The Muirheads Are In The House!

Andrea and her parents, Bill and Mary arrived on Wednesday. We've been anticipating their arrival and were so thankful that they arrived safely, although a bit jet lagged. Andrea is rooming with Raysha and I. Guaranteed to be a good time! They laid pretty low yesterday morning and held their LST information meeting over at the Bread of Life Centre in the evening. They have 8 readers signed up so far. The plan is for them to go out to Kalapani three times a week and read with the nine bible students who are living out there. It's a good start. Please keep the Muirheads in your prayers as they study with people here in Guwahati. Please also pray for the hearts of those who are coming to read. May seeds of faith be planted and may God be glorified!

Katie and Lucas's Last Sunday in Brazil

July 15th was Lucas and Katie's last Sunday in Brazil. João, on behalf of the Itu congregation, presented each of us with Portuguese/English Bibles and a package of yummy Brazilian coffee. I have to admit that as I stood at the front listening to what was said I had a great feeling of thankfulness that it wasn't yet my turn to be leaving. The thought of only having one week left was sad but it was better than the thought of leaving that very evening.

Katie and Lucas both brought so much to our team. I admire both of them for their dedication to preparing and going somewhere new to share their faith with others. I am very thankful for the time I was able to spend with them over the months leading up to this project and for the six weeks that we spent together in Itu. We had a lot of good times and I will look back fondly on the memories that were made. The following pictures were taken on their last morning in Itu.

Receiving a hug from my Brazilian father, João.

Lucas being presented with his gift.

Katie, last but not least.

Katie said a few words of thanks to the congregation and Vitinho translated for her.

Final Party, Talent Show

Our final LST party was held on July 14th, I know I am still waaaaay behind in my blogging. So in order to remedy that this will be short and to the point and you can all just enjoy the pictures. We began the evening with a talent show. We didn't have many acts but the ones we did have were steller! Then Lucas, Katie and I presented each of our readers who were present with certificates of participation. After the presentations we enjoyed some good food and visiting. It was a pretty sad evening for me, saying good-bye to all of my readers. Many tears were shed as we wrapped up the evening. I've always said that the one thing that I don't like about LST projects is saying good-bye. After six weeks of reading scripture one on one with someone it is really hard to just leave them. I need to remind myself frequently that God has used me to help plant seeds and that He will provide others to water those seeds and that He himself is the one who will bring the growth. What a mighty God we serve!

Lucas's reader, Stefano singing and playing guitar.

Lucas's reader, Matheus playing his trumpet.

Ivan and Davi.

Davi is a very talented musician.

The captivated audience.

This was taken after the talent show as people were eating and visiting.

Here we are with some of our readers.

Me with Magda and her kids, Matheus and Anna.

Saying Good-Bye

Sunday morning we said good-bye to a number of different people. The group of Americans from San Angelo left on Sunday evening and so did the LST team from Oklahoma Christian University. They have been working in the nearby city of Salto. Sunday morning was a bilingual worship service and many public thank-yous and good-byes were said. It made me glad that my team still had one more week here to continue reading and also glad that for me it would be another two weeks before I would have to say good-bye to my church family here in Itu. After worship was over my little friend, Ligia, came running up to give me a hug and was saying, "Please don't go! I don't want you to go away! Please stay!" It practically made me cry! When I told her that I wasn't leaving yet and that I was going to be staying for two more weeks her eyes lit up and she squeezed my neck even harder. I can remember when I first came to Itu 4 years ago and she would try to talk to me and I didn't understand anything she said. Over the years we have become good buddies and we talk with each other a lot!

Here I am with my little buddy Ligia. She makes my heart smile!

After church Katiie, Lucas, Vitinho and I went to Regina's house for lunch. Regina is a sweet, sweet woman from the church. She has to children, Iara who is studying architecture in University and Alexandre who is still in high school. After lunch a lot more people came over for desert and fun.

Iara, Brooke and Katie in the kitchen getting Iara's special desert ready.

The boys playing cards in the backyard.

I love this picture of Brooke and I. She is probably the sweetest person I have ever met in my life. I think God broke the mold when he made her. We are eating Iara's special desert which I dubbed "Milagre Na Minha Boca" or in English, "Miracle in My Mouth." It was fantastic. If you invite me to your house when I get back maybe I'll make it for you. :)


This is Regina and I and the dog, Biba. I love Regina so much. She has taught me so much over the years about being a woman of faith. She holds a very special place in my heart. Biba may look sweet but don't let looks deceive you!

