Toothless Michael

Michael has lost 3 teeth in less than a month! No corn on the cob for him for a while!

The Bananal Island of the Karajá Indians

Steve got back at the end of the afternoon on Sunday from his 5 day experience with the Karajá Indians. A business man from the US grew up in this tribe and wanted to show the movie "The Passion of Christ" to them. His daughter, mother, and father also went on this trip. Steve had lots of fun and came home with a bad sunburn! (He claims he forgot that I had packed the sunscreen!) The Karajá Indians have the New Testament in their langauge and have missionaries living with them. Steve said that the men speak Portuguese, but the women only speak their native language. The Bananal island is in the Araguaia river and is a very large island. Only the Karajás can live on the island, but there are towns and tourist areas just across the water on the shores of the river.

Their homes and faces

Notice all the dogs sitting around. Steve said there were another 3-4 that he didn't get into the picture!

Their homes are made of a type of dried mud brick.

Capivara

I don't know if they are called capivaras in English, but that is what we call them here in Brazil! They are part of the rodent family and are quite large. When we were camping a few years ago along the Araguaia river, we saw a family of capivaras and the mommy was the size of a very large dog. This one is tame and "belongs" to one of the Karajá indians.

Tropical birds

Steve said that all the Karajás have lots of pets. Aren't these birds just amazing?! Of course Michael and Maira want parrots now. Even though it would be neat, I would never want to keep a bird from flying high in the sky. I think the kiddos understood and are content with the 2 dogs and 3 cats!

Turtle soup anyone?

Apparently, they eat a lot of turtle meat...Steve said it isn't bad. Not that I would really want to know for myself though. I would have to seriously consider becoming a vegetarian if I were to visit their tribe!

Showing the movie...

Steve was responsible for setting up the "screen" and getting the equipment ready for showing the movie. They showed the movie "The Passion of Christ" and "The GodMan".

No living thing is left out...

Oh yes, we even let the stray dogs watch the movie about Jesus! This one payed close attention during most of the film, but kept getting distracted by distant noises that only a dog can hear...or maybe it was a distant smell of something. You never can tell with dogs. Anyway, he didn't make a decision that night, but we are sure that he heard all about Jesus! (Dogs do go to heaven, don't they??)
P.S. Please don't call the mission board...I'm just kidding!

Steve doing what he does...

Steve and I are somewhat different from many couples because he is much more the talker than I am! I especially admire his ability to carry on a conversation when I see him telling others about Jesus. By the time I figure out how to start a conversation, he already knows half of their life-story! There is a lady that called our house a year ago who Steve had shared the truth of Jesus with on the Project in 2005. She was calling to let him know that she was still strong in her faith even though she was having trouble finding a church that accepted her. She had kicked out her live-in boyfriend the day after Steve had talked to her and had changed her ways. Anyway, one of our teams went to this same town this year and Steve told them to find this lady and check up on her. (It was easy to find her because she has a mermaid painted on the wall outside her house!) So they visited with her and she was so excited that she wanted to go door-to-door evangelizing with the team! And she did! Now that is really neat!

Our Favorite Team Members!

Well, we do gotta eat! Here are the ladies who kept us well feed and very happy! The one in the orange vest is Eliane. She is the mom of the girl who watches my kiddos while I am at Asas. She is a dear friend and it was so neat to have her with us this year on the Project. She is a wonerful cook...I did pull some strings to make sure she was on my team! The other ladies are from the local church of Taiobeiras and they were a huge help to Eliane. These ladies served us with all their hearts and they really worked hard.

Children's Program, day 1 and 2

Here are some pictures of the kids who participated in the children's program on the first and second day in the community of Taiobeiras in Minas Gerais. Each day we had clsoe to 200 children attend. The school was quite large and things went smoothly after the first day. It took the first day for my teens on the children's ministry team to get the awakening that they needed as to their need for preparation and organization! I can proudly say that after the first day, my team keep the children extremely organized!

Project Go Ye - Vale de Jequitinonha

Here are the 250 people (minus those taking pictures at the moment) that participated in the Project Go Ye. The Project was from July 19-29 this year. We divided into 5 teams that went to 5 different communities to do evangelism and children's programs. I'll be sharing a few pictures each day so as not to overwhelm you with all the pictures at once! Keep checking in!

Where do you sleep while on the Project???

We spread out the thin mattresses wherever there was room. The first 2 nights the guys were sleeping in balcony of a church while the gals were sleeping in classrooms in a school across the street. After we split up into 5 groups to go to different communities, we slept mostly in schools. The best part is the long line for the bathrooms and showers! But nobody heard any complaining from me! I was just thrilled to have warm water for my shower!!! We were also so happy to find out that we could take air mattresses this year!

She's home again!

Larissa was released from the ICU today and went home! Her blood results came back clear again today and she continues to nurse well. She will have weekly check-ups with the pediatrician and monthly with a neurologist. Thank you all who prayed diligently for this family and this precious little baby. God miraculously healed her!

Progress!

