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!!! **

Brasilia International School - 914 Location!!

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER shots of our NEW SCHOOL!!





Look especially at the windows. The old school had odd window bars and none of them matched. We replaced all the windows to make them uniform. We also got this incredible window decal for the front doors, can you see them?



We are still FAR from finished!! But... we are so blessed!! The end pictures are current pictures. They saved some pretty Palms, and our library is getting close to being finished. It was the Administration building, and now being gutted into a Library! It's gonna be awesome! You need to come and see it!! :)

Back in Brasilia and STRAIGHT TO WORK!!

Well, after some really rough travels... We arrived back in Brasilia. We had to fly separately a week apart for several different reasons. As soon as Chris arrived back "home" he headed straight to work!! We had a work team of 19 come from Pennsylvania to help with the new school! What a Blessing they were!!! Chris worked 12 hour days, painting, cleaning, spackling, sanding, everything!!! Caleb and I arrived a week later. We took a couple of days rest because Caleb didn't need to be at the construction site... and that is definitely what it was!! Our first week of inservices, ALL THE TEACHERS AND STAFF spent painting! By the end of the week, we were all experts!! :) We even had names for each other... the "Massa Master!" (Massa = the Brazilian name for Spackle), "The SAND MAN", "Roller Girl!" and many others!! :) It's truly amazing to see the difference. Here are some pics of the Work being done. I'll post some before and after in the next post!

The New School is such a HUGE BLESSING! God is simply Amazing!! At first, Many thought that our new school was TOO BIG for us! That we didn't need that much space... APPARENTLY the Lord agreed... we found out after we signed our long term lease... that 3 of the HUGE Buildings were now illegal! They had been built under a different code... so we had to TEAR THEM DOWN!!! Our "TOO BIG" school, then became "JUST RIGHT!" Sounds like the 3 Bears, huh!??! We started school on August 14th, and thankfully they were only half days... because we didn't have RUNNING WATER! Chris had a BLAST (umm.. not really) walking all the little kids outside to the PORTA-POTTIES!! Every single child said "How do we flush!!" Priceless!!! BUT... by the 3rd day of school.. the FIRST FULL DAY, we had lots of great water!!! Well... we are now fully into our new school... and while there is still MUCH to be done... Like more painting, finishing the library, BATHROOM STALL DOORS...etc... it's still so amazing to look at see what the LORD has done!! HE TOTALLY GETS ALL THE CREDIT!!

Caleb's "America" Birthday

At the end of July, we celebrated Caleb's Birthday! His birthday is actually in August, but since we knew we'd be back in Brazil, we had a Birthday party for him with all the people that LOVE him dearly!! We had a great time! Here are a few pics from the night! MANY MANY THANKS to "TiTi" Wanda for putting this Schindid on for us! Caleb had a WONDERFUL TIME and is STILL Talking about it! We love you guys, and Miss you very much!