Wow, it has been a long time!

Hi everyone,
Wow, it has been a crazy few months. God has been very faithful these last few months. I have had time to reflect about this God-given adventure. I wouldn't trade it for a second. It is weird to think, I will be going home in 7 weeks. They are actually issuing my ticket home. Since my last update, I have gotten into Seminary and I have applied for a grant. I won't know if I got it until June. I am shopping for all those flip-flops everybody wants. One of the last things I want to do is take a boat ride on the Amazon. It looks like I am going to ride the Amazon in the first part of May. I will take pictures.

Pray for one of my students...I think she is getting close to accepting the Lord. I have been sharing the Gospel a lot lately. Just pray as we get closer to the Easter season. My students have grown so much this year; I am so proud of them.

Birthdays and more birthdays...my friends or mission family have celebrated so many birthdays. It is a blessing to be a part of these celebrations. Anna, my roommate, is celebrating her birthday in Italy next week. How fun!!!

God has spoken to me with this verse recently. I thank Him for His Word.
Gal 6:9
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Despite the things that Satan tries to put in my path (illness, spiritual warfare, etc.), I am going to remain steadfast and remember His promises. Thank-you, Lord for this awesome experience. I will be your faithful servant forever!!! I am on my knees for the lost people of this nation and for all people everywhere!!!

In Him,
Nova

illness and quick update

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well. I am good. Wow, the last month has been quite an adventure. I have had a fever for 3 weeks straight. My class has had a substitute for 2 weeks. I still don't know what I have. I go back to the doctor tomorrow to find out. I also had yet another staph infection. I was on crutches for 2 weeks. Through it all, God has taught me to continue rely on Him! I am thankful that God is continually faithful. I have some pictures that I will post soon.

Here is a crazy story..about 3 weeks ago... I went to dinner with some of the other teachers. When we were coming home, a motorcycle hit us. He was drunk. Two of the men in our van got out and spoke to him. They finally agreed to give this man money even though it wasn't our fault. Instead the man threw it back at us, so we decided to leave because he wasn't making any sense. It was a very minor accident. (A scratch) If you file a report in Brazil with the police, it will take literally 6 hours of waiting for the police to arrive. So we decided to leave and this is when the fun started. I felt like I was on an episode of COPS. He started chasing us at high speed in crazy traffic. He blocked the on ramp with his motorcycle. We were swerving back and forth in traffic trying to get away from him. He tried to block us again. Finally, we turned down the road dirt, pothole road(potholes the size of cars) that the school is on and we were speeding down it. He did not see us turn. We were bumping our heads on the car's ceiling. We had escaped. We had gone through the gate and we were safe! We had called some other missionaries to help us. One of them came and helped us but by then the crazy motorcyclist was gone. PRAISE THE LORD!!

Well until the next adventure,

Nova

Thank God our Great Physician!!

Christmas and Christmas Eve 2010

Missionary Brunch on Christmas morning

Nova and Luciana's mom praying

Nova by Luciana's Christmas tree

Nova and Luciana's mom embracing

Nova and Luciana's aunt

Nova and Luciana's family

Christmas Eve 2010

Luciana made this delicious chocolate cake

Luciana's brother

Luciana and Nova

Brazilian version of green bean casserole

Our Christmas Eve food

Nova and Anna Christmas morning

Our calendar and pecan pie

Mks enjoying their gifts

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN FOR MORE POSTS! THERE IS A LOT OF PINK SPACE FOR SOME REASON! I HAVE PUT 3 OR 4 NEW POSTS RECENTLY!

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!! I had a very special Christmas! I went with a Brazilian friend of mine and celebrated Christmas there. Brazilians celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve into early Christmas morning. They typically eat there main meal at midnight. Although, we ate our meal at 10:30. They usually celebrate into the early morning hours. However, we went to bed at 12:30am. I enjoyed it and we watched a movie! I celebrated with Luciana and her family. On Christmas morning, all the missionaries went to over to another missionary's house for brunch. We had cinnamon rolls, waffles, biscuits and gravy, egg and bacon breakfast casseroles, acerola juice (fruit from here), etc. It was good!! Anna and I got a calendar and a delicious pecan pie, and chocolate cake. Then to top the day off, I went over to the Kennedy's and ate Christmas dinner! Cindy is an awesome cook! Can you say thirds on fried okra? I am soI blessed for great friends this year! I enjoyed talking to my family over the phone too.

