Internet Finally!

Hi everyone,

I know it has been a while. I have recently moved into a new house and I didn't have internet for a while and the school internet has been down too.
Story #1
Let's see..the last month has been very busy and an adventure. I have had an electrical fire in my house. My ceiling fan caught on fire. My roommate came in my house and I was in the shower about ready to go to church when she told me to get out of the shower because there was fire. The other missionaries came to our rescue and there was no damage. Thank the Lord!

Story #2
I was at another missionary's house when there electrical box caught on fire too. Their 4 year child was in the shower, so I rescued him and it was pitch black. We all had a slumber party at my house because my house had power. Sam, the four year old, said, "Wow, mommy there are fireworks in our backyard!"

Story #3
Anna, my roommate and I have a waterbox that feeds water into our house. It uses God given gravity to feed it into our house. Well it was broken for the first 2 or 3 weeks in the house and it would overflow and would sound like a waterfall outside my bedroom window. My neighbor was disturbed greatly by the waterfall and so he decided daily that he would turn our water box off. He was told several times not to mess with it but continued to do so. Several days in a row our showers needless to say were interesting freezing cold or scorching hot. Praise the Lord that we had water though. There were a few days that we had very little water.

Story#4
I was out with a Brazilian friend of mine and I went to a 50 wedding anniversary party. The party was great. I just fell across the busiest street in Belem and my friend held my hand after that. Also, it was raining really hard when I returned from the party and the roads were flooded with about a foot of water. The buses moved up for me so I could get off the bus. One of our missionary friends had to rescue us because we could not walk in the flooded streets. I think I will purchase some great boots!

Story #5
I was taking a shower this week and I have a stool that I sit on while I take a shower. Well as I was about to get out of the shower it broke into about 20 pieces. I fell to the ground. My stool had mold on it and I think that is why it broke. Praise the Lord I was not hurt!

Story #6
Happy Birthday! I just turned 30 years. I praise the Lord for his faithfulness and I thank him that I have the opportunity to serve him and through Him I can do anything! His hand is truly is on my ministry here because I have met so many new friends and I am really enjoying a new Bible study and fellowship with other Brazilians. My life is guided by Him and I want to Praise him for electricity, water, friends, stools, missionaries, my roommate, Anna, and slumber parties. Oh yeah, my students and I celebrated my birthday too and one of the other teachers made me a homemade carrot cake it was delicious!!


Praise Him always,
Nova

I will post pictures soon!

No or very little internet and iguanas

Hi everyone,
I hope you are well. I have been without internet for a while now. I have not been able to update my blog very often. Wow, it has been a great month and a long one too. I have moved into a new house with my new roommate named Anna. She was in language school for 3 months prior to coming to live with me. She arrived on Tuesday. She is so awesome. She will be teaching upper elementary at AVA. The missionaries here have helped me in so many ways with the move. They moved my personal belongings, furniture, etc. Also, they repaired my water box, my electricity, toilet, shower head, sprayed for fire ants, the list goes on. Thank the Lord for them. My house's electricity works on phases and it runs the water too.

Also, I had a very unique experience at school last week. One of my students asked to go to the bathroom and then he came back a few minutes later and said there is a lizard in the bathroom. He said it was in the trash can. I said, "Have you washed your hands?" "No." I said, "Go back into the bathroom and wash your hands, the lizard won't bother you." He said, "okay." A few seconds later, I heard a lot of noise outside. I went to see what was going on. There wasn't a lizard in the boys' bathroom but a 2 or 3 feet iquana. I told him to go around him but the Brazilian children said no because their tails whip. But eventually he walked toward and it was scared away. Only in the tropics, would I experience an iguana at my school. I am just waiting for the snake now.

I will post pictures of an iquana and my house soon.

Blessings,
Nova

Rainy Season

That covered area is the bike rack
for the students.

Right outside my classroom!

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well. I thought you might want to see the tropics in rainy season. No, these are not lakes but this is where I normally walk. There are sidewalks underneath these puddles (or should I say lakes) of water. This is the school campus where I work. Wow! It rains hard here! There are so many of God's creatures here in Brazil too. He is a Great Creator!

Nova

2 MORE in the KINGDOM!!!!!!!

My favorite roosters!

The waterpark

The kids' favorite--the slides!

Sam is dancing in the pool.

The hotel where we stayed!

George's Birthday party at school!

The vacationers!

The Beach where Fabiana and Fabiane got saved!

