Paraty Boat People

Paraty Boat People
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

Greetings from Paraty, Brazil!!

Thank you so much for you who are praying so faithfully for me! This week is definitely presenting its challenges. We are here in Paraty, a very tourist-y town in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The people are more worldly and materialistic than in Atibaia. The church is pretty big, but it's hard to find people there that really want to serve and follow the Lord with more than their lips.

Each afternoon, we do home visits to people who are unsaved--we do kind of a Bible study, a little, and we pray and give them a 4 spiritual laws booklet. Then, at 6pm, we give English classes for the boat people--the guys who drive the boats and often need to interact with English-speaking tourists. There are a lot of them that showed up for the classes! The Gales created a crash course that includes phrases that they need the most. Other people started coming to the classes, too, and today we had 3 groups. Immediately after the classes, we hold a church service. The people of the church lead the worship, Paul gives the message, I usually sing special music, and sometimes we give our testimonies.

As I said, thanks for your prayers. First of all, nothing that we thought we had planned turned out as we thought. We are having to do a lot of things for the service that we didn't think we would have to do, and a lot of the English classes are on the fly. Also, Micheli and Ana (organizer extraordinaire and pro English teacher) both came down with a horrible flu, and Sonya Gale (the other expert English teacher) lost her voice almost entirely. So, that meant that Laura Gale and I both taught English for the first time tonight! You can imagine that we did a lot of singing in my class!

Satan is attacking in a lot of other ways, like with people who fell through and leaders that we thought would be here but aren't. . . just a bunch of random stuff that would take too long to explain. This is a place that really needs Christ, and Satan knows it. Pray that hearts would be open to the Gospel, and that God would open the eyes of the people of the church. It is not a healthy church...our job was to come teach English, but it's looking like God has a lot of other jobs for us to do here!

We are tired and sick, but on the other hand I found a little music school and they invited me to come visit one of their classes tomorrow morning, so I'm looking forward to that! Also, some more people from PIBA are arriving tomorrow, which will definitely be a huge encouragement and help! One of the pastors heard of our plight and all of the other people that dropped out on us, and he's coming himself to help with the preaching and the evangelism! Thank you, Lord!!

Ok, thanks again for your prayers during this week! Ate mais (until later),

Joy

More Photos on Flickr

Street Evangelism
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

I posted 9 more photos from Serra Negra on Flickr. To view them, just click on the photo here and on the new Flickr page you can navigate to the rest of the pics, as well as all of the other photos I've posted from Brazil.

Serra Negra

Serra Negra Church
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

Greetings from Brazil!

Today is the one day I have in Atibaia in between two different trips! We just got back from Serra Negra, a little tourist town about 2 hours away from here. A group of Americans (high schoolers and a few adults) from Paul Gale's church came to help with a music clinic at this little storefront church, and we also did services at the church and an evangelistic performance in the plaza near the center of town. The town is pretty small, and the first thing we saw was a huge banner that said "Americans from Michigan--Free Music Clinic Friday and Saturday." Our picture was in the newspaper and the publicity really helped bring unsaved people to the music classes, and we were able to invite them to the various services we held during the weekend. At the last service on Sunday, there was an invitation for people to accept Christ, and several people made this decision.

A lot of the people in our music classes were not church people at all. I had 11 people in my keyboard class (two keyboards--everyone just stuck their hand in and each got an octave with which to play Happy Birthday, and everything was great!) and 8 people in my beginning guitar class. We also gave classes in saxophone, drumset, and advanced guitar. In my guitar class, 7 of the 8 people were under the age of 10, and their fingers could not exactly push down any of the strings. The one other person was 21 years old. So, we did a lot of singing! At one point in the class, we were singing a song about God and I asked if anyone could tell me who Jesus was. Nobody could tell me! I explained who Jesus was and what He did for us, and why I love him very much.

