Mom & Dad in Brasilia!

Mom and Dad had a good time in Brasilia... as far as I know!! :) We stayed really busy, but it was really nice to have more people to talk to! In fact, even though we are in an Apartment now.. it worked out really great! Everyone had their own room, and we put Caleb in the Office (instead of our room!!! :) :) :) ). It was a great time.





Here are some pics from a Churrasqueria. It's a place where they bring you Skewers of meat, and DON'T STOP.. THE WHOLE NIGHT!! It's so GOOD! If any of you know "Texas de Brazil" in the US... it's EXACTLY LIKE THAT. It's a Traditional way the Brasilians to BBQ! And it's AWESOME!! And actually INEXPENSIVE! Despite the pics looking like it would be a really pricey place.. it's not! And IT'S AWESOME!! Here are some Pics!


This is Dad "TAKING THE BULL BY THE HORNS!" HaHaHa! LOL!



Then we also went to the Cathedral. Although it was a cool, Rainy, overcast day... It was nice... Theologically Interesting... I'm Proud to say that MY HOPE rests on Jesus' RESURRECTION!! Not only the Birth and Crucifixion. I have no greater JOY than to say MY JESUS IS NO LONGER ON THE CROSS!!! He is RISEN...


There were 4 statues (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) - This one is of John.

SET ME FREE!!

Some of the SMASH Crew worked Hard on a Thanksgiving presentation/drama of the Song "SET ME FREE" by Casting Crowns. It was really great! Here are a few pics.








How AMAZING God is that has Loved us SO MUCH that HE CHOSE to SET US FREE from the Life we were destined for.... To Die for us.. so that we can LIVE!! AMAZING GRACE!!

My Parents Visiting & Thankgiving

We were so blessed again this year to have my parents come and visit us here in Brasil. Although we were incredibly busy and couldn't really spend a whole lot of time with them, it was nice to have them here. They spent time with Caleb and Mom taught and tutored at the school.

They brought with them 4 Suitcases full of supplies and things for the school! What a Blessing! Our medical supplies have been limited and expiring quickly. Many thanks to the Bible Church of Cabot for the donations that were sent with them.

These pics are from our Staff Thanksgiving dinner. What a great night! We all had wonderful Potluck food and TONS to eat! Then we sat around and worshipped (Thanks, Jonathan!) and shared our many Thanks for the year. It's wonderful to have a group of people that are committed to Praising God for all things.... THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY!!

And... since I have this great picture. I thought now would be a good time to talk about my friend Marie. She is such a great person!! She's very crafty and thoughtful! She is the Mom to 3 of our students, and her husband works with the State Department. She actually stepped in Last Year and worked the ENTIRE year teaching Kindergarten. She's always quick to help out ANYWHERE that is needed!! She and her husband have VOLUNTEERED to "BUS" our SMASH kids to and from SMASH on Friday's too!! (They do not have SMASH aged kids!!) Another example... She baked cookies for the ENTIRE STAFF... like 8 different kinds of cookies (even the HARD ONES!!) and made Christmas plates for us! She's so thoughtful! What a GREAT SERVANT!! I love her dearly! Thanks, Marie!

Our Tuesday Boyz!

Another little thing we do, is on Tuesday nights we have 3 brothers that come over and we work on homework and study for tests. While this sounds all official and everything... and it does help... we usually end up goofing off and playing around after we work.
Then we go get Pizza or something and hang out. Returning them back home around 8:30. It really has been a lot of fun, and we're working on the academic part... and that's coming around.

IN'TENTS' SMASH!!!

We came up with yet another great name and activity for SMASH - well.. Casey came up with it! We had a CAMPOUT one Friday night. We had an AWESOME SMASH Session, and we had one student SAVED!! Hallelujah!! AND... we had many games and lots of food, and great worship around the Campfire. Here are a few pics from SMASH Intents!
Our SMASH Song is on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfhwBNnzxD8
WHAT a GREAT weekend!!!

ALIEN ABDUCTION!!

One Sunday night, we participated.... ok... we LED... an ALIEN ABDUCTION!!
(Foreign Alien, that is!)



We gathered up 2 of our boys who were DYING to get out of the house... and since we didn't have any FORMAL Plans...



we just made it up as we went!



We kidnapped 2 students and 1 teacher!



Then... some folks got thrown in the lake...

and some other "General" Mischief!
It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Who said entertainment had to COST something!!! :)

Happy Birthday Melinda

The Staff had a fun time celebrating Melinda's birthday. We went to a Brazilian Pizza place.
It's good... it's different... but it's good!
Here are a few pics from the night!!
We sang Happy Birthday REALLY REALLY LOUD in ENGLISH!!!
That's ALWAYS good for turning heads!! :)

Children's Day!

