Tuesday, December 22, 2009, Brazil
Dear Prayer Warrior,
Where do I begin? --- And how do I make this
short??????
CLM ENTRE
RIOS:
People are starting to drift in to
CLM for the Holidays. The first arrival is Kim, Kristen´s younger sister.
Believe it or not, we managed to keep it a secret. Kristen literally had no
idea that she was coming. She flew down to Foz do Iquaçu with Peter (P.J.) and
Amy, who were going onto Paraguay to visit Ben and Vivi. P.J. and Amy wanted
their bags picked up and also Kim so she would not have to travel alone. We
tried convincing Kristen to do the trip, but were not successful. She was
hesitant because of the language barrier. So Juan made the trip to Foz and
Viktória went to the city to pick Juan and Kim up. When they arrived at CLM at
about 4:30 in the morning, Viktória called Kristen to the phone, which gave
her just enough time to be somewhat oriented by the time she got downstairs and
met up with her surprise. There were just a few tears of great joy. Things are
speeding up now that Rosemarie and her son, Mateus arrival this afternoon and
Ben and Vivi and P.J. and Amy will be arriving yet tonight. Tomorrow it will be
Vera, hopefully Berenice, Everson and Leticia and his brother, Esdras, Loeci and
Marcelo and all who will be here for the CLM Family Christmas Gift Exchange
Party. At Entre Rios there are about 85 people participating. We will see how
many mess ups there are. It is hard to have it come out perfect with so many
people, but it is sure great to be all together. Joanna will be receiving
relatives all the way from Cuibá, an aunt, uncle, and cousins. May God bless
all of our visitors and us, too. So tomorrow evening is the big CLM party. The
homemade cookies (compliments of Viktória and the kids) and the ice cream are
ready and waiting.
Backtracking a bit: Mike and Mary
had a good trip to Curitiba with Lucilene and Janete, other than sitting in the
waiting room at the hospital for 5 hours waiting for their
appointment. It was hard to understand why this
second appointment with Dr. Carlos was necessary when he basically said the same
things when Luci had gone with Marilda. We had hoped that she would have her
surgery during summer vacation so not to miss much or any school, however, the
doctor is booked until April 8th. If there is a cancellation before that, we
may be called. Lucilene can´t wait until it is over, and has shown some anxiety
due to the several months of waiting. She will be getting her braces put on her
teeth on January 22nd. Please continue to keep Lucilene and all that she is
facing in your prayers.
We had three successful trips to the
city in the evenings last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to buy presents for the
Gift Exchange. The people in the stores know us and do everything to help us
out. The kids and teens enjoy it and it is fun to get out in small groups. The
biggest challenge is convincing the younger kids that they are not buying for
themselves, but for their secret pal.
We continue to take Mariane to the
doctor for him to see the progress on her finger. He has stretched it out to
once a week, with us rewrapping it every other day. Now, with the Holidays, she
will go for a two week period. Finally, even I can say that her finger is
making progress. The swelling has decreased and the open area is still
draining, but is closing too. Dr. Decio Filho declared today that she will not
lose her finger and that the dead skin on the tip of her finger should fall off
itself and not require surgery. At this point, she is able to move the first
joint (as attached to the hand), but can not separate the other joints. Once
the superficial healing is completed, therapy to regain the movement can begin.
We continue to pray for God´s complete healing, to His honor and
glory.
School is out, but we do not know all
of the results yet. From Imperatriz, Rômulo (7th grade) and Lucas Ramos (5th
grade) have failed. We believe that the school is willing to continue with them
and give them another chance. We are very proud of our Imperatriz students.
They grew so very much and that is more important than passing or not. We
haven´t gotten all of the results from the older kids´ school, but know that
Lucão did not pass 5th grade. His learning disabilities and lack of
motivation did him in this year. Of the younger children, Aline N. was held
back because of her inability to read. We are praying for a major break through
for her in this next year.
On the college front, a few of our
students have had some last minute stress experiences, which have caused us to
pray for a miracle for Loeci and Vera. They both received the report that they
had fail a subject. Vera had really been struggling with Spanish. She ended up
passing that subject, but failing English. She called the school and they said,
yes, those are your grades and you failed. She is to graduate in January and
very much needs her diploma in looking for a job. She decided that she had to
talk to her teacher. Her teacher reassured her that no one had failed her class
and that it was a mistake in recording her grades. The teacher has to make it
right with the school. We praised God for His miracle. Loeci has appealed her
grade and is waiting for the review to be completed. We continue to pray for a
miracle for her. She had already failed that class last year and consequently,
needs to take a fifth year of college. If she indeed failed, she would have to
take a sixth year because the two classes she needs to take are in conflict with
each other. Lord, we need another miracle!
