Stories from Brazil - 2

 Rylie woke up Sunday morning with a little fever. The missionary had warned us about the intense sun and the very real possibility of quick dehydration. Rylie is not very good about drinking fluids at home, and I knew she hadn't been drinking much on Saturday. I was supposed to teach children's Sunday school, so we decided Dan would stay with her and then if she was still feeling badly later, we would switch for the second service. 

Sunday school went well, and we headed back towards Campina Grande. Dan said Rylie was feeling better and they would meet up with us for lunch. I was really happy to hear that she was doing better and was hopeful she just needed the extra rest. We met up for a wonderful lunch at a traditional Brazilian steakhouse. It was amazing. 

We went back for the main church service in Remigio. It was delightful! I think every Christian should experience getting to worship with believers in another culture and language. The worship of God is the same, no matter the language, place, or people. It's a beautiful picture of what the Church is about. 

On Monday Rylie woke up feeling a little under the weather, but not too badly. We all headed out to Remigio and our first "round table" meeting with the members of the church there. We were there to discuss a partnership with this church, to see what we can do to work together and to encourage each other. 

I went into this with the thought that we would be doing most of the encouraging, as Covid has been extremely hard on the churches in Brazil. They feel isolated and alone. 

After lunch, I received news from my sister that Elijah had tested positive for Covid. I admit, I lost it a bit. When your kid is sick and you are literally thousands of miles away, it's hard on a momma's heart. I don't love to leave my kids in the first place and have never left them for this amount of time before. 

Rick (the missionary) thought it wise that we all go get tested just to make sure we didn't have it as well. We loaded up in the bus and went to the local testing site. After having our brains scraped, we anxiously awaited our results. 

All negative....but Rylie. The way she had been feeling now made sense. She instantly burst into tears. All the thoughts went through my mind....

Two years of Dan working with Covid patients and we didn't get it. We're a long way from home to be sick.  What if the rest of us come down with it? What permeated my thoughts the most was, "What will this sweet church think?" I for sure didn't want to make anyone else sick. I didn't want to be the one who brings Covid to a community already struggling from the pandemic. 

It was a lot to take in. 

We went back to the hotel and put Rylie to bed, which was where she needed to be. And.....I worried. We had already fallen in love with the precious Brazilian people in Remigio and I hated to hurt them in any way. 

Then a message came. A message from a new friend - a friend who doesn't even speak English, a friend we had just met two days ago. We hadn't even been back at the hotel for an hour. 

This is what it said - 

"Come to our home. Leave Rylie here and we will take care of her. Count on us for whatever you need." Tears fill my eyes even now as I read these words again.

The church that I thought I was traveling across the globe to encourage was now reaching out to me. The church and community already hit hard by Covid, and that I definitely didn't want to bring Covid to, was now saying, "Bring your Covid positive child to us, and we will care for her in our home." 

Who does that? 

Who asks a displaced stranger to stay with them? 

Who cares for the sick with a contagious sickness? 

Who takes a risk for the sake of living out the Gospel?

Someone who truly has a heart like Christ's. 

I cried lots and lots of tears when I hugged my daughter and husband goodbye and headed across the ocean as they stayed behind in Brazil. My daughter was clinging to me saying, "Please don't leave me." That's an excruciating moment for a mama. I didn't want to leave her, but we had weighed the facts and thought it best that Zack and I fly home, and Rylie and Dan stay behind. 

So many unknowns - 

Would Dan get sick, and I wouldn't be there? What if he got really sick? Would Rylie continue to test positive, even though she was feeling much better? Would there even be a flight available for them as the flights were extremely full due to the holidays? Neither speaks Portuguese (or traveled outside the country before) - and the missionary in charge of our trip was flying out as well, leaving them to rely on our new Brazilian friends for everything - would that go ok? 

There is a reason the Bible says not to worry about tomorrow. Worry about tomorrow is always based on "what if's" instead of "what is."  There is no way to know for sure the "what is" but there is definitely a way to know the One who does know for sure all of the "what is." And my job is to trust in Him. 

So, I flew home. 

As I looked around the very full plane and realized the only empty seats on that ten-hour flight were Dan and Rylie's, the tears started to flow again. They were supposed to be there. We were supposed to do this adventure all together. But they were back in Brazil, and I was flying home. 

The next part of this story was this - 

Dan and Rylie left quarantining in the hotel room and moved in with the family that had so graciously opened their home to them for whatever indefinite time it would take before they could fly home. (This family had recently had Covid and felt that it was safe for them to come.) In the name of Jesus, they fed them, housed them, entertained them, and shared their beautiful culture with them. 

