life for the past 2 weeks

school is out for SUMMER VACATION, and our house has been fuller than ever for the past couple of week -- well, maybe not EVER, but close. 

the youth group activities have been well attended, and long lasting. Several kids end up spending the evening...night....weekend =) 

we also have established the Kaiser Hostile on the weekends - where at leat 7 friends come to spend the weekend at the house with us. 

Carol and Amanda are home for Christmas. Amanda will job hunt and establish her carrier now (blessings!) and Carol returns to us in January! 

here are some shots of latest youth activities, and our hostile peeps. 

life is good. 

buckeye caught chewing on plugs...

showing our muscles after ACAI on Sunday afternoons

Christmas party with youth group

friends from far away here for the end of the year

blessings on your Holidays!

thanksgiving celebration!

Last night my parents left from spending two weeks with Ali and me, and we had a great time sharing our world with them!  Looking back, it doesn't seem like two weeks should be up already, but they did get to see a ton!

The day they arrived they took part of one of the weekly lunches at our house for young professionals,

And the next day they joined our youth group as we started a campaign in our neighborhood of gathering food to be given to needy families this Christmas

We had a lot of fun showing our city to them. Itu is known as "the city where everything is big," – (like this 2-foot Q-tip mom found for dad)

Here and throughout Brazil, we Kaisers have a name for ourselves, sooo –

 mom got a pose in with the more sought after Kaiser of the region. 

One of their favorite experiences was joining me to the “Sitio Shalom,” a drug rehab program I regularly work with here. While I was busy helping one of the residents, Marcinho, format his resumê, 

mom and dad ate lunch with the other residents, and than dad gave one of the guys a lesson on how to play “Sudoku.”  Watching them get by without a common language was hilarious, but they did it!

We also got to take mom and dad to the “Lar Cristão,” an orphanage nearby with some kids who are very dear to us. They got to sit through what must have been an incredibly boring meeting (all in Portuguese) between the new director, Ali and I, and to meet Eleizar (a boy I have been doing a Bible study with), 

and lots of other beautiful children who were excited to have new visitors! 

Last Friday we had a taste of home with a Brazilian twist, we went to the American Footbal game of our friend Leandro. Not common at all here in Brazil! It was funny to see Brazil give it a go though, notice the lack of helmets? You go with what you got. J Leandro, or “Mini”, is the 2^nd from the right in blue.

Besides all the events, we packed the time with some of the best people in the world, new foods, sights and experiences and as little sleep as possible. Mom and dad, thanks so much for coming and being a part of our world here! We love you guys, and look forward to the next time. But for now… try not to hurt your shoulders again shoveling snow back in Ohio! J

early TGIVING

as i write this post, there is a group of 9 wonderful ppl at my parent's house (they are out of town... don't tell them we are here! haha) and we are preparing for an early, amazing TGIVING feast tomorrow. we are taking advantage of mark's parents being here to celebrate the holiday the REAL way: turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, pies galore! for 15 ppl, there will be a total of 7 deserts! yuuummmmmm! 

we are thinking of you and hoping you are enjoying the arrival of the holiday season. 

please, whoever is in Abilene, give my parents a BIG hug for us! we miss them!

hugs and kisses to you all- 

ali

ps - pictures of the feast will be proudly posted very soon.

hungry draculas

our youth group was excited to have an american party here at our house!

halloween is not a brazilian tradition, so they really enjoyed the face painting, the bobbing for apples, the treasure hunt in balloons! 

and this video absolutely cracked me up!

it shows well the great sense of humor these guys have, 

and how they are patient with the crazy youth ministers! 

and here are some more masterpieces created by Ro during his stay here!

also, check out www.rodiaz.com and www.euforialive.com

Ro in Brazil

Ro's show in the Itu mall - a great, beautiful crowd!

Mark, Ro, Carol and myself crashing a birthday party in Rio

Rolando using our guest room as a studio - what a cool transformation!

we first met Rolando Diaz in June when he came with the Highland campaign for the camp....

Ro painted an incredible mural in our church named "the praying angels of Itu".

 

Ro is a very talented artist. he lives in Dallas, but is originally from Cuba. 

he has a young, crazy, energetic, sporadic spirit that entertains all ppl!

