Recife!

Happy Tuesday all! Firstly, I would like to say that Samuel has recovered almost fully from his illness. He has come out of it almost a new little boy, learning new words daily – although people are telling me that the new words that he was learning have a   Finnish twinge to them! Thank you for your thoughts, messages and prayers. Our week has mainly been getting ready for our big move that happened this Sunday! Many of the people in the church dedicated man hours, clothes, and enthusiasm. We ran a Bazar on Saturday, which was a really fun experience and we raised about £6000, which here, is a huge amount of money, although not really even close to what the final refurb cost will be for the new church, but it was our first step forward, and now that we have working lights, running water, and some extra chairs we are able to run our first service in the new building (side hall – sound familiar?) this Sunday! On the first Sunday that I walked into Igreja Rio I was confronte

·        If any of you are feeling a little twinge of jealousy of me being out here in hot Brazil, out in the sun. It might make you feel better that it has been on and off raining for a week. And it’s not light spittle that covers the city for most of the day, it’s pretty torrential, and everything is now wet. So don’t be jealous, yet, the sun is yet to be the primary component of weather here. Personally, I am loving it, the weather is helping me acclimatize, and means I have an excuse to drink tea. ·        It has been a busy and a little bit of a stressful week. With the new building, meetings with the outreach groups, weddings and 6am cycles. But mostly we have been a little preoccupied with little Baby Samuel’s health. He has not been very well this week, and we have been to the hospital twice with him. Thankfully, today he seems to be on the mend, and is more active and giggling, but it has been stressful for both Tomas and Carol, and I have been trying to help in any

   I have arrived, safe and sound, and am being will cared for by the church here. Still trying to get used to the language, timings and customs of Brazil, but I am a lot less tired than I thought I might be (the month working in France might have helped greatly with that). I have yet to move into my own place, and am hoping that this will happen later this week, but until then I get to spend time with Pastor Tomas and Carol and their little one, Samuel. I have to say that it is a great blessing that there are little ones here as well, as I already miss the little ones at Hebron. They cannot be replaced, of course, but it ’ s nice to have someone to sing all the mainly music songs with here too!    Many reading this blog will already have heard how Igreja Rio (River Church - RIO is also an acronym for Relevant, Integrated and Organic) was founded out of a missionary group called Voz Na Rua (The Voice on the Street), but for the benefit of those who haven't heard, I will recou