Looking Ahead...

 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"    

    ~Jeremiah 29:11

Your sister in Christ,

    Sierra

Public Love for Jesus

 I'm sure by now, almost everyone know who Gabby Douglas is.  The 16-year old, two-time gold Olympic medalist gymnast.  But that's not all she is.  And she hasn't been hiding it.  She's a believer.

 It's hard to share your faith.  Especially if it's on [inter]national television.  When Gabby won all-around gold, she publicly gave all the glory to God.  In her words, "It's a win-win situation: all glory goes up to Him, and all the blessings fall down on me."  There may be quite a few Olympians in London this year who are believers.  Maybe even some have publicly made that known -- we just haven't seen it.  But there are definitely some who don't want it known.  They don't want to be judged or to have a stereo-type placed on them.  When asked what motivates her, Gabby said meditating on Scripture -- and that the Bible was very important to her.  This young lady also said her cool-down music playlist includes Christian artist Natalie Grant.

 You can't pin point what you would say in a hypothetical situation.  But I pray and hope that I would trust in God and give Him the glory publicly and not hide what I believe.

 I watched a video of Gabby's pastor interviewing/praying over her before she left for London.  He sent her away with one of my favorite Bible passages.

"You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."   ~Matthew 5:14-16

 She certainly took that Scripture with her in her heart and mind to London.  Congratulations, Gabby, for winning Gold at the Olympics, but most importantly, for unashamedly glorifying our Lord and shining your light for Him.

This week month I'm thankful for... (since I haven't done this in forever, these are going to be from the past month or two):

261. seeing God work in very evident ways

262. having the privilege of staying with my grandpa for a few days

263. God providing me with jobs

264. having the opportunity to co-teach Sunday school this fall

265. rainy days

266. a warm bed

267. air-conditioning

268. my new laptop

269. friends who I get to meet in 3 weeks!  eeek!! :-D

270. getting post cards and letters

271. four Bible verses of the day all surrounding one topic

272. swimming on hot days

273. Toby Mac's new song, Me Without You

274. watching the Olympics

275. shopping with my mom

276. planning this LIVE year

277. comfy socks

278. random discounts at stores

279. shopping with my sister

280. going to the movies with my brother

Love,

  Sierra

Brazil 2012

 Well, I think it's about time I've posted about my trip to Brazil!  I think the main reason I've been procrastinating postponing, is because I honestly don't know where to start.  Do I give you a day-by-day schedule of our time there?  Do I tell you all the stories?  Do I show you the 550 pictures that I took, not to mention the thousands that the rest of the team, put together, took?

 What did we do there?  We spent time with the kids at Reame -- a Christian shelter for children sent there by the government.  Reame means in Portuguese, "to love again".  These kids have come from loveless homes and families, and have heart-breaking stories.  We also worked on several projects during our time there.  We painted the boys' lockers; sanded & painted a gate; painted an office room; tore up old sidewalk, put down clay, cemented it, then put down tiles; made a heart mosaic for the driveway; sanded & stained the playground.  If I made you guess which one of those projects was the most complicated, stressful, made-you-want-to-give-up-and-cry projects, maybe you could.  The sidewalk project.  Let's just say that Brazilians do things way differently than we do.  Way different.  :-)  As our team kept reminding each other: "It's not wrong, it's not weird, it's just different!".

 I'm adding just a few photos to give you a feel of what our trip was like.  I've captioned them, also.

waiting at the airport on our way there

sanding/painting the gate.  This gate was about 3/4 of the way up the
driveway. The houses, as you can see, are on the other side of this gate.

clay portion of the sidewalk project

playing soccer with the kids...they loved soccer!    :-)

making pillowcases was one of the crafts we did the kids

it took diligence and God's strength and patience to get us through making this beautiful mosaic.
Reame's property is used for a soccer school, aerobics class, and other classes, plus, there is a 
doctor on the property -- all of which are open to the community.  We made this mosaic so the 
community would feel a sense of warmth and welcome (we were in the slums).  Only when we 
stepped back could we see the big picture: we had just laid hundreds of broken pieces to make a 
beautiful heart.  

another part of the sidewalk project: mixing the cement.  By hand.

painting the office room

one of the young ladies and I 

We four (I'm on the far left) painted the boys' lockers.  We painted 12 of these
lockers, and they turned out great!

During church on Sunday night, this young boy fell asleep on my lap.  I guess it
was his power nap because on the way home, at 10:00pm, he was not sleepy! :-P

another activity we did was balloon animals (or hats).  these girls were excited to make them.

part of the sidewalk team

the kids even helped with sanding and staining the playground

one of our team members' birthday was during our trip and we celebrated the
Brazilian way!  with a delicious cake!  :-)

cute baby, or what?! 

a few of the finished boys' lockers

one of our translators and I 

visiting Christ the Redeemer statue was one of our tourist spots. 

great place for a mother/daughter photo!   :-)

I got to see my monkey! :D

we also got to go to an authentic Brazilian steakhouse -- boy, was it amazing!
it was a good thing we had translators :-)

Guarana was like Sprite and Gingerale mixed together.  it was the best!  we all drank
as much of it as we could while we were there!