Ro knows how much the church in Itu needs to finish the construction, so he decided to share his talents! he came on a 3 week trip to Brazil to put on several live painting shows and decided to donate whatever proceeds were gathered. 

we had fun being his stage crew, p.r. representatives, studio managers, material gather-ers, crisis calmers, and audience applauders =) 

it was a great success! we made contact with several big artist names in Brazil and Ro charmed them all! 

may we all have the vision to serve others with our talents!

special prayer request

we are very excited that CAROL is wanting to return to Brazil and continue to serve as an intern next semester! 

many of you know how darn bureaucratic Brazil can be! 

so as we begin the research for her next visa (she cannot come in as a tourist next semester), please, please pray that God will open the right doors, opportunities, give us the right people to talk to, and may it He bless the process with speed. 

our goal is that she leaves Brazil for Christmas with a protocol to re-enter in January!

we thank you for your prayers, knowing that God will listen to us. 

much love

ali 

interns - part 2

one idea carol and amanda had at the beginning of the internship was to create an alternating cycle of SERVICE SATURDAYS and SOCIAL SATURDAYS with our youth group. 

genius. 

we are influencing the youth to be PRAGMATIC leaders. 

not just ppl that sit around and philosophy on their faith, but ppl that say 

"i believe, therefore, i do." 

in August we had an Olympics party (social sat), with mock-sport and medals!, and we went to Sitio Shalom (the drug rehab program mark serves) to help them plant their vegetable garden for service sat. (if you ask the youth what their favorite activity was so far, SITIO SHALOM is the answer!)

in September we went to a soccer game in Sao Paulo (it was an insane adventure!), and for our service we remodeled chose a small, simple business in the community to remodel. 

in October we will have Praise and Worship night on Saturday (25/10) and on Halloween we are trick-or-treating for canned foods to distribute Christmas food baskets. 

Itu is a small city, but God keeps doing BIG things around here! 

and we've watched Him use Carol and Amanda to create action! 

proud to have such good teammates!

kaisers 

some pics:

fun at the soccer game!

 remodeling the nail salon

interns - divided into 2 parts for you A.D.D. folk out there!... PART 1

we have not bragged enough about our interns on the internet!! 

THEY ARE AMAZING! 

Carol is our slightly taller version of Dorah the Explorer, who absolutely loves to interact and learn about everyone/everything around her, and come up with creative and innovative activities for the church. 

Amanda has a servant heart, always ready to help people around here in practical ways. She is our champ at interior design and architecture who has also composed incredible projects and donated her time and talents to small businesses in the community. 

the 4 of us are a great team! 

but we don't sleep much.  =)

some days are still hard

as you well know, we love Brazil. 

we love being a part of what God is doing here!

there are people and places and experiences that have changed our lives forever. 

but on nights like tonight, we just truly miss our loved ones in ohio and texas. 

we miss being a part of your lives, and you a part of ours. 

i mean daily lives: phone calls, meals, long visits, inside jokes, trying to figure out life together.

 

you have impacted us. 

we will carry you all over the world now. 

and we look forward to the next time we get to waste time together. 

m&a

a jaboticaba tree

our front yard is full of delicious fruit trees!

we have pears, lemons, oranges, tangerines, acerolas, pineapple, bread fruit, and JABOTICABA. 

here is a video of our latest JABOTICABA harvest. 

great visits!

weekend with april

we have felt quite blessed with the amount of people that have swept thru our lives recently on a quick visit and tour of our Brazilian day-to-day!

since the Highland Campaign in June, we've received Lou Seckler, Chris Frizzel, Aunt Claudia and cousin April, and are now hosting Greg Dunham; next week we welcome Rolando Diaz for a 3 week expedition =) ... (note: most visitors shared with my amazing parents!)

here are some pics capturing some unforgettable moments with cousin APRIL!! 

we had a blast! hippie fair in the rain, a cool improv capoeira circle show, late night and early mornings, napping on the beach sand, eating in the coolest Sao Paulo spots.......................................... hope some of you are encouraged to GET DOWN HERE and have some fun with a couple of very cool missionaries! woohoo!!