New Beginnings!

I'm so happy! The Lord has turned my mourning to dancing....literally! My last post was about the hard time I was going through, but let me just say… God doesn't let you go through a hard time forever, He won't let it overtake you, and it's always about learning a lesson and you WILL come out stronger!

I came to the conclusion… (God revealed to me) that it's my choice if I want to be defeated and frustrated with myself, or even nervous for that matter! So I just have chosen to be happy! Haha, it's really as simple as that! Whenever I feel defeated, I just read my Bible or pray and then the Lord just reminds me who I am in Him and for real it's like medicine. I'm %100 better! My reason for being upset was the language barrier, but who cares? I just let it go and if I mess up, I don't care. I can laugh with them, it's pretty funny. Today my grandma was making me some eggs and she asked me if I eat the shell, just being silly…and I was like YEP, it's my  favorite part- being totally serious! Hahaha! Because I thought she meant yoke lol! I've found what when I stop trying so hard and putting pressure on myself I learn a lot more and I ENJOY it!

Tonight in church, I actually understood the whole message haha and it was really awesome! It was talking about that story in the bible where there was this holy water and people would be healed when they went in it, but it happened very rarely! Well there was this crippled man who was waiting to get healed for many many years, but people would always jump in front of him and he would completely miss the opportunity or he would have the chance, but no one would be there to pull him in the water. Well Jesus came one day and saw him, he went over and asked him, "Do you want to be healed?" And the dude said yes. Then Jesus said, "Well pick up your mat up and walk!" So he did! Then my uncle was saying the importance of this is, you  can't let an opportunity go by based on other people's actions. The man waited so many years to be healed because of other people…but all he needed was the Lord.

So what I took out of it is this: I can't let other people's comments, actions, opinions frustrate me. The only thing I need to know is I'm trying my best and Jesus is happy with me!  Another thing I took out of it was that it was the crippled man's choice if he wanted to walk or not. I'm sure that was a nerve-wracking thing, not walking ever to all of a sudden just getting up to obey Jesus! But he did, he didn't let fear hold him back.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your connect!" - Eleanor Roosevelt.

I started school today and I LOVE IT! The people are so fun there! For the 1st hour I work behind the desk, then I have class for an hour, then I teach for an hour! My teachers are my age so its a blast! Haha! And every day of the week I have 2 new ones! I love ´´teaching´´ because all I do is talk to them in english and correct them when they mess up!!! Talk about an amazing witnessing oppertunity! We can talk annnnyyyttthhhiiiinnnggg... as long as it´s english! 

Then tonight I started dance! I like it alot, its superrrr easy, but good for working on technique I guess lol! I dance for the first time here on Sun! Can´t wait! Well this place is really feeling like home and I LOVE it here now! I´ve got a schedule again, started working out, and made alot of friends! The joy of the Lord is my strength! :)


Thank you for the prayers! 

"You is never be alone!"

Hi everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to read blog number 2 on the great adventure!

I think it's time to be real.  Most people think that my life is completely perfect, that I have everything put together, I'm just constantly blessed, I get to travel everywhere doing what I love... ect. HA! Not true yall'. Don't get me wrong, yes I am SO blessed and I'm so thankful for what the Lord has given me and I absolutely love traveling, but I go through yuck too, I just don't put it on FB lol ;) But anyway...

Yesterday I had a completely frustrating day. The language barrier was getting to me BAD and I felt so alone. It was to the point were I was writing an email to my mommy and just crying. 

One of my favorite things in the world is to talk with people, find out about them, meet new people ect. I just love people, and I never realized how much I need that communication. Well here in Brazil, the only person that speaks English is my cousin Elisa. It's just so frustrating to not be able to talk easily with my family. I want so badly to understand without them having to break it down or talk slow. It's seriously the worst feeling ever to not be able to communicate with your grandma, aunts and uncles, pastors over coffee. I never knew how much I take communication for granted. 

I didn't just write that paragraph to make you feel bad for me! I wanted to tell you another story of God's faithfulness! I was praying and I was so upset to the point that I saw telling God, "Why would you send me here? I don't belong. I just want to go home where it's comfortable." I heard nothing back... then I said, "Lord, I need a good friend here someone to help me I can't stay here, I'm SO ALONE." I still heard nothing. I said, "I'm not giving up, I need to hear from you Lord"... so I went to church. Then one of the songs we sang is called "Abraca-me" (Hug me) The song talks about comfort in the Lord's arms so that was comforting for me, but I needed more. I was pressing in  and I heard a familiar voice! It was my friend Marcelle. I met her when I came to Brazil 6 months ago! We really hit it off, we have so much in common, and she's just precious. She doesn't go to my church but she just showed up for "no reason" tonight! She was like, "You come sit with me!" So I did, then we hung out after church and she was asking me about home ect. I told her that I was really missing home today and she said these exact words. "When you is feeling sad and longing for home, you come to me, you is my friend and you is never be alone!" When she said those words I just said thank you Lord!!! You provided EXACTLY what I needed. God gave me a friend...and it turns out we go to the same school here too! She reminds me of my friends from home, and always has the joy of the Lord with her...so its like I have a little piece of home with me!