I don't know if I've ever been more grateful in my entire life. 

Dan didn't get Covid. Rylie tested negative within four days. Flights out of the country were found. The pastor at the church in that small community speaks English fluently, (an unusual circumstance for a town that size) and came every day to help translate and take care of my family. He also took his time to drive them the several hour trip to the airport. 

The Body of Christ was to us, what we went to be to them. 

My takeaway? 

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." Lev. 19:33-34

"Show hospitality one to another without grumbling." 1 Peter 4:9

"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." Rom. 15:7

And always - 

"Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow...." Mat. 6:34

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

We will be forever grateful to this precious family and the church in Remigio, Brazil.

Stories from Brazil - 1

 Her name is Jessica. I didn't know her before that day, but God did. The Bible tells us that God has engraved us on the palms of His hands. (Isa. 49:16) He was already writing her story long before we ever arrived in Brazil. But, sometimes.....sometimes......God lets us be a part of His story......and it's beautiful. 

We knocked on her door on a sunny, Brazilian Saturday afternoon. She came out into the courtyard with a small girl and a baby. We introduced ourselves, and she told us her name was Jessica. We said we had come to share with her a message from God. (Isn't the story of salvation truly the BEST message from God ever??) We barely had the words out of our mouths when Jessica burst into tears. There were 6 or 7 of us standing there, and she's sobbing. The wonderful pastor we were with was interpreting for me, as she said, 

"I've had the worst week of my entire life, and I've been crying out to God every night, and I really, really need to hear from Him." 

She couldn't believe we were there - that we had come at this exact time! She told us that she had had the worst week of her life and was so discouraged. Her husband had left a couple of days ago and she didn't know where he was, or if he would come home. She had been in a bad car accident and is having some serious health problems. Her world is falling apart. She didn't know what to do, but she had been crying out every night to the One who she thought might help her. 

Coincidence that we show up at her door this week? Happenstance that this is when we chose to go to Brazil? 

Could God have spoken to Jessica through other circumstances? Of course, He could have! But, when we choose to live in obedience - to step out and do hard, uncomfortable things, we get to be a part of His wonderful, perfect story! And here we were.

We stopped right then, and I shared with her about a really hard time I had gone through, and how I read in my Bible that God will fight our battles for us when we trust Him, and that God would be there for her too.  I asked if I could pray for her. We prayed and hugged right there in that courtyard in a beautiful little town in a place far, far away.

Her crying calmed down after that, and we asked if we could share with her this message from God - how to be close to God, so she could take her problems to Him. She said, "Yes." We took the Evangecube and went through the pictures and told her the beautiful Gospel story. At the end we asked if she wanted to pray to receive Christ as her Savior. She is desperate. She has no hope. Christ is hope. She immediately wanted to ask God to be in her life. She prayed to receive Jesus right then. There was no hesitation. She had been asking God for an answer, and her heart was desperately ready for Him.

Jessica showed up at church the next evening. It is difficult for her to walk because of the car accident, but she had met Jesus yesterday and came anyway. She even brought a friend. We visited after the service, and she told me she now has peace. She wants to learn more about God, and before I had left Brazil had asked the church to start a Bible study in her home.....and they had. She had a smile on her face, and Jesus in her eyes.

Jessica's short story brought conviction into my life -

Are we desperate for God? Are we crying out to Him to be a part of our lives every day? Do we come to church even when it's difficult - do we know Jesus enough that He is worth a little sacrifice for us to show up? When's the last time we invited a friend to church? Do we make Bible study and getting to know God better a priority?

This visit to Jessica's home is a highlight of my trip to Brazil. And it was truly amazing. But, you know what? The rest of the trip didn't go like I wanted or envisioned. (Does life ever??) In fact, it turned out to be some of the toughest times I've been through. But....

That's a story for another day.......

Yellowstone - Day Ten

 `Trail ride day. I am very afraid of horses, but our kids begged us to do a trail ride while we were here. I felt like it wasn’t that unreasonable of a request, so today was the day. 

    We drove down to Teton Village this morning, and of course took Moose Wilson Road to see if we could spot any wildlife. There were tons of people there when we pulled off, and there was a moose and a black bear out today! We never could get great views of the bear as he was in the bushes eating huckleberries, but it was still fun to catch glimpses of him through the woods. 

    We arrived at our trail ride a little early and had a picnic lunch before we got on board. Kade was very nervous and almost decided that he wasn’t going to trail ride after all. All the other kids were gung ho and couldn’t wait to ride. I was a little nervous for Elijah to be riding alone, but he insisted he was ready for such things. I kept teasing the kids about how scared I was, and that I hoped they would give me a pony. They laughed at all my mom jokes, as I got on a full sized horse…unfortunately. We all got lined up with our guide and after a very brief lesson on how to ride and drive a horse, we headed West.

