Learning…. more learning

I am amazed how much we don’t know. God moving us to a new country a new culture reminds us daily how it is Him that does good work not us. The great thing about God is that when we begin to realize our inadequacy even just for a moment He loves us enough to show us a glimpse of our usefulness to Him(totally based on the work He is doing in us, not us).

Not knowing the language, not being in a place of daily ministry yet, we were beginning to feel useless. Beginning to realize our need for God. It is only an illusion that we offer anything and leaving our own culture evaporates that illusion. The last few days the Lord has opened our eyes to see ways he can use us even now. Melissa unknowingly went on openly about her relationship with the Lord with an English speaker of a different faith. We know testimony of what God is doing in our lives and His power in us is the best tool to reveal who He is. I was able to encourage a girl who has lived here since she was little. We went to the store to return a bottle that leaked. Melissa took the kids to another part of the store to get an ice cream cone while I waited for a bottle. Trying to order a girl came to help her who then wanted to introduce herself and know our names. Playing on the playground in our building with our kids I began to play with a couple of boys, a little game of dodge ball with Mateo and whosathat. None of these are big things but they all give us a glimpse of how just being dumb Gringos opens doors. We know we need to get cards that have the church address and service times. We know we need to study hard and learn the language. God will keep opening doors we need to learn to capitalize. In the meantime we be our dumb old selves and smile a lot. We wake up and look out our window, go out on our mini deck and pray for the Mosque and the Lebanese in this community. We keep loving God and loving others. God will do the work. We are in a season of preparing and building, it is good and has value. We don’t need to rush, just be faithful. Thanks you all for your continued prayers and support.

Church

We really appreciate the wonderful people we are getting to know here in Foz. Calvary Foz seems to be a great group of people. We had 17 people at church on Sunday night, there can be as many as 40 when everyone comes. I walked down the street because there was a couple other churches, we were the biggest service that night. It may sound funny but it was kind of encouraging to see the small numbers. I had been struggling feeling like there is a church on every corner and I may not be needed. I know I should be happy to serve the Lord where ever He calls but it was kind of fun to see there is a massive need for evangelism in this city. I know it is terrible to be glad lots of people aren’t Christians and that isn’t exactly how I feel. It is more that we understand why the Lord led us here. We hope we can inspire much evangelism and are excited that the people in the church are excited to have a new building which they can invite others too.

View Full Album

Getting to know the church

We have been in Foz several days now. We arrived Wednesday morning and stayed in a hotel that night. The next day is when we were told that someone wanted to let us use an apartment so we checked out. We went over to the apartment to discover the person living there before hadn’t paid their electric bill in 5 months and the owner of the apartment couldn’t get it turned on without a contract with a new person. That is not as simple as it sounds. Even in that God had a plan, the hotel was full so the pastor and his wife had us come to their house.

We slept in an outdoor room that is kind of a lean too, with the fire going it may have been warmer than the house. It gave us and the kids a chance to get to know Tim and Talisa better and their kids.

Last night we decided to take advantage of the outdoor room as we are staying here while we wait for our power to be turned on. We invited the people who were going to a bible study and prayer meeting for the church to come and have a barbeque. I bought too much meat as usual.

We barbequed in the fire place and set up the Wii on the churches projector and the small sound system we brought.

View Full Album

We also had a small birthday party for Moriah last Thursday before the Rogers family left for Rio. The church here has about 40 people in it and has been meeting for almost 3 years. They are planning to go out and do some evangelism this Friday. I am looking forward to going with them. This city looks ripe for evangelism. It is amazing there are so many churches but they are so religious (not in a good way) that they offer people little freedom, it comes from their catholic background I suppose. Churches like this that teach people that it isn’t about what you do but what Christ did seem to struggle to get the older people in.

Foz

It is amazing the way God leads! We so often have one idea and he has another. God led us to leave Sao Paulo and head southwest hundreds of miles. We weren’t expecting to come here yet and it seemed like it was completely wrong timing. Yet here we are, full of peace knowing this is where He was leading. Full of anxiousness because we need to find a doctor, get a cpf (social security) number, get a bill in our name and we will be entering a missions training school.

God knows what he is doing though. We arrived and a Christian couple is providing us an apartment for nothing more than the housing fees (cost of maintenance to the elevator and stuff). It will only cost us about $150 US for the next 30 days. Then the school will cost $2,000 for the two months. During that time we will live with a Brazilian family. This is a huge blessing, furniture and appliances are very expensive here and this will allow us to spend a bit of money on them while our living costs are low.

We don’t know what is after the school but we know living with people who don’t speak English will improve our Portuguese and teach us what it will take to live as missionaries. Live in a way that relates to the people and is sustainable. If we try and cook like we are used to we will be broke in a week. Everything is new and this is the perfect way to learn what life here means.

Tonight we go to church for a bible study and prayer. We will then invite everyone back to the pastors home, we are staying here while the power gets turned on in our apartment and their family is on vacation. Also I am going to try and figure out how to hang a door in Brazil. Concrete walls, I think they  glue the door jamb in with thin set.

