Kaisers in the house!

After a bit of a blog break, we’re back! Thanks for not giving up on us. 

 

So, we’re in our new house now, and we love it!  We now have a bed, closet, oven, fridge, table… and a couch that we received today!  Wahoo!  Our major lacking right now is Internet, thus the communication drop.  Sorry! But we will have that installed as soon as we can.   Also, we have pics of the house to show you, but after a half hour of trying I am finding that the internet here is not going to tolerate any such picture nonsense today.   So... I'll try again another day!

It is great being able to have our own pad to invite people into!  Currently in house we are hosting an open lunch on Tuesdays for any visitors who can come on their lunch hour from work (targeting ages 20 – 30 something), our youth group on Thursday nights, and our young professionals Bible study on Saturday nights.  Our youth group also uses our house to host a baby-sitting service during the married couples meetings. 

 

It may seem redundant to be posting about our home again… but we are just so dang excited about it!

 

On March 22^nd we are having a special party at our home. We’re calling it the DEDICATION Par-te. We are inviting all of our friends – from church, from the gym, from the market, from our favorite juice place, etc – to come and be blessed by what God has blessed us with. We want to take a night and publicly declare that the house will be used for God’s ministry in Itu.

 

So please be praying for this event. Pray that the amazing love of God will be in that place and in our hearts!

 

We love you, each of you, so much. Thank you for your support. We would not be here without your willingness to contribute.

 

Mark and Ali

 

oh yeah!

it´s not valentines here... that´s why i forgot.

HAPPY VALENTINES!!

BIG NEWS

no, we are not prego.

but we DID find a cute corner of the Earth to rent for the next 2 years.
since arriving from Carnival weekend, we have been painting, cleaning, shopping for furniture, etc. fun, tiring, and long journey.

guys, we need to share a story with you about this house.

a couple of weeks before we left the US, one of Mark´s cousins invited us to work for him at the FARM PROGRESS SHOW in Decatur, Illionois. This thing is huge! there were over 150k ppl each day (4 day event) coming thru these fair grounds. The nutorious end of summer heat caused over 15 heat strokes the second day! it was a tad warm.
On our final day, as we were walking out of the show, we came accross a group of Brazilians.
There were 6 college aged guys who we helped find the exit. As we exchanged small talk, we realized that 3 of the guys lived with my cousin in a small Brazilian town during their undergrad!! Seriouly! I met my cousin´s roomates in Decatur, Ill.
There was also a guy named Andre that is getting his masters at Auburn who said he was from Itu. So we celebrated our connection as well.
This was in August.

Mid December we were told about this little home that was up for rent.
The minute we walked into the gates, we fell in love!
There is a huge front yard (in Brazilian standards) with 9 different kinds of fruit trees!, several of which you have never heard of. There is a large outside area for entertaining. The house itself is small, but very cozy. Just perfect.
So after a few visits with the owner, we decide that it is time to sit for an official proposal meeting. His children would be in town for Christmas, so we would meet on the 21st.
Mark and I rang the bell that morning, and waited for the gate to open. (Ok, this is shocking). So the gate opens... and Andre pops his head out... as we are all paralyzed for a couple of seconds... then he says "YOU GUYS??? HERE???"... and the 3 of us laughed out of astonishment for 5 minutes. Then we walked into the home like old friends and closed the deal.

When my Dad heard this story he said, "That house has been yours for a while."

How beautiful. God had saved our favorite one for us before we knew it.

We will post pics ASAP.

And we hope you can come visit soon. =)

Much love,
Kaisers

Carnival

This weekend is to be a pretty wild time in Brazil; Carnival, the biggest party on the planet. EVERY thing shuts down here over the next few days. So, the church is taking the opportunity to have a fun time of fellowship, teaching, and worship together. Tomorrow morning at 5 AM we will be leaving from the church in a 8 car caravan up to the northern part of Sao Paulo state were a group of about 400 of us will be together in a school that has been rented out for the event. Sleeping in the school, eating in the school, having our gatherings in the school... should be a crazy time.

Ali and I are responsible for the youth specific part of the program. We expect about 80 participants more or less. We will be using the same themes and some of the same classes as we did in the camp as it will be all new participants. We were blessed to be able to get all but one of the team members (pictured here in talent show night) we had for camp back to help with this event! Please pray that God will use this effort as he did the last. And thanks for your prayers, it makes all the difference in the world! Okay, off to grab the precious little sleep I can.

Have a wonderful weekend.

the Kaisers

Our Week of Camp

  This past weekend Ali and I returned from an exhausting and blessed week of camp.  We directed a Saturday-to-Saturday session for 13 to 18 year olds.  The theme was, “Jesus me amaria, Cantando minha historia” (Jesus would love me, Telling my story).  It is impossible to put all that took place there into words, but God showed up in an amazing way, and He was glorified in the lives of our campers and our team.  

