.  I freaked out for a minute and then went to shut all the doors in the house to keep the bird in one area.  The only problem is that the office doesn’t have a door.  Well, the bird kept flying back and forth in the house and I had no idea how to get him out cause he was up high and I didn’t want to hurt him in anyway.  He went back in the office so I had to direct him back to the front of the house and hopefully out the door.  It was quite the site.  I honestly wish someone would have been videotaping me.  I was screaming and laughing at the same time.  Thankfully, the cute little bird finally found his way back out the door.  I am sure this is one of many funny stories I will have in the future :).

Thank you all so much for your prayers, encouragement and support.  It is so nice to have a wonderful team of people supporting me and cheering me.  Also, I would like to ask for special prayer for fellow missionaries Nate and Ruth Reutter.  They lost their baby a little over a week ago.  Both of their parents are missionaries down here as well.  It has been a difficult week but God has been and continues to be so faithful in this situation.  If you would like to read their story please go to www.reutterfamily.com

Love to you all!  

Claire

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  

Coming soon...

I am hoping to get this blog back up and running with updates very soon...Keep checking back...I have added two new links on the right side bar...check it out!

<3 claire

For some reason the link to my pictures from Parintins is not working. Hopefully it will work here: http://belmont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032253&l=fdb7a&id=34100423

Yay for internet is all I have to say! I am not quite sure how we ever lived without it haha. Anyways, my hope is to use this blog to keep everyone up-to-date on my adventures in the Amazon this summer. I am going to do a quick recap of the past month. First of all, as many of you know, I graduated from Belmont University on May 12th with a Bachelors of Business Administration. Just over a week later I boarded a plane on my way to Santarem, Brazil. When I first got here I was exhausted and a little overwhelmed. I had no internet to get in touch with anyone which was quite frustrating and I felt very alone. Once I finally got to talk to my family I was much better. The day after I got in myself and a team of students from Oral Roberts University left on a 6 day boat trip. We had about a 14+hr boat ride on the Tapajos River which is a tributary to the Amazon River. We went to two different villages and stayed at each for about 2 1/2 to 3 days. In the first village, we attended cell groups, church meetings, helped make the foundation for the church building, made house visits and did programs for children. One night we went alligator hunting. There were about 10 or more of us in a large wooden canoe. We didn't have a harpoon so we went to a man's house who had one but he wasn't home. On our trip back to the big boat it was lightning and thundering. Then we heard a loud noise and in the distance we could see the wall of rain coming straight for us. We got soaked. It was quite the experience. It was hard to leave the first village because we grew to love the people and especially the children. The second village we did similar things. We did not stay in this village as long and it was more difficult to build relationships with the children because they were in school majority of the time. To see pictures from this part of my trip go here: http://belmont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032251&l=075d7&id=34100423. When we returned to Santarem we had just about a day or so to get ready for our next adventure. We were headed to the island of Parintins. This city has a reputation for its sinfulness and demonic activity. To get to Parintins we took an 18hr. line boat ride up the Amazon River. A line boat is quite an experience. Everyone strings up their hammocks and sleeps on the boat with their luggage all around them. Our trip had a rocky start when 3 of the girls had substantial amounts of Brazilian and American money stolen from them while we were sleeping. This would not get us down though. We were going to Parintins to do a lot of ministry and we knew Satan would not sit quietly. We arrived in Parintins on Friday, June 1st at mid-morning. The church there has a Healing and Liberation service on Friday nights. When we arrived the pastor decided he wanted us all to share our testimonies or parts of our testimonies. I was silently freaking out because I like to prepare before I get up and speak. I sat there thinking and decided I would share the part of my testimony involving living in Brazil previously, leaving and then returning this summer. It went really well and while I was speaking I started choking up which made me realize even more the love I have for the people here. One of our tasks while in Parintins was to paint some of the church buildings. A lot of times during the mornings we would work on painting and then we would have services in the evenings. We also made several house visits to pray for sick people or people who were struggling with different things. The first weekend we were there we attended many church services. After the youth meeting on Saturday and the church service on Sunday they had what was called "Cristotech" it was like a christian dance party. It was so much fun. The topic of Sunday mornings service was relationships and I was asked to speak a little bit. I spoke about modesty and emotional attachment. I felt very scattered because of the translation but I feel that it went well. One of the nights several of us were eaten alive by mosquitoes. I woke up and my face and neck were covered with bites. I got bit the next few nights even more. I looked like I had chicken pox or something. There is a picture in the photo album link below. After the weekend was over, the next several days were spent going into schools and doing presentations with skits and speaking. These presentations could not have gone any better. There was truly favor from the Lord over our group. My friend Davi said that a lot of times when people come do similar presentations that they are booed and have things thrown at them but we were widely received. It was really funny because at most of the schools we couldn't even leave without being mobbed with students wanting us to sign their notebooks. It was quite an interesting experience. It was like we were the Beatles or something haha. Being in the schools was such a blessing because we were able to reach out to thousands of children and teenagers. One of our free afternoons we went out to the camp owned by the church to relax and swim in the river. It was a lot of fun but I am a major scaredy cat so they were teasing me about the snakes and alligators, etc. Praise the Lord I didn't see any of those things. Really the best part of being in Parintins was the relationships that I made. The people at the church there are so wonderful. The church has a lot of young people that are such a blessing. You will see many of the friends I made in the photo album. Our last night in Parintins we got up on stage and some of us had the opportunity to share about our time there or whatever we wanted to say. I couldn't speak because I was so choked up. I started crying while other people were talking. It was very difficult to say good-bye to these people. Lord willing I will see them again soon. To see pictures from this trip go here:
http://belmont.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032253&l=fdb7a&amp;id=34100423.
Santarem, I have been doing a little relaxing and recuperating from travelling so much. I am excited to see what the next weeks hold and will do my best to keep everyone updated.