Posted March 17th, 2008 by Zane
We are now in Rio de Janiero, our 3rd city to visit on our survey trip! It has been a good (and busy) week and a half so far, but we are most excited about tomorrow, because we will be leaving for Niteroi! We are all excited about getting to finally be in our future home and to begin the process of getting to know our future home.
It has been an interesting experience so far, helping us to realize what a daunting, but exciting task we have ahead of us. We certainly realize that we have a ways to go in our language learning, but we are enjoying it none the less (even if the Brazillians don’t understand what we are trying to say!). Just tonight April had an experience . When washing her hands in the restroom she screamed and threw water all over the bathroom thinking she had seen a spider in the sink, but alas, it was only a leaf (but from the famous “spider leaf tree”of Brasil). The restroom attendant thought it was quite funny, even though April couldn’t understand anything she tried to tell her!
So far we have visited 6 congregations in Curitiba, Salvador & Rio de Janiero. We have learned so much from all of these churches and the various strategies and methods which they are each using. This will no doubt help us as we shape our vision of the future church in Niteroi. It has been a blessing to see these churches in the various stages of a church’s growth. We look forward to sharing more with you when we return, and we ask for your continued prayers for our travels as we wrap up our trip in Brasil.
God bless,
Zane & April
A.K.A. Max & Michelle…
Posted January 28th, 2008 by April
Today started our fourth week in our training; we have really enjoyed the classes. We have begun learning about team strategies as well as how to say the alphabet in Portuguese. We often practice words while driving in the car. We found ourselves practicing “como se diz?”, which means “how do you say”, for about 20 minutes. I often think how funny it might sound to a Brazilian if they were to overhear our pronunciation of the words, especially with a Texas accent. Amongst all the words we are learning there is one that I like to say romatico, which is pronounced “homatchico” which means romantic. When I first learned this word I was so focused on pronouncing the word I had forgotten the meaning. Therefore one day in class our professor asked a question and I decided to answer with romatico! Needless to say, I need to remember the meaning of words before I decide to say them. Before I sign off I am going to embarrass my husband by saying: Zane e muito romatico (hahaha).
God Bless you all,
April
Posted January 24th, 2008 by Zane
What a month and a half it has been! April and I are finally settling down in Dallas and
getting used to the schedule of classes everyday. As most of you know, April and I were married on Dec. 8, 2007 and since then have been mini-world travelers! We spent a week in Dallas, a week in Mexico, a week in NYC and know are back in Carrollton for good. We have unpacked all of our belongings and started about the business of being missionaries.
Our first home is an eclectic mix of “mine” and “hers”. At one point we had to sit down and “yea” or “nay” on items to decided whether they stay or go (and my red couch was nicer, even though it got booted!). But regardless, we are adjusting and feeling more at home everyday. Not only are we adjusting to living with another person, but we are now working daily with our team mates. This is a huge blessing and it is so exciting to look to the future & what we are wanting to accomplish.
Well, this was just a quick update and a jump start to our blog, so there will be more news to come, I don’t want to wear you out on our first post! God bless, and continue to remember us and our team in your prayers!
-Zane
