Amy in Brazil

It is starting to warm up here in Rio. I never actually know the temperature because that would require learning the Celsius Scale, but, when I went running tonight after 9pm, it was hot and sticky. I live in a large, gated condominium which makes running at night safe and easy, and I wave at the porteiros (the guards) each time I lap the guardhouse… I noticed a dead bat lying on the road tonight as I was running. It was smaller than the ones that I normally see flying over the street, so I think it must have been a young one. Very sad; I like bats.

I emailed my October update letter today, finally. There were several pictures in this one, so it at least looks pretty. The prayer request section has a paragraph dedicated to my mom, but, thankfully, she’s doing so much better than she was even a week ago. Also, things at work are going a bit more smoothly as well. I’ve been praying for my boss and for the staff quite a lot, and, over these past few days, I have really felt God’s peace and the acknowledgement that He’s working on it. I just need to do my job as well as I can and to God’s glory, and let the rest be. Special thanks to all of you who’ve been praying with me–I know that there are many of you.

Tomorrow night, I’m going to be getting together with some people from my Mosaico church group to work on some crafts for a bizarre the proceeds of which will be sending 7 youths from favelas here in Rio to a special summer art program at Cal Arts in Southern, CA. This is a long-term project that we’ve committed to, and it will be a tremendous opportunity for the kids. The bizarre will be on Nov. 8th–I won’t actually be able to attend it because I have a school function that day, but I’m hopeful that we will raise a lot of money towards their trip. I’ll keep you posted.

My Portugeuse is coming along very slowly. I need to dedicate more time to it in the evenings–I am still pretty much only using it on the weekends… I need to make more effort in this area.

Hope that everyone is well.

Amy

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  Habakkuk 3: 17 - 18

I’m sorry that I’ve been so bad about updates lately. Things have been difficult for me here. Things big and small, coming at me from every direction. And what do I do when the going gets rough? I lock down–I go into survival mode trying to preserve a facade that speaks confidently, “She’s got it all together…” I keep my head down and my emotions in check and try to work everything out on my own which is, of course, a pretty ridiculous way of going about anything. And it’s certainly not at all what God has in mind for his children.

No, God’s pretty adament that one of the purposes of Christian community is that we’re supposed to share one another’s burdens. But, of course that means that a body has to ask for help occassionally, and that is always something that I am loathe to do. Still, I’ll do the best I can at the moment, and if I’m not forthcoming enough or just a little too vague, I ask your forgiveness. I’m processing, and I don’t always have the best words.

First of all, please pray for my mother. She had a doctor’s appointment on this past Thursday, and we now have a much better idea about some of the health complications that she’s facing. She is not only preparing for dialysis and waiting for another kidney transplant, but her doctors have now diagnosed sclerosis of the liver. So, she’ll be needing one of those as well… The good news is that she’s been bumped up the transplant list (apparently multpile-organ failure is a totally legitimate way to do that), but the bad news is that while a bum kidney can be replaced indefinitely (if a bit uncomfortably) by regular dialysis, a liver cannot.  Please pray for my mother and my father and all of us kids as we deal with this news.

Additionally (and this is harder to clarify), things haven’t been going well at work. I am still enjoying my students immensely, and I still definitely feel that this is where God intends me to be. But some recent changes at work have made me seriously question my future in Brazil, and I don’t know if I was either mentally or emotionally prepared for that. Please pray that I would have both wisdom and discernment in my present circumstances, that I would have courage to be a voice of integrity if called upon, and that I would seek God’s will in all things.

I really do hope and pray that you are all well.

-Amy

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   2 Corinthians 12: 9 – 10