*Insert X-Men Theme Song Here…*

The X-Men movies are amongst my favorite movies…and for some reason the theme song is stuck in my head tonight. =)

These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Drew was out sick with Dengue, and Rafa’s dad has been in the hospital. They found last week that he has Pancreatic cancer. He was really bad for a few days, but he’s been on the mend. They’ll be doing surgery on him possibly within this coming week. They’re just waiting for him to feel better, so that he’ll be as good as possible when he has his surgery. Please, please, please keep him in your prayers. It’s been extremely hard not only on him, but Rafa and the rest of his family as well. Please keep Rafa in your prayers, too, because it’s hard not being there at a time like this.

We’ve also been facing a lot of oppression from people both inside and outside the church. It’s incredibly dis-heartening facing this kind of wall–especially from people inside the church. Truthfully, that’s where the majority of it comes from. I thought the church was supposed to be the Bride of Christ? I thought the church was supposed to be a place of healing and acceptance? I thought the church was supposed to be unified in Christ? I simply do not understand where the idea of oppression, gossip, cliques, even hatred, is accepted in/is God’s idea of the church? Are we not supposed to stand out and be separate from the world? Are we not to think differently than those who do not know who God is? Yet somehow, the church has become a place similar to other places in the world. It is no longer different. It is selfish and cold.

We as Christians, as disciples of Jesus, need to make a change! I know that I am not the only who sees this! We need to change from the inside out. Seek God’s Word. See His will. Seek to be more like Him. We need to actually follow His example! Only with God can anything change, can anything grow. We can plant seeds. We can water them. But it is God who makes them grow!

———————

Well, I suppose you now know some of my thoughts on the church… =)

Even in the midst of all this, however, I am happy. Sure, I have my moments, but I am honestly extremely happy here. I love teaching! I really love teaching my New Testament class. I’m surprised at how much I love it! There was a group of Americans that came through here this past weekend. They’re from Mt. Vernon, IL. and one of the women was actually from Florissant! It was great getting to chat with her about different parts of town, and it was great getting to know every single one of them! What made them coming even better, was that they brought a care package from home for me! It had birthday presents, stuff to make rice krispie treats, food flavorings & colorings, etc. It was absolutely wonderful! =)

I hope that you all have a great week or so! =) Please continue praying for me, Drew and Rafa. I’m so grateful for the support I have from all of you!

Peace and Love,

Dani

Flightless Bird, American Mouth…

Hello hello!!!

I hope to find ALL of you in good spirits today! =).

These past couple of weeks have been somewhat of a roller coaster; not just for me but for Rafa and Drew as well. On the 28th of February I celebrated my 25th birthday! Woop woop! For about two weeks surrounding my birthday I got really homesick wishing that I could be with my family to celebrate. However, I couldn’t and I’m no longer homesick, but it was rough. The periods of homesickness always come and go, but you never know when exactly it will come. heh…it could be something as simple as a birthday, it could be that maybe I watch a movie that I quote a lot with my sisters…it’s anything. These past couple of days I’ve been dealing with a sore/dry throat. It’s not that big of a deal, I know, but it’s wearing me out! hah.

Rafa’s dad has been in and out of the hospital. At first they weren’t exactly sure what was wrong with him, but he was sick–they just couldn’t find it. However, the doctors now know that the problem is in his liver. They have given him the correct medicine, so he will be getting better, but the next 3 or so days will be hard on him and those around him because all the sick/bad stuff will be flushing out of his body. So please keep both Rafa and his dad in your prayers! Rafa is traveling to Rio on Saturday to visit his Dad. (His sister actually called the pastor here at our church, telling him he needs to convince Rafa to go to Rio!) So, again, please keep his family in your prayers!

Drew has been battling Dengue for about a week now. It’s carried through Mosquitos, so it’s not contagious once you have it, but it’s a HARD sickness to get through. Check that link to learn more about it. I’ve honestly never seen Drew look as bad as he did, he’s on the recovery now, thank goodness!!! But because he’s been out with Dengue for the past week, he hasn’t been able to come in to school to teach his classes, much less get off the couch. Please pray for him as he’s starting to feel better, but pray that he’ll be patient as he waits for the illness to go away!

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned, at least in part, about how our school/ministry has faced some opposition here. Here’s a quick summary: last semester, when I was at home, Drew and Rafa faced a lot of crap from people here–within our church, of all places! It was incredibly hard on everyone and really broke them down. But through this, they/we’ve come to realize that our school is so much more than a school. It’s our church, it’s our family, it’s our support system. We are all there, either teaching or learning, with one common goal: to bring others the Gospel through our ministries. It’s been a rough ride, but we’ll still holding tight to what God has brought us here to do!

