I'm Thankful.

So, I know I'm late with this post since it's not Thanksgiving day anymore, but it's still Thanksgiving weekend--and on Thanksgiving day I was not in any state to post a blog!

I decided that (this year at least--no promises for next year!) I wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving here, even though it's not a Brasilian holiday. I decided to make the usual Thanksgiving dinner spread and invite some people over. "Some people" grew to be lots of people (it's impossible to "pick and choose") and at some point near the beginning of this week I realized that there were about 40 people planning to come! I kinda freaked out a little, but the calmed myself down by reminding myself that it was only about double what I would have made for our family--slight exaggeration, but it helped me think more calmly about what I had gotten myself into.

I planned the menu carefully and had everything timed out. The only problem is that I couldn't find ingredients for several of the items I was going to make! Improvise! :) Anyway, everything turned out great--I was only a little behind schedule, we only ran out of potatoes and salad (and plates!), only 32 people were able to make it and the guys cleaned up afterwards (did ALL the dishes!).

I really have much to be thankful for--not only this season, but in general for everything God has done for me! I am so blessed to be in the house where I a living, have fellowship and fun with so many great people, be speaking portugues with little difficulty, be able to encourage and be encouraged by brothers and sisters in Christ, have the family and friends that I have in the USA who are so supportive and faithful in their prayers, have good health, have only minor "issues" adapting to life here........

The list could go on and on, but the main thing I'm grateful for is JESUS. I know that could sound really "Christian", but He is really the ONLY reason for me to be grateful for any of the above. Thank you Jesus--for dying on the cross, for by your blood enabling me to be counted righteous in the sight of a Holy God, for showing us how to love others and enabling us by the power of the holy spirit to really love. Thank you!

I survived my first Field Council

Ok, so I'm just realizing now that I never posted the "post Rio visit" blog! (shows how often I read my own blog!)

Well, now that we're at the end of October, there is a lot more to post about. One thing is that we (the other 11 missionaries here and our "boss" and I) just got down with a week of meetings called "Field Council". I was very unsure of how I would last through a week of meetings, but I survived--and survived smiling!

Part of what was decided/affirmed at the FC was that I will be looking at a move to Rio sometime around March of 2010. That will allow me time to complete my 1-year of language school--I agree that the more fluent in Portuguese I can get, the better! I'm currently working on writing projects and presentations in Portuguese at the school, as well as advanced grammar--and am hoping that these types of projects will help with interpreting (if I end up interpreting from Portuguese into the Brazilian sign language--LIBRAS).

When I move to Rio in March (or April) I will, Lord willing, "shadow", or do an internship with, Marília who is in charge of deaf ministry in Brazil for the Brazilian Baptist Convention. I was able to meet with her in September when I went to visit my colleagues in Rio and had a good conversation with her. What I felt like I learned is that there are lots of opportunities for me to be involved--and I'm hoping that spending some time as an "intern" would help me understand better how exactly I can be involved.

Please pray for relationships in Campinas and for future relationships in Rio. I know the move from Campinas to Rio won't be easy, but I'm excited to see what God is doing there!

I'm planning on coming back to MN for Christmas, so would love to see you all then! Love you all and thank you so much for your prayers!

Update

Dear Faithful prayer partners,

I'm so sorry that it has been so long since I've sent an update. I promise to be more faithful in sending you updates. I cannot believe that it has been 6 months since I got here. Sometimes it seems like so much longer than that (mostly because of relationships and level of comfort here), and sometimes it seems like I just got here yesterday!

Thank you for your prayers! I know you've been praying because I can see how much God has been working in/through me and is continuing to do so. Since I sent out my last update, I had the opportunity to go back to Austria for my brother's wedding. Almost the whole family was able to be there, and it was such a great time being together--and for such a joyful occasion.

