Our Little Missionary Girl...

Tara and I have been so blessed to watch our four-year-old little girl become an instrument in our Savior’s hand. In an earlier post, Tara told a story of Lydia braving the heat, the mosquitoes, and the language/culture barriers to hand out gospel tracts. Lydia said, "Even though I can't speak Portuguese, I can still tell people about Jesus."

On another day, while taking a walk with her father, Lydia saw a man walking down the street. She stopped her father and said, “Daddy, maybe he does not know Jesus.” It so touches the heart of a parent to know that God has burdened this small child’s heart for the lost.

From the mouth of small child, we have been reminded of the reasons that we have left the comforts of the United States to come to Brazil. We, the Gilpin family, have been blessed to be called to bring the greatest gift in history to lost peoples. At times it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves and to allow the difficulties of living in foreign country to cause us to fall into Satan’s traps. However, the words of our little girl sent a clear message to us that God desires that all may know the good news. We hope that we never forget that we our no longer our own. For Christ’s death on the cross released these pitiful sinners from our prison cell of sin. Whether, we live in Brazil or in the United States a four year old little girl has shown us again the love of our Savior.

The rules of the road are mere suggestions...

Many of you know that in Latin America the rules of the road are mere suggestions. Let me give you idea of what it is like to drive in Belém, Pará, Brazil a city of about two million people.

We leave our apartment in the mornings to head to school. Now this is no small feat, for people here will park almost anywhere. In our parking garage alone, which is about the size of a basketball court, you will find five cars and our S-10 four-door five speed (yes, almost all vehicles are standard not automatic) pick-up. On the side street (about 50 feet long) on the way out to the main street, you will find another five to six cars parked anywhere possible.

So, we finally make it to Ave. Almirante Barroso, a eight-lane surface street. However, we must be careful when entering the street for several ton buses are barreling down on us since a bus stop is almost in front of our building. With the squeal of tires we make it out and the race begins.

For the next several miles until we get to our destination, we must weave in and out of traffic to stay safe and to make it to our destination safely. During this trip, most vehicles ignore the lane lines on the road, if they even exist, and drive wherever. Yes, often at a stoplight (for which most vehicles stop) you will find four-five car wide traffic on a three lane road. The use of your horn is a must and being an aggressive driver is not rude, it is actually expected.

Motorcycles are another interesting addition to the fray. For, you see, they are taught in traffic school to drive between vehicles. Not only this but you will find every sort of delivery driver possible on a motorcycles… yes, water, food, beer, and even portable gas tanks (for cooking). I have even seen a FrED-EX delivery man on a motorcycle (and no this is not spelled incorrectly, no trademark infringement here).

However, we are thankful for our vehicle which our mission kindly provides and we enjoy the challenge of the road most day.

Ave. Almirante Barroso

Yes, the water is heated in the showerhead...

The product Tara calls the "widow-maker."

So, another oddity for us here in Brazil is the building practices of those in a developing country.

For example, we live in a city of roughly two million people. In this city we have numerous buildings that rise from the city more than fifteen stories with some as high as fifty stories plus. However, no matter how high the buildings, the builders do not use steel beams. Rather, they use concrete beams made on location and bricks to make the exterior walls. I do not know that I have seen a building built in the United States that high without the use of steel girders.

Also, our electrical system is not what we are use to. The system is like that in the United States, in that it uses a similar voltage (127 volts here versus 110 volts in the U.S.). However, it seems that Northern Brazilians do not know what it is to ground a house. You know that third plug that many products have in the United States, well, you can find it on products here but it is of no use for houses and apartments are not grounded. Why you can buy and use three prong outlets and produces is beyond us when they guard against nothing.

Finally, the electrical work in the bathroom is quite different. In the United States, it is required that you have plug-ins in the kitchen and bathroom which have a breaker system that shut off the electricity to protect you since you are close to water (a great conductor of electricity). Not only are these unheard of in Belém we actually have an electrical product, a showerhead, which heats the water which runs through it in our bathroom. Yes, that is what I said, our water is heated in the showerhead. No, we do not have a hot water tank. Some extremely rich people may have one (the same people who have central air-conditioning which is unheard of in homes here). We have only hot water in the bathroom with the special showerheads installed. The strange thing about these showerheads is that you regulate the temperature two ways, one by turning a switch from off to warm to hot and the other is by how high you turn on the water pressure. To take a truly hot shower, you must turn the switch to hot and turn the water on really low but then again, who wants to take a hot shower in an equatorial climate.

yes, since this picture we have had the electrician put an outlet and plug to make the shower safer.

No cereal or candy for the weary …

Life is different here for the Gilpin family…

For those of you who know Matthew, you know that two of his favorite things are snack foods and breakfast cereal. The lack of adequate items in both of these categories has been difficult. How can one start a good day without ‘Captain Crunch’ or ‘Apple Jacks’ is beyond us? Below are some of the oddities when it comes to food and shopping which the Gilpin family has experienced.

