FOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!

     Well, we started out the morning by going out shopping! This was their monthly shopping trip, so as you might expect, there was a lot of food to buy! We went to a warehouse type store that reminded me of a BJ's or a Sam's Club. I loved walking around and seeing all of the wonderful food. I was so glad that we ate breakfast before going, so I was not tempted to buy food. They even had Red Bull!! (And no, I did not buy any for those of you wondering!!)

     After shopping we had the chore of bringing all of the groceries up the stairs to the house! It seemed daunting at first, but many hands make light work and we got everything in really fast. After lunch we all rested for a bit and I worked on my Bible memory work and studied for another sermon.

     Tonight we went into town to the flower festival. A lot of the flowers were already gone sadly, but we had an awesome time fellowshipping with the Schrocks. While everybody walked around the festival, I went accross the street to the big Catholic church (The one I uploaded pics of last week) and went inside to see the architecture. They were conducting a mass, and I found it quite interesting. Many Catholics in the US would roll over dead if their church was like this one. Unlike the "normal" USA Catholic mass where it is very ritualistic with chants, prayers, and rituals; this service was more like a charismatic church. There was a praise team up front (With Electric guitars and an electric piano!! Not exactly the Pipe Organ Catholic church you think of in the US) and all the people in the audience had their hands raised swaying back and forth to the up-beat music. I was very surprised by this!

     After leaving the festival we went to a burger place in downtown Cuiaba. It was amazing!! You got to pick: Type of bread, type of meat, 1 sauce, 4 toppings, 4 cheeses, and 4 salads. Needless to say this had the potential of being a monstrous burger! Mine was: A regular hamburger on a Sesame seed bun topped with. . . Green pepper sauce, egg, olives, sausage, pepperoni, turkey, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese,  swiss cheese, corn, tomatoes, lettuce, and a tomato salad. .MMMMMMM is all I have to say. It was the best burger I have ever eaten.

     After finishing the monster burger we went to Extra, which is a Wal-Mart like store. They had everything from groceries to iPads, from clothes to dishes. It reminded me a lot of America.

     We made it back home about 11:00 PM all worn out and ready for bed. What an awesome day! Praise the Lord for His protection today, and for His great sacrifice at Calvary so that we can all go to Heaven to be with Him one day!

Laundry Day!

     Today was laundry day! We went out to the chacara and worked on laundry all morning. Well Mrs. Duarte and Jessica worked all morning on laundry. While they were doing their laundry I filled up the water jugs with well water so we would have something to drink here at the house, then I did my laundry and hung it out to dry.

     After lunch we went out to the mango trees and hung hammocks up and relaxed. Then it was time to collect the laundry and get ready to head back home for the evening prayer service. It hit me tonight how much more needs to be done just here in Cuiaba! There are so many neighborhoods which have an abundance of false churches, but nobody to take the Truth of God's Word to them! The Duartes can not do it on their own! I began praying today that God would send more people down here to help reach Cuiaba for Christ!

Singing, Studying, Serving, & Sleeping

     These are the four things that my day entailed. This morning I quoted my verse in Portuguese! I was told I added some Spanish in too, but all in all it went well. I was also able to understand a lot more of the lesson this morning! We talked about Mary and what made her a godly example (But not a perfect sinless person!!).

     Then after lunch I read part of a book for school next semester, and took a little nap. It was very refreshing! At 4:30 PM Mr. Duarte and I were visitation partners again and we headed out to witness to people and hand out John and Romans.

     Tonight in the service I joined the choir and sang with them in the evening service. It was a lot of fun! We are trying to get a quartet together (Jeremy Lockhart, Mrs. Duarte, Jessica Lima, and I). We practiced tonight, and are going to do some more work on it this week before we sing it in church.

     Praying you had an awesome Sunday serving in your church! Please continue to pray that God will use me here in Brasil, and that He will guard me both physically and spiritually while I am here! Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Brrrrrrasil

     Well we had an awesome Saturday! This morning was spent getting ready for tomorrow morning, and then this afternoon Mr. Duarte and I fixed the fence in the backyard to make sure the dogs did not get out.