     Our first leg of the journey took us through a pasture with a creek running through it. It had beautiful views of the Tetons and the flat ground and nice horses made everyone a little more comfortable. We found that our horses had similar personalities as their riders. Rylie’s just wanted to stop and snack all the time, Zack’s was a stubborn hose, and Kade’s had constant gas…. We had a lot of laughs over these characteristics. The kids were so cute. They loved this ride so much. Their giggles of delight made my two hour horse ride worth it. My horse wanted to jump, trot and pass all the other horses in line. They should have given me a pony! After our pasture ride, our trail continued up into the mountains for a woodsy journey that was a little more challenging and fun. The kids just loved it. Turns out our guide was a homeschooled kid from Arkansas that has a mutual friend! Crazy how things happen sometimes.

          After our ride came to an end, we went over to Teton Village and spent some time there before coming back to our camper for dinner. We were sitting outside eating at our picnic table when we noticed other campers pointing and taking pictures right down the road. Elijah ran down to see what they were seeing which we figured was just a deer or an elk. He came running back and sat down to finish his taco. We asked him what it was and he nonchalantly said, “Oh, just a few bears…” He said it so casually that we thought he was teasing. He insisted that he was not teasing and that it was a momma and three cubs. We jumped up leaving our tacos on the table, grabbed our cameras and ran down the street. Sure enough, there was a momma and three little cubs walking through the campground! This time we got excellent photos and videos of these adorable black bears. It was so exciting. We were able to watch them for about 20 minutes before they headed back into the woods. We were glad they didn’t end up at our picnic table eating our leftovers! After dinner, we went souvenir shopping and made cookies and played games. We have to check out in the morning and we don’t know where we’re headed, but I guess we’ll figure it out tomorrow.

 

Yellowstone - Day Nine

    What an incredible day today! We took it kind of slow when we woke up this morning and headed out for the day around 9:30. The plan was to hike Hidden Falls/Cascade Canyon. 

    We drove down to Jenny Lake to catch the ferry boat across the lake to cut off 4 miles of hiking. We were not prepared for the crowds there. There were people everywhere! We had to park on the highway because the parking lots and the road down to the parking lots were full. So, we hiked a little further than we intended after all. The line to the ferry boat wasn’t too bad, and we had to wait about 15 minutes. The ride across the lake is always fun, and the views are beautiful. 

    The trail was very busy today, but still really nice. It is a beautiful mountain trail with pines and a river and lovely wooden bridges. We even had a mule deer cross the trail in front of us. The falls were flowing nicely, and we stopped there to eat our lunch. The boys are really into bouldering and spent a while climbing the rocks below the falls. Zack climbed over halfway up on the rocks and scared us a bit when he tried to cross the falls. After playing there a little longer, we headed on up the mountain to Inspiration Point. It is an overlook almost 8,000 feet in elevation and was quite a climb to get there. I had heard it was a moderate hike, but I think it might be rated a bit higher than that as you are climbing switchbacks all the way to the top. Part way up the kids were whining and a couple coming down said to them, “But don’t you want to see the moose?” They told us that on into Cascade Canyon was a bull moose by the trail! We had no idea one would be this high! That gave the kids the energy they needed to keep going, and we hurriedly went on past the Point to look for the moose. We were quite thankful that he was still there when we got there just hiding out in the woods right off the trail. We were able to get some good photos, and the kids really enjoyed seeing him. While we were looking at the moose, some other people told us that they had seen black bear on up the trail, so we took off again at a fast rate as we have yet to see any bears on this trip. 

    We never saw any bears but the views of Cascade Canyon cannot be topped! It was breathtaking! I would hike up the side of that mountain over and over just to see it. It literally took your breath away. The air is very smoky because of wildfires, so the views are not what they could be, and still it was truly amazing! The aspens are starting to turn yellow, and backdropped with the green pines and the mountains on both sides of the canyon cannot even be described! I wanted to keep hiking forever, but unfortunately our children did not. We finally turned around and headed down to catch the ferry boat. Apparently, this was the time everyone else also headed down to catch the boat because we had to wait in line almost an hour to get back across. 

    We told the kids we would just spend the evening at the campground and rest, but much to our delight, an old friend of mine happened to be in the area and looked us up at the campground. After meeting each other’s families, we enjoyed a wonderful evening of laughter and catching up on the last 20 years. My kids especially enjoyed having other kids to talk to after not seeing their friends for awhile. After our friends left, we drove around a bit looking for animals, but only spotted one elk.