In Curitiba on our way to Foz do Iguacu

It has been refreshing to spend time with old friends and mentors as we begin our time in Brazil. It is easy to get hung up on all the stuff we are trying to learn and begin to feel very inadequate. That is because we are inadequate. What was so encouraging was to hear him preach out of 2 Tim 1, on how the gospel is worth it. How it is God that works in us, and His Spirit that enables us to be useful. It is simply that we recognize our inadequacy more as we are trying to feel useful in a new culture and learning a new language. It must be God it will never be us. If he hadn’t called us this would be a waste of time. Praise Him that we become more sure every day that He has called us here. He is worth it, the gospel is worth it.

View Full Album

How I learned from Mary

The lord really has shown me a lot these last few days. What I’m willing to let loose and how I’m to trust him. Coming to Brazil I knew I’d given up much, but how far am I willing to let the Lord lead and have complete control of my life and emotions? We had are own ideas of what we wanted to do and where we would go. Arriving in Sao Paulo I fell in love with the people all over again. Their passion for worshiping God and their love for each other. Praying with Ben for the lords leading we have decided to head to Iguassu instead of waiting until February. There is a school that starts in mid August called intensive missions training where you live with a Brazilian family and you go to class 3 times a week, it is run by Calvary chapel in Iguassu. We had planned on going last October but God kept us in Oregon (praise him) until now. We will be living with our Brazilian family around the time our baby is born. When I heard this I was against this idea “This is the wrong timing, what about my space, my feelings, I’ve been living with people for a month now” I had to take a  step back and pray and be alone and ask God “is this right, is this the right timing, is it your timing Lord?” I don’t know if anyone else is like me when you want answers you open your bible and expect the first thing to speak to you.:) Why do we do this? anyways I was trying to think about a woman in the bible who had gone through a similar thing. I remembered Mary I turned to Luke 1. An angel came and told Mary she would conceive a child our savior Jesus. Mary was confused and disturbed at first, “Wait I’m a virgin” she said.  I imagined what she must of been thinking. I’m about to get married what will people think of me, what about my future, my family will dishonor me, The timing is all wrong Lord cant you wait till I’m married at least. She then said these words I don’t now how long  it took her to say  this “I am the lords servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants” It seems to me it took a matter of seconds. I started praying for her same obedience and her trust in the Lord even though it wasn’t the best timing in our eyes. Why should I worry, why should I not trust him to give me the best. I prayed Lord I’m your servant, and am willing to accept whatever you want. God’s peace swept over me(I love that feeling) He is so amazing he knows what we need even when we don’t:)  I hope this encourages someone else going through similar things. Sometimes the Lord takes us through things we don’t understand or we feel like its the worst possible timing. God will show you and lead you.

First service

We arrived at a really neat time, Vineyard capital met for the first time in their new space. They had been renting a hotel conference room but found a club that is closed on Sundays. It is bigger, they get the whole building and it has a very cool look. It was a great service, the worship was awesome and it looked like Junior preached well, can’t wait to understand.

 

The kids had a great time pretending like they were movie stars.

We looked at a couple houses and an apartment today. We decided to slow down the decision a week or so. They want you to sign a 36 month contract here, also places rent within a day or two, adding pressure. Some people will let you out after the first year and the early termination fees are high. We are going to see if we can go to Foz do Iguacu for a week and evaluate. As we were thinking of spending 6 months in Sao Paulo and 6 months in Iguacu. It may not be possible to spend less than a year somewhere we need to make sure we make the right decision. There is ministry to be done everywhere, we need to pick the right place for our family to live while we learn language and adjust to the culture.

Love you all, pray that we have wisdom and communicate well.

1st official post from Brazil :)

We made it, yeah. The flight was very short compared to last year. It took 1 hour to Dallas then 9 1/2 hours over night to Sao Paulo. The kids did great on the flights, I however suffered from really swollen feet. I guess being in the air and pregnancy does that to you :).

It feels good to be here. Especially with our Brazilian  friends Junior and Vania whom we will be working with over the next 6 months. They made us feel like family when we arrived, with cards, amazing food and giving up their beds for us.

We have looked at our first two apartments, it is exciting and yet hard not to be fearful. I really don’t know how people live in this city. Everything is so expensive and takes so much effort. We looked at one apartment that gave us a good idea of life in the city. We walked a half a mile or so to the metro station. Bought tickets, $10 for 8 tickets (Juliah is free for the next year). Rode the first train to an insanely busy central station(it was Saturday and far from rush hour) then transferred to another line and rode to the end of that. Walked close to a mile uphill along busy streets. It was a nice enough apartment but the street was too busy, it was more urban than a neighborhood. Then we walked to a mall and looked into internet, also very expensive. The effort it takes to go anywhere or do anything is hard to explain. We are really praying as we still believe this is where God wants us to begin our time in Brazil and where we have the opportunity to build relationships that will be a blessing to us in this nation. It is just hard to imagine what it will take to adjust and survive here. With the baby due in a couple months it adds a pressure, feeling like we have to make decisions in a hurry. Not too mention we have been living in other peoples homes for a full month now. Everyone is in good spirits and we feel the peace of God but if you think about more than one thing at a time it overwhelms you.

We will get pictures of apartments we look at from now on. We have just been recovering from arriving Friday morning. The cool thing is we arrived before Capital, our church here, meets for the first time in their new space. They rented space from a night club in the heart of the city.

Love you all,

Lyon family

Today is the day

We leave in a few hours for the airport. Today we begin our new lives. It has been great to be in KC and see the way Melissa’s family has grown. Some who were not Christians the last time we were here are now. God is really cool. Love you all.

View Full Album