Serra Negra Church

On Saturday morning, we had the opportunity to watch the sunrise from the top of a nearby mountain!!! A lot of people were not happy about the 4:30 wake up call, but I'm a morning person so it didn't bother me too much. The beauty of it all really rivaled my favorite place to watch the sunrise in Boca (south inlet beach)--the mist in the valley below made it look almost like an ocean! We had breakfast and a special time of prayer on the mountain for Brazil and for our friends and families. Many of you who are reading this Blog were prayed for by name on Saturday morning.

We drove back Sunday afternoon, had a quick turnaround, and all attended the Sunday evening service at PIBA, the last service of what has been "Missions Month" at our church. Afterwards, I got to go out for pizza with a bunch of my Brazilian friends! I have to admit how wonderfully refreshing it was to be speaking Portuguese again, and hanging out with Brazilians. I love Brazil so much! The people and the culture and the language and the scenery. . . I feel so at home here!!! These past few weeks there has been a battle going on inside of me, as to my future. I was confused about post-graduation plans before I got to Brazil, but now I'm even more clueless!!! I thought I could just go to Brazil for 2 months and come back, and life would go back to normal. But this country has affected me far too deeply for me to ever be the same again.

Serra Negra Church

I don't know if God is calling me into the mission field, but I ask you to pray for me right now as I'm struggling with what to do with my future. The decision to be a full-time missionary is not one that can be made on a whim, without weeks or months or years of prayer. Am I willing to sacrifice everything (like, EVERYTHING everything) to follow the Lord? Am I willing to give up my dreams of living in beautiful Boca Raton near my family, being a music teacher at a Christian school, getting married and raising kids. . . not that these things could never happen, but I need to be willing to lay all of these things on the alter, no matter what path my life ends up taking. I want to follow the Lord with reckless abandon, to whatever corner of the earth I am called. Please pray that God will give me the strength to be a living sacrifice--to not try to take control over any part of my life, but let my Creator lead and guide me every day.

Well, tomorrow 9 of us are going to Paraty!!! Paraty is a really pretty historic town near Rio de Janeiro. It's far away, and we're going for a whole week to give English classes to the "Boat people"--the Brazilians who often are shuttling English-speaking tourists around the waterways. We are also working with a local church to do services in the evenings, which will mean lots more singing and playing. Most of our students will not be believers, so please pray for open hearts. I don't know if I'll be able to get internet access there, although I have a feeling Micheli will not be able to survive a week without technology so I'm sure we'll find a internet cafe somewhere. Oh, speaking of, there was an internet cafe in Serra Negra called "JOY.COM!" I didn't have time to go there, I think someone took a picture. Anyway, we return to Atibaia from Paraty on July 6. Thanks so much for everyone's e-mails!! Please understand if I don't have time to respond to everyone before we get back. Most of all, thank you for your prayer and encouragement.

Hugs,
--Joy

Michigan Missions Group

Greetings from Brazil!

I'm sorry for the recent silence--we have a group of American high schoolers down here this week and it's been pretty busy! Yesterday and today were supposed to be spent camping on Pedra Grande, but due to weather we ended up staying at a little retreat center, playing soccer, doing team-building activities in the woods, and helping build a fence.

The best thing is that I got to try being a translator for the first time! WOW is it hard! I never thought I'd be translating after only 3 weeks here, and I still feel very unequipped, but I'm learning over and over how God chooses to use us because we are weak and because we lack the skills that God is ready to provide us with. Not that I could suddenly speak fluent Portuguese, but having faith that God had equipped me with the necessary abilities gave me the confidence to attempt a task I may never have tried otherwise.

Tomorrow the whole American group, plus some people from our church, are going to a tourist town called Serra Negra a few hours away. There is a small church where we will run a music clinic (I only have to teach keyboard this time, as far as I know...) and we will go into the schools, where they let us teach Bible to the kids. The public schools here are required to offer religious education, which means that we can come out and give them the Gospel plain and simple! It's an amazing opportunity! We will also be doing some street evangelism and taking part in a church service or two before coming back to Atibaia Sunday afternoon.

