God is really helping us to cry out to Him and be strengthen in the midst of some of our
“missionary adventures”. For example, Saturday night we arrived home by bus (which is a bit like riding in the Indy 500). We were all exhausted from a long day out doing laundry and visiting friends. As we approached the front gate we realized that we had left our backpack with our backup set of keys at our friends home. There are three doors to unlock to get into our apartment (on the floor above the church meeting place). Elijah, praise God, had a set of keys but could only get us inside the main church building but not into our rooms. 
We were all hungry (it was about 7:00 p.m. And we hadn't eaten since lunch) and we didn't want to take the half an hour bus ride back to where the keys were so.... we prayed, “Lord, You know about all these things. What should we do?” There was a handmade ladder in the hallway... God's provision. We carried the ladder outside and propped it against the wall where we each climbed up and hoisted our bags of laundry (still wet and needing to be hung up inside to dry) over the balcony (a little tricky for Melissa in her long skirt). Daniel unlocked the iron gate on