Yellowstone - Day Eight

     We left Yellowstone with mixed emotions this morning. It was a wonderful, maybe once in a lifetime, experience to camp right in Yellowstone, and we were not even able to see most of it! I love it so much that I was a little teary about leaving. After our hike to Mystic Falls yesterday, I realized how many hidden gems are off the road that need to be seen. I guess I will just have to come back some day. One the other hand, we were excited about seeing the Tetons and what they have to offer.

          We packed up our camper fairly quickly and even had time for some last minute souvenir shopping before we headed out. Yellowstone offered us a last minute experience with a herd of bison walking down the highway as we passed through. We also enjoyed the sights that the south entrance has to offer as we drove towards the Tetons.

          We arrived at our campsite at Colter Bay a little after lunch and quickly set up camp. Our only disappointment is that the smoke from the wildfires is so thick here that you can barely see the Tetons. I am praying the wind shifts while we are here. After a quick lunch, we walked around the campground to see what it has to offer. We are close to the shores of beautiful Jackson Lake, and enjoyed some time playing down there this afternoon. The water is crystal clear and the rocks so colorful. We hiked around the lake and went into the visitor’s center for a bit. We came back and hung out at the campsite before heading down to Jackson.

          On the way down to Jackson, we stopped at Schwabackers Landing to look for moose. We didn’t see any moose, but the views were still lovely and the reflection of the trees and mountains on the river was nice. We headed down Moose Wilson Road for another chance at spotting moose, and this time we saw three!! It was very exciting for all of us. Moose are such cool creatures. We also saw a couple of elk, but no bear. We drove on into Jackson and grabbed some dinner before heading back to camp. The kids are getting a little homesick now, but I think they are just tired. Hopefully everyone will get a good night’s sleep tonight and be ready to go tomorrow.

Yellowstone - Day Seven

    Our last full day in Yellowstone, and we made the most of it! We started our day off with a look at the tallest waterfall in the park – the Lower Falls. It is spectacular! The smoke from the forest fires was pretty heavy today, so the sky was very gray instead of blue, but the pictures were still amazing. It was a bit cool this morning, and it did not warm up as quickly as it has the past few days, which we think was due to the smoke covering the sun. After spending a while enjoying the views of the Lower falls, we drove down to the Upper Falls overlook. These falls are both part of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, which is in fact, pretty grand! I’m not sure how many feet down it goes, but it is a lot! The canyon walls are colored in many different hues, and I think you could look at it for hours.

          We went on a moose hunt next. We were determined to see some down by Lake Yellowstone. We were not so lucky, as no moose decided to make an appearance for us. We did get to spot a few elk alongside the road though. The lake was fun anyway, even without the moose. We went to the docks, and to the iconic Yellowstone Lake Lodge. We stopped at Grant Village and had a picnic on the lakeshore. The lakeshore is made up of very tiny volcanic rock. The kids found this  interesting and would have stayed there for hours if we had let them. They played in the rocks and in the water and we had a nice lunch with a view. Zack even napped on the beach.

          We stopped at the geyser basin on the lakeshore and took the boardwalk through it. Some of the geysers are even in the lake.

          Our next stop was the Old Faithful area because I had seen a souvenir I just had to have. I checked my Yellowstone app to see when Old Faithful would go off, and it said, 3:34. I looked at the clock and it was 3:32! We parked quickly and ran across the large parking lot to see the eruption. We arrived breathless only to find out I had been looking at a clock in our home time zone, and it was an hour from eruption…..

          We got our souvenirs and headed to our hike of the day – Mystic Falls. This is a tremendous hike that I would highly recommend. It starts out in the Biscuit Basin geyser area, and then winds through a pine forest alongside a beautiful mountain creek. The prize at the end is a massive waterfall roaring out of the mountains. The waterfall is still in a thermal area, so there are little hot springs running into the water at this spot. It was fun to feel the hot water mix with the cool mountain stream. The kids loved climbing the boulders and feeling the wind and the spray from the waterfall. The rocks are not slick like the ones at home, and it makes for jumping from one to the next a lot safer. After taking many pictures, we hopped on the high trail and hiked to the top of the mountain. I would guess we were around 9,000 feet up by then. There were a lot of switchbacks to get up to the top and pretty precarious ledges. All in all the hike was fantastic  - the pine trees, the mountain stream, the waterfall, and the panoramic views were all wonderful!

          Everyone was tired and hungry when we got back to the car. So with just a quick drive through Firehole Road, we headed back to our campsite. We finished our evening with dinner and a campfire. Tomorrow we head down to the Tetons.