PIBA team

PIBA team
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

I thought I'd post this picture so you can see some of the people I'm working with here. This was in Itapeva at one of the daughter churches of the one that we did the music clinic for. This particular building is only a teeny weeny room with a bunch of benches and they told us that they squeeze 60 people inside sometimes!!! People are so hungry for the Word of God--it doesn't matter what they have to do to hear it!

The people here are: me, Wania (a very talented musician that teaches piano for the city and various music classes at church), Paul and Sonya Gale (my boss/boss' wife), and the Itapeva pastor and his wife.

Right now, the church is absolutely buzzing! Almost every room has a different musical group rehearsing in some way. Tonight a whole group from the church orchestra and choir is going to perform at the opening of some building or something downtown. People heard that PIBA was putting together a small orchestra here, so they asked them to come perform! I am not performing with them (as far as I know) but I might get a chance to go listen! If not, I'll go to the college group tonight. I'm so blessed to be here! It is SO exciting to hear people praising the Lord in so many different ways! I'm finally feeling at home here--I walk through the church and see people I actually know. Today, Susan Collins took me to the drugstore where I bought TISSUES and to the Papeleria where I bought PENS, we went to the outdoor market this morning and I bought pineapple and tomatoes and pastels from the street vendors like a real Brazilian, I made risotto for dinner in my kitchen, I can talk to people in Portuguese and not realize I'm speaking a different language...this is beginning to feel like home!

Somehow, I'm getting the feeling that this summer won't be my last run-in with Brazil. . . we'll see where God leads!!!
--Joy

My Town

Greetings from Brazil!

This place is hoppin'! Yesterday we had our second day in Sao Paulo. This time, we went into the old center of town via subway to what is known as the "armpit of Sao Paulo" to witness to one of Micheli's friends who works there. We didn't take anything of value with us, and I'm learning about being "street smart."

The subway was actually cleaner than the Metro in Miami, and later I realized that the whole time I was so worried about staying close to the others and not getting pickpocketed (although the only thing I had in my pockets was a personal alarm) that I didn't really absorb much of the sleeziness of the area. We got there about an hour early, so we walked around looking for a particular book (which we didn't find), but I was able to buy a Bible!!! I've been pretty desperate for a Portuguese-English NIV parallel Bible, because I only have 2 seperate ones, and my Portuguese one is an old translation that's so hard to understand that I gave up even bringing it to church. Now, it's really easy to follow along, and learn more Portuguese at the same time!

The lunch meeting with Micheli's friend went really well, so I hear--she and Paul talked to her, and Laura Gale and I prayed for them and ate at a different table at the McDonalds (I NEVER thought I'd enjoy eating at McDonalds this much). Afterwards, we had the college Bible Study and went home.

God has really been teaching me about His Will and His Purposes...so many times I view "today" as just preparation for something in the future. I have this mindset that I'm just in training before the really "important" stuff comes my way. But that's totally wrong! First of all, I'm not looking for "God's Will in my life"--I'm seeking after "God's Will," period. And His Will is for me to OBEY--today! Each day is a task that God wills for me to accomplish. Yes, He has prepared me for it through past experiences, and yes, He is in the process of forming me to be ready for tomorrow's mission, but I need to remember that we're dealing in real-time here. Every person I run into, every job I do, every word I say, has a purpose for today. God doesn't need me to accomplish His Plan for the universe, but I am honored that He wants to use me anyway. And this is not a privilege to be taken lightly!

Today I gave 4 private lessons, invited Micheli and Paul over for lunch, and practiced the piano. Tomorrow night I'm playing background jazz and singing at a Valentine's Day dinner for the church (yes, it's V-day here.) I translated the song I sang at Nick and Tyreen's wedding and I'll be doing a few jazz standards. They're working hard to decorate the hall and provide lots of good entertainment--It's going to be a really romantic evening (Paul says it will be ro-tic for me...romantic without the man) and a lot of my friends will be there, so I'm looking foward to it!