We are very concerned about Luquinho
since school has been out. He is continually doing all that he should not be
doing. Diogo, Alex, and Everton have the tendency to be participating with him,
but he is definitely the king of the pack. Once again, he was found with
matches, this time trying to light a pile of dry leaves and so forth.
Thankfully, the plan failed and the punishments came. Please pray that
Luquinho can be inspired to good and constructive activities.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Visitors - may God provide safe
travels for all, may we all bless each other and share the love of
Jesus.
2) Lucilene - for peace in her heart
as to what she will be facing with the braces and with the surgery and recovery,
that she can feel the support and love of the CLM family and the extended family
also, that she would be able to talk about her concerns, fears, anticipations
and so forth, that God´s hand will lead the way all the way.
3) Mariane - praise God for the
visible progress in the healing of her little finger, praise God for His
faithfulness in completing His healing process, pray for the continual
superficial healing and for the return of normal and strong movement,
thankfulness for Mariane´s patience and tolerance of all she has had to put up
with.
4) School Year - we thank the
Lord for the growth that our students experienced this year, for more
independence in their studies, for a realization of their need to give a little
more, for the opportunity that 10 of our students have to study in Imperatriz,
we pray for preparation of their minds and hearts for next year.
5) Miracles - praise God for working
a miracle for Vera allowing her to be conclude her college course in Executive
Secretary, pray for a miracle for Loeci that a mistake in recording her grade
will be found also, thankfulness that Claudemir recuperated his Portuguese
grade.
6) Luquinho - that the Lord will
protect him from himself, especially from his tendency to want to play with
fire, for greater obedience and respect, that he could not be a negative
influence on Diogo, Alex, and Everton, that he can be engaged in work and
activities that will occupy his mind and time.
7) Christmas - Natal - for great
fellowship and family times, that we can celebrate with our hearts and whole
beings the birth of Jesus, that all the preparations will be completed, for a
nice relaxing Christmas day.
8) Wedding Plans - that the Lord
would continue to direct and provide, for a very comfortable and sunny day, for
God´s continual preparation for Loeci and Marcelo as a married
couple.
CLM
TURVO:
Adriana and Manuel seems to be
adjusting quite well to CLM and are happy troopers. Continue to pray for them
as they build relationships and learn obedience and the love of
Jesus.
All of the younger CLM students have
passed and most of the older olds. Romualdo has not heard the final results
yet. Pray also for God´s preparation of each of them for the coming school
year.
Tomorrow is Natalia´s 23rd birthday.
She has been a missionary since CLM Turvo opened in 2006. She is mainly
responsible for direct care of the children, which includes day and night time
duty, laundry room; homework, breakfast, and many more things. She especially
likes music and has a beautiful voice. She also likes and speaks quite well
English. Her dream is to be able to take a college course in languages,
hopefully next year. Keep Natalia in your prayers for spiritual and emotional
growth and reaching of her dreams.
Rebeca is a girl from Curitiba that
started coming to CLM many years ago. She has completed her course in
Psychology and has come to spend 2 weeks for the Turvo family. She brought with her a friend from Germany. We are thankful
for their participation in our Christmas celebration.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) Adriana and Manuel - for their
continual adjustment to CLM, for building of relationships, for obedience and
respect, for accepting of the love and truth of Jesus.
2) CLM Students - praise to God for
those who passed the year and also for all they learned and conquered,
preparation for the next school year.
3) Natalia - for spiritual and
maturity growth, for ministerial growth, that she will be able to pass the
college entrance exam that she can realize her dream, for all of her
relationships, good health.
4) Rebeca and Damares - thankfulness
for their visit, building of strong relationships, for God´s direction for their
futures.
5) Good Health - may God grant good
health to the entire family.
We wish you all a very blessed and
family Christmas. May the Lord truly be present
with you. May the Year 2010 be a special one of victories, to God´s
honor.
loving Jesus,
Mary