Today was much better! Her, Elisa,and I hungout all day, it was a lot of fun! No more tears!

Oh yes! My peanut butter business it ROCKIN'! I've only got one more can left...wooohooo! I knew it was a brilliant business idea! My aunt is coming next week and I'm gonna ask her to bring me more hehe! 

Thanks for praying for me and please continue to pray. I have my first real day of school on Wed. and I'm a little nervous! But it's another opportunity for God to show off! 

LOVE YOU ALL. 

My travel and first day of the great adventure!

Oi Gente,
Thanks for reading this! What an adventure it's been already! I just want to start out, with WOW, we serve a faithful God! He has been so good to me, so much better than I deserve! Just traveling here has made me want to know more about him and take my praise to the next level! I'm so grateful because before I left, I had peace, but in the back of my head I was like, "Oh Lord, you better come through because even though I have peace, it doesn't mean I'm not scared." And oh boy did he ever!

So here were my issues:
My bag was 7 pounds overweight (because I loaded it with peanut butter haha!)
I was trying to bring an American food into the country to sell.
I had to switch Airlines in Rio of all places.
I was nervous about my language skills.
I was flying on a Brazilian only airline.
In Rio, I thought I had to bring all my bags with me because I was switching lines!
And In Rio I only had an hour layover!

So I think I had some good reasons to be a little bit nervous... but It's just ridiculous how amazing Jesus is and how much he loves his kids! (Even when they're 18 lol...I think I felt more protected and babied on this trip than ever before in my life, and I LOVED it!)

Ok, lets start from the top:
I brought my bag up to the scale, they weighed it and saw that it was overweight, but the woman was just like...shhh...it's ok.

When you fly to a different country, you have to fill out an immigration form, and on the form it asked me if I brought any American food, and I promised myself I would be honest (and the Lord honors honesty yall'...learned that first hand) So I said I brought "pasta de amendoim" and I get to the customs officer in Belo and he DIDN'T ASK FOR THE PAPER! whattt?! So I got through with absolutely no problems!

When I checked into my first out of 4 flights, the woman said...of this changed...your switching airlines in Miami not Rio anymore!!! HAHA!

When I checked in and everything on the Brazilian airline, I was sitting next to this lady who was seriously so sweet, I think she might have been an angel. I won't know until I get to heaven, but I would bet on it! She spoke perfect english and portuguese, we had so much in common, and she even got me to my gate from Rio to Belo!!!

When I arrived in Rio, I was early and I didn't go through customs there so my 1 hour layover that I don't think I would have made turned into a 2 hour chill time. During that chill time, I had one of the best God times I've had in a long time! I really believe that he showed up so strong for me in the middle of the airport surrounded my people and chaos...because he had my full attention because I had no other option. I really was like a baby again, everything depended on the Lord. And once again, he proved himself faithful!

Something cool I just wanted to share:
When I was flying over Rio, and it was the most beautiful thing I've seen in my entire life.  I was just overwhelmed by His presence and how much he really cares for us. I was looking down at the clouds and they were completely soft, they looked like water. I was just admiring and then I saw a little patch of clouds and the Lord whispered to me, "I love you this much." I was kind of like uhmm... thats a really little patch of clouds...i'm kind of offended...but then I looked a tad bit farther.... and I was completely surrounded by clouds, all I could see for miles were those clouds! Those are the kind of things I live for, and it just reminds me that I serve a REAL God. I'm just still completely overwhelmed.

I got here to BH safely and I've spent time with my family, then I went to kids worship team practice, and it was wonderful! The kids are so precious and I just find it funny that children's ministry is what the Lord keeps opening up right now! I'm really enjoying it. The kids here in Brazil are especially important to me because since I'm American and speak English, they want to be just like me so it's a constand reminder to keep a good witness. The Lord definitely gave me a new circle of influence already! Then I faced a big fear of mine tonight...the dreaded SMALL GROUP haha! I was dreading it because I didn't want people to think I was a fool if I miss understood the question or didn't get it or whatever, but I made a decision when I came here to not let one opportunity go by, especially if it's fear related!

SO I DID IT! It was wonderful! The people are so sweet, I already have friends, and I really know a lot more than I thought I did! I'm already having full conversations in Portuguese and I've only been here a day!! It's amazing the things you can accomplish if you just let it go and fly with the Holy Spirit!

Well I'm exhausted and I start school and teaching english tomorrow, so I'm gonna hit the sheets!

Love you all so much and thanks for keeping up with a Brazilian Bug! <3
-Gabriella Sanches