Atibaia, Brazil

By the way, this is my town. You can click on the picture to see a larger version. I took this pic on the way back from Itapeva. You can see the Pedra Grande mountain which overlooks it (translated: "big rock"). On Tuesday, 15 of us are going up there to camp and go rappelling!! Woo-hoo! The city is really cute, and it has a little downtown within 10 minutes walking from the church where I can go grocery shopping or to the bank or get esfihas (little pizza-pastry things) or whatever. By the way, if you ever go to Brazil and order pizza, you may be surprised to receive peas, corn, and cream of chicken soup on a bed of provalone. Speaking of food, my neighbor taught me how to make Brazilian beans and rice!!! It is soooo good!!!! I could seriouslly live off of it for the rest of my life--no offence to any Cubans, but it tops black beans and rice by a million miles. I also technically learned how to make Brazilian-style coffee, but I'm having more difficulty mastering this one. Go figure.

Please pray that I get un-sick. I caught Micheli's flu during the Itapeva trip (I hope that's what this is and not some Amazon wild animal disease). I'm pretty good at pretending I'm not sick and going on with my life, but I need to just take it easy if I'm going to be well enough to survive a camping trip on a big rock in the middle of winter. I'm really glad I brought some Sudafed with me, but I've been having trouble finding kleenex or any kind of tissues here, which kind of stinks for my nose (hahaha). I'm rationing the 3 kleenex I have left in my travel pak.

Ok, thanks again for all of your prayers and all the nice e-mails and Blog comments! It is really encouraging to stay in touch with everyone! I have to keep reminding myself that I have a job to do here and I can't spend as much time as I'd like writing long e-mails and blogging, but it is really great that I can still keep in contact with everyone.

Hugs!
--Joy

Pics from Itapeva

Itapeva Church

Here are some pictures from our trip to the interior of Brazil!

The church was very small, but they fit a lot of people on those benches! It was amazing that a church this size still had a real missions mindset and was already supporting at least one other church in an even smaller city.

Recorder Class
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

The music clinic we gave consisted of classes in recorder, guitar, voice, worship leading, and piano. Wania is a talented musician who helps on the worship team at PIBA, and she and I split up the classes.

Guitar Class
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

Most of the recorder students were either very young or over age 14, and the guitar class had mostly teenagers. The guitar students were at so many different levels--some had never touched a guitar before, and some were better than I was at guitar. We ended up splitting into 2 groups and sharing guitars for the people who didn't have them. The first group learned "Jesus Loves Me" on the top three strings, and the second group worked on "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever."

Radio Show
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

The Itapeva pastor has a weekly radio show on a Christian AM station. This Saturday, he interviewed us about the music clinic and I sang in Portuguese and English.

For more details on the Itapeva trip, you can read my blog entry called "God Deals n Big Proportions."

God deals in BIG proportions!

Hello from the middle of nowhere!

Actually, since Micheli found this internet cafe, I guess we´re not in the middle of nowhere.

This weekend we drove 5 hours into the interior of Brazil to help out a sister church with a music seminar. What a fascinating place! There is so much SPACE, and really, there are so many PEOPLE but they are just all spread out in little towns that are scattered across the hillsides. Micheli and I are staying at the house of a wonderful elderly lady. I have to admit that our living conditions are a little more ... missionary-like... but I figure the worst that could happen is that an amazonian reptile could leap from the 2' hole above our bed and start eating the bugs that migrated from the bathroom after they discovered fresh flesh in our bed.

Yesterday, I taught a recorder class, a guitar class, and a voice class (the last of which was a total surprise 10 minutes before it was supposed to begin.) Thank you for your prayers! We managed to find a few more recorders and a few more guitars, which made my job a lot easier. I dug out everything I learned about rhythm and tonal patterns in my music education classes this year. I had the recorder students tapping, clapping, solfege-ing, and du-de-duing and it worked GREAT!! (Thank you, Dr. Jordan!!)

Yesterday morning something amazing happened. You know, it´s incredible...we give ourselves (I´m talking about me) so much credit for doing little things for God like going to another place and teaching a few music students for a summer. But then, sometimes God just steps in and does something totally unexpected, totally amazing, totally HUGE, and just leaves little you (me) feeling so honored to have been a part of it. I´ve never felt so honored in my life to be a servant of the Lord as I felt yesterday...

