After arriving we had just a short time before we were surrounded by kids who wanted to talk and to give hugs.  You could feel their desire for love and attention. 

Miranda taught a lesson about being unique and valuable to God.  Every person’s fingerprint is different, including identical twins.  This is just one physical sign that God has made us all unique.

Below: The kids working on their “finger prints”

12. Feliz Natal (we did spend Christmas day with the Ensz’s, who speak English)
11. No candy canes
10. Christmas specials (No commercials, Matthew downloaded the “classics”)
9. Fresh tropical fruit for breakfast, delicious!
8. Christmas Eve service in a living room instead of a church
7. Fireworks (At midnight on Christmas Eve fireworks were set off all over the city)
6. No woodstove (it was a little unnecesary)
5. Air conditioning (it was nice not to sweat)
4. Homemade eggnog (a new tradition perhaps?)
3. No turkey or pasta (but the steak, potatoes, and baked beans were delicious!)
2. No snow (We were hoping that it would rain at least, and it did!)
1. New family and friends

Our Christmas was certainly different but we had a wonderful time.  The Ensz’s were gracious enough to participate in some of our traditions like playing Que Coisa! (formerly known as Oh Poo) and listening to “Dave Cooks the Turkey.” Thanks to Skype we were able to talk with friends and family in Canada.

 We had read that it was relatively easy to renew a tourist visa but we did not know the circumstances surrounding those reports.  We were praying (as we know many of you were) that when the time came it would be as easy for Matthew as we had read that it could be.  It took two trips to the Federal Police (first to get the list of requirements and second to report that the requirements had been fulfilled) but he was successful!  Matthew’s visa was extended for another three months. 

The next task was to get Matthew’s flight rebooked.  Miranda’s return ticket was booked in September so we were unsure if we would be returning on the same flight.  It certainly would not have been terrible to return on different days but we prefer to travel together (especially on such a long trip) so we prayed and received confirmation two days ago that Matthew’s return flight has been booked and that we will be returning on the same flights (we are even seated together on the first flight)! 

We are so thankful that the Lord has worked everything out.  He is faithful.

Feliz Ano Novo!
Happy New Year!

In Brazil, the Wesleyan church has historically rejected the use of the church calendar because it is strongly associated with Catholicism.  As a result the church has often neglected some key events of the Christian faith such as Easter and Christmas.  Although this has been the reality things are slowly beginning to change.  This change was especially apparent at Jaapim where for four weeks leading up to Christmas, from November 23 to December 14, Grace Ensz and I led Children’s Church every Sunday night.  During those four services we taught the children the 4 names of Christ in Isaiah 9:6 and what each name means.

Preparing for and participating in Children’s Church was tremendous cross-cultural experience.  One of the most enjoyable aspects was colaborating with Grace.  She has cultural insight that I cannot hope to attain in only five months.  The chocolate cake and other treats were also pretty enjoyable.

Children’s church is a little different in Brazil from my previous experiences.  It’s certainly is not a misnomer.  Children lead the music, pray, share testimonies and prayer requests, and recite memory verses.  It was so wonderful to see children actively involved in ministering to each other!

Below Left: Some kids sharing what the Lord had done that week.   Below Right: Singing happy birthday.
 

One of the distinct challenges that we faced when preparing for Children’s Church was the language barrier,  most notably when it came to music.  There are so many songs to choose from in English but either they have not or would not translate into Portuguese.  Here is one that did.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do
Tau grande e meu Deus, meu Deus e tau grande, que todas as coisas crioux.
The mountains are His, the rivers are His, the stars are His handiwork too.
Os montes sau deles, os rios sau deles, os estrelas sau dele tambem.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do
Tau grande e meu Deus, meu Deus e tau Grande que todas as coisas crioux.
 

Below Left: Working on a craft.   Below Right: Grace translating for me

On the last night that Grace and I were leading children’s church, she presented the Gospel and asked the kids to respond.  I was elsewhere addressing a problem but afterwards Grace said that she heard one child pray with her.  Praise the Lord!

Helping to lead Children’s Church was an amazing opportunity and I am anticipating all the other opportunities we will have while we are here in Brazil.

Because our anniversary is so close to Christmas we have always been around family.  Although we were not close to family (by blood or marriage) we spent the afternoon with our “quase family”  the Ensz’s.  We really enjoyed ourselves eating lunch (although not too much… we were trying to save space for supper), playing games, and doing leathercrafts.  It would have been so strange to spend it alone.

Because it was such a big night we decided to go out for… pizza!  Although going out for pizza does not sound romantic or exciting we were so excited.  One of the outings our language teacher took us on was to a restaurant called Mr. Pizzo.  It is a variable smorgasbord (or cornucopia) of flavours!  Sixty in total.  Although some of our all-time favourites, like Hawaiin and Greek are missing, there are some pretty incredible flavours.  Cupuaçu, white chocolate, calabrese and onion, Sicilian, margarita, ferrero rocher, etc, etc, etc.  Mmmmm.  We were supposed to keep count but neither of us had a pen and marking on the tablecloth with ketchup did not seem appropriate.  We guesstamate that between the two of us we ate twenty different flavours. 

