Changes

As Marla and I were driving the other day we were remembering how different life used to be for us here in Brazil. Car seats didn’t used to be a permanent fixture in our car in fact we didn’t even have a car. We remembered the time that Kim, Aaron and Lon all came down at the same time for a visit. We remembered that we did the best we could to provide transportation for our little gang and somehow managed to borrow three extra bikes for our friends. Then on our first ride of to a park across the city bike #1, #2, and #3 all broke down within 1.5 miles of each other. Suddenly we had people walking, and getting lost in neighborhoods as we split up in an attempt to get home. Then we remembered how one of our first bikes had a pedal that continually seemed to fall off at the 3.5 miles from home mark, and how we’d have to “ride/coast” it back. We laughed as we remembered the city turning the water off for days while we had a houseful of company and taking “showers” in the rain that poured off the roof. We sighed as we remembered the hours we spent studying Portuguese and the labor of trying to communicate with people. We remembered working on our first stove, loaned to us from our friend David, with black electrical tape and random wires trying to keep it working after years of sitting on his back porch. I remember trying to play court soccer barefoot after my only pair of soccer shoes ripped out. We remembered eating every day the only meal that we knew how to cook: potatoes, eggs and sausage.

Yeah, things have changed for us this time around. It takes us longer to get out the door, but shorter to get where we are going. We haven’t had to fight against the inconveniences of leaky roofs, jimmy-rigged stoves and not knowing how to communicate, and we eat a much more balanced diet. However we have become responsible for more things, have had to let our friends here know that we will not be staying in this city, have had to see people that we have poured love into not walking with Jesus, had to learn to balance work and family and have a little girl who is really starting to test her limits. Just yesterday in the car Samara said “Daddy loves me… even when I’m having a hard time. Mommy, I love you… even when you’re having a hard time too.” God is good, and we are thankful that He remains the same.

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