1. The cereal isle consists of corn flakes and frosted flake like cereal only and is only a small section.

2. No breakfast isle exists in the supermarcados (supermarkets).

3. The candy isle consists of different types of chocolate bars and halls cough drops (and yes they are candy).

4. The soda isle is missing Pepsi products (especially Mountain Dew) and has more generic than name brand sodas.

5. You can buy a whole fish (head and all) or some fresh, stinky shrimp in the open market.

6. One can of Pringles in the grocery store costs about $8.00 American. (I got one can in my Christmas stocking – it was exciting!!!)

7. If you put groceries on your credit card you can decide how many payments to divide it up into – that goes for most anything that you buy here.

8. The rice and bean isle is huge, and the variety is mind-boggling.

9. The eggs here are not refrigerated, but they taste okay.

10. Yogurt is drinkable – you really need a straw because a spoon just won’t work – Lydia and Sammy love it.

11. You take your fruit to a person in the fruit section and get it bagged and priced by him or her before checking out.

12. When buying a light bulb you must test it before buying (if you do not they will send someone to do it for you).

13. When buying gas you are not allowed to pump it for yourself (and for those of you who wonder, gas is about $6:50 in U.S. Currency).

These are just some differences – all in all the food is really good, and besides the fact that you can’t buy anything pre-packaged, it’s not bad. We have not suffered in our eating habits – like all good things, they just have to change a bit. Lydia and Sam have transitioned well, and they really like Brazilian food. However, if you were thinking of sending a care package, we won’t turn it away:)

The Best Missionary We've Seen Yet...

This past Saturday the four of us were able to embark on our first real ministry trip together. We traveled about an hour outside of the city with a group from our new church, Igreja Batista de Pedreida. We went to a community that we would call a shanty town, houses constructed from cardboard, plywood, and tin, but here in Brasil they are referred to as favelas, and unfortunately they are everywhere. We went the the central location in their community which was more or less a shelter house, and we passed out toys to the children and basic food packages to the families there.

Though our Portuguese is extremely limited at this point we did our best to communicate the love of Christ by passing out these gifts to the members of this community. You may think that because Matthew has extensive seminary training that he was at the forefront of the distribution, preaching the gospel. Or you may think that because Tara has been on the mission field before that she was the one communicating effectively to this group, but you would be wrong. Lydia was out in the middle of the heat and the mosquitoes handing out toys, food, and most importantly gospel tracts. She said, "Even though I can't speak Portuguese, I can still tell people about Jesus." She walked up and down the "road" of the community passing out gospel tracts to everyone - absolutely everyone - that she saw (even some of the church members that came with us.)

At times, it is very easy to fall into the trap of self pity because it is incredibly hot here, and the mosquito is the national bird I am sure. Things are very inconvenient here and the pace of life is, at times, way too slow for us impatient Americans. However, at times God chooses a four year old little girl to remind us, again, why we are here. She was, indeed, the best missionary we've seen yet.

A Blessed Holiday Season in Brazil...

So, here we are…the Gilpin family… living in Belém, Pará, Brazil. Tara and Matthew are currently on a short break from language school and the two little Gilpin’s are getting ready to start a new school year on January 15th. We had a wonderful holiday season. We were able to spend time with friends and mission family for Christmas and New Years, each of these days being both enjoyable and somewhat sad because we miss so many friends and family.

On New Years, we were finally able to have the whole mission family (19 counting the Gilpin clan) over to our apartment for it was finally in order. Those who did not have church commitments stayed till after midnight and watch fireworks from the roof of our building (one of the best site for viewing in the city). Even little Lydia Jane stayed up for the new years. Samuel on the other hand did not make it to all the fanfare. He actually slept through all the commotion. For those of you who have not been in Latin America during a holiday (especially New Years) the fireworks and celebration make the neighborhood sound as if it is in the middle of a warzone. So, the fact that Samuel did not wake was a blessing.

As we begin a new year, we look forward to how the Lord will work in each of your lives and how He will use us to work in the life of others. We expect great things from Him for He is our wonderful Savior who has already given us so much. We are blessed to be called into His service. We have watched our family grows closer to each other and to the Lord. We have been in the presence of many godly men and women who serve our Lord daily. We live in a wonderful mission supplied apartment, drive a wonderful mission supplied truck, and live comfortably in a developing country and for this we thank our Lord and Savior and those who he prompted to give so generously.

Finally, we know that the question has rose in your mind of what has been our experience so far. How does life differ from life in the States? Over the next few weeks, while things are still new to us, we will attempt to clearly communicate what it has been like to transition into a new culture.

Sam crawed into bed with his sister

in the middle of the night...