Seasons of Love

"525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life? ...measure in love" ~'Rent'

This song has so many great insights, and so many that I can currently relate to. At times is seems as though I've been here forever, and other moments, time is only a concept. Every morning comes like clockwork, the hours proceeding move like molasses, and the evening slips away like quicksand. I picture it like those movies that show time lapses each day, showing flowers opening and closing and sunrise to sunset.

We've been in Salvador for two weeks now, and it's just flown by. A single minute can be an hour, and yet, I'm finding it hard to remember all that I've done, during my stay in Brasil. My memory however, tends to come and go as it pleases. So I'm sure that it'll conveniently return while I'm recalling past events.

I'll start with the adjustment I wasn't expecting, especially living here during the "wet season". There are three showers that we’re; two of the families are, sharing. Two of which, use the water from the city, and the other get its water from the well. I experienced, for the first time in my life, running out of water. I had just started my shower, and I had to turn the faucet off and on, to get a little burst of water that was left, to wash the shampoo out of my hair. The experience really made me put in perspective the amount in which I, and others as well, take advantage of access to water. I had to think about how to prioritize my water usage. It's humorous to think about, although not so humorous at the time. I literally thought, what do I have to do first? Wash my hands, take my contacts out, and THEN if there is enough water left, flush the toilet.

Brin and I were in the mall one day looking around, and I turned to her and said "This looks like gold!" I was referring to a dishwasher of course. I've never hand washed so many dishes in my lifetime, and I think after this experience in Salvador, it'll probably be enough to count for the rest of my time on Earth. Our "kitchen" is about three feet by nine feet. This includes, a microwave, refrigerator, stove, and sink. Tonight Brin kept telling Mia to get out of the "kitchen", which was very humorous to me, because all she had to do is take two steps backward. I really like doing the dishes, when there aren’t people in the "kitchen" with me.

The phrase "Silence is Golden", is not just a phrase to me any longer. I never really felt an urge, or need, to have a "quiet time". That was almost a foreign concept to me before, but only because I always had an opportunity to be in silence. Of course we always want what we can't have. So now, I make it a goal to leave the house, once a day, and walk to the overlook. I can see the ocean from there, and the breeze helps drown out any other sounds, overwhelming thoughts even, floating around me. You would think that I could get a quiet time in my room, but even that is a hard thing to achieve. As much as I enjoy the many sounds of the culture, right out side my window, it's not always fun to hear music blasting so loud that the bass vibrates me in my sleep in early hours of the morning. Although I do look forward to the day when I'll hear a song that I've heard while living here, and smile at the memory.

God has really met me in those now treasured quiet times that I've experienced here. I was frustrated one afternoon, because I wasn't feeling that God was really listening to me, and wanting to speak to me. Even though I know that practice makes perfect, I can be impatient, and I want to hear Him when I want to hear Him, and how I want to hear Him. God likes to work in a slightly different manner, than what we expect Him to. He also knows me and my heart, and how to speak to me individually. So He's been speaking to me through my i pod and through nature. I was riding on the bus while listening to my music, and I saw a guy drumming to the beat of the song. Every song preceding the former had some relation to my experience at that moment, and I felt that God was literally talking to me and relating to me through the music. Another moment I wanted Him to show me that he was hearing me, and wanted to respond. So I asked that He would show me hearts in my surroundings. I began to see them, in the clouds, trees, water and even the sidewalk next to me. He is truly a personal God.

It's also been challenging watching and teaching the girls. However hard it may be, it also has its rewards. At first the girls did, and still maybe, put me through a testing period. I think that they're understanding more about the reason why I'm here, and respecting me more for it. I overheard Mia talking to Josh the other night, about her family, and she included me. It was so sweet! Yesterday I took the girls to the beach, instead of doing school with them. There was an understanding that, if they were really good, got along with each other, and didn't cause any trouble that morning, that they could go. When I told them that I decided to take them, Ava threw her arms around my waste and told me she loved me. That was such a huge change from how she related to me before. I received hugs and kisses, and they held my hands and trusted me. It was so nice not to be thought of, and treated like, just a teacher, but like a member of the family.

God has been very merciful and gracious to us. There have been a couple of sick times, but that didn't last long, and didn't spread to everyone in the house. He's really provided for us, and watched out for our well being. I had never really had anything stolen from me, until yesterday when I took the girls to the beach. We were swimming and I had my eye on our things the whole time. When went back to our towels, two guys told Ella, in Portuguese, that we should be careful. There was a girl that had been walking around and she looked suspicious. I wasn't really worried about it, but then when we were getting ready to go, I couldn't find my flip flops. I thought they had just been buried under the sand, but they never turned up. This really surprised me, because of the things that were there, she took my $3.00 pair of Old Navy flip flops. They weren't even new, or good looking. My purse was maybe one foot away, and even though there wasn't any thing much of value in it, she wouldn't have known that. The only bad thing that came of it, was having to walk back barefoot. I got a perspective of how people have to live without convenience of protection of their feet. It was painful, but not nearly as much pain as people experience everyday.