The Itapeva church pastor has a weekly radio program on a local Christian station that broadcasts to about 500,000 people in this remote part of Brazil. Normally, he gives a sermon from the Bible and playes some Christian music, but this week he asked us (Paul and Sonya Gale and I) to come and be interviewed on his show about the music seminar that we were doing at the church. He also asked me to sing live on the radio, something that the~´d never done before. The interview went fine--I hadn´t thought I´d be doing anything but singing, but then he started asking me questions live on the radio!!! Ack! I don´t think I said anything embarassing except "I am possessed with Brazil." And then I sang 2 songs, one in Portuguese ("He Knows My Name") and one in English ("Draw Me Close to You"), which I gave a rough translation of beforehand. I was so glad that God was able to use the talents He´s given me to encourage Brazilian believers.

At this point, God did the unexpected. In the room next door was another radio station that was secular, but the DJ at the moment was a believer. He heard me singing in the other room and asked if I would sing on his show! So I did--I sang "He Knows My Name" again, half in Portuguese and half in English (the "chic" thing) and the DJ asked me, Paul Gale, and the Itapeva pastor some questions about our music conference at the church. After it was all over, they casually told us that this particular radio show had over a million listeners. WHAT?????? Don´t tell me that the Lord just broadcasted His Gospel of love to a million unbelieving Brazilians in the remote regions of the country!!!!!

We went back to the church to continue the music conference, and soon we found out that people had started calling the (secular) radio station asking if I had a CD out, and some guy in the recording industry offered to record me in Sao Paulo, other churches asked if I could sing for one of their services, and soon we had journalists from a local Christian paper come to interview us about the music conference. I´m saying these things not because it makes me feel good but because I am realizing that somehow, those radio waves yesterday carried a message that touched peoples´ hearts. And I know that this had NOthing to do with me, that´s for sure!!! Our GOD deals in such BIG proportions...it would take me at the least 445 lifetimes to teach music to the same number of people as God broadcasted His Gospel to in a matter of minutes. I can´t believe how teeny weeny I feel, and how GIGANTIC God seems! It brings new meaning to the concept of how our efforts, our lives, are futile if God is not in the center of them. I am sooo grateful that I am serving the Lord! If I were going to Brazil to serve myself, I might get the satisfaction of bringing music to a handful of church people. When I handed this trip into the Lord´s hands and said, "This is Yours, Lord," I had no clue as to the magnitude He had in mind!

Anyway, I only have a few more minutes on this computer. Micheli has been taking tons of photos, and when we get back on Monday I will post some of them. Thank you so much for your prayers--the music clinic has been great, even though I get really nervous and all my Portuguese flies out the window. Everyone is so nice and supportive and wonderful, and Micheli is constantly teaching me more Portuguese words. My listening comprehension is really improving, so thank you for your prayers in that aspect as well.

Pray for this evening´s service--I´m doing a lot of singing, and hopefully some more people will come after we advertized on the radio. Pray that God will touch peoples' hearts with His message of salvation.

Ok, Tchau!! Hugs!!
--Joy

Sao Paulo Day

São Paulo Church
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

Greetings from Brazil!
Yesterday was so amazing! A few of us went into São Paulo to encourage some of the members of our church who work in the city during the week. It was such an eye-opening experience for me in a lot of ways.

The first thing when we got to Sao Paulo was get lost. Actually, we didn't really get lost, but we took a wrong turn and since the roads are so poorly planned, it took us an hour to figure out where we were and get back to where we started. The plus side was that I got a little tour of the city! I couldn't believe how it just kept going and going, building after high rise after high rise, and they tell me I only saw a teeny portion of the Sao Paulo.When we passed some of the favelas (slums), it was overwhealming to try to take it all in. Not so much living conditions, but the sheer number of people there were. I don't have any pictures of this. I couldn't help but think about how places like these in Brazil birthed the samba schools. The most significant and important forms of Brazilian music and dancing came from the poorest, least educated people.