I've been continuing with Portugues classes and am planning on continuing to further my grasp on the language--reading literature, writing more, doing projects/presentations, etc. God has blessed me so much in how the language learning process has been going thus far and pray for His continued blessing as I focus more time on learning the sign language, LIBRAS (LInguagem BRAsileira de Sinais). I was able to find an advanced sign language class here at the University of Campinas (I live right next to the campus). Actually, it's a really cool story of how that all came about. I had been looking for a sign language class for this semester, but hadn't been finding one. I was getting somewhat desperate, especially since I was leaving for Austria and was going to be gone the last two weeks of break before the second semester started. On the Friday before I left, my roommate mentioned that there might be a course through the university. We found the class, but it was the last day to register and they wanted a certificate to show that I had completed a basic course. After many phone calls and problems with my paperwork, I made it into the class! Praise God that everything happened at just the right time!

Please be praying for me now as I am starting to think about what type of opportunities there are for serving the deaf here. I will be visiting my colleagues in Rio the 14-21st of September and will, Lord willing, be able to talk to someone involved in deaf ministry there. There are many deaf people in every city--please pray for wisdom as I seek how the Lord would have me serve them and share with them the good news of the gospel!

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil...and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel...that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak." Eph. 6:10-11 and 17-20

I am so encouraged by having such faithful prayer partners!

Love you all!
ellie


--
Ellie Lundquist
Converge Worldwide/BGC missionary
Deaf Ministry--Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

www.ellielundquist.blogspot.com

A few pictures

Hey everyone! I know it's been awhile since I've written--so sorry! I've been keeping pretty busy with life here. A couple of weekends ago I had the opportunity to go to another state, Minas Gerais, to visit the grandparents of my roommates Pri & Leticia. Their grandparents live in a small mountain town.



Their grandparents house is the first hose on the left side of the picture. There were 11 people in all who stayed there for the extended weekend (we had a holiday for Corpus Cristi).



I almost killed a chicken, but chickened out at the last minute! :)



Helped pick oranges...

And rode a horse!! It was a fun weekend! I hope to post more soon! Thank you all for your prayers--language school is going really well! Praise God!

It's good to laugh...

...especially at yourself! And I don't mean at your own jokes, I mean at your mistakes!



When I was going through MTI (the missionary training program in Colorado), one of our phonetics/linguistics teachers always told us: "You will make a million mistakes while learning a new language. Some of these mistakes will count for 500!" He also told us that one of our responsibilites while learning the language was to provide entertainment for those around us. Believe me I have! :) I haven't had many BIG mistakes, but I had one the other day that makes everyone laugh to this day (I have to admit I'm glad they're laughing!).



Here's the story...

I decided to learn the national anthem of Brasil. My roommates told me that if I could succesfully learn the national anthem, and sing it, I would be "fluent". The lyrics for the song are complex and it is sung quickly. Anyway, I decided I would learn it! I found the lyrics online and was reading them out loud for my roommates. Needless to say I only got to the third line before I mispronounced a word--badly! I guess that if you put the emphasis in the wrong part of this word it means, instead of brilliant, "F-you" (not that nicely). They all started laughing uproariously and insisted that I repeat what I said for the other people in the house--and others that weekend. It was quite funny! I assured them that I never use that phrase in English!

acampamento

I went to a "youth camp" last weekend with people from the Presbyterian church here in my neighborhood. There were about 40 people and it was SUPER fun. It was really good to get to know people at the church. I felt like I really didn't have a church home before this because I've been "church hopping" since I got here, but now it feels better. I don't know for sure if I'll stay there, but, we'll see!

This is the mini-lake that was at the camp.

Here is a group of my friends from the church.

There were these little monkeys that would take pieces of banana from your hand. So fun!

Two of my roommates, Leticia and Priscila, and I (they are sisters, for those of you who were wondering).

Leticia and I in the rowboat. (Life vests were required!)

a question...

If I'm making cake and the recipe calls for eggs, but I use yogurt, how would I say that?

1.) When I make cake, I substitute eggs for yogurt.

OR

2.) When I make cake, I substitute yogurt for eggs.


Another case:

If I say--They subbed (substituted) Garnett for Powe. Who was in the game to start out with and who came in as a replacement?

If you know a linguistic explanation for why the order is the way it is, please let me know! I'm asking because portugues is in the opposite order of how it is (or how I think it is) in English.