Begun in Faith

In 2018, I moved to Anapolis, Goias in Brazil to plant a Nazarene church with a missionary team sent by a mission organization called Extreme Nazarene, which later became Ardeo Global. Our project contract ended in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. Throughout the next year, I prayed a lot about what my next steps should be, and God clearly called me to continue working at our church plant here in Anapolis. It has been the perfect place for me to be and I’m so glad I still get to live and work here. (By “perfect” I don’t mean easy in any sense) At the beginning of this year, several of you spoke with me about becoming an official missionary with the Church of the Nazarene. I prayed about it and God did not confirm or deny specifically what I should do, but I felt peace about starting the application process and learning more about this option. That’s still where I am now. I’ve finished most of the application process, but we are still talking about logistics and whether this is a g...

Corn is a huge part of our diet here where I live in central Brazil: polenta, tamales, corn custard, corn bread. Street venders actually sell plastic cups of fresh corn, it’s that popular. Throughout June and early July, Brazilians celebrate Festa Junina (Catholic name) or Arraia (non-Catholic name); a party that might look to you like a harvest festival with farm-themed decorations and lots of plaid. Both John and Peter’s saint days are in June, and, since Brazilian schools run with the calendar year, June is also the end of first semester before winter break. Most schools close out the semester with this harvest party like we do with our Christmas parties. Curau is corn custard served with or without cinnamon on top Our church harvest party was the first time we sold food at a church event instead of everything being free. Along with our rummage sale, this has been our first experiment with raising money for the church remodel. We have learned a lot and we're looking forward to t...