For August we went to Houston. Everyone said we were crazy for going to Houston in the heat of summer, but it was cooler and wetter than anywhere we have been for the last three months. We enjoyed moderate temperatures, beautiful sights, empty beaches, and wonderful meetings. Driving was a little terrifying, but besides that, we had a wonderful time in Houston.
After driving back to Fort Worth from Oklahoma City, we parked our 5th wheel for a few days to get some things in order around our home base. I turned 29 on the 3rd, and we headed down to Houston on the 4th. The drive down went smoothly, until we made it to Houston. I have never been more terrified driving the 5th wheel than I was in that city. For some reason, the highway roads in Houston are extra thin, which means our wide load RV was riding about line-to-line while people merged lanes inches in front of us faster than you could say, “look out!” We made it safely and without a scratch to our destination. Sadly, within two days, we saw two fatal accidents, one of which happened only about 20 feet in front of me. We are grateful that God is continuing to protect us in our travels.
Our primary purpose in going to Houston was to take care of Joneia’s Brazilian Documents so that I would be able to get my visa. Though we are married in the United States, we needed to register our marriage with the Brazilian government so that I could get a family residency visa. Fortunately, everything went very smoothly. We are now legally recognized as married in Brazil if we are abroad. We will also have to officially register our marriage nationally when we arrive in Brazil. When we tried to update Joneia’s passport, however, we ran into a couple of difficulties. Since Brazil makes elections legally required, it created some complications regarding Joneia’s election card, without which we cannot get her passport updated. Since it is an election year, that portion is impossible to get fixed until after we arrive in Brazil. Fortunately, we have applied for a waiver because of this unique situation, and it should be ironed out soon. Furthermore (if you are still with me through this long, grueling part of the story), we will need to make a return trip to Houston for my visa since we are required to already have my plane ticket to Brazil for me to apply for the Visa. Long-story-short, our trip to the Brazilian Consulate was about a 50% success, and the other 50% was productive and helpful.
Our meetings went wonderfully. We enjoyed sharing the field of Southern Brazil with our first church in Humble, Texas. We had a wonderful time with our second church in Rosharon, Texas. We taught kids and adults alike in Houston Texas, and finally encouraged a young, new church plant coming up on their 1-year anniversary this next month! Each meeting was a blessing.
Between our meetings, we took a much-needed vacation before missions conference season begins. The Lord blessed Joneia with the opportunity to ride a horse again (one of her great passions). We took a trip to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful empty beach on a clear and gorgeous day. We got some much-needed rest and felt very refreshed for our extremely busy months coming up. We have officially passed the 50% mark in our support! September and October are packed back-to-back with meetings! Almost a year into our deputation, and we are well on our way to make it to Brazil by January! To God be the glory, GREAT things He hath done.