Prayer Requests: Jake’s July Prayer Letter
Dear Bothers and Sisters,
It has been a year since I arrived at CLM as a missionary, and by the grace of God I am only 13 pounds lighter. My Portuguese has improved quite a bit in the last year. I am now preparing Sunday school lessons for the most part on my own. And I am able to communicate well with new children (who are not accustomed hearing foreigners speak) when they arrive. And in church when something is said, but difficult to hear, people look to me as well to see if I was able to understand (and sometimes I know!).
I have not had too much of a problem missing anything from back in the States (aside from my truck and .22). Though I did not make it a whole year with out Talk Radio and Rush Limbaugh (I tuned in last week).
My job description has not changed too much since I arrived. I still do computer work and maintenance around the house. Back in January I started helping out with the farm, and we are still working on improving the pastures. Adam Streenz, from Tremont IL was here and helped to install a lot of electrical fence.
I am also trying to take more time out to be with the kids. I have become to see that the work that I thought I could get finished (and then I could spend more time with the kids) will never get finished. Something will always come up. So have started taking time from it and doing things with the kids. We go on bike rides, or play with my remote control car. Currently I am looking into buying a horse and a horse cart, so that I could take the kids on rides.
I have also started working more in the church. In March I became a part of the churches youth group leadership. Around that time I also started teaching a Sunday school class from time to time. Recently, I have been teaching more. This coming Sunday I will be starting a series on Creation and last Sunday I finished the second week of a teaching on family.
I have also been praying about the future. Turvo will soon be needing workers to be able to open up. Currently, Luiz and Aninha will be moving there with there family to open the orphanage. But no other workers are committed. It will not be possible for Luiz to open up the orphanage with out other workers. So, even though I would rather be here, I am praying about moving to Turvo and working until other missionaries are trained and come, and then returning to CLM.
I would like to thank you for your prayer and financial support. This past year has been a spiritual struggle here at CLM, we depend on your prayers. And your financial support has been quite a blessing. It has helped not only my sustenance, but also helped to pay for medicine for the sick, medical appointments, church supplies, and has helped CLM to pay off some bills and buy some supplies.
My prayer requests:
1. Pray for my visa, I am still awaiting a response as to whether it will be renewed.
2. Pray that I can continue to learn Portuguese
3. Pray for my relationships with the kids
4. Pray for God’s guidance in my moving to Turvo
Thank you for your prayer,
Jake Teater
I have included with my letter what I think are the two best stories from my website (http://www.teaters.com) from the last year.
How fast can I blow through a stop sign?
With Mary being in The States we are one driver less, I have switched from driving the boys Kombi (VW MiniBus) to one of the girls' Kombi's, the blue one. One of the girls' favorite things to do on the way home from church is to drive fast over the crest of a hill that lies between home and church. For me in the front, well I don't feel too much, but for the kids in the back, they get that tingly feeling run down their spine. Every time I pull out of the church the girls ask me to go up the hill "sem parar" (without stopping).
And that's some what of the catch. There is a stop sign at the very crest of the hill, right where I want to be going my fastest. Thankfully there are speed bumps on the road that crosses ours. But the view to the left is some what obstructed by trees, a house and the bakery. So I can safely blow through the stop sign at only about 45-55 km/hr.
Of course now I should defend myself, why on earth am I blowing through stop signs, on a hill none the less, at "only" 55km. I would defend my self by saying that it is a tradition that goes beyond my time, but then I would have to admit that I am about positive that it was Kevin "Psychotic" King who started it, which really makes the defense more of an offence for my opponent.
Recently we have been trying a new strategy to move beyond the 50-60km cap. Today on the way home from church I drove up to the crest of the hill, stopped and let Aline out. She would stand lookout for us and signal thumbs up, or thumbs down on our approach. I dropped her off and turned around heading back in the direction of the church, just as Viki (who knew nothing of our new strategy) left the church going down the street where I had just dropped Aline off at the corner. We got to the top of the facing hill just as Viki got to the top of the crest, where a familiar looking 11 year old girl in a plain dress was standing on the corner under the light of the street lamp, giving a thumbs up to a passing car and looking as if she had no better place to be than a street corner at 9:30 at night. I am not sure what was said in the conversation that ensued, but if must have seemed odd to Viki to find poor little Aline there "just signaling whether or not there are any cars coming."
As soon as Viki was done checking out the situation, and got out of our way, we were off. Aline gave us the thumbs up and I actually got the Kombi into fourth gear before it was all said and done. We blew through that stop sign at a record 75km (46.6mph). The girls all screamed of course, and thankfully I heard no thuds of heads hitting ceiling, and so we turned around and picked up Aline, and having no particular place to be we went and passed by the "interesting new house," [which I later discovered is a chocolate factory] and Taurus, the horse I would like to by. (If only someone could tell me who owns it.) And we all arrived at home with smiles on our faces, as it should be.
Bachelor Life - Just trying to get by.
Day to day living has been going on pretty easy. I have found some shortcuts that make life a little easier.
I don't have a refrigerator in my room, and they are too expensive to buy just to have cold soda. (I have a shelf in a fridge in the adult kitchen for other stuff) But it is nice to have something cold to drink in my room. So I got to thinking about it, the water in my bathroom sink is always about 60, since the water is pumped underground from a spring. 60 degrees isn't too bad, especially in the summer. So I store my soda in the only tank in my room with fresh cold water, the toilet's water tank. It works good, I just flush a little bit before I pull out a can, so some fresh water can cool it down.
Lunch is provided, so I make my own breakfast and supper. Breakfast usually isn't too much, coffee and some fruit and crackers. I rigged up my coffee maker with one of those timer switches, so at 7am every morning I have fresh coffee. Supper had routinely been pancakes, until my recent discovery that the coffee maker also makes soup! (That cheap soup that comes in a brick like form, with "meat" flavored powder.) It works perfect, the coffee maker was made to heat water to just above the temperature the tongue can withstand. I crunch up the noodles, pour them and the "meat" powder into the pot, put some water in its little tank, and flip the switch, 15 minutes later the soup is ready. The noodles turn out just perfect, I eat 'em right out of the pot.
Well I gotta go now, I am scrambling an egg in the coffee maker, and its about done. (Honest!) [Just a note: After I posted this on the site and after the egg was finished I attempted to make popcorn in my coffee maker, but I ended up burning out the resistor.]
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