The opposition is still happening, whether some want to believe it or not. It’s just incredibly heartbreaking to know that it’s coming from people inside of the church! One thing to know about Brazilian culture, that I’m still trying to get a hold on, is that people here do not like confrontation. Not even a little bit. I’ll give you an example:
–Let’s say that I had a problem with someone here. It would NEVER cross my mind to go and talk to them directly. Nope, not at all. Instead, I start talking to practically everyone around me about why I’m having a problem with that person, in hopes that they’ll eventually hear from someone else that I have a problem with them. Then they’ll start talking to people their side of the story, so that I’ll eventually hear about it…and the cycle goes on and on and on. Nothing is resolved. All that we’re left with is two people even more upset with each other in the first place, no resolution, and nothing resembling God’s love.
–All of that to say, when someone here has a problem/doesn’t like one thing/etc…they don’t go straight to the source to talk about it and possibly resolve what is a little tiff. Instead, rumors are spread and nothing is resolved.

This is one of the things that I have a hard time with. It’s extremely difficult for me to just watch this happen time and time again. To watch relationships & friendships fall apart because of this. It breaks my heart.

I guess you could consider the above: “WHAT’S DIFFERENT IN BRAZIL #23″. I just ask that you will keep us in your prayers. Pray for Rafa as he continues to take the bunt of the gossip(s) and a big work load. Pray for Me, Drew and Johnny (our other music teacher) as we continue working daily with our students here. Pray that God will continue building us up and that all these petty things will just roll off our back! Pray that people around us and in the church will realize that we are here because God brought us here! That we are doing God’s work! That all we are doing is trying to love our students, teach them Music, Missions & Bible (and English) so that after they graduate, they can go out into their churches, cities, maybe even other countries–teaching Christ! That is our BIG GOAL: to have our students graduate and go out to where ever God calls them so that they might also preach the “Good News of Great Joy.”

Can I get an Amen!?!?!

On another note, as we are growing and becoming more acquainted with the school/teaching life, we realize more and more needs that we have for our school. We are in need of a printer, a set of Bible Commentaries–In Portuguese, a drum set, a couple of computers and keyboards (for Music lab), etc. If you or, anyone you know, or your church would like to help us by donating one or more of these items, it would be a HUGE blessing for us! If you have any questions about this or about what other items are needed, or would like more details about the items listed, simply email me: dani.duvall@gmail.com. Or you can comment on this post and ask that way. =)

I hope that you’re all having a glorious day! Thanks for coming to check up on me! And thanks for your love and support!

Peace and Love,

Dani

And the Songbirds Keep Singing…

…like they know the score…

5-17-2009 — When I first started my blog.

2-17-2012 — Today’s date.

1005 days — Since I wrote my first entry.

5927 views — Total views of my blog.

≈42 — Views per week.

Those are my blog stats. I don’t think it’s too bad, though I would of course like to get the number up! Even if everyone that I simply sent it to via email would take 5 minutes to read my blog updates, the number would go up! Ha…

Anywho…Tonight I am currently drinking hot chocolate, eating a peanut butter cookie and thinking about what I need to pack. Tomorrow I’m going to COMIC in Vianópolis. It’s basically a Christian conference for Jovens (the age group of 17/when you graduate highschool–marriage). Yes, I see so many things wrong with this large grouping, but hey, it’s how they do things here in Brazil. So, I’m going to the conference tomorrow and coming back Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it, and even more so that I didn’t have to pay for it. I was talking with the Pastor late last week and he told me that someone paid for my trip, just pack my bags and go! How awesome is that! Turns out that I ended up spending a little more than what the conference cost to help Tia Ivani pay for our washing machine repairs! Wow, God is so good.

I just wanted to give a quick update before I go out of town. Classes were good this week. Tuesday–the night of my New Testament class–it rained cats and dogs and only one student in my class ended up coming, so I didn’t teach it. But no worries, we’ll be hitting the books head-first as soon as class is back in session. This next week is CARNAVAL here in Brazil, so pretty much the whole country is on vacation for a week. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea…but I’m not complaining either. =)

I hope that you’re all doing well! I’ll post again next week with updates and pictures from COMIC.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT IN BRAZIL #22:

Human contact with monkeys. I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell ya’ll about this yet–I HAVE NO IDEA WHY!?!? BUUUTTTT…ok, so, basically… couple of weeks ago Drew, Deb and I went to a park and, yes, we got to play with monkeys. I use the term “play” loosely, because it’s not like we played catch with them or let them crawl on us or anything…we just got to be in extremely close proximity with them! We even found some avocados there and fed them! Here are a few pictures from the two days we went! (we went back a second time with Lucas & Preston):

Me, Drew & Deb

This monkey gave me a dang hi-five!!!! At first, it was a contest between me and Drew as to who could spot the first monkey (which he won), but then after this one touched my hand (twice!) it became the only goal on Drew’s mind…quite hilarious actually.