Churrascaria
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

The second thing we did was visit a church in the city that was rebuilding itself (inside and outside) after having a rough past.

Then, we went to a churrascaria for lunch! Let me tell you how it works: First of all, there's a salad bar that includes things like dumplings, fried chicken, stir fry, raw ground beef, veggies, rice, and fejoada. Then, you get to your seat and these guys come around with huge stakes of meat. You just tell them which one you want, and they cut it right there on your plate. For those of you who know how much I generally dislike meat, you will be proud to know that I even ate half of a chicken heart (now I'm really a Brazilian!)


After lunch, we made the drive to another part of Sao Paulo to a church member who hosts a college Bible Study each Wednesday night. A lot of the church members go to school in the city, so this Bible Study is a good way to break up the week and help students keep on track in their walks. We talked about what it means to remain in Christ. Since coming here, I have been on "Brazilian Time," which means that everything has a laid back, it-happens-when-it-happens attitude. After spending most of my life as someone who had a heart attack if I was 30 seconds late for class, it is an unexpected surprise that Brazilian time doesn't bother me at all. In fact, the best thing that happened to me was having my watchband break in the Miami airport. I never know what the exact time it is unless I dig my watch out of my pocket, which maybe happens twice a day. But that's how things go here--everything is chronological, but not according to a scedule. It's not about getting things done, it's about developing relationships. And I'm realizing that because I'm not so stressed out about DOING stuff and GOING places, I can spend as much time as I want KNOWING people...most importantly Christ...more and more. This is the foundation of remaining in Christ.

São Paulo Roof
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

At one point, some of us went up to the roof of the apartment building. No matter which way you turned, you were looking at São Paulo. A concrete rainforest of building after building after apartment building that stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. If you click on the photo, you can see how the buildings just keep going! So many people--I can't even begin to fathom the 20-30 million people that live in the São Paulo area. (Just imagine the rush hour congestion if they all had cars!) The sunset from up there was gorgeous--the pollution made for lots of different colors!

São Paulo Sunset
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

So that was yesterday (Wednesday). Today, I tried to catch up on some backlogged e-mail, and I gave 4 private lessons in the afternoon (tuba, trombone, flute, and saxophone). They all went pretty well, especially the tuba and trombone. Thank you to everyone who helped me get a crash course on these instruments before summer started! It's really helping!

Tomorrow we're going 4-5 hours into the interior of Brazil to an itty bitty church where we'll run a music clinic. I just found out that my responsibilities will include teaching a 4-hour guitar class (how in the world am I going to teach a 19-person guitar class for 4 hours straight without any books or materials and only 3 guitars? Any ideas? Please e-mail me quickly!) and a similarly long but bigger recorder class with just as few recorders. We'll probably also do some singing and playing at the church service.

Please pray for supernatural teaching abilities. To me, especially after just having finished an $80,000 band budget project for a class at UM, the task ahead of me seems beyond impossible, especially with no preparation time (and the car ride is going to be too bumpy and windy for me to do any work without getting sick). But I know that this is the Lord's work, and He will provide a way for me to pursue it with excellence because He has chosen me for this job. I am still clinging to His promise to make His strength perfect in my weakness.

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Prayer Requests and Praises

Greetings from Brazil!
I just wanted to give you a few prayer requests and praises for the next few days.

Praises:Moving into the apartment at the church went really smoothly. I have a lot of space, and I feel really safe. I think I have a minor allergy to something in there, but it hasn't bothered me too much so far. I've made a lot of friends and a few of us went downtown last night for dinner, which was really fun, especially when I could follow what everyone was saying. I dreamt in Portuguese for the first time last night! Woo-hoo!!

Prayer Requests:
I have my first out-of-town trip today! A few of us are going to Sao Paulo today. I'm not totally sure what we are doing there, but they told me to bring my Bible. Pray for safety, both driving and while there in the city. It's the 3rd largest city in the world and I've heard it's really exciting! Also, please continue to pray for my Portuguese. It's getting better, but there's still a long way to go. Yesterday, I gave a tuba lesson and my lack of tuba knowlege combined with my lack of Portuguese knowledge left me feeling like my hands were tied behind my back. I'm not getting overwhealmingly frustrated or anything, but I just wish I could help some more.