     Now it is about 10 PM and I am freezing cold! I am covered up and am considering getting another blanket out! I jsut checked the temperature on line and it says it is 73 F lol! IT is amazing how fast your body gets used to the heat. So really I guess it is not that cold, but right now it does feel like it.

     Tonight before supper I was talking to my dad about how things weer going, and he asked me what we had going on the rest of the night. I said nothing, just going to rest and get ready for church tomorrow. Then, I went out to eat dinner and Jessica and Alex were not there. .. . so I asked Mrs. Duarte where they were and she informed me they were getting ready for church. About that moment I had a bizillion thoughts run through my head. Wow! they are getting an early start for tomorrow morning, it must take them a while to get ready. . . Huh?? IT is Saturday we have church!?!?!? O know I am not ready. . . HAHAHA very funny you almost had me there. About that time she said what we didn't tell you we had church on Saturday night? I am sorry. . . I thought it was so funny! I had 15 min before the service so was able to get cleaned up and ready and even made it early!

The End of A Week

      So. . . week one of my trip is already over!! My, how time flies! So I figured in honor of the completion of my first week in Brasil, I would write about the interesting things I have found here.

#1: Salt and Pepper. Yes, Salt and pepper are something that in America we have on our tables easily accessible to everyone. However, here in Brasil they do not have either one on the table, and if you ask for salt or pepper it is highly offensive.

#2: A Black Cow. Now you are wondering huh?!?!?! I found out last night that if you put coke on your ice cream, they call it a vaca preta, or a black cow.

#3: Rice and beans. Rice and beans are a must at every meal. I love rice and beans so this is great, but sorry if you don't!

#4: Undershirts & Flip-flops. People here do not wear under shirts!! This was awesome to find out because it is so hot down here that wearing another layer of clothes is almost unbearable. Also, here I can wear flip-flops almost all the time. I have only put on my shoes twice :-) Both times were for church. I love Brasil!!

     Well I will have to stop there even though there is a lot more I could write. Have a great day! Be strong in the Lord and in the power of HIS might!

~ Daniel Bishop

A Work of Art

These are pictures of the wall Mr. Duarte and I have been working on all week. The top left picture is the wall before we started and the bottom picture is part of the wall after it is finished. We still have a lot more wall to go but it is looking good! Thanks for your prayers!

Fishy Fun

     Sorry I didn't write yesterday. By the time it came down to typing a blog post I was tired and chose sleep over writing. Besides church yesterday, the only other thing we did was work on the stucco.

     Today at 8:15 AM I headed out and helped Mr. Duarte with the stucco again. At 12:00 PM Mr. Duarte made a fire and grilled some fish for lunch! It was delicious! Probably my favorite meal since coming to Brasil! They were stuffed with cilantro, onions, and tomatos! Yummy! Of course, a meal would not be complete without rice and beans! :-)



The Fish We had for Lunch! Yummy!



     After lunch I worked on my Porteguese some and then headed back outside to work until dark. Tonight we had the Schrocks and the Loockharts over for dinner! Mrs. Duarte cooked an awesome meal (as always) and we shared some good fellowship.

     Alex, Jessica, Joshua, and I headed into town after dinner to deliver a pizza and also grab some ice cream! We went to the mall downtown and got ice cream from McDonalds... (Not an actual McDonalds, they just sold 4 different kinds of icecream).

     All in all it was a good day. I am tired and sure will sleep good tonight! I am very thankful that God brought me here to Cuiaba, and am enjoying working in the God's ministry!!

From Dirt to Downtown

     Well let me start by explaining my post title. I started out today by hoeing out the grass from the front yard so that the sand can be delivered for the stucco. It took a little while, but finally finished it up. After that we took off for downtown Cuiaba (Hence the post title :-). We just ran errands and did some window shopping,before we returned to Pedra 90. Then it was nap time.

     Went out to the corner market today by myself. This is my first time going out by myself! It went great! I just bought some Coke, but was able to hold a simple conversation in Porteguese!

     Now we are just relaxing and looking through old pictures of when the Duartes came to visit us in Washington DC.