What a FUN and WONDERFUL Day!!

Here are a few pics. Children's Day is a Brazilian holiday.


The entire month of October is devoted to kids!! AND... our school always has a Children's Day event. It's like a Carnival type event and each class is responsible for setting up and running a game.

It's always so much fun!!

Addresses & Support Information

I thought I would post our New Addresses here in case you need them!!

By the way.... You just don't know what an AMAZING BLESSING a Card or Package from home is!!! It REFRESHES THE SOUL!

Now that we are in the Apartment, we have full confidence in our mail system here. So you may send things to our home address.

HOME:
SQS 109 Bloco D Apt #108
Brasilia, DF 70372-040
Brasil (you can spell it with a Z or a S. They spell it with a S... but doesn't really matter.)


Brasília International School:
SGAS 914 Conjunto C Lotes 67/68 Brasília, DF 70390-140
Brasil
Phone: (55) (61) 3346-1200
Website: www.bischool.com.br There are a few pics of us in the PHOTOS section! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you would like to support us financially please visit www.nics.org ... You can donate Securely Online. Select Missionary Projects, and our name is there.
Or you can call them at 1-800-887-6427, ask for Marie. Or you can mail them a check. They even have a Monthly Automatic draft option.

Please always refer to our PROJECT NUMBER #001909, not our names (on checks).

NICS ADDRESS:
Network of International Christian Schools
3790 Goodman Rd E
Southaven, MS 38672

Ahhh... the RAIN!! the Science Lab ...and our new Look!... :)

AHHHHHHH................... RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~DRY SEASON~
About 3 weeks ago, we had a short little shower that didn't do much off anything... and it was the FIRST RAIN in over 100 days!! Such is life, here in MIDDLE Brasil! We have 2 main seasons... Rainy and Dry! Dry season runs from May to September, give or take.... and it's very similar to the American Winter... in that... everything dies. Many of the trees lose their leaves, the grass dies, and everything gets very brown.... **IN FACT: The Humidity levels drop even lower than the AVERAGE humidity of the SAHARA DESERT!! NOT A GOOD THING!! The lowest we got to in September was a Humidity of 11%... the Sahara averages 25%!! This is a Pic of Caleb and his buddy, Nana!! But.. you can see how dead everything is.

Last week, we got some BIG WIND GUSTS that brought a few sprinkles. I think all the rain evaporated on the way down... The wind was gusting like crazy, blew EVERYTHING HARD... but only a few sprinkles.

~FIRST RAIN~
WELL... that was until Wednesday!!!! OUR FIRST BIG FULL OUT POURING RAIN! Around here, when rainy season starts, the rain is HEAVY and FAST... and always causes Flooding of the streets making them impassable... I have attached a pic from last year to show how bad it can get... The good thing is that it passes quickly. This is a MAJOR Road... and it was impassable!

Wednesday we got a GREAT RAIN! BUT... it was also our first rain in the new building... Unfortunately.. you just NEVER QUITE KNOW what will happen. AND SO.. we had some issues! Amanda's (Caleb's Kindergarten teacher) room flooded!!! But really... all in all.. .compared with the leaking and flooding that happened in the OLD PLACE... we 'weathered' the storm just fine! It is SO INCREDIBLY NICE to have covered walkways between the buildings. So many times we had to RUN through the mud to get to the other building. BIG BLESSINGS HERE!!

~SCIENCE LAB!~
My Science Lab is coming right along... they started on my Lab tables about 2 weeks ago. So everyday, I have 2 additional students... They aren't too loud with the Mortaring... I can't WAIT until it's finished!!! I will have 4 tables built up on Concrete and Tiled... and my Teacher Demo Lab Table at the front... YEAH! Then the other side of the room is what I use for Instruction time.

~NEW LOOK~
Chris and I both have a NEW LOOK! Chris has shaved off his Goatee except for the chin part... and he has grown his side burns down. It looks so great! He looks very "Trendy!" ... I'm thinking he fits the part for a YOUTH MINISTER!!! :)
I went for the first time to get my hair highlighted here. It's cheaper than doing it in the US... and the Gray was getting BAD! So... I busted out there... using all the Portuguses I could get together... and I did really good!!! WE DID HAVE A PRETTY BIG "COLOR" issue (with the language)... and my hair is lighter than I would have chosen... but it's cute! So all is well!! Here are a few pics.. Hope you can see the difference...

