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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We are back in Brazil!\u00a0 It\u2019s strange how familiar everything is, this time.\u00a0 The graceful lines of the a\u00e7ai trees (a tall, slender type of palm), the mysterious majesty of the buritis (a shaggy-headed type of palm), the stars of the southern sky, and even the cement curb of the empty lot across the street from the mission’s guest house all seem to welcome me back.\u00a0 I had wondered if it would all feel foreign all over again.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Portuguese isn\u2019t flowing out of my head quite as spontaneously as it was a year ago, but I trust it will be, soon.\u00a0 I can sit around a table with Brazilian friends and laugh as hard as they do at their jokes, because I understand them (most of them), or ask a coworker how she is feeling in her place of ministry and understand when she shares her heart.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel baffled or overwhelmed when I walk into the grocery store, or wonder how I\u2019m going to cook for my family.\u00a0 I already know what\u2019s there and how to prepare it.<\/p>\n
In a lot of ways, this second landing in Brazil is off to an easier start than the first.\u00a0 At the same time, there are a lot of things to get used to again, and I know we will face new challenges this time around, as well as old.<\/p>\n
Right now I\u2019m trying to re-teach the kids NOT to throw their toilet paper in the toilet!\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to re-teach myself to step into that freezing cold shower and be content.\u00a0 (\u201cI can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me\u201d applies to the small things as well as the big!)<\/p>\n
A few aspects of this second \u201cstart\u201d are actually harder than last time.\u00a0\u00a0 The kids are older now, and understand what (and whom!) we are leaving behind in the States.\u00a0 Even I understand better this time what we left behind and what we\u2019ve come back to.\u00a0 I have to keep in mind WHY we are doing this and by WHOM and for WHOM.\u00a0 Otherwise I would turn around and run.<\/p>\n
These first few days in country are just our initial re-introduction to Brazil.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t really rolled up our sleeves and gotten back to work, yet.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t even gotten back to our place of ministry, yet, or back to the actual people we came to reach. \u00a0I guess the real re-adaptation starts there.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m preparing my heart to go back into the villages, and see the frail old people a year older without Jesus, and the women my age a year more broken than they were when I saw them last, and the children still lost and being led astray, and I know that I will still not be able to understand what they are saying, or offer any words of help or comfort, or tell them about their Creator, the Savior, until I learn their language.\u00a0 And for me, learning one more language while being a wife and homeschool mom still looms ahead as a huge and unconquerable challenge \u2013 unconquerable by me, that is.\u00a0 But God gives the victory.<\/p>\n
On the airplane (one of the airplanes) on the way here I was reading Psalm 44.\u00a0 \u201cO God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:\u201d<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We\u2019ve all heard stories of God\u2019s salvation in other times and other places.\u00a0 How we long to see Him do that again.\u00a0 How I long to see God step in and DO things here, too.\u00a0 How I long to see him break through to this<\/em> people’s hearts with His grace and glory, as he has broken through to hearts and cultures and people groups all over the world.\u00a0 When you read missionary stories or revival stories or any of God\u2019s salvation stories, do you ever wonder, \u201cHow did those things happen?\u00a0 Can that ever happen here and now?\u201d<\/p>\n One thing I know.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t work through the old-time heroes of the faith because they were so great.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t superheroes.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>God\u2019s right hand gave them the victory.\u00a0 God\u2019s arm worked the victory.\u00a0 The light of his face won the victory.\u00a0 God did it, because he delighted in them.<\/p>\n One of the refreshing things about this year in the States has been being reminded continually who we are, or should I say WHOSE we are.\u00a0 As disciples of Jesus, we have been called and chosen to do a task.\u00a0 Because we are in Christ, the Father delights in us and delights to work through us.\u00a0 In this confidence we move ahead to do the undoable.\u00a0 Not because we are equal to the task.\u00a0 But because our God is.\u00a0 We boast boldly in Him because we know Who He is.\u00a0 And by faith we know that the light of His face is on us.<\/p>\n \u201cFor not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.\u201d<\/em> \u2026but \u201cIn God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are back in Brazil!\u00a0 It\u2019s strange how familiar everything is, this time.\u00a0 The graceful lines of the a\u00e7ai trees (a tall, slender type of palm), the mysterious majesty of the buritis (a shaggy-headed type of palm), the stars of the southern sky, and even the cement curb of the empty lot across the street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":552,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1796],"tags":[448],"class_list":{"0":"post-1597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"category-heart","8":"tag-ethnos360","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/552"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jevon-rich\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}