Wins and Discouragement

Life on the field can be exciting, but it can be discouraging as well. Today we experienced both of these extremes when we had a couple of highs and lows.

The lows: B. is scared to death of needles. Seriously. She's had this phobia since childhood, and while she loves being pregnant, it has brought on a slew of needles. Today, she went to the hospital before class to get some blood work done. She found out she'd have to skip language class because one of the tests was a 2 hour test and required more blood work done every hour. After fasting for the tests, she was pretty nauseated and heady already. Add the needles--getting poked twice in each arm--and she did not have a great morning. Plus, she had a few other tests she had to do--none of which were fun. Her arms are a little bruised and sore still here at the end of the day....not a great start to a day for her.

After lunch she had an appointment to meet a friend for coffee. They met at a local bookstore with a cafe inside it to practice Portuguese. We've had trouble connecting to people here who are not already part of one of the local churches or the seminary. This is the first person who has agreed to meet with her. They spent close to two hours talking--almost entirely in Portuguese. A huge win for her to be able to carry on a conversation for that long without J! Plus, she was able to share some of her story and answer some religion questions. Her friend is open to hearing more as well as helping her with her Portuguese. They plan on meeting again next week. Hopefully, this can be a friend for B. and help open more doors for her.

She then went to her other language class. This is a free one at the Lumiar Jesuit Center. J. or B. will eventually help teach an English class, and in return B. gets to take Portuguese classes. A win-win. We get to meet more people and get free language practice too! Anyway, class went really well. B. was able to understand a lot of what the teacher said and made progress in her reading and writing. Another big win to begin to be able to understand what people are saying and respond back properly!

And after this was our big low. We found out the proposal we submitted for the apartment we loved was rejected. We were praying for news either way today, so God is good and answered that prayer. But we were really hoping for a positive response. As of now we are supposed to pick up our crate of belongings on June 6 to move into our apartment. Right now, we have 0 options and two weeks to find one we love, turn in a proposal, get it accepted, and move in. On top of going to language classes and our other meetings and responsibilities. Needless to say, we are really feeling the stress, especially B. who is ready to begin setting up our home.

So pray for us. God is great and gave us a couple of needed "wins" today. But we felt attacked to. We know He has a great place lined up for us and that we'll get it in His perfect timing. We trust that. But it's difficult right now--especially when our realtor won't return phone calls or e-mails. Pray we can see some apartments tomorrow or Friday and that one is perfect--a perfect harbor and refuge for our family to retreat to, a place we can minister from and show hospitality in to our new friends and neighbors.