When we arrive "home" from the Amazon a month ago we knew our lives were going to change. We had just a week to pack and leave the ITEC housing we had, relocate our stuff, and also get ready for a trip to Pennsylvania. Since we had reached the 50% of our budget we needed to take the required class. We decided to take advantage of that time and started asking people for contacts to visit some churches.
Praise God we finished our class and had a beautiful time there. God showed us many new things and we were greatly refreshed and learned new things. It re-encouraged us to stay focused on finishing this pre-field journey. Our hearts want to get to the field but we know we need to take this time to visit and make contacts and a support circle. Not to focus on financial support but a support of people that will lift us up in prayer and stay connected with us, which is crucial in times of discouragement.
We were thankful for a contact that come open in Boston, a friend from Lynchburg let us share in his church. We actually didn't know at the beginning of the contact that the church was in Portuguese, we just accepted the invitation. But, to our surprise we ended up sharing in two different Brazilian churches that day. We were so encouraged by these churches as they opened their doors for us to share, they made us feel so comfortable and even organized a lunch after service to raise funds for our support. They are focused on reaching the lost in this part of the world, Brazil. How awesome. We felt that God was and is doing a work in all of this, like he always does :) As a family we want to learn more the language, Jonatan knows quite a bit, but we want to learn to speak it well. We have been doing ministry in Brazil and learning the language is very important to us as we continue making more connections in the Amazon region. Actually the only private, Christian school in the Amazon area where we will be living is a school in Portuguese, so our girls will most likely be going there. As parents we will want to be able to communicate with the teachers and other parents.
As we travel we don't just concentrate on visiting churches but most importantly making new friends and contacts. We love meeting the new people that God puts in our lives.And as always, we thank you for being part of our lives, you will never know how special you all are to us.
The Nieto family