Blessed,

Nova

"for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Brazilian Wedding and Airplane

My Brazilian Pastor and his wife

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well. Merry Christmas!! I just recently went to a Brazilian wedding. It was so beautiful! It was held at the Naval Officer's Club. We had planes literally flying over the wedding roof. It was like being in an air show. They were lifting off from the airstrip only a few yards away. The wedding lasted about 4 hours. It went from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. I am so thankful that I got to have this cultural experience. The bride and groom are so blessed. The food, fellowship, and friends are priceless. For Braziian weddings, it is typical for the bride to show about an hour late. They also did not cut the cake. It was a beautiful cake though. The bride and groom go to my Brazilian church.

Also, one of my friends helped build this airplane. He is a pilot and I got a taste of being in the driver's seat. Air traffic controllers be out on the lookout for Nova, the Pilot! Just kidding! No, I am not changing my day job...somehow, I don't think the skies are ready for me just yet!!! I'll stick to teaching 2+2=4! Good thing!!

Blessed by all these experiences!

Nova

ZC video semana

Hey everyone,
Here is a longer video of the Zion Camp that I went to back in November! Enjoy!

Nova

Ballet

oops..I cut some of the video! I am still learning how to use Windows Movie Maker! Enjoy the dancing and music anyway!!
Nova

4 SALVATIONS !!! Christmas parties, the Christmas program, and the Ballet

Our School Christmas Tree


This was off a powerpoint... It is a little hard to see... It is the name of the ballet..Sleeping Beauty!



My kids watching a "Charlie Brown's Christmas"

My students are getting ready to sing at the Christmas Program.

Bible Study at the English Service..This study is where the 4 people got saved!!!

The people who got saved are on the back row!

Nova and Emanuelle

My student reading her Bible.

I am handing out their Bibles.

Speaking parts of the Christmas Program

Mary and Joseph

Angels

Waiting to hand out Bibles

Hi everyone,

I hope you are having a blessed Christmas season with your families! Well..let's celebrate not because of the Christmas parties but let's rejoice because 4 PEOPLE BECAME CHRISTIANS at the English Service in Anna's small group...She shared the gospel and I helped write out the sinner's prayer and Evelyn, one of our friends let them to the LORD in Portuguese!!! He is so good!!!! I pray that our Christmas program and parties spoke to the parents and students alike. I know they heard the Christmas story ..Pray that those seeds grow into decisions!!!! Let's see what else.. I went to the ballet to see one of our students perform in a professional ballet. It was so cool. We had Christmas parties for Anna's small group and for our classes. They were fun! At school, we watched "Charlie Brown's Christmas." At the Christmas program, my students sang Silent Night, Away in a Manger, and Go Tell it on the Mountain. They did a great job!! Also, it is tradition for my students to get Bibles at Christmas time because they are learning how to read! One of my students really loved her Bible!! I so glad she loves her Bible!!!!!

Something funny and strange...

After the ballet, a friend of my mine was driving and I saw people exercising on gym equipment in the median of a major road. The city has about 10 treadmills and bikes etc. for people to workout in the median? I don't know why.

Okay.. We had a business meeting today at church that lasted almost 4 hours. Well, while we were there... A 12 year boy tried to steal some tools from the church. He dashed when a police officer we had in the congregation threatened to arrest him.

Nothing surprises me anymore! I am ready for just about anything! Also, on the way back from church, we saw a man dressed in a superman costume walking down one of the busiest roads in the city.

In Complete Awe of Him!!!! Keep Drawing, Lord!!!

Have a Merry Christmas,

Nova