The kids playing family
The day after school finished he got to fixing all the things that brokeGood News!
Todd finished language school on Thursday, March 25th! Todd pushed really hard the last three weeks to stay on a schedule so that he could finish by the end of March. And the Lord helped him finish in good time. It was hard, challenging and totally rewarding. Now, to clarify, this doesn't mean that Todd is fluent in Portuguese--that takes a few years to accomplish, but he has the tools he needs to be able to communicate and learn and practice the language. He is excited to be out in the field and to develop relationships and as a by-product be developing his language skills even more!
Todd spent this last week preparing his sermons for the Easter Youth Retreat for the association of churches in rural Ceara. It's the same one we went to last Easter and they invited him to return. He again won't be preaching the whole message in Portuguese, so James Goossen will be translating, but he is going to try to do parts--perhaps the introductions and the Bible reading--in Portuguese.
The week after the retreat will be our time of researching the area where the Lord is calling us to. We have three towns in mind and would like to get to know the towns, spend some time in them, and get a feel for their receptiveness of the Gospel. One town we've heard of has no church at all, and another has a little Pentecostal church. So please pray for the Lord's direction for where He wants us to go.
Here are a few more prayer requests:
- A home in the town will be available that will accommodate our family and be a good starting point for the ministry.
- We need to sell our car. We've been given an opportunity to buy a pickup at an exceptionally good price, but need to sell our car to do it.
- Sammy has a really bad cold. Trips and sick kids don't mix well. Please pray for wisdom on our part and for him to heal.
- Balance with homeschooling. What I mean is that we will be gone this next week and then the weeks before and after the move are going to be busy. And since we don't know when that will be it leaves us in the air. Please pray that we get her school work done without pushing too hard. I have built in our schedule a few weeks of time off and she hasn't had a Spring Break yet, but I also want her to have some summer vacation as well. Just pray for the Lord's direction and that we will take the breaks from school that we need in order to keep our sanity! The beauty of homeschooling is that we have this liberty, but it's a big responsibility!
Our Unique Perspective
Thank you all for your prayer for us. Reflecting on this last year, we realize that what every other missionary has said is true. Language school is the hardest time in your ministry. It's a time when you can't report any progress with the work of evangelizing and discipleship--the passion that brought you to the mission field. It challenges everything you know, it makes you feel incompetent in so many ways because you not able to communicate or understand those around. And we believe that Satan uses those difficulties to try to attack you individually and your life as a couple and family.
A couple examples of this would be that in order to keep up the pace with your classes you have to study many hours each day beyond the time you spend in the classroom. So that affects the time you have with your family and spouse. It also can affect your health from lack of sleep and being in the desk chair for so many hours. Whoever knows Todd knows that he can't sit still for long, so just that simple fact for him was hard. He learned to take 15 minute breaks every couple of hours.
Another example is this. On our field, every couple has one spouse that is a missionary kid that already knew Portuguese before the couple arrived in Brazil. All of the MK's are the men in the family, so they were able to start right away with some mission work after taking remedial language school and waited for their wives to finish school.
But in our situation, I am not the head of the home or ministry and our ministry depends on Todd learning to speak well enough to evangelize, disciple and preach. So, though my knowledge of the language was a help in some ways, in others it created a hindrance because so many people would turn to me and try to bypass Todd for decisions about things. It also created a crutch where Todd wasn't forced to speak the language in order to deal with something for the family. I just did it. Right away I felt this conflict starting and the Lord helped Todd and I come to a solution where I would direct the person to him or go to him and talk it over with him in front of the person. So the Lord has been good to us and helped us grow through some of the difficulties of language school. And we're better for it!
Thank you all for praying for us through the language school time of our ministry. Sometimes we felt we had very little to report, but it was a very valuable time of preparation and we couldn't have done it without you.
One more thing...
We just heard that someone has been telling people not to send us packages, but to send us money instead. Please feel free to send packages, if that is something the Lord has laid on your heart to do. We are not begging for them, but would love them IF that is what you already wanted to do.
Packages are not only like Christmas because they contain things we couldn't get here or are way too expensive to buy here, but they are also a symbol to us that people care and are thinking about us. That is why they are called Care Packages.
We have a list on our blog site www.toddandjuliehendry.blogspot.com of things that we cannot find here. You'll also find two videos of Sammy and Michaela at the Easter Retreat last year. It's really cute.
Again we're not asking for packages or money, just trying to clarify what has been said.
Thank you again for all you do for us.
Serving the Lord together,
Todd and Julie Hendry
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