I had the privilege of having my fingernails painted by this young lady.

kids of all ages enjoyed our craft of making tambourines.  especially this 3 and 4 year old

another activity we did just with the girls was making duct tape wallets.
well, they wanted purses, so we made purses.

  My mom and I both came home with an itchy, and blistering rash and we didn't know the reason.  At one point, it itched so bad, I off-handedly commented, "Oh this is miserable!".  But I had to rethink that statement.  There are different levels in each financial class.  One of the lowest levels in poverty in Brazil is translated, "miserable".  It really put it into perspective.  My little rash, which is now completely gone, although itched and sometimes hurt badly, was certainly not miserable.

 God worked in great ways during our time in Brazil.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love,
  Sierra

i haven't forgotten

Hey everyone!   I just wanted to pop on here quick to tell you that I have not forgotten about keeping you in the know about what happened in Brazil!  We are working on pictures and an update now.

 Here is just a couple pictures of our time in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.  I don't want to give it all away yet! :)

Love,
   Sierra

twelve hours

In a little less than 12 hours, I will be headed out my door to start our journey to Brazil. I can't wait to see what God has planned! Thank you for all your prayers and support! This is going to be a trip of a lifetime. Can't wait -- but I doubt there'll be much sleep tonight. ;)


Love in Christ,

   Sierra

Five More Days...

Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

You know those computer screensavers where you choose words that will float across the screen like a banner whenever your computer hasn’t been used for a few minutes?  You can choose the color, font, font size, words, etc.  Well, my mind is that idle computer and Five more days is that banner.  My mind is not idle, but that banner blocks everything else out.  It’s a huge, fun and bold, black against white font: Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

It seems so weird to think that all there is left to do is pack.  I have little lists floating around: Do not forget! (Bible, journal, pens, etc.), Need to buy! (travel shampoo bottles, money bag, water bottle, etc.), Do before Sunday! (empty SD card, run to St. Cloud, pack, etc.).  No more flurried searches for papers needed to apply for a visa; no more planning fundraising events; no more discussion of travel details; no more team meetings.  Five more days, five more days, five more days,  five more days…

We know where we’re sitting on the plane.  We have names and ages of the children who are presently at Reame.  We know what time we have to be at church Sunday morning.  We know what we’re wearing while traveling.  We know how much money we’re taking with to be exchanged into reais.  We should know what we’re going to pack. ;)  It’s all set!  Most of the team members will most likely spend this week packing.  Saturday, the lot of us will get together once more and pack the team supply bags.  Sunday, we get to the church at 9:30, pack the trailer, at 10am we get commissioned in the service, and hopefully will hit the road by 10:20-10:30.  Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

We’ve found out several projects that we’ll be doing down there:

·         Painting the trim of the girl’s house

·         Gardening

·         Cementing the sidewalk outside of Reame

·         Putting together a mosaic in the said cement

·         Organizing a storage closet (for which they are actually renting a dumpster) :)

·         Painting and decorating Lynda’s new office

·         Cleaning leather sofas

Most of the Reame children go to school from 1-5pm, so that will be when the majority of the projects will be getting accomplished.  I’m very excited to do some of this!  I think we’ll be able to bond as a team a bit more during these times and perhaps get to know some of the Reame staff a little better.  Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

The Brazilian government has changed their laws: on weekends, now, children must go home to their families – if they have one.  So on Saturday, we will be doing a bit of touring.  Seeing the “Christ the Redeemer” statue and Sugarloaf Mountain are on our lists for Saturday.  We also get to experience a Brazilian pizza/pasta buffet and an authentic Brazilian steakhouse (think Fogo de Chao, if you’ve ever been there).  Five more days, five more days, five more days, five more days…

Well, I better stop typing, now, because I could go on forever.  Can you tell I’m just a tad excited? :)

God bless and thank you so much for your prayers and support!  We can’t wait to tell you about it and show some pictures when we get home!   

In Christ,
  Sierra

To My Dad...

 As I was with Mother's Day, I'm a day late with my Father's Day post.  *sigh*  This is for you, Dad! :)

For supporting our family -- thank you.  For first suggesting homeschooling -- thank you.  For supporting me and encouraging me in my college -- thank you.  For giving me a job -- thank you.  For supporting LIVE and praying for it -- thank you.  For giving me your love for music -- thank you.  For helping me study as much as you can -- thank you.  For taking me to concerts -- thank you.  For taking me camping all those years -- thank you.  For being the best dad ever -- thank you.

For all you've done for me --

Thank you, Daddy!  I love you very much!

Love,

   Sierra