 

 

pic #1- Ali & I introduce the camp session

  Our main message was that the love of Jesus for us is amazing, not just because of what he did once upon a time, but because of what he does, every day in our lives.  Each morning one of our counselors would reinforce this by talking about someone who Jesus interacted with whose life was a lot like theirs, and how just like the Bible characters, they received the love and acceptance that changed their lives.  At the end of each day we offered time for any of the campers who were touched by this story to share from their hearts as well.

    

pic #2- Guto shares parallels                                 pic #3-  Lucas reflects on how

between his life, and that of Peter                    the message of the day spoke to him

This morning class was followed up with group time where campers wrote down their thoughts on the message, talked about what the application of it would look like in their lives, and put together creative ways to demonstrate it in the evening gatherings.  These groups were used incredibly by the Lord to touch lives and to bring the message into the practical realm.  All of the campers were put into four groups, shown below in pics 4 - 7.

      

  In the afternoons campers chose what classes they wanted to take part in.  Choir, arts, nature and culinary classes were daily options.

   

pic 8 Choir class                                                           pic 9 Art class

   

pic 10-  Nature class and hike                                            pic 11-  Culinary class

After these classes we had some  free time, group games, and sports.

     

pic 12- Chillin' with the Gee-tar                     pic 13- My cousin Jeff leads a treasure hunt

  

   

pic 15 & 16-  Brazilians try out the pigskin...       and love it! 

  

pic 17- Playing soccer, my foul caught on      pic 18- Soraya (Counselor) and Buckeye (my dog) 

  camera. Sheesh!                                       catch a recovery nap

  

Ali's birthday came mid week, the campers secretly hung around late to surprise her just after midnight on the big day, then sang to her again at lunch, dinner, and night time tea.  She also received three cakes throughout that day! 

      

pic 20- midnight surprise                                                  pic 21-  cake #1

  

And that's a wrap!  This picture was taken just before getting on the bus to head home. Yes, that is my dog Buckeye with the camp dog's throat between her jaws, but they were great friends. Really!

Starting Saturday is take two, a four day encounter where Ali and will be running the youth part.  We pray that He will bless this second round as he did the first.

a mini album of a new year

We have spent 1 week in Rio Grande do Sul. It's the most southern state of Brazil. And the coldest state of Brazil. It was heavily populated by Italian immigrants in the 1800s. 

It is also our equivalent to Napa Valley for it's fine production of extraordinary wines. 

We came to Rio Grande do Sul for a Missionary Conference, where we met amazing workwers of the kingdom... then we stayed around this part of the country for some R&R with my parents and friends. 

Mark and i want to share with you some new friends, new pics and new stories we collected along the way... 

Some precious friends! Girls, have fun in Paraguay!

The town the conference was in is the National capital of Christmas!

so we all enjoyed a beautiful light show and a choir in a tree!

768 steps down to this picturesque waterfall! totally worth it!

Walking at the top of a waterfall 

and of course Mark had to walk way too close to the edge...!

We searched the entire city for a place with cable so we could watch the National Championship game. There was a pizzaria that let us stay till 3:00 am!!! bad game, good story! 

Our post-conference traveling crew: Matt & Waleska  (missionaries in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul), mom & dad & mark  

the gorgeous vineyards

have a little wine!?

Train ride thru traditional cities and vineyards

Trying some Mate tea

Lost in the vineyards

and here you have it! 

we are off to camp tomorrow! please pray for us as we minister to the teens there. 

we love you so much. 

mark and ali 

2008 kick off

It has been a busy time, hence the lack of time to blog. We recently had a great practical day with our youth group. We have been talking to them abo

ut using this vacation time to bless the lives of others, and they suggested a trip to a nearby orphanage. It was a fun time watching them interact with other children and teens and finding that selfless acts of love can bring great joy and satisfaction.  (orphans below are blocking our exit... sad to leave)

Today, Ali and I are in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil, where we spent the last week attending a missionary conference attended by missionaries to Brasil, Chile and Paraguay.  It was an amazing time of sharing dreams, considering new ideas, and fellowship with new and old friends.  (fun night with fellow missionaries in pic) 

This week we will travel back to the state of Sao Paulo and make final preparations for the camp session we will be directing next week. PLEASE join us in prayer as we prepare ourselves and our team of counselors to serve an unknown group of teenagers for 7 days. There will surely be many a stories to share with you after that!! 

we love you and miss you. 

please do not give up on our blog. =)

m&a