Oh, yeah, by the way, anyone is welcome to shoot me an e-mail at joywilson @umiami.edu. I'd love to talk!

Hopefully some more pics will come later today or tomorrow!
--Joy

New Friends

New Friends
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

New Friends!!!

This picture is from Saturday, when we had college group. It has been so cool to meet and be embraced (quite literally) by so many people!

Today I moved into the apartment at church. I'd been staying at the Collins' house until the apartment was ready. Today, Susan Collins took me to the bank to exchange dinero and then to the supermarket, where she showed me around (thank goodness!) and helped me figure out what to get. I'll be on my own for 3 meals each day, but I at least I have a kitchen! It came with even a microwave and water filter and a pressure cooker, so I can make beans and rice. There was also a filter-thing that I think I could pour hot water through to make coffee. It's also really cheap to get delivery here (pizza or like rice and beans or whatever), but I think I'll need a little more practice with portuguese before attempting that venture.

At the moment, I'm feeling a little un-missionary-like. I'm sitting here with an internet connection (at church--I'm in the office with Micheli), tonight I can take a warm shower (I've never seen an electric shower before! It's kind of scary that there are wires and a live coil in the shower...), I have a refrigerator and working stove (it's cool--you light it with a match), a washer that works most of the time and a solar dryer (translated: clothesline). At the store today, I was able to buy things like Danon yogurt, skim milk (in a box!) and Dove soap. Don't worry, I'm trying to get the Brazilian experience--I got stuff to make rice and brown beans, Brazilian cereal, Brazilian tea, and dough for pão do queixo (cheeze bread), except I just found out that my oven doesn't work (so if anyone wants some frozen cheeze bread dough, let me know).

All this is reminding me of the sermon at church last night. I sometimes think of missionaries like heros: SUPER-MISSIONARIES. It's almost like I thought in the back of my mind that by going to another country I would be transformed into some amazing hero who could do anything and be anything and go anywhere. That's not true! I forget that missionaries are ordinary sinful people who have ordinary problems and live ordinary lives. In fact, we are all called to be missionaries, in whatever place (whatever job, whatever family, or if you're Steve Ross, whatever line in the grocery store) God puts us in. Also, I was reminded yesterday again that God doesn't need me. He is big enough and powerful enough and sovereign enough, but yet he chooses to use me anyway. What a privilege! And how cool that He is letting me do it in such a fascinating place with such wonderful people!

PIBA #2

Here's the part of the church where the offices and classrooms are. You can see the 2 church apartments, which make up the second story on the far upper left corner. There is a room with a piano just down stairs that I can use to practice.

PIBA #2
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

PIBA

Me with Mi (Micheli), a new Brazilian friend who I'll be working closely with this summer at PIBA (Primeira Igrega Batista de Atibaia)

PIBA
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

First Rehearsal

Joy with some of the collins kids
Originally uploaded by joywilson.

Highlight of the day #1: Running my first rehearsal in Portuguese! I helped run a trumpet sectional this morning. It was a good first experience because there were only 6 of them and a few spoke English and helped me learn words like "sixteenth note" and "sharp," etc. They also corrected me when I accidently started calling my baton a potato.

Highlight of the day #2: College group meeting tonight! Brazilians are so warm and friendly and welcoming,and I felt right at home! It was wonderful to praise God with fellow believers under a huge sky with LOTS of stars!

Here's a photo of me with some of the Collins kids in Atibaia! (Becky, Daniel, and Joshua) The weather has been pretty nice, even though it gets cold at night. I've really enjoyed the HILLS and the STARS, as well as the people.

The First 24 hours

Hey everyone, thank you so much for your encouragement and your prayers, and especially for the comments posted on the Blog! They mean so much to me!