Salvador is the biggest African city outside of Africa. They had ten times as many slaves brought over than America. That's outside of my comprehension! There is a martial art that started here, called Capoeira. It started out being a form of fighting, but after the slave masters saw it as a threat, the slaves were forced to stop. It then was turned into a dance, in which there is no physical contact.We took a trip to the historical area of the city, and we saw the exact spot where the whipping post was. All that stood, in its place, was a stage for people to celebrate 'Carnival', which is Brasil's Martigras. As much as Salvador is such a beautiful city, there is so much pain and heaviness relating to the dark religion that is practiced here. The religion is a mix between Catholicism and Black Magic, or Witchcraft. On one of my walks around the block, I stopped at a spot where Brin had pointed out to me the night before, to take pictures. There had been some kind of sacrifice and offering taken place on the hill, down the street from our house. I felt such a weight on my back just standing there. Spiritual oppression is definitely prevalent here.We all have felt, just in these past two weeks, that God has a different purpose for us here. He didn't just take us here to learn Portuguese, home school, or clean, but something much greater that hasn't been revealed to us just yet. We might not ever find out, but we know that we are here helping further His kingdom, just like everywhere else He has put us. We are to be here now.

Back in Altamira, I'd been reading a book about 'Love Languages', just so that I could figure out what exactly mine was. If you don't know what a love language is, it is the language that translates love to you. The love languages are, physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, and acts of service. Everybody has all of them, but there are one or two that mean more to each individual. Even though I pretty much knew what mine were, they didn't really make themselves relevant to me as much as they have here. I realize that my biggest love language is physical touch. Not being able to hug my friends and family, has caused me to realize how important it is to me, and how much I really need it to be healthy and happy. This has made me even more a vulnerable person, if that is even possible. I've shared this with Brin, and she asked me if she was going to have to give me cuddle time like she gives her daughters. I laughed, but I thought it wasn't all that bad an idea! It makes me realize how much more I need God to make me feel whole again.

God has really showed His love, and promises of love, for me through flowers. I have a favorite flower, which I'm not going to say what it is, and I may or may not explain why later. I've only told a few people, that I trust, what it is. It isn't a common flower. I associate this flower with a promise between God and I, and He reveals it to me on few occasions. I've seen it more frequently here and every time I see it, it reminds me of God's great love, and His promises to me, His daughter.I'm also reading the book "Captivating". It's about how women were meant to be cherished, loved, appreciated and captivating. I'm really enjoying it, and I think God's opening my eyes up to my own life, and how broken I am. Slowly He's allowing me to trust and become fully vulnerable with myself again. He's showing me how He wants us to become like we were as children, carefree and joyful, dependant on Him alone.

Ok, enough seriousness! I'll share with you now, some sweet and silly quotes, and experiences that I had, and some that I got the pleasure of over-hearing.

*Pronunciation in Ava & Mia's World*

~"Shrorol" can mean either Cereal or Stroller
Ava asked me where the "shrorol" was, and I told her it was in the cabinet, so she proceed to open the cabinet door, and came back to me asking where it was again. I listened carefully, and realized that she was referring to the stroller.

~"Ticker" is a Sticker
"Mia, what do you have on your forehead?" I asked one day.
"A ticker!" she replied.

~"Pork-a-cheese" is another name for Portuguese
Both Ava and Mia like to use this term.
Ava says "Now you say it in English, and I'll say it in Pork-a-cheese"

~"Top" means Stop
"Top it!" Mia told me today, when she didn't like me playing with her hair.

~"Popped" means passed gas
Apparently some little boy said it once, and the word stuck.
Ava asked me today "Did you pop?"
I told her no.
She said "I think Ella popped."

The best is when Mia gives the sweetest angry face you've ever seen, and says "I's sewious!", with that little lisp she has. It takes all of me not to laugh over her cuteness, and if I do, watch out!

Here are a couple examples of their understanding of pronunciation of words.

"I's ok momma!" Mia referring to when she fell in a pile of plastic balls in a game room at the mall.

"Her's bein' mean to me!" Ava or Mia have both said from time to time.


