Back to Brazil

Here is my newest newsletter I sent out right before I left for Brazil. UPDATE: Now I'm in Brazil. And it's hot! Other update: I'm not staying for a whole year like I said, because I couldn't get a long-term visa, but I'm here for now, and that's good...

Hi Friends & Family! I hope this letter finds you well, enjoying some cool weather and special holidays with loved ones. By the time you read this, I may already be on my way to Brazil. Yes, I’ll be bringing in the new year in my favorite country - a sign of good things to come in 2015, I’m sure. 

As soon as I get to Brazil I’ll jump right into preparations for a month-long Bible translator training course. There are several protected tribal areas in the Amazon where no missionaries, or even Brazilians, are allowed to enter. But the indigenous people who live there are free to come and go. Over the years many have made their way to the AMI Training Center in Chapada dos Guimarães, seeking missionary training and resources to translate the Bible into their native tongues. This is where the course will take place and where I will be in charge of coordinating the logistics of keeping the participants informed, fed, housed, happy and in the right place at the right time. I’m really excited to be able to contribute to this unique training and to see first-hand Bible translation in action! 

English students and teachers in Orlando - so many nations, languages and tribes represented here!

While I’m looking forward to spending a few months overseas on the mission field, it’s great to be in Orlando when God brings the mission field to me. During the months of October and November I was able to help with Orlando Exchange, a six week course where missionaries from Brazil, Korea and Chad gathered here, in my home town, to improve their English skills. It was a fully immersive experience, full of mental, physical and spiritual challenges and growth... also a lot of fun! I really loved getting to know the students; they are inspirational people with amazing stories. I felt privileged to be able to help their English grow. And I could empathize with the overwhelmingness of being thrown into a new language and culture.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers over the next few months. Your encouragement and friendship gives me so much strength to keep going. Thank you! Lots of love, Kelly