WOW It has been a long time!

I have been so busy that I have not taken the time to blog. Many things have been happening.

I finished the translation on Passion and Purity, and have comenced on another translation project. Sunday School material for Marc Pereira.

 I went to two camps this year. I enjoyed both of them, but was so tired when I got home (there was only a week seprating the two).  I was able to see some friends from last year and make some new friends. The Thursday Night bonfire was a special time of thinking over the week and all the decisions that had been made.


At the end of August, my paternal grandmother passed away. She was an influence in my life that will be sorely missed. She and I got

along very well. She had grown up a third culture kid just like me. Only her parents lived in China before World War 2.

My dad contacted malaria around the end of September. I was worried about him but he recovered and is back on his feet. You know it is bad when he doesn't eat. I am thankful to God that he is back to normal.

In October I made some puppets to start a puppet ministry. When

I can I will post pictures of them here on the blog. This is a new phase of ministry, something I have never done. The lady who is presenting the puppet plays has had a lot of experience however so it is in good hands.

That is all for now but I will try to keep up with the blog better.
Until next time, Sing unto the Lord a new song.

A Really Super Church Service!

The last Sunday of March, our Junior Church (we call it Super Church) had a special outreach service for friends of our kids. The children were to invite their friends to church and each visitor received a special gift. We had lots of fun learning about forbidden fruit (chocolate candies that the snake said gave you super powers) and Adam and Eve. We also learned that death came into the world because of Adam's disobedience. Then the teacher taught us about another person, Jesus, who obeyed God. Through His obedience, we can have Life.
We had three visitors and one of the workers brought along her boyfriend.

Easter Sunday the choral group I direct sang. They did an excellent job and all their hard work paid off. We sang 'O Sacred Head Now Wounded' acapela and 'Christ the Lord is Risen Today' with a bit of the 'Halleluiah Chorus' thrown in (all in Portuguese of course). We added some Scripture reading about Jesus' death and resurrection. The whole service was very moving.

I have been keeping busy lately (which is one reason I have not been bloging a lot). I am in the middle of translating 'Passion and Purity' by Elizabeth Elliot. This has been a good project not only because I think it will be of great use here but also because it is teaching me as I translate. Both spiritually and linguistically. It is stretching my language and I think I should have the translations for overwhelm tatooed on my forehead, maybe then I would remember them. The challenge is there is more than one word you can use for overwhelm in Portuguese and I have to discern which would best express the author's meaning and I look them up every time. Another challenge is when you speak another language it is a wholly different mentality. Much of a person's culture is wrapped up in their language. For example, the American dialect of the English language uses a lot of scientific or technical words that the Portuguese simply do not use. Trying to convey the meaning without translating directly is sometimes mind bending. It does keep your mind sharp and on it's toes, however. I like the challenge of finding just the right word to use for translation. I even find myself translating TV shows and other books in English as well as people who speak English around me. Oh well, I guess that is the price to pay for my work.

That is all I have for now, but I will try to keep you more up to date on what is going on over here.

What the young people are up to

I thought that I would share this lovely picture with you. I received these marks playing a game at a young people's meeting. The game was based on alertness. Guess who was caught sleeping? Oh well I had a good time and the person who gave me the mustache got caught in his turn.

Baptism and Super Church

Last Sunday, we had a service in conjuction with all the other congregations that make up the church with which we work. Two men were baptized and an offering for missions was taken up. The pastor preached on GO from Matthew 28 and two ladies were saved. One of them was the wife of one of the men baptized. We had a great service!

I am also involved in something we call Super Church. It is church for children. This is something new we are starting up and will take place during the main service for adults. We are very excited about this new venture and have been working hard on special themes, getting songs together, coordinating the people involved, and planning a special service for March. This special service will allow the children to invite their friends and family to a service where the Gospel will be preached. Please pray for us as we go forward that we will follow the Lord's leading and reach many children for Him.

The Holidays

The Christmas Program went amazingly well. The children had memorized their lines very well and even the smallest person did an excellent job. We had lots of visitors and a guest speaker. He is a missionary here and living by faith. So the congregation took up a food offering for him and his family. We also bought presents for his two sons. We had a food fellowship afterwards. It was a great time of fellowship.

We are moving to a new building. The old one is very small and the children's classroom is right next to the auditorium. It is very hard to keep kids quite so they don't interrupt the services. The new building has an upstairs and a downstairs. This allows the children to be downstairs and the adults upstairs and I have tried it out, very little noise is heard upstairs even when the basement is full of adults not trying to be quiet. YES!!

When I get pictures. I will post them here on the blog.

As far as my knitting goes I have started a new blog with my knitting projects. So if you want to see what is on my needles you can go to the new blog. It is called Knit and Learn.

Christmas is just around the corner

Yes I know. It isn't even November yet and I have talked about Christmas at least twice. I just wanted to update you on what we are doing. In Barcelos, we are using Bible verses as a kind of play. The big plus is after the play all the kids will have memorized a lot of verses.

In Povoa, we will be doing a play with the teenagers about the women in the family of Jesus. This has always facinated me how God used women that others would shun to bring the perfect Son of God into this world.

In Braga, we are having an international Christmas and singing Silent Night in 6 different laguages, English, French, German, Romanian, Spanish and finally, Portuguese. We have representatives of these cultures and more in this congregation.

I have also been busy translating 'Passion and Purity' by Elizabeth Elliot, the Satan's Traps notes, and a set of trivia questions from a Bible Trivia game. The Game is for the teenagers to help them learn more about the Bible.

I would really like to hear what you are doing for Christmas.

Wow Where does the time go?

The last two weeks have been a bit challenging. The last full week of September I attended a Fundamentals of the Faith conference in Southern Portgual. It was a great time of fellowship, singing and preaching. The theme was 'If God is for it then I am too!' There was preaching on music, doctrinal separation, life, marriage, and many more. Each pastor that preached did a great job. I was able to see friends I had not seen in some time and meet more friends that I did not know I had.

On the way to catch a ride to the conference, my car engine stopped in the middle of the highway. I was able to get to the side of the road without incident but it was very scary. I attended the conference and put the matter of my car in God's hands. When I came back, I talked with the mechanic and he told me that the car was just so much junk and that I would be better off getting a new car. SOO to make a long story even longer, I now have a new car. I thank God that no one was hurt when my engine stopped working and that I have a new car so quickly.

On a more personal level, I am busy with translation, knitting for Christmas and Christmas play practice. I am also busy training my kitties. They are such wonderful company but also a lot of work. Oh well, that is the way most worthwhile things are. Hope you all are enjoying God's blessings!