... a note from Asa (13, almost 14 yrs. old)

Hi.It's me, Asa.I just had an interesting experience with about 25 teens from a church in Vit—ria, Esp'rito Santo state.(By the way, since Esp'rito Santo means Holy Spirit these guys live in the victory of the Spirit all the time! Sorry, bad joke.)They took the 13-hour train ride from their city to Belo Horizonte and passed out cups of water on the train with a little message that said, "Jesus is the water of life."Then, if the person was interested, they talked a little more about Jesus.Pretty cool, huh?

Here at JAMI (the missionary training center) they asked if they could interview me and another MK (missionary kid), Ingrid.They made a big circle of chairs with us up at the front.Here are some of their questions (there were 29 in all!):

* What difficulties/challenges do you deal with?(Leaving friends and family and all the places and food you love to go to another country where everything is new and strange and everybody keeps looking at you like you're weird.)

* Do you ever go hungry? (We both laughed at that one - see the photo with Ingrid and me).

* Can a missionary ever stop/give up their work?(They can but they shouldn't.If God calls you to a certain ministry, you should stick with it even when you feel like giving up)

* As a missionary, do you have to speak another language?(This was sort of a "duh" question, but I explained that every missionary has to learn the language of the people they work with.That's how you show your respect and love for the people and then you can talk with them about God's love.)

* Are you able to forgive others easily?(It depends.It's not easy and sometimes I don't feel like it, but I try).

* Is it ever hard to talk with your parents?(We talk about a lot of things but I'm a teenager so maybe it might get harder in the next couple of years, I don't know.)

* Are you able to talk to others about Jesus anytime and any place?(I can, but it hasn't really come up that often in school).

After the interview, the pastor in charge of the program said, "today we learned that MKs are just normal kids who are a lot like us. They're not weird or some kind of super-Christians. They're just kids whose parents God has called to serve in another country."I sort of agree and disagree at the same time.MKs are pretty much like any other kids, but we're also different because we have to learn to adapt in another culture and speak another language.Sometimes, it's hard to feel really at home in either place.Still, I'm glad to be an MK.

Well, I have to review for my prova de geografia (Geography exam).We're learning about the effects of colonization on modern day Africa and how much suffering the people are enduring.We need to pray that God would raise up more people to help over there.It's just not right that so many kids are hungry or sick with no one to help them.

Falou (see you later),

Asa

(with parents Bruce & Ann serving in Belo Horizonte, Brazil)