Closing chapters and starting new ones in our lives is an ongoing process. December closes the chapter of my first year in Brazil. It also closes the chapter of our home renovations! That’s right! We are living in our newly renovated home! This exciting new chapter in our lives has been in process longer than we expected, but the results are beautiful and comfortable. We are filled with gratitude for what God has given us. We rushed through this month starting at sunrise each morning and ending our labor late each night. Between property maintenance, discipleship, church ministry, and home renovations, we pushed ourselves hard. Now the Yelles have returned, and the heavy load has lightened a bit. Christmas was a blessing to celebrate our Savior and New Year’s Eve was fun. With summer vacations and holiday trips, our numbers were (and usually have been) rather small, but we continue to see church growth and visitors. We are exhausted but we are healthy, and God really blessed us in 2023.

This last month has been so busy… I'm having trouble remembering what happened! The second week of November, John and Neila Yelle left to take care of their parents in their failing health. The day that John arrived in Washington, his mother passed away into eternity. We were grateful that he arrived on time, and Joneia and I are also thankful that we get to watch over the property and ministry in their absence. Please pray for Joneia's family as we process and grieve. It has been a challenging month taking care of the property and continuing the ministry here while also in the final stages of renovating our house. The preaching load is shared between a couple of men in our church, and I have taught a lesson at one of the Teen meetings. Joneia is also preparing to teach the ladies' meeting this first Saturday of December. Our discipleship and translation have also been going very well. We thank God for His help and strength in a very challenging time.

As the Portuguese expression goes, this month has been running! One surprise after another has had us up when the sun rises to let a contractor on our property to sundown when we can't see what we're doing anymore. This month has been full of plenty of surprises. For example, the tile we ordered for our bathroom wall, SURPRISE! our order was cancelled, and we had to reorder it about three times. We hosted our event for Children's Day, SURPRISE! 83 IN ATTENDANCE! We elect to sit down and enjoy a few hours of rest, SURPRISE! our order of sod is on its way and needs to be planted! We wait for the rain to clear so I can paint the house, SURPRISE! No rain in the forecast! LET'S PAINT THE WHOLE HOUSE IN A DAY! It seems like the weather is always a surprise here in Caxias do Sul. Not only is winter in summer and summer in winter but the rain we were supposed to have all winter has arrived just in time for spring. I've learned to understand when the weather app says there is a 100% chance of rain, there's a 100% chance that it MIGHT rain. Oh, and by the way, SURPIRSE! my colt that I was supposed to get in January has just been delivered to our property this week! Along with his mother! This month has been running, AND IT WAS ALL GOOD THINGS! Praise the Lord for His incredible blessings and miracles! But oh boy, are we exhausted.

April showers bring May Flowers! But September Spring brings everything to a screeching halt. Spring has sprung, and with it came the rain. Last month I sincerely hoped that we would be in our house to write this blog, but because of the rain, I could not paint the house. Because I didn’t get to paint, the floor and windows couldn’t be installed. Because the floors couldn’t be installed, the doors couldn’t be installed. And so, this month, we waited…We waited for the rain to stop. We waited for our tile flooring to be delivered. We waited for our windows and doors to be fabricated and shipped. As many home renovators will tell you, there always seems to come a time of delays. Our patience was very stretched this month. It’s almost like running a marathon just to get a leg cramp in the last mile. We’re so close and can practically see the finish line, and then we suddenly must take things slow. Yes, our patience really was stretched this month. So, while we waited, we worked in other areas. Joneia started plans for our upcoming marriage retreat. I worked to update and transpose the sheet music for our hymn books. I studied more Portuguese, and worked on writing more Bible lessons. Joneia taught the children, including a new family from Venezuela with four daughters! There were several low points, but there were also a lot of high points! Including a somewhat MIRACULOUS story…