FaMily ;)

I love the word "family" and all the meaning it holds. Family is the place where you are most loved, accepted, and cherished for who you are and not what you do. Its the people who would do anything for you and you would do anything for them! Each member of the family holds a specific role, which are all unique; but those roles all work together to create a peaceful, safe atmosphere. At least that's the way it should be! 

But some people do not like the word "family" because it does not hold this same meaning to them. My eyes have been opened to the many people who are not privileged to have this type of family. They are not loved or cherished for who they are; In fact, they are hated and ridiculed for who they are. They do not come first in the hearts of their family members, but come second to material things. Each family member holds a role, but it does not mean they work together to create a peaceful atmosphere. Instead, they hurt each other, causing lasting pain. Because of all this, family for a lot of kids is a scary, painful place to be.

But praise God, our earthly family is not the only family we can belong to.When we accept Christ in to our hearts, we become a part of the family of God. This family is everything it should be as mentioned above...and so much more. The Bible says we will receive His inheritance; and as His children...All He has belongs to us!! Most importantly we now have a Father who never stops loving and accepting us. He creates the most perfect, safe place where we can go to. Other believers become our brothers and sisters and this relationship will last for eternity! 

The people here in Brazil have taught me so much about the true family of God! They would do anything for each other and so many have accepted me as a family member and made me feel safe and loved! So what are we doing to create a safe, peaceful environment for others in the family of God? There is no room for ridicule or hurtful words and actions in God's family. Remember, other believers will be your family for all eternity....so how are you treating them today?

God has blessed me with a wonderful family that I have taken for granted far too often! Being thousands of miles away from them has definitely made me appreciate them to much more than ever before. But the biggest eye opener for me is seeing all these 60 kids at the Lar who do not have a family...let alone a good one! So I am thankful for the family that God has blessed me with! I miss and love me nieces and nephew...being around kids all day definitely makes me think of them often!! 

So Dad, Mom, Lauri, Mike, Lori, Kristi, Sherri, Hayle, Kali, and Dominick I love yall so much and miss you everyday!! <3 I praise God for you and the role you play in my life!!

-His Daughter-

Melissa ;)

Letting Go

      Ok so I have always been protective of my things. I like for people to ask before they borrow things and I like for stuff to be in order, at least where it makes sense to me!! In other words, I have a personal bubble, and I have always been particular about who invades that personal bubble and how much they do so!! :) Well i think God is working in overtime to break me of this attitude in my life. lol Every day here at the Lar is kind of like a personal bubble invasion...I am not saying that I dont like it, just that it takes getting used to is all!! :) For example, the kids love to come in to my apartment and hang out, listen to my ipod, take pictures with my camera, and the girls love to try on my jewelry, etc!! Everything in my nature wants to yell at them to leave my things alone and leave my "space"....but then God so gently says, Melissa...these are not your things, they are mine and you are simply taking care of them for a while!! And then He says, Melissa...why are you here at this orphanage? To show them My (Gods) love...so do that...show them my love!!! I am also reading a book, you may have heard of it..."The Purpose Driven Life"! This book talks about this very thing and the fact that this earth is merely temporary and the things we have here will all pass away someday. I need to be storing up treasures in heaven (loving and serving these kids) instead of storing up treasures here on this temporary earth (worrying about these things)!! So anyway, just an honest insight to what God is teaching me!!
     This week was the third week of our Discipleship Bible study with the teenage girls! The first week was the introduction week, and the past two weeks we talked about our identity as believers! This is a very important topic and I pray that i represented Christ well as i taught it! The girls are very shy about opening up and sharing in front of each other, so it will take a while for them to really talk and share in the Bible Study! The most important thing, though, is that it is resonating with their hearts and souls! So on Tuesdays shout out a quick prayer for these girls, that they would be open to hear from God and to accept what He wants to say to them! Pray that I would have wisdom and allow God to speak through me!
     This past weekend we had some fun trips for some of the kids. The Lar has a point system set up for behavior and progress in school, etc. Once they earn so many points (kind of like an allowance), they are allowed to go on some kind of trip! So on Saturday morning and afternoon we took 4 of them to the beach and a small water park at a hotel along the beach! Sadly it ended up being a rainy day, but we had a lot of fun anyway! That evening we took a separate group of 4 to go bowling! This was the first time for 2 of them, so they absolutely loved it...it was so awesome just to see their excitement and huge genuine smiles! :) I was also able to go with a friend to her karate class on Friday night; it kicked my butt!! haha :) Karate is hard-core working out for sure, but it was definitely a lot of fun. It was cool to learn defensive moves, some kicks and punches, and just watching all of them do really cool forms!!
     Its hard to believe that I have been here for a month already! I can honestly say that it has been so fulfilling, being here...and God has taught me so much! Teaching is still difficult, more some days than others, but God continually gives me grace, strength, and wisdom in this! The most challenging part is still the language barrier...I am able to communicate farely well for the most part with the kids and I can understand a lot of what is going on in conversations (if i concentrate)!! One of the house moms and one of the tutors that comes to teach the kids both want to learn English really bad so I help them with English and they help me with Portuguese.
     And for those of you who know that I am not much of a cook, they are def teaching me how to cook from scratch!! :) So hopefully before too long, ill be a pro in the kitchen!! hehe Lets Hope!! ;) Well i think thats all for tonight...continue to keep me in your prayers as i seek to shine the light of Christ, may i always represent His name well and bring nothing but glory to Him!!! 


