We all know that some of the greatest things in life are a collaborative effort - Lewis & Clark, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Simon & Garfunkel and Calvin & Hobbes - just to name a few. Well, this blog is no different, we have combined all of our efforts to bring you the best blog possible (and to save you the trouble of clicking between every blog). We hope you enjoy it.
I wanted to send a quick update to all of you to let you know how things are going in “Brasil.” We are doing well and are still living in the hotel because we, or should I say “I,” am having trouble choosing an apartment. We had to move rooms last night at our hotel and ended up having to sleep together in the smallest hotel room I have ever seen, with a twin bed—it was a funny night! We are back in a regular room tonight. Please pray for us about the apartment. We really want to live where God wants us to and where we can best do our ministry. But, in the meantime, God has blessed us with getting to know the people who work here at the hotel—they are precious and are trying so hard to help us! Last night before we found the “mini suite” room one of the girls here offered to let us stay at her house!
A couple funny stories:
It has been overcast all week–they said this is pretty unusual. It is springtime here and has been raining quite a bit. We went on Monday to look at this GREAT apartment that is on a street with a little canal through the middle of it. On the way there our taxi driver told us and Georgia that that particular street floods often when it rains and that he lived by there and ended up moving because of the flooding. We went to see the apartment and agreed that it was so great. We said, “how bad could the flooding be?” We went downstairs with Ron and Georgia and looked outside to see it raining pretty hard……it kept raining….and raining….The street filled fully and cars were getting stuck! Eventually the canal began running over into the street! We had to stay there for 2 hours and wait for it to go down enough to walk back to our hotel! I love when God gives us immediate answers! (We aren’t getting that place)
Wes and I have been enjoying trying to speak Portuguese. We find ourselves trying even to speak to each other. Today we had been feeling pretty good about how our language was going. We have been able to order more easily at restaurants and even have some basic conversations. Then, tonight we were riding in a cab and the guy said in Portuguese,”You guys speak really slowly.” Thank you?? We just laughed. Brazilians can be brutally honest. Then we got back to our hotel and were talking with a girl who said, ” You guys sound like you are speaking Spanish.” So, no need to feel overly confident yet! We have a lot of work to do!
We will keep posting as things progress. Please also pray for us to find a good language teacher who will bless us and help us to communicate our best.
We just wanted to let you know that we are planning to close on our apartment today at 10:00 AM your time (2:00 PM here) so please continue to be in prayer for us, below is a picture of our apartment! We’ll share more as we can!
If you’ve grown up in church or ever gone to church camp, you’ve certainly sung the song “Seek Ye First,” which is based on Matt. 6:33.The lesson that is taught from this song (Biblical text) is that if we will place God as the primary focus of our lives then “all these things will be given to you.”From this we then begin trying to figure out what the things are in life that need time and attention, such as family, friends, career, … and so the list goes.Consequently, if I can juggle the different things in my life in such a way that I am able to keep God (church) at the top of my priority list then I have been able to fulfill the requirements of the text and will reap the reward and have “all these things” given to me.
The problem with this is that people end up with a compartmentalized view of life.At any given point in time I’m devoting my attention to fulfilling the percentage of time that I must devote to item three on my list.Then I will shift to fulfill my duties for item six and on it goes.
Yet, God is not satisfied with having the largest piece of the pie dedicated to Him.He wants the entire thing.God wants to be at the very center of our relationships with family and friends and not a force that is competing with them for time and attention.It is only when God is at the center of every aspect of our lives that we will be able to experience those things at their fullest.For example, my relationship with my family will never reach its potential unless God is invited to be an integral part of it.When this happens then we will have sought Him first and all the other things will have been added, as God will have His fingerprint on each one.
Posted November 17th, 2008 by Zane
Below is a video about day 1-6 of our moving. This video may take longer to load because we have switched to a website that has better quality videos, so it should look good!
Moving Update 1 from Zane Mcgee on Vimeo.
Today was the first day of tangible progress. Most people who know me, know that I love to check things off my list! We have been researching and preparing for so long and today we made a purchase! We may not have an apartment yet, but as soon as we do, Orthobom will be delivering our bed.
Our Brazilian teammate Juliana helped us immensely as we were “making the deal”. We purchased a bed, received a discount for paying all at once instead of using payments and also received a free mattress cover and bed skirt. While we were negotiating, the salesman brought out a recliner for Brent to sit in. Literally got it from the back of the store and carried it to the sales floor.
Later, while we were waiting for our credit card to go through, which took more than 30 minutes, another salesman brought us coffee and french fries and grilled chicked to eat as a snack while we waited. I guess three sales in one day is a good day at the bed store! I can’t imagine what happens in the fancy stores, if this is what happens at the Brazilian version of Wal-Mart, named Carrefour.
One down, one million things to go. Keep praying. We need it!
Today was the first day of tangible progress. Most people who know me, know that I love to check things off my list! We have been researching and preparing for so long and today we made a purchase! We may not have an apartment yet, but as soon as we do, Orthobom will be delivering our bed.
Our Brazilian teammate Juliana helped us immensely as we were “making the deal”. We purchased a bed, received a discount for paying all at once instead of using payments and also received a free mattress cover and bed skirt. While we were negotiating, the salesman brought out a recliner for Brent to sit in. Literally got it from the back of the store and carried it to the sales floor.
Later, while we were waiting for our credit card to go through, which took more than 30 minutes, another salesman brought us coffee and french fries and grilled chicked to eat as a snack while we waited. I guess three sales in one day is a good day at the bed store! I can’t imagine what happens in the fancy stores, if this is what happens at the Brazilian version of Wal-Mart, named Carrefour.
One down, one million things to go. Keep praying. We need it!
Just wanted everybody to know that we have successfully arrived in Brazil! We arrived at about 10:00 this morning (6:00 AM Texas time) and unloaded our bags off of the belts and headed to customs. We then went through some questioning as to why we would be bringing 6 large bags into Brazil, but after alot of explaining, several X-rays (of the bags, not us) and a quick bag search, we were allowed entry into our future home (and Max was allowed to come as well!). We plan to go to care of documents tomorrow and maybe even start some preliminary searches for apartments! We’ll keep you up-to-date!
