Saturday June 21, 2003 I can't believe another month has gone bye. It's hard to believe that we've been here almost four months now. Everything here is going just as planned, our Portuguese is getting better and we're able to hear what people say to us more and more. We've changed our schedule up just a little in order to make classes more intensive. There are now only three to a class and we meet for about two hours a day. Some days that's not enough but most of the time it's just plain overwhelming. We try to spend the rest of the day either pouring over vocabulary cards or trying to find people with whom we can practice language. Everything has been great with the team. Besides seeing each other every day in class, we meet every Wednesday night for dinner and to have a time of worship. Also, the men and women get together separately once a week and spend time in prayer and accountability. These have been some amazing times for spiritual discussions, relationship mending, or just a time to relieve some frustrations. The guys usually go and play soccer after our discussions (for the sole purpose of language learning, I assure you.) However, this has been a good time to pick up people on the side who want to play and give us a chance to speak a little more. Just this Friday we were playing and a kid came up and wanted to join us, after talking with him for a moment he told us that he lived in Maryland for a while. When we asked him why he said, "it's because my dad's the Prime Minister of Portugal". So we told him we'd take it easy on him only because he's royalty, but I think he ended up taking it easy on us. Anyway, God is taking us to new levels in relationships everyday. Some days that's awesome and others it's not as easy. A lot of that's just because of how God chooses to grow relationships through hardship and difficult times. The end result is always good because He is good, but man it's tough in the process. Especially when you feel like your in a relationship microwave called culture shock. But there is definitely no greater people in this world that I could choose to spend this time with. One thing that was definitely a highlight for this month was the week of vacation we had. Right as our heads were about to pop from language overload, we were able to take some time off and get away. Ann and I went down south to the Algarve and spent some time at the beach and just enjoyed being "tourists". If we weren't at the beach or by the pool we were in Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or McDonalds. It was nice feeling like Americans again and being able to simply "veg" out for a while. It's been different trying to get back into the swing of things and back into Portuguese mode but we've been able to manage. We were so blessed to have some time to relax and rest up and allow our Portuguese to soak in a little. Something that I've been thinking about lately is in Luke 19 about the parable of the talents. This story confounds me more than any of Jesus' parables, in it the three servants are called to render an account of how they have used the gifts entrusted to them. The first two servants used their talents boldly and resourcefully. The third immediately jammed his into a coffee can and buried it out in the back yard. In the end, Jesus praises the servants who would lay it all on the line for the kingdom of God. He says, " ..'but to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.." In another translation it says, "..if we will be faithful, how much more will He pour out His faithfulness.." The one lesson that really sticks out at me in this story is that, the kingdom of God is risky. The kingdom calls us away from safe bets and secure investments to lives lived sold out to a holy pursuit. That is something that I want above all, a life completely and utterly wasted within the kingdom of God no matter what the cost or how great the risk. It is always worth it! Psalm 126 says, "Those who sow in brokenness, will reap with shouts of praise! They weep as they leave for the field, but the dance as they return with the harvest." The return is always greater than the investment! We have been very thankful for those of you who have kept in touch with e-mail and those of you who sent sympathy cards after hearing of Ann's grandmother. We're indebted to you for the encouragement you gave us when we needed it the most. May God bless you this month, Rusty and Ann Caldwell