Larissa continues to show progress and is no longer needing the tube for nourishment. She is nursing well enough now! This is a huge answer to prayer. There is the possibility that she will be out of the ICU by the end of the week. A hematologist should be in to see her tomorrow to do some sort of exam. I didn't get to chat with Keila for long...she has had a long day between the hospital, saying good-bye to her mom, her mother-in-law arriving, and Mathias having a rough day. Pray for Mathias as he continues to deal with his life being shaken up. Keep praying also that Larissa will recover completely from any damage caused by the blood clot. They have a long road of neurologist ahead of them.

God is healing Larissa!

Larissa had a wonderful day today! She was able to nurse for 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes at noon, and then in the afternoon she was able to nurse for 20 minutes!!!! Thank you God!!!!

As of Friday night...(Larissa)

I called Keila yesterday afternoon (Friday afternoon) and was able to talk to her and ask her all the questions that were whirling around in my head. First of all, the information that was passed on to me that Larissa was in the isolated ICU is not true. Larissa remains in the normal ICU where Keila can enter every few hours to try to nurse her. Larissa's high white blood cell count has been high from the beginning and has continued to be high. The doctors are saying that it is due to the blood clot in her brain. What happened from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning that was a setback is that the blood clot has apparently caused damage that is affecting Larissa's muscle control. This is why Larissa was no longer able to nurse on Wednesday morning and has had to be feed through a tube since then. Yesterday the doctors confirmed that she does not have an infection, but she does continue to be on antibiotics. The test yesterday also confirmed that the blood clot is slowly being absorbed. We are praying that the sudden loss of some muscle control that Larissa is experiencing will be reversable.
Mathias continues to get better. Keila's mom will need to go back to her home in São Paulo on Monday and Márcio's mother will be arriving on Tuesday for 10 days. Let's all pray that Larissa is home by the time Márcio's mother needs to return.
And if you are feeling worn out by the changes in information that the doctors give...the ups and downs of each update...just imagine how Márcio and Keila feel. And yet Keila can calmly tell me that she knows that there are 20 more babies in the ICU that are all needing answers and solutions. And she can tell me that the doctors are trying their best and yet they are not gods and we cannot expect too much from them. And here I was wanting to catch the next plane to personally tell the doctors that they need to stop clowning around and get the diagnosis straight. She continues to be an example to me, even through this terrible experience.

As of Thursday night....update on Larissa

Larissa continues to be lathargic and unable to nurse. She is receiving milk through a tube. The doctors are planning on performing another test today that might give them some answers. These days have been hard on Márcio and Keila because Larissa had been getting better and they had been looking forward to taking her home by the end of this weekend. Now they are back to ground zero with Larissa's recent regression. As of yesterday, her diagnosis is the following: hospital infection, blood clot in the brain, and reflux in the digestive system. It seems like each day something changes...first they say she doesn't have an infection, then she does, now maybe she doesn't....it has been brutal for the family.

Their 2 year-old (Mathias) has an inflamed throat due to a virus and is returning to the pediatrician today. His fever has come down a bit and it looks like there is no infection. The pediatrician also said she heard an abnormality in his heart that they will have to investigate.

Keep praying.

the latest on Larissa

I just talked to Keila's mom (she is in Manaus with Keila to help) and the situation is not good. They did another exam yesterday that showed that the blood clot is smaller and everyone was saying that Larissa was getting better each day. She was not showing any more signs of infection and was gaining weight each day. The doctor said that there was not an obstruction in her intestines anymore. After the exam, Larissa nursed well 3 more times before Keila had to leave the hospital. This morning, Larissa would not nurse and is not responsive. They have moved her to the isolated ICU, which means Márcio and Keila can only see her from 3-5pm each day. Her white blood count is way up (normal is 10,000 and hers is 1 million) and they don't know why. Apparently, the doctors are now considering the possibility of Larissa being transferred to a hospital in São Paulo. This would be complicated (airplane, etc.), but perhaps it is the only way to get answers. To make things worse, their 2 year-old boy started having a high fever (104) yesterday. They took him to the emergency room where they were told that it looks like he has a virus. He is taking medicine to bring the fever down, but it keeps coming back. They will take him again today and hopefully at least a blood test will be done. Please, pray for this family. Keila and Márcio are totally exhausted. They are firm that God will not give them more than they can handle, but they are in great need of our prayers and of God's peace and strength. I will continue to put updates on the blog.

Pray for Larissa

This is Keila, Márcio, Mathias (2 years old), and Larissa (a few days old). Larissa is in the ICU with an infection in her intestines, meningitis, and a blood clot in her brain. Larissa was born on June 7 and suddenly on June 15 she started having a fever and vomitting. She is stable and nursing well now, but there is no way of knowing if there will be any lasting effects from the blood clot. Please pray that Larissa will have a full recovery. Keila is at the hospital every day, all day to be able to nurse Larissa every 2 hours (she is physically and emotionally exhausted). Keila's mother is with them and taking care of house things and, most importantly, taking care of Mathias. Márcio is the designated driver since Keila had a c-section and is not allowed to drive yet and is trying to give Mathias the extra attention he is needing since he is feeling the absense of his mommy at home. This is a very, very dear family to us. Keila is like a sister to me. Unfortunately for me, Asas sent them to Manaus last year to work at that flight base, so I can't be of much help through this rough time. They seem to be pleased with the medical care that Larissa is receiving, so that is a blessing.