Ella and Meredith spotted a cruise ship out by the lighthouse last week, and were talking about all the amazing qualities it most likely held.
Meredith says to Ella “I bet they don’t even have to sleep on redis!”
Ella responded “I bet you’re right!”
A redi, pronounced heggie, is a hammock, and on the boat trips, that are taken on the Xingu river, for the mission, we sleep on redis.

I caught Ella and Meredith, one of the Kubaki's daughters, acting out a scene from the TV show 'Monk'. I hadn't realized it was from the show, until I heard it stated later on in their conversation. I think they made up the script for it, but they were extremely creative, and intelligent, in what they were talking about. Also, they both can imitate great English accents, better than I can. I wouldn't expect two nine year old girls to be so knowledgeable! I'm not sure why they were using English accents, but that usually happens when this type of acting occurs. This is what I overheard them saying, outside of their script.
"I can't have a boss Meredith, I'm running for election!" Ella stated in all seriousness.

It's a real treat for me to live with three different families, and see kids from 7 month old, to 14 years old relate to each other. I love seeing the kid’s perspectives again, it reminds me of how I felt when I was their age. It gets hard to remember those things when you're outside of that perspective. It reminds me of how smart kids really are.

Welcome to Salvador! A place where unicorns exist, hospitals look like castles, and churches look like hotels. Where God is alive in nature, and meet us where we are. Where you can walk next door, literally, and get belly dancing lessons, jazz dancing lessons, or whatever your preference may be. People are really friendly here, and watch out for us. I feel safe, and covered by prayer. Thank you for your time, and all your love and prayer.

So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu...

I can’t believe that I’ve already been here for about three weeks. Well where should I start? “Let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start. When you read, you begin with A, B, C. When you sing you begin with doe, ray, me.” I’ve had that song in my in the background of my mind, playing over and over again, for the past three days. I’ve been introducing music to Ella, the eldest daughter, nine years of age. I don’t think I quite had a grasp of how much older I was, until I tried to remember what it was like when I was first in a choir music setting. I wanted to put myself in her place, and understand how frustrating it was to learn the basics. As far as I can remember, which is pretty far, I was singing. I was told, by my parents, that I used to sing myself to sleep, before I could even speak. So I thought, what better way to introduce Ella to music, than to teach her the basics from the musical about music. Plus, it was a pretty easy song to teach her on the faux keyboard on ‘Leap Pad’. Later on we will have a real keyboard for her to practice on. She has a great passion to learn, not only music in general, but especially piano. With the passion and dedication that this girl has, she will go far!

This experience so far has already been very influential on my life, and it hasn’t even been a month. I can only imagine what God has for the rest of the time that I’m here for. Not only has it completely changed my schedule around, but also it’s forced me to be disciplined with how I spend my time daily. If I wake up too late, I have to deal with the consequences of not spending time on myself. I know that everyone else’s schedule doesn’t revolve around mine, so it’s my job to adjust to theirs. Even though I’ve never really cared too much about weather I wear make-up or not, my previous jobs made me feel as if it was a necessity. Now I’m really putting into perspective of what is the most important part of my day. My focus is helping the family that I’m staying with. So I try to be helpful in whatever way I can be.

I was writing earlier today in my journal about how funny God works sometimes. I was told a while ago, that usually the thing that you are most worried about doing, or experiencing, is usually the thing you will do, or be, the best at. The enemy likes to trick us into believing that we are worthless, and inadequate, usually in the subject that we are the most adequate at. Before coming to Brasil, I was doing a lot of praying, and worrying, about how adequate, and capable, I was for the things I would be doing here. So far I am only comforted in the thought that, this is exactly the thing I am supposed to be doing right now, and even though I wasn’t necessarily trained for this experience, God will prepare me for it all. I am always at peace when I think about the fact that God doesn’t always use the most qualified, but He uses the willing.

So let me share with you some of the experiences that I’ve had, and quotes from the girls, over these few weeks. I was told, by Brin, that eventually my body will get used to the bugs, and won’t react to them after awhile. Well I believe that I had about at least 40 bites, from different creatures, on my right leg alone. I think they prefer my right leg for some strange reason. Lately I haven’t noticed as much itching, or red marks. I think I was starting to look like a leper.

I like to ask the girls what they are doing every now and then, because I’m interested in their response. One day I saw Mia, the three year old and youngest of three daughters, playing with a girl’s hair, and I asked her what she was doing. She plainly stated, “I’m looking for lice!” As it is, and I’ve been warned, if I have the choice between holding a baby or not, I’ll probably hold the baby, and also if I have the choice to hug someone or to decide not to, I’ll hug them. So it is very likely, that if I choose to be friendly, which I probably will, I will most likely get lice while I’m here. I was told the same in relation to getting sick from drinking the water and shaking hands with certain people. There is a good chance that I’ll get a stomach virus of some sort while living here.

