In the past, I wasn’t the biggest fan of weddings. As a child I went to weddings with my family and a couple times in my “later years” I had the privilege of playing music for the weddings of close family members or friends. But I never was too enthralled with them. I enjoyed the more »

The plane began its descent on American soil, and shortly before 6am EST we were on the ground in Atlanta. A new day, a new month, a new city…and a new perspective. My ministry trip to Brasil is over, but life continues on. I could not just come back the same person that I was when more »

Today’s a day I have been anticipating for a long time…Treasure Island! I ate a quick breakfast of egg casserole and coconut bread and packed everything I would need for three days on the island. With the exception of my hammock, I managed to get it all in a small suitcase. We left Petrolina in more »

Today we left Exu for another city in another state- Petrolina, Pernambuco. It is home to the Reiner’s, but it is my first time outside of Ceara since coming to Brazil. We woke up around 7:00, packed our stuff, and ate a breakfast of French rolls and butter, cheese, goiaba juice, hot milk, and cake. We more »

Ugh…I woke up so tired this morning! Not from going to bed late, but simply from being worn out the day before. I set my alarm to wake up early for a run, but I quickly put that idea aside when it sounded. I would rather be at my best throughout the day than to more »

I woke up at 5:15 to watch the sunrise, but there were no clouds in the sky to make for a beautiful sunrise, so I just went back to bed. At 6:40 I woke up again to go running. This time I went up and down the seminary campus steps several times. For breakfast we more »

Woke up this morning to Stephen’s alarm clock at 7:30, and I finally got up around 8:10 or so. We had pancakes with mango butter, guava jam, and apple butter for breakfast, and we also had some fresh-squeezed orange juice. By the way, the oranges here are green, so that’s different for me. For Sunday more »

I woke up and almost considered skipping a second straight day of exercise. I did not want to get up, and I had an almost unnoticeable headache that lingered from the night before. But I finally got up and ran a kilometer before doing some hill runs, tackling the hill on the seminary’s road eight more »

I woke up to run…and I didn’t run. My legs were so sore that I decided I should take the day off after breaking them back in the last couple days. So back to bed I went, and it felt good to sleep in for the first time all week. Acts 5:33-42 was the passage more »

Went running again this morning at about 6:50am. This time I went up to the seminary and ran on the road that encircles it, supposedly measuring a full kilometer in circumference. So I ran three times around, not even a full two miles (1.8) and I was tired. But I think it was more than more »