We have done so much in two months that it feels like we arrived about five months ago! Renovations on our house are underway; our fence is about three-quarters complete; we’ve worked on maintaining the property; we’ve been serving as much as we can in church. I am still leading songs, and Joneia has already started teaching the children for Wednesday evening services. Getting plugged right into our ministry here has been a real blessing.

Two months in, I feel like I’ve hit a point of Cultural Frustration. Not being able to speak or understand people is something that I haven’t done since I was about two years old. I am so grateful for my family interpreting for me, but I want to be able to say what I want to say. I have also come to realize just how many phrases there are that I say all the time in English that do not exist in Portuguese. Thankfully, my Portuguese is developing. I can understand the context of almost every conversation. I can say many phrases (though often, a word or two is still wrong or mixed up). I practice and study every day and am encouraged by my progress. I just wish it was a faster process. God did a very thorough job when he confused the languages back in Genesis.

Besides language study, the renovations on our house are progressing. We have an excellent contractor who has started working hard on our house. Be praying for wisdom about how to proceed with some of the details. It turns out one of the original walls was built with no structure. It was simply bricks laid on the foundation with no supports! It took him roughly twenty minutes to knock the entire wall down with a mallet. The demolition is nearly complete, and the rest of the renovations are about to be underway!

As you pray for us, please pray that our house will be built quickly, that the weather will be favorable for the renovations, that I will have the language down swiftly, and that more people will get saved and come to our church. We have been grateful to see several visitors at our church, but as far as I’ve seen, none of them have visited more than one service. The work continues, and we are excited about what God has been doing and what He will do.