Speaking of ketchup, when you walk in to Mr. Pizzo and sit down, one of the first things you may notice is that there is a basket of mayonaise and ketchup on the table.  You may ask yourself does this establishment serve hot dogs too?  The answer is no.  Some Brazilians put ketchup and mayonaise on their pizza!  Although we had eaten at Mr. Pizzo before we had not tried  the condiments.  Spicy mayonaise on pizza is pretty good.  

It has been an amazing year, one of growth and change.  We are excited for where the Lord is leading us in the years ahead.  Who knows where we will spend our annivesary next year… 

Much love, M&M

PS.  Sorry there are no pictures.  We didn’t take our camera.

The Amazonas region had its first missions conference in November. It included guest speakers from Panama and Guinea Bissau.

Miranda participated in her first ever Wesleyan Women’s retreat.  Although much of what was said she did not understand it was a great time to build relationships and make new friends.  It is amazing how much you can communicate without speaking the same language.  One word of advice if you ever find yourself at a retreat in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, do not bring a sandwich for lunch (or perhaps you should). Everyone was supposed to bring their own lunch, so as would a fairly typical Canadian, Miranda brought a sandwich.  She was forewarned that taking a sandwich could result in some teasing because for Brazilians, lunch is the biggest and most important meal of the day.  Brazilians eat sandwiches for breakfast and dinner but not for lunch. When it was time for lunch and she was asked what she had brought and “sandwich” was the reply in an instant she had a plate and utensils in hand and was having food piled onto her plate. She learned first hand that Brazilians always have room for one more.

In Brazil, a girl’s 15th birthday party is a special celebration.  It is when she changes from a child to a woman.  We were priviledged to be invited to one of our english students’ birthday party.  The event was held at the Values for Life Institute and was orginized by the Insititute director, Doris.

One hilight for us at the party was the food.  Brazilians like hot dogs but they taste a little different than we are used to.  The typical toppings for a hot dog are: tomato sauce, peas, corn, parmesan cheese, and potato “chips.”

One of the things that the previous Go-Net volunteers helped to implement was a monthly gathering for all of the Wesleyan pastor’s kids, “Filhos do Pastores.”  We participated for the second time.  We had a great time hanging out with the kids and doing leathercraft projects.  In anticipation for the event, the Ensz’s taught us how to make coasters.  We both love working with leather and think we will keep it up once we get back to Canada. We also shared our testimonies while Pastor Thomas translated.  One of our goals while being here is to be able to share our testimonies in Portuguese.  We are not there yet but we are learning. 

We still have language classes three times a week with our language Professora Aryanne.  She is a great teacher and is very patient with us.  Right now We are learning to conjugate verbs (French anyone?).  Portuguese is similiar to French in a number of ways and we often find ourselves mixing the two languages up.  If we do not know a word in Portuguese we will try it in French and sometimes that actually works!  Although at times learning a new language has been a struggle, we are still excited about learning. It makes us feel so accomplished when we can get through a class without pulling out the dictionary (it is still an invaluable resource!)

Last week, Matthew taught a two part lesson on electricity to the Ensz kids.  They had a great time learning about inventors, watching Bill Nye the Science guy, and building a battery.

Miranda had opportunity to teach jewellery to all of the Ensz and Frederic ladies (the Frederics are another missionary family we met). They all had a great time!

We celebrated American Thanksgiving on November 27th with 30 Americans, 23 of whom we had never met.  We had a great time getting to know some new people and sharing in the pumpkin pie.  We made some new friends and we are looking forward to spending time with them.

So far, Matthew has put three donated laptops into commission as well as a multifunction laser printer which he brought in our luggage (in pieces). In addition, their current photocopier was not working so he nursed it back to health. Unfortunately some of the laptops that we brought got beaten up in the luggage and so it will take some time before all of the remaining ones be used. Most of the software in Brazil is pirated, so finding legal copies of software is another challenge.

Their are around 16 Wesleyan churches in Manaus and every Sunday we try to visit new ones. We’re pretty sure we’ve visited them all. It is amazing that while in the same city, the many churches are in very different states of development. It has been great to worship in every church.

It is hard for us to believe that December is here. It is raining more often now (the rainy season starts in early December) and although Matthew had succesfully sealed all the windows, water would pool in the office floor every time it rained.  Of course we were never home when it rained and could not understand the source of all the water.  Finally, last Thursday we were at home eating supper with a friend when the rain started.  Our front door is made of glass and has a window on the top half.  We had not sealed that window…  Problem solved. 

We will update again soon.  Promise.

Below Left: The Values for Life Institute  Right: Our English class

We have been teaching English at the Institute every Monday since we arrived.  Anna Ensz who has been assisting us with translation has been invaluable and we really appreciate all of her help!  Each week as we learn more Portuguese it has been getting easier to communicate with our students.

Below: Some of our students and Anna (in the blue shirt)

Because of unexpected school activities as well as responsibilites at home, our class size varies from week to week, however we currently have a total of 9 students. They are all very bright and we enjoy teaching them very much.  It has been so great to see each of their personalities emerge as they become more comfortable with us.

Below Left: Playing Jeopardy! as a review  Right: Our students

Summer holidays are from the end of November to the beginning of February. We have our theories about why.  First, it does not get particularly cold here so perhaps they prefer to have it during Christmas.  Another theory is that rain often prevents people from participating in things because of floods.  That being said, we taught our last class on Monday and we will resume teaching in the new year, possibly in different areas of study (including silk screening and photography).