Tim and Karis Bennett Just another weblog Hello to All,
It’s raining outside, on a quiet Monday night. Tim’s language helper just left, and I just got back from a ladies night. Lots of Christmas card making, coffee drinking and conversation having. But it sure doesn’t feel like Fall here. A season that we all love.
The weather is finally making her visible changes. It’s rained the past few days off and on. The grass is finally turning green again and the trees are bursting with fruits and foliage. A few of the fruits we have around here are Mango, Jabuticaba, Caju and Mulberry. Today, I (Karis) went mulberry picking with Kiera. Of course, there weren’t that many on the trees yet, as the rains will bring more. But, we had fun eating the ones we did pick.
Well, our daily activities around here have been quite normal. Nothing out of the ordinary, which makes me feel like there’s nothing worth writing about. (smile)
But we realize the importance of keeping you guys updated on how we’re doing.
Here’s a few of our daily/weekly activities.
Tim: Have Portuguese classes; Monday-Thursday – mornings.
Coach MK high school basketball; Monday,Wednesday, Friday -afternoons.
Language helper sessions; Mondays -evenings.
Men’s Bible Study/Language Time; Tuesday evenings.
Soccer/Language time; Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays -early evening.
Take Sarah to school and Pick her up; Monday-Friday. (this is a 3 kilometer bike ride)
Everyday, after taking Sarah to school; spend time in community doing language study with local Brazilian friends.
Karis: Work in the MK school cafeteria; Monday-Fridays -mornings.
Volunteer teach English at Sarah’s school; Monday’s early evenings.
Preparing rooms for guests when needed.
Sarah attends a local school for ages 3 years-12 grade. She attends from 1-5 PM. The other grades rotate times throughout the day. She is really enjoying herself there and her Portuguese level is approaching fluency. 
Not really, but she is doing remarkably well. And her comfort level with the language is growing everyday.
Kiera is her smiley bubbly self. She is pretty much completely potty-trained. YahoO! She only wears diapers at night, and she goes days without accidents. She is so proud of her big-self
Both girls come home from nursery singing Portuguese songs and they are enjoying being here and it is home to them, for sure.
Tim and I just sat down with one of our Administration Board leaders today. This was a good time to talk through what the next few months will look like, as Tim finishes Portuguese study, and we prepare for our full time ministries.
Please be in prayer with us about all the choices/decisions that need to be made. Honestly, there are more jobs that need to be filled than there are people to fill them. This leads to an incredible need for flexibility and multi-tasking.
The jobs that we will possibly be filling this next semester are that of nursery worker, kitchen helper/cook, Guest-hostess, for Karis.
Overall maintenance, specific tribal support emphasis, handy-man and go-to man, for Tim.
We are in the process of talking through these things with our leadership. We are trusting God to find a good balance that will work well for our family and our ministry strengths.
Thanks to each of you for your prayers.
We want to thank those of you who partner with us financially, we are incredibly grateful.
Lots of Love,
Tim, Karis, Sarah and Kiera Bennett
P.S please pray for our friend Joanna Bergman, she and her husband Curtis studied Portuguese with us here in Brazil. She has a stage 4 brain tumor.