Week Five, Mini-Olympics

It is so hard to believe that we have finished our fifth week here in Itu and that we are half way through our sixth already. I am way behind in blogging but please bare with me and I will get caught up. There are so many things to share that I may end up revisiting my time here over the weeks after I leave. What an awful word that is...leave. blah!

This week was our second last week and so the task of saying good-bye to some of our readers has already started. It is not a pleasant thing to say good-bye to these people who have become our friends. I am able to say good-bye in faith that the God who brought me here is going to continue to care for these dear people after I leave. I trust that He will bring others who will water the seeds that have been planted in their hearts and that He Himself will bring the growth that is needed in their lives.

This is Amanda. Unfortunately she and I had our last reading session during our fifth week as she will be traveling during our last week of reading sessions. I will miss you Amanda!


Here I am in a reading session with Eduardo. I also have been reading with his brother Ricardo who is a new child in Christ!

This week our LST party was a wacky olympics. We invited all of the kids who had been at camp to come out. We were prepared for a huge turn out of church members, readers, and campers. Five o'clock came and went and this is what you could see:

No one showed up. We were getting quite discouraged. I took my place in the middle of the auditorium on the cold floor and waited. I think it was around 5:30 when some of the group from San Angelo showed up. So at least we had a few people. more people trickled in and eventually we had a sufficient number to at least break into two teams of six and have a little bit of a competition. We started out by naming our teams and creating flags.

We then had an opening ceremony where the torch was carried through the auditorium and the Brazilian national anthem was played.


The first event was a toilet paper relay. Over, under, over, under. My team finished first but we broke the toilet paper.


The opposing team didn't tear the toilet paper but they finished second. It ended up being a tie for points.


The second event was a three legged race. Stephano and I kicked butt, but in the end our team lost.

We had a number of other events as well, a water relay, which my team lost, a game called snatch the bacon, which my team also lost! But at the end of the day winning is not what counts. It's the fun you had during the experience that creates memories to last a lifetime!

Here is the losing team, the Pencil Necks.

After the party was over and we got everything cleaned up we headed back to the hotel with the people from the San Angelo group. Some of us then went to a Festa Junina put on the the Brazilian military here in Itu. They host this party every year and it is said to be one of the best in Itu. This is the fourth year I have been here during Festa Junina season and this was the first time I ever went to this Festa Junina. It was a long night and a bit adventurous to say the least. This picture was taken while we were there. I absolutely love it!

Jessica, me and Katie eating BIG pastel! Yummy!

It has been a busy week. Please keep us in your prayers as we enter into our sixth and final week here working in Itu.

Week Four And Our Canada Day Celebration

Once again it has been too long since I have posted a blog. This is again a catch up blog. This last week was a busy one as always, filled with lots of reading sessions and preparation for Saturday's party.

Here I am with my reader Karla. She is a very sweet girl and I love spending time with her! She studies here in Itu but her family lives about 1 and a half hours away.


Lucas in a reading session with Vera.


Katie reading with Adelino.


Here I am with André. André is married and has a son. He works a lot but I am so happy that he makes coming to our reading sessions a priority. André has many good insights into the biblical texts that we are reading together. I enjoy our sessions together very much!

Saturday was June 30th and so we decided to have an early Canada Day celebration. During this Saturday's party we had lots of Canadian trivia with prizes for those who got the most correct. We did face painting and gave out rub on tattoos. We shared a yummy cake and ended the evening with the Canadian anthem and some fireworks in the street. We'll just say that we only set off one of the fireworks because it was traffic stopping to say the least. :)

Katie, Lucas and Myself before the festivities began.

I ordered this cake to be a white cake with strawberry filling and to be iced in white. Then I picked it up and transformed it into a Canadian flag using fresh, chopped up strawberries. It wasn't my original plan but I had to improvise and I guess it turned out all right in the end.

Katie and her stylish rub on tats.

Getting some hints for the Canadian trivia games.

Katie and Jessica looking oh so cute!

Bruno and myself.

Canada Day fun.

After the fireworks were given up on we played with red and silver sparklers.