THANKS SO MUCH for reading this... and keeping up with us! I will try to post more often about things that are happening around here!

Much Love,
Beverly

Mini Update

So... as I think about what to write about... I'm thinking that the last 3 weeks have FLOWN by... and YET... Each day has seemed like a MONTH by itself... Ever had one of those times?? Can't believe tomorrow is October 1st!! (oops.. it's now TODAY! :) 12:01am!) Our biggest news of the last few weeks has been SMASH.

We are now starting a new session we call "SMASH unplugged." Our 'BIG' SMASH sessions are FULL ENERGY, EXCITING, POWERFUL, IMPACTFUL, and a message that HITS HARD. We wanted to ADD to that by having small groups. HOWEVER, THIS TIME we wanted the small groups to be the kids that REALLY REALLY want to be there. So we are doing them on the OFF WEEKS of SMASH (which is every 2 weeks).

We are really excited about them. Chris and I both will have a group. Please pray for these kids. 2 weeks ago, we had an information session and we had 18 kids show up!! We know we will have about 23 in the groups! This is AWESOME!! We have been consistently running about 30 - 35 in 'BIG' SMASH. WHAT A BLESSING! You guys need to hear how Chris presents the message... it is so amazing! I stand in awe! He, of course, takes NO CREDIT for it... as it is the Holy Spirit speaking! IN FACT, Chris has tried on 2 occasions to give just a light happy devotion instead of the HARD HITTING, IN YOUR FACE, CONVICTING message that he has been giving... AND GOD SAID NO!!! He has not let Chris back down any. And amazingly... the kids keep coming! We've even had a couple of kids 'accuse' us of creating the message JUST FOR THEM. Nope... that's the power of the Holy Spirit!! We didn't do anything!!

This last time... we had SMASH at our Interim Pastor's house. It was so great to let him see FIRST HAND the power of the Holy Spirit through Chris and straight to our kids' hearts! It was incredible! We played a "LECRAE" song (this is a Christian hip hop/rap group) that just SMACKED everyone in the face! It was awesome! It was about not waiting until you had everything fixed up to come to Jesus... but come as you are... RIGHT NOW! The song is called "Take me as I am" and was given to us by the Glaze's at BC of Cabot. Thanks so much!!

Please continue to pray for the school. As there are still things not completed for several reasons... and we have some parents and staff giving a lot of "FEEDBACK" in the form of "HELPFUL ADVICE" that sometimes isn't really.... you know what I mean! :) Please pray for Peace and Encouragement for Chris and the Administration as they are are doing the VERY BEST that they can!! AND... are being very WISE with use of school funds. Chris is not always the Good Guy when it comes to Sticking with a BUDGET!! **Everyone who has every had a Budget can completely agree with this!!!**

We love you all dearly! And Thank you so much for checking in and seeing how we are doing! I will be posting more pictures soon.... but now... to bed with me! Love you all!!

SMASH RETURNS!

SMASH has returned and we have been in AWE of what the Lord is doing there!!! We had 33 at our first meeting!!! 35 at our second meeting!! AND 40 at our last meeting!!! 40 Kids all CRAMMED into our apartment! (This is where these pics were taken, in our new apartment) It's been so incredible!!! The Holy Spirit has been moving through Chris in an AMAZING WAY!! The Lord has given Chris the EXACT thing that the kids needed to hear... to challenge them and convict them!! By almost EVERY Account... our kids all had a BAD SUMMER! Almost all of them admit that their walks with the Lord strayed during the summer. AND.. they all ADMIT that they need some "IN YOUR FACE" TRUTH RIGHT NOW!! and THAT is exactly what we've been giving them!! No Sugar Coating... We have gotten some great responses, but we have to keep them on track... (don't we all need that help!! :) ) Please pray with us on their behalf... that they will continue to yearn for the PASSION for CHRIST that they had back in April, May and June! Thank you!!

Here are a few pictures from our last SMASH! In fact... we did a "SMASH AND CRASH!" And we had 40 students for SMASH, and then 25 "CRASH" or spend the night!! It was awesome!! :) The guys and Chris crashed at Casey's apartment. The girls, and Megan, all crashed here! It was GREAT! We took the Subway to the mall, and had a BLAST! The kids didn't get home until almost 5pm on Saturday... so we were wiped out! But it was so worth it!! **We are reminded each time that we do this... that "WE ARE OLD... OLDER THAN THEY ARE!!!" :) :) :) We wake up WIPED OUT!! But WE LOVE IT!!! **