     Well, that is all for today. I know it is not much but that was my day. Please comment and let me know what you are doing and how things are going. Remember, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. . . and he shall direct thy paths! Pro. 3:5-6

In His Service,
     Daniel Bishop

Hangin' Around

     Well, we started out this morning by leaving at 7 for the chacara. It is only about 15 Kilometers away, but because of the bad condition of the roads, it takes almost an hour! Once there though, I realized why they enjoy their chacara. It is out in the country with about 6 acres. On the property there are many mango trees, which make for a great place to hang up a hammock and relax! Of course, we did just that! We were hangin' around in the trees for a few hours just talking and relaxing!

     Of course, there was also much work to be done. Mrs. Duarte and Jessica Duarte washed clothes while Mr. Duarte worked on taking care of their injured horse. I was in charge of refilling the water containers with fresh drinking water from the well.

     At 4 we headed back to Cuiaba for the evening prayer service. After the service, we sat down and did some brain storming about VBS. We bounced around many ideas and decided that our theme is going to be "Run the Race of Life." It is going to be awesome! We made approx. 300 bookmarks all with little ribbons on them. We are going to print out the verse and also glue it on the bookmarks.

     Tomorrow Mr. Duarte is talking about starting on some work projects here around the church. Painting the fence, putting stucco sp? on the side wall of the property, and cleaning up the back are just a few. Should be a busy and good day!

     Thanks for your prayers it is obvious to see that God is at work. I neglected to write in yesterdays post about visitation! Mr. Duarte and I went out on Sunday afternoon to the edge of town and did some door to door visiting. One house we went to the lady listened to the whole plan of salvation, but thought that her sins were too big for God to forgive. Mr. Duarte assured her God was very able to forgive her, and she bowed her head and accepted Christ as her Saviour! I am so glad that we serve a God who is able to forgive every sin, and loves us so much to allow us to come to Heaven to be with Him!

    Hope you guys have a great Tuesday! Take care and I will write tomorrow!

~ Daniel Bishop

Preaching in Pedra 90

Today was an awesome day! We had sunday school this morning, and I went to the Jr age class so I could try and pick up some of the lesson. (Their lesson was a little more simple than the Revelation series the adult class is going through :) Then after Sunday School we went out to a restaurant in Cuiaba called Alex's. Had some awesome food which included fried squash plantain and many other good foods. Then it was back to the house to study for my sermon tonight.

     You may be wondering about what the title of this post means... Well the "neighborhood" we are in is called Pedra 90, hence the name of this post :-) As far as the preaching, it went awesome! Praise the Lord for helping me and Jeremy as I preached and Jeremy interpreted! He has only been in Brazil for a little over one year, but did an awesome job translating! God is good.

     After the service I was able to talk to Jeremy about many of the things that he has learned since arriving in Cuiaba. It was awesome! I always enjoy talking to missionaries that are out there working doing what I am learning in the classroom!

    
     Well I have to run. We are waking up early in the morning to head over to the Duarte's chacara about an hour away. Really looking forward to seeing it! Hope you have a great day!

Until Tomorrow!

     Daniel Bishop

Welcome to Brasil!

      Well after 20 long hours on airplanes and in airports I have finally arrived in Cuiaba! We got to the house here at about 2 AM. It is was so good to be on the ground outside of an airport. I am so thankful that God helped me get here safely without any problems. On the plane from Miami to Brasilia, I sat next to a man named Rico. Once we were on the ground in Brasilia he helped interpret for me as I tried to figure out how to navigate customs. I very thankful God sat me next to him!

     Today we rested a lot to recover from getting in so late last night. After lunch I went outside and raked leaves from the mango tree, then just came inside and rested some more. It was a very hot day today. Outside it was 95 F with 45% humidity, but since it is winter, it cools down a lot at night. It is only 78 F outside right now and will stay cool throughout the morning. Tonight we had a welcoming service for Omar and Tracey Schrock and their family. They arrived in Cuiaba on Thursday, and will be working with the Duartes and the Lockharts. 

     I found out this afternoon that I will be able to preach tomorrow night in church! This will be my first time speaking through an interrupter. . .. eh. . . I mean an interpreter. .. lol so I am very nervous. Jeremy will be interpreting for me, and this will be his first time ever interpreting a sermon! So needless to say we are both nervous, but are praying that God would use us despite our deficiencies for His glory.