This was the beginning of Day 2: Deb, Drew, Me & Preston waiting at the bus station…

Here are the four of them goofing off on our walk to the park:

And here are a couple “Close Encounters”:

Anywho, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Peace and Love,

Dani

I’d Like To Be Under the Sea…

…in an octopus’s garden in the shade…

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen!

Today classes officially start! Yesterday we had the orientation meeting & went over plans for the semester. It was only a day full of meetings, but I am so happy. Today, with classes starting, I’m even happier! I am FINALLY back to doing what I’ve come to do–teach. This semester I’m teaching two English classes (levels 2 & 3), a New Testament class (Romans-Revelation), beginner Piano lessons and my other English classes with the English Immersion school. It’s definitely going to keep my busy, and the lesson planning for the NT class is going to be ridiculous! For the past two weeks Drew and I have been planning our bible lessons together…and it takes all day just for one class! (Not including the translating into Portuguese!). I’m sure that after a couple months of teaching and lesson planning, I’ll be ready for Winter break (remember: the seasons are opposite here)…until that feeling appears, however, I’m SOOO excited!!!

These past couple of weeks have been relaxing, busy, slow, sad, full of joy…basically all over the map. Ha. It’s been hard trying to deal with my Grampa’s passing being so far away. Right now, it seems a little surreal to think that he’s actually gone. I’m still surrounded by his face in pictures, by his memories, his last words. I honestly don’t think that I will really start to accept it all, until I go back. Please continue to keep my Gramma in your prayers. Having the same person by your side pretty much everyday for the last 66 years of your life, only to have them join Jesus and not be by your side anymore…that takes a lot of adjusting. Please keep my family in your prayers as well. Not having the patriarch of our family around; the teacher of: Jesus, love, kindness, generosity; and the master of cheating at card games…it’s going to take some getting used to from everyone.

Like I said, the past few weeks have been a little crazy. I’ve been planning and preparing my New Testament class, which I am thoroughly excited about. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so excited about teaching a class before! Since I didn’t use Portuguese for about 5 months last year, and thus never really practiced it, I will be teaching in english and Drew will help me translate it. I’ve already translated the notes that I’ll be writing on the board, but the rest of the class will be translated by Drew–it’s just easier that way. =)

This past Sunday evening was, yes, Superbowl Sunday. We ended up having a group of people over to watch my Patriots unfortunately lose to the Giants…but we had tons of food and fun! Definitely going to do it again!..the food part that is, I’m not sure what we’ll make the occasion to be, but it will certainly be delicious! Here are some pictures:

I usually make a fancy-Superbowl cake for the parties at home, but since it involves many foods/items that can’t be found here, I simplified it a bit and used only cupcakes and colored icing!

We streamed the game & watched it on my computer…this is a picture of the set up, as well as a table full of food (chips, salsa, meatballs, pulled beef bbq sandwiches (Drew), Drew’s version of rice krispie treats, and cupcakes).

Here’s all of us (minus Tia Ivani):

Me, Deb, Preston, Lucas, Drew

WHAT’S DIFFERENT IN BRAZIL #21:
I now live in an apartment with Tia Ivani. She sold her house to the church to be used as additional classroom space, as well as, a bigger kitchen. Since the church purchased it, it has undergone some construction…here are some pictures:

This is a view from the back of the church looking at the side of our old house/into the kitchen

Here’s a look into the kitchen through the hole they cut in the wall

The kitchen

The living room/now classroom

Where the entertainment center/TV was

My old bedroom(s)…they tore down the wall that separated these two rooms to make a bigger classroom

My old bathroom…pretty much the same

The side room/second living room…now is a junk space

The back patio. We used to do our laundry out here, sometimes eat at the table that was there

The other part of our back patio…also filled with junk

Today’s website shout-out goes out to Pinterest. If you have not experienced this yet…you should. It’s full of recipes and crafts and clothes, etc, that you can both find & use, as well as “pin” onto your board to share for your family and friends. It’s pretty awesome. It’s full of ideas and lots of delicious stuff. =)

One last thing for today. The school is still facing a lot of opposition. Please pray for the school, Rafa, Drew and myself as we ignore the rumors people are spreading about us and that we keep on trucking with the school. This school is completely in God’s hands and we are still growing. The students love the classes and what we’re doing. We all love the school and are devoted to it. Please pray for spiritual maturity for those around us.

Peace and Love,

Dani