-Liss

The first 3 Weeks!

     Well I am not much of a writer, but several people mentioned to me about posting my thoughts and experiences from this journey that God has me on so i figured I would give it a shot. About 8 months ago, God called me to spend a year working at a wonderful orphanage in Fortaleza, Brazil. The directors, and all involved, truly have a passion for sharing the love of Christ with these kids as well as giving them a vision and hope for a better future! So these are my rambling thoughts as best as i can compile them! :)
     My first experience of Brazil was in the airport on Rio de Janeiro where I missed my connecting flight to Fortaleza and had to hang out in the airport for about 7 hours! I almost cried right there in the middle of everything going on around me because I was terrified! But then I remembered that God had called me to this, and I knew that He would take care of me! It actually turned out nice to be able to have that time to spend with God and think and read, etc!! :) So when I finally made it to Fortaleza I was more than relieved! The missionaries made me feel right at home from the very beginning and I loved it already!
     After a couple days, I moved into my apartment at the orphanage (called Davis Lar) and started to meet the kids!! Imagine my shock when i realized that only two other people living at the Lar spoke English out of the 60 kids, 5 house moms, two cooks, and a few maintenance guys! I was terrified and thought that it would be nice to just go back home! Sure that would have been the comfortable thing to do at the time, but God was asking me to do what was uncomfortable to me! And so the fun began!
     The first week at the Lar was the kids' last week of their break from school (technically it was their summer break)! So i had lots of time to hang out and get to know the kids as well as get adjusted to living here! I cant tell you how many movies i watched with the kids that first week of being here...something like 20 or so!! sheesh...it was fun though :) These kids are awesome and they are so fun to hang out with, its cool to see them entertain themselves without having to have tv or video games, etc!! 
     So the next week was their first week going back to school. Now everything goes back to a normal scheduled routine and so began a new challenge for me...teaching English classes!! At more than one point in my life im pretty sure ive said that i would never be a teacher! And then they give me 4 classes per day to teach..with varying age groups! I was given no curriculum to follow so I had to come up with my own lesson plans and then follow them out with methods of teaching to keep them interested as well as games to stimulate learning! Like I said, Im not much of a teacher so for me, I knew I would have to completely rely on God for this one (not that I dont have to for anything else, its just that it doesnt come naturally for me)!! Maybe its better this way because if the kids learn anything, then I will know that it was all God and nothing that I did! :) This week was hectic with the classes because the kids' schedules were not completely set yet...this means that kids were everywhere and of course all of them wanted to be on the computers at the same time! All the girls watched so much Justin Bieber and High School Musical on youtube that I thought I was going to scream!
     This week our schedule was much more set and organized so it went better! The teaching is not as bad as I thought it was going to be (most days) and I love when I see it click for some of them :) This week I was also able to start a Bible Study with the teenage girls! We are doing a 12 week study with them about the basics of the faith. We chose 5 topics to study each one for 2 weeks. The Girls paired up and took the topics to study on their own and they seemed really excited about the study and what all we were gonna be doing! This is very encouraging to see their excitement! And of course I am excited because this is the reason that I believe God has called me here! These girls have so much to offer and i love hanging out with them! They have taught me so much Portuguese and so I am just starting to be able to communicate with them in very small ways! 
     As a whole the kids here are so very loving. Everyday i get so many hugs and kisses and even little notes that say I love you melissa! It fills my heart with joy and I pray that I could have that same impact on them!! So far, ive only gotten homesick once or twice and it didnt last very long...I think that i havent really gotten homesick because I feel like this is a home away from home for me!!! 
     One last story and then im done for today....the other day i was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch and one of the house moms (who doesnt speak English) came up to me and asked me how I was doing. I told her that I wasnt feeling very good! She told me that she was praying for me and started telling me different ways that I could feel better...like drink lots of orange juice, take a shower and a nap, etc!! I wanted to hug her and cry all at the same time...she barely knows me, and yet she was communicating such words of comfort at a time when I really needed it! And even though we dont speak the same language, I could feel the Spirit of God in her connecting with my Spirit and I was so comforted!! 


So if you are still with me at this point I am impressed!! I promise all the posts wont be this long...this is 3 weeks packed into one! hehe :) 


All For HIS Glory!!
-Liss