News, Nov. 9, 2007

Hi friends!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I sent news! A lot has happened in the last few weeks - here's an overview!

On the evening of Sunday, October 19th, I travelled to Florianópolis, a sea-side city about a ten hour drive south of São Paulo, to help with the administration of the biannual REVER national congress. REVER, which means to "re-see", is also an acronym in Portuguese for "Restoring Lives, Equipping Restorers". This ministry is a modification for a church setting and for children of dysfunctional homes of any type of the twelve step Alcoholus Anonymous rehabilitation program (if you're interested, the twelve steps as used by REVER are listed at the end of this blog). My parents started REVER in 1997 (we just celebrated it's tenth birthday!), but it has been under national leadership for several years now, although it continues to be a branch of MAPI. I participated in several REVER events during my highschool years and was always deeply blessed by them. This time, I went not just as a participant, but to offer administrative support. I arrived several days early to help out with the prep and then stayed on through the congress. It was a blessing to me to be able to offer specific and practical help to this ministry, and I also enjoyed the opportunity to strengthen my relationships with the wonderful people that make up the REVER national leadership. The congress itself was extremely worthwhile. The topic this year was "sanctifying our minds" and the main speaker was a Brazilian psychologist and pastor named Fábio Damasceno. He did an incredible job of integrating psychology and theology (to use language familiar to you Wheaton types :) ) in practical and wise teaching about having our minds - with all their psychological complexity - fully consecrated to the Lord.

After an exhausting post-congress two days of working through some financial complications with the hotel, Luciene (the REVER national leader), Paula (the main administrator for the congress), and I stayed on a couple more days just to relax and enjoy the beach. It was a lot of fun. On Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 29, we headed back to Joinville (a town about three hours north of Florianópolis, where Lu and Paula live), where I got to hang out with Lu and her family for another day and see the sights. The next afternoon, I took a bus another couple hours north to Curitiba, Paraná for the yearly Sepal retreat. (If you're interested, see http://p.vtourist.com/223212-Brasil_map-Brazil.gif for a map of Brazil that includes São Paulo - in the yellow region - and Florianópolis and Curitiba - in the red region. Joinville is half-way in between Florianópolis and Curitiba.)

I've participated in Sepal retreats since I was 5, but this was the first time I was going as an "adult" instead of a MK. It was an interesting juncture of the familiar and the novel. As always, the adults had meetings in the mornings and evenings, while the kids hung out all day and had fun. Afternoons for everyone were devoted to rest, leisure, and fellowship. For the first time I actually participated intensively in the meetings! They were a good time of solidifying our identity and commitments as a team. We also had a great time of sight-seeing in Curitiba one of the afternoons. Nonetheless, I admit that by the time the end of the retreat came around on Sunday afternoon, after two weeks away, I was ready to head home to my own bed and familiar food. The first night I slept for twelve hours!

Monday morning dawned ... I mean... ahem... afternoon... I slept until 1:45PM! That day and the next few were spent getting rested up from the trips, catching up with things here, and getting back into the rhythm of life in general. Yesterday, Thursday, Nov. 8, and today are normal work days for me - which mainly means working on the MAPI website, which I had neglected for two weeks, and a few odds and ends related to research. Unfortunately, the woman in charge of the Sepal research department was told by her doctor to take a four month medical leave (if you remember, please pray for her. She is a wonderful Brazilian woman named Eunice, who was just overworked and overwhelmed and needed some time for rest), which mainly curtails my work in that area. The one aspect of it I am able to continue doing is typing the results of a survey my dad is doing, for later analysis. I will probably start working with a different Sepal department in the next couple weeks - most likely either events administration or digital support. Tomorrow morning I'm going to be helping out with some activities at my church's outreach program for slum kids.

God bless you all!

Rachel