The worst thing that I’ve come across is a lime peel, or at least that’s what we think the cause of it is. After being here for a week, I started noticing bumps on my lips, and I thought it could have been a food allergy, or some other allergy. Within the past week, it has progressively worsened. Yesterday I met with Tim, a missionary who is also a doctor, which is such a huge blessing. He gave me a topical steroid crème to put on my lips, and within the first application I noticed a difference. After discussing different options, we both came to the conclusion that it is most likely that I have contact dermatitis from eating a piece of a lime. For some strange reason the peels here, even on the oranges, are extremely acidic. Brin had a lemon, that was sprayed, and it left a nasty burn on her arm, for two months. She told me that she now wears gloves, while making lemon aid, just to be safe, even if that wasn’t the cause. My lips are now almost completely healed, in only a day in a half. Praise the Lord!

To all who do not know, I’ll be heading, somewhat south, to Salvador on Tuesday. I’m going with the Pflederers, the family I’m staying with in Brasil. We’ll be living there for about five weeks. Josh and Brin Pflederer are going to be taking a Portuguese class, to further their education on the language, along with a few of the other missionaries here. I’ll be watching the girls and doing home school with them while I’m there. God knew that I needed this first month to get adjusted to the culture and this new family of mine. It’s been an answered prayer that the girls seem to be getting used to me, and seemingly liking me despite my needing to discipline them at times.

Ok, here are some of the quotes that I thought were entertaining. Both Mia and Ava, the five (almost six) year-old daughter, asked me “are you pregnant?” I said, “No I just need to loose some weight” I didn’t take offense, because they are so young, but I told Brin about it because I thought it was funny. She told me that they are used to seeing these stick thin girls from Brasil walking around.

Peanut butter isn’t a normal item you can purchase here, so whenever it’s around, it is a treat. One day we were all eating, and I asked Mia “Do you like peanut butter?” Her response was “No.” I replied “Why not?” She said “because it has peanut butter in it!” I asked again “well what don’t you like about peanut butter?” Mia said “Yeah..”

I thought that it was such a classic response, and one I could imagine myself saying when I was her age.

The other day I was sitting in my room, and I overheard Ava having a conversation with our neighbor Ana, who is three years old.

This is how it went “I want lip lip!” declared Ana.

“you can’t have any, because that’s Ella’s lip lip” stated Ava.

“I want lip lip! Lip lip!” replied Ana.

“well, I had some lip lip, but it’s not here. I gave it away. I sent it to China.” Ava said, confident in her response.

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud after that last one! They were referring to lipstick, or more likely, lip gloss.

Sometimes Mia likes to tell me things, in just a way, that will allow her to get what she wants. All three of the girls love to get their nails done, and they love that I have so many different colors to choose from. So one of the days that Mia was so eager to have her nails done, she came up to me and said “my mom says that I need to always have my nails painted, everyday!”

Another day Mia was so determined about the next country she wanted to live in. She told everyone who was around, “I want to move to Africa, where the snow is!” We found out later that she was actually talking about America.

Mia likes to play hide and seek with me like this, “Emily, close your eyes. Now open them. Now say, where’s Mia?” If I find her too easily, she asks “why is you not take longer to find me?”

One last one, when Ava and Mia were stating that I’m not an adult, I’m a teenager. I told them that I wasn’t a teenager, and asked them to guess my age. They guessed low twenties, mid-twenties, and when I kept saying no, they finally stated “30!” You can guess how much I loved that response.

Thanks to all of you who have been keeping me in your thoughts and your prayers. I know that I’m being thought of and prayed for, because everything about this trip so far has been so smooth and easy going. I know God has His hand on this time in my life, and has a purpose for my being here. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on my experience here, along with stories and quotes to share with you all. I’ll also include some pictures, and links to videos I’ve taken of the girls and I on my camera. Hopefully each blog won’t be THIS long! I apologize for that. For everyone who has read this much, is truly amazing! I hope you enjoyed it, and that you continue to keep my family and I in your prayers.

Please pray that my family has peace and comfort while I’m gone, and that they remain healthy and safe. I don’t want to worry about them while I’m away. Also pray for my health and safety as well. This whole adventure will fly by I’m sure, but any little discomfort can be a distraction from what I’m hoping to accomplish while I’m here. I’m thinking of all of you, missing you, and praying for you as well. I can’t wait to come back and see you all and share many more details from my trip.

With His great love,

Emily Fancher