Language Learning

I don't think my teacher likes my American accent. I think it adds a little bit of charm. In the class this week she stopped me for four minutes to work on my accent. Ovo avos and ovos. What is the difference? Based on how the word was said it can mean many things. Ovo means grandfather, ovo with a goofy looking mark can mean grandmother. Both sound exactly the same to me. Yet they supposedly sound differently. Ovos means grandparents. Avos means eggs. Both sounding the same by the way. So my teacher didn't like the fact that I was saying I want to visit my eggs. I like to eat my grandparents with a slice of cheese and bread. I just don't think my teacher likes my charming American accent.

My book loving language learning wife just love Portuguese. She just loves the way the words glide off the tongue and flow together like a peaceful brook meandering down a waterfall. I have a two words for her. Showoff. Honestly, sometimes I don't think I was made to speak another language. I can't talk or wrote English good so how can I get learned good in Portuguese?

I think I will recommend to the missionary committee that we raise money for an interpreter to follow me around. I think I could hire 2 to interpret for me 16 hours a day. One for an 8 hour shift and another one for another 8 hour shift. But then again I would need another one for the weekends. 3 interpreters would do me well down here. They would probably only cost an extra 3000 per month. But they could also be used to help watch the kids. So really instead of sending 2 missionaries you would be getting 5, well actually 5 1/2 with our little one coming along. I really think that would be the best thing instead of learning the language. I am still irritated with the people in the tower of Babel making things that much harder!

Trusting in Christ

Andy and Katie

First month plus in Brazil

We have been here in Brazil for over a month. We arrived on February 18th. Things are different now. The culture is different, the language is different. Katie's stomach is looking more different as the baby is growing. Life is hard here. We miss our church, we miss our families and friends. All our materialistic stuff that we have been used to is gone. It is strange not having a car and driving. Instead we have to walk everywhere. Every thing that I have been used to has been stripped away except our computer, some clothes, a few kitchen appliances, my bike, and our 30 dollar air mattress that we bought at walmart. Right now we are being stripped for the Lord!

Sorry, I hit the wrong button and it published which would be a unique phrase to end on. What I was going to say is we are the most useless we have been for the longest time. I don't have a job so we don't have much to give a way, I can't speak the language well enough to glorify Christ that way, I have nothing to offer but my heart to Christ.

Yet Christ still loves me. He died on the cross for my sins while a was still a sinner and even though I have nothing to offer. That is true love. The more and more I dwell on this I can't fathom how deep his love is for us.

As more and more of what was familiar is being taken away, I am falling more in love with Christ. I know it is not a love that is because he is blessing me with stuff, but it is a love based on a relationship which is growing deeper each day as we have to cling on to the Lord for dear life. I don't know how God can use a person like me who has nothing to offer in Brazil, but if all this experience does is draw a closer and refine us than I would say it is worth it. This relationship is becoming something I cherish more and more each day.

Also we don't have internet at our house. I don't know how to update our blog without our computer. Blogs here will be few and far between until we have steady access to the internet with our computer. I will also add pictures now if I can figure it out.
I can't do it the connection is too slow. I will describe the pictures. The first picture is of Katie. She is wearing clothes. Her shirt looks like there is a basket ball underneath it. The next picture is the kitchen of our house. It is white paint with a washing machine, table, and sink. Next picture is of our living room. It has brown couches, and tile floors. That is all the pictures I tried adding.

Trusting in Christ

Andy and Katie

On the Way Out

There were some moments of weakness when Andy and I doubted if this day would come, yet here it is: we got our stamped passports back today!

We are leaving one week from today on February 18th. We are thrilled but it still feels surreal. We just moved back to Andy's parents' house where we are concentrating on packing only what we really need. Please keep us in your prayers in this busy upcoming week.

I'll try to write more later, hopefully my next post will be from Brazil!

A few more details...

As you have probably guessed from Andy’s previous post, he was a little perturbed by my foot-dragging in regards to updating our blog. “I know what you could do today,” he would hint, “You could update our blog.” “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I would reply and then blithely go about the rest of my day, the blog woefully untouched. I suppose I could chalk it up to pregnancy forgetfulness but in all reality my abandonment of our fledgling blog has had more to do with my discouragement over our current situation than an abnormal amount of blonde moments.

Over the last four months:

- We have continued to wait on our visa. While we have continued to get regular updates from our Expediter in Chicago, we have yet to receive our coveted visas so we can buy plane tickets.

-We have moved four (count ‘em, four) times, and it will be five as of next week although we’re not sure where to yet (which has become “normal”).


-God has continued to provide work for Andy with both his brother as a truck driver, and with his dad as harvest help. A soggy and prolonged harvest benefited Andy work wise, and even though I always miss him during harvest and hauling we’re grateful for the work hours. Andy also has been helping Joe Gingrich with some construction work off and on, also a blessing.

-We have enjoyed the chance to spend time with family. My sister Carrie is back from her three months at CLM and she will be leaving next week for Moody. I’m so glad for the time with her. Andy and I got to meet our new niece last week, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

-We have become parents. Well, actually we’re enjoying the months of parenting where we don’t have to wake up to crying and our baby never disobeys us or challenges our authority or tries our patience. Just wait until June 25th…then the real fun (and real parenting starts). In answer to the question we have been asked multiple times, this does not change our plans for Brazil, babies are born in Brazil all the time and we hope that’s where we will have ours!