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well. Wow, the last few weeks have been an adventure! Let's see...You will see a picture of roosters. Those roosters live outside my apartment and they crow at all hours of the day. So I thought they would be appropriate right before Easter. I thought the palm trees would be appropriate for Palm Sunday too. Guess what, I saw a donkey, palm branches, crosses, roosters and I even in live in Bethlehem-Belem. So I am living out the Bible right here and the best part--2 people are going to live with Jesus because Cindy and I told them about the Lord this week. I went on vacation this week to the beach and we shared the gospel and our testimonies in Portuguese to four people. They were selling jewelry, quail eggs, and various other things. We had some left over lunch and we gave it to them and then we had the opportunity to tell them about the Lord. Two of them received Jesus on March 30th. We even drove through the town of Thessalonica, so I truly felt like Paul this week.

"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" Acts 28:28

Amen! Praise the Lord for those who respond to the Gospel!

Nova

Spirit Week

Hi everyone,
I hope you are well. The last few weeks have been extremely busy. We celebrated Spirit Week for my school. One of the days, we had crazy hat day. I even wore a snake on the top of my head. It was very appropriate for Brazil, don't you think? I led a Bible study, taught, worshipped the Lord in Portuguese, took Portuguese lessons, among other things. We are coming upon the Resurrection season. I am so thankful that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and arose from the dead. I am doing this all for Him. Also, I taught my children about St. Patrick and how He was a missionary to Ireland. He was actually British. He got kidnapped by Irish pirates and worked as a shepherd for 6 years and he accepted the Lord when he was taking care of his flocks. He escaped back to Great Britain and then felt the Lord calling him to be a missionary in Ireland, so he went back to Ireland. He told the gospel using a 3-leaf clover to represent the Trinity. He emphasized that the people needed to worship the Creator and not the creation. My children made and cut out a clover and wrote the names of God on there to help them to remember our God 3 in 1. It was cool! They enjoyed it! By the way, St. Patrick wrote something called "The Breastplate Prayer." Here it is:

I arise today through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Wow, that prayer is really powerful!

It reminds me of one of my favorite Scripture verses:
"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
Romans 11:36

Praise the GREAT I AM!
Amen!!!!
Nova

Language Help

Hi everyone,
I hope you are well. This week has been long but it has been good for learning Portuguese. Also, I started a Bible study called One in a Million by Priscilla Shirer. It is a study through the promise land. Wow, this week it talked about complaining! The Israelites had complained about the manna they received and how they missed the Egyptian food. It was a good reminder to me not to complain about anything the Lord has blessed me with. Anyway, as you know, I am getting tutored by one of my parents in my class in Portuguese. As a treat, I went out to dinner with her and spoke to her in Portuguese for 5 hours. Yes, I said 5 hours! I can't believe I can hold a conversation in Portuguese for 5 hours now. We had dinner on the docks of the Amazon River. The Amazon River is so beautiful at night! I even got to eat my favorite new dessert since arriving in Brazil, acai ice cream! I love it! We spoke about her family, the history of Belem, school, my parents, my faith etc. She gave me the Brazilian tour of Belem! That was special! God has truly blessed me with great friendships here! Also, continue to pray for Chile and the people there as they are recovering from that terrible earthquake! Please pray for a new ministry I am getting involved with-Children's Church! It will give me an opportunity to speak in Portuguese to Brazilian children. Praise the Lord!
There is truly nothing to complain about. Thank-you Lord for how You provide!

Psalm 139:7-10:
"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

Thank-you, O LORD for knowing every part of me! You are there and You provide for my every need and I do not need to complain because You know what is best for me!!!

Amen!!
Nova

I feel like Kevin from Home Alone! My HANDS ON MY FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone,
Let's see...I killed a tarantula (Yes, a furry leg spider!) this morning at 5:30. I have killed cockroaches today. I have laughed all day. I need my paint cans and everything. By the way, did I tell you my door to my classroom is broken? My kids and I got locked in. Classroom Alone or should I say Classroom Alone with 9 first graders! I love my First Graders! I must have looked like the crook on Home Alone trying to open the door only to finally get the door open with a paint can upside my face. Oh yeah, did I tell you that we got locked in again. I had the door open and one of my students needed to go to bathroom. I tell them every day to close the door. I am so glad I have trained them well. Slam! The door is closed again! We are locked in again. By the time they got us out, I used a chair to keep it open for the rest of the day.
(Okay, Okay the chair wasn't my idea it was another teacher's idea) But I praise the Lord for her!
The upside..I had pot roast, carrots, and onions for dinner and even apple pie. God is so good!
Laughing with my students! Also, I need to become a exterminator when I return to the States!
Nova