I won't be able to post any pictures for at least a day or two more, but I wanted to just give a quick update on what is going on. Today I had my first meeting with my coworkers at church (Paul Gale, Micheli Lopes, and some others) about what will be happening this summer. Paul, who is a missionary from Michigan who is a pastor at the church speaks English, but the meeting was in Portuguese, and after an hour of trying to understand what was going on, asking questions, and trying to comprehend the answers, my brain was fried!! Fried in a good way. Like how your muscles hurt after a long workout. :-) Today was so exhausting, and all I was doing all day was trying to understand what was going on around me! It is definitely a humbling experience to feel so ignorant, tongue-tied, and otherwise confused to everyone I meet! Good thing smiles are universal. :-D

Anyway, here is my schedule as it stands for right now:

Tomorrow: Help out with a trumpet sectional in the morning, go to the college and career group in the evening with Micheli, a girl my age who I've been e-mailing for a few months. She works under Paul and is a total sweetheart, although right now she is in a lot of pain because she just broke her collarbone in a car accident and has to wear a pretty uncomfortable brace.

This week: I move into the apartment on Monday and will hopefully start teaching soon thereafter. I found out that I'll be teaching private lessons (not classes, thank goodness!) in trombone, french horn, tuba, and probably some other random instruments and I could even have a translator if I wanted. (Me? A tuba teacher? Ok, Lord!)

Each week: Help Paul Gale with arrangements during the day, teach during the afternoon. Wednesday nights are band rehearsals (I don't teach these, thank goodness!) and Saturday afternoons are choir rehearsals (I get to sing in the choir!!)

June 9-13 Trip to Itapeva: Itapeva is a city in the interior of Sao Paulo, about 4-5 hours away. The church there has services that are broadcasted live on the radio, and they want me to sing. I'll probably sing "He knows my name," which I've already translated into Portuguese and I have a trak for. I'll also be teaching a recorder class and helping out the percussion section a little. (Me? A drum teacher? Ok Lord!!)

June 17: Valentine's Day-type thing, Brazil-style--I'm singing and playing at a dinner for couples at the church. I think Sonya Gale (Paul's wife) is going to translate the song I wrote for Nick and Tyreen Heybeck's wedding so I can perform it then. (is that ok with you, Nick and Tyreen?)

June 21-23 Pedra Grande: Camping trip with the college and career group to a beautiful mountain that we can see from the church. I didn't tell them that I've only been camping once in my life. ;-)

June 23-26 Trip to Sierra Negra: I think this is similar to Itapeva--a mini-masterclass type trip into the state of Sao Paulo. For this one I'll probably be doing more vocal coaching.

June 28-July 6 Trip to Paraty: This will be so fun! Paraty is 4 hours away, p retty close to Rio de Janeiro (it's the old historic section). We will be doing some English classes here. (Me? An English teacher? Ok, Lord!)

Ok, that's a lot of information. I am glad that I finally kind of know what I'm supposed to be doing. Maybe I still am not confident of my ability to do it, but I know that God has me here on purpose, and so by default, He is going to either supernaturally bless me with ability beyond what I currently posess (in teaching as well as Portuguese) or provide unexpected help (like He did on the plane ride here).

Our God is SO good, and SO sovereign! (What a good combination, right, Pastor Mitchell?) I mean, think about it--He could have just as easily put me somewhere where I'd be, like, teaching piano or choir or something that I feel confident in myself about doing. But how horrible would it be if I were confident in my own abilities?? I know that the absolute only thing I can be confident in right now is the Lord and His promises to give me (exactly) what I need to do His work today (no more, no less). I know that any good that comes out of these next few months will only be by His grace and not by my power. Zechariah 4:6 says it best, in a prophecy about Zerubbabel's upcoming ventures in battle: "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty."

On that NOTE (haha)...here we go, Lord! Day #2 awaits us!

--Joy

Brazil to USA, do you read me?

Just a quick post to say that I arrived safe and sound and am in the great hands of the Collins family! The biggest surprise was that Mrs. Pereira (a woman from BRCC who has helped me with learning Portuguese and will be on the Oasis trip to Brazil in July) was on my flight to Sao Paulo! God is so good!
--Joy