Andy Hijacked The Blogging

Hello. This is Andy. I guess I am blogging. We are still in the United States. Since the last post we have lived at the cabin for two months, Kevin and Elaine King's house, and now we are residing at Roger and Gwen Stuber's house until they get back. Currently are visa is being processed in Brazil. We don't know the status on it. We have been waiting on that end since mid August. We don't know when our visa will be approved. Another thing that makes our lives more interesting is Katie is pregnant. She is due June 25th. We are holding on to God for dear life. We still are planning on going to Brazil and have our baby down there if The Lord wills it. That is all. My wife will probably write soon to make things sound better.

Andy Roth

Desert Blooms

“The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.” Isaiah 33:5-6

Waiting. Andy and I have been waiting for the two years since we became husband and wife. I have been waiting almost four years since I returned from CLM. We have been waiting since April when we began our tumultuous visa process.

Many times as Andy and I have talked about our waiting in the terms of a desert. Right now, it is easy for Andy and I to dream about what we would be doing if we were staying here. We often catch each other saying things like, “If we were staying here we would look into buying a house or getting a dog or finding a job or going back to school or getting involved in this ministry or...” It is easy for us to look back and long for what we've experienced in the past, a stable physical home, my own kitchen in my case, a pick-up truck in Andy's case. Being stripped of what we knew has shown us how dependent we are on things as opposed to Christ. None of these things we long for are evil inherently, but Andy and I have set up so many of these things as idols. We forget the manna and the quail God has fed us with as we journey to where He has called us. He has indeed fed us abundantly.

We also catch ourselves overly focused on the future. Once again we find ourselves focused on saying things like “When we get to CLM...” or even, “When we get back from Brazil...” Even what God has called us to can become an idol! Yes, God has called us to minister to His precious children at CLM but we are first called to glorify God and become more like Chris, regardless of where we are physically. Please pray that Christ will make us alert to all the idols in our hearts!

“He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.” Psalm 107:35

The pools and springs of our desert give way to beautiful desert blooms! Let me share just some of the blooms we've admired even as we are in our desert.

Dwelling: God has provided gracious hosts for us to live with. First Gary & Mary K who gave out of their extreme busyness and opened their home. Then there are Andy's parents who have to be some of the easiest in-laws to live with. Now we have the opportunity to live at the old church cabin that my uncle owns and offered to us to live in completely unlooked for!

Fellowship: We have had the blessing of deeper and new friendships with Brothers and Sisters literally from across the country and around the world! There are the dear friends from MTI, especially David and Janna Wilson who have encouraged us so much. Then there's the ECHO family. We are so privileged to have spent time with Scott and Martha Britton and George and Lollie, what fellowship! We were also blessed with the opportunity to attend a Brazilian church in Ft. Myers and spend some time talking to the congregation members there and being reminded of the culture and language we are going to be adopting. We are also so grateful for more time with our supporting churches here: Northfield Christian and First Mennonite.



Time with our families: Andy and were able to take my three youngest siblings to St. Louis and spend some time with them at the zoo and Grant's Farm.

Learning: We feel so much more prepared to help with the farm at CLM after our two weeks at ECHO. If we had our way we would have already been in Brazil and missed the opportunity to study there.

Self-examination before God: He has been showing us so much through this time, revealing sinful attitudes in our hearts and reminding us our identity is not in what we are doing for Him but who we are in Him!

What is This Chill in the Air?

We arrived back in Illinois on Saturday night after a mere 20 hour car ride from North Ft. Myers, Florida. After spending two weeks working in 90 degree heat and 90 percent humidity, 70 degrees here in central Illinois seems downright chilly.

The last two weeks I have learned more information about small-scale agriculture than I ever thought was possible to stuff in my artistically minded brain, but I did find it quite interesting. ECHO is a non-profit organization that trains missionaries how to minister through agriculture and meet not only the world's spiritual needs but it's physical needs as well.

Andy and I found out about ECHO during our training at MTI earlier this summer. Andy was immediately interested in visiting ECHO because he will be helping out on the CLM farm as part of his duties. Even though he was a lot of experience with large-scale commercial farming, he wanted to learn more about small-scale subsistence agriculture. He arranged for a two week work-study program and I agreed to go along party because I didn't know what I'd do without him for two weeks and his passion and vision for the CLM farm is infectious.

We spent the mornings working with the interns at ECHO weeding, planting, constructing raised beds, fixing irrigation systems and helping with animals. We spent the afternoons studying in ECHO's wonderful library or attending seminars presented by the ECHO staff about soil fertility and water filtration. The work was hard but we enjoyed being outside and getting hands on experience.

In addition to our work and study, we enjoyed getting to know some of the interns and visitors at ECHO. The interns spend a year taking care of a specific area of the farm and learning about techniques for farming in various regions of the world. We shared a duplex with one of the interns, Scott Britton and his wife Martha and their daughter, Liliana. They were so much fun and we loved sharing some meals with them and getting to know their family. I've found that in our travels this summer, the hardest thing is getting to know our precious brothers and sisters in Christ and then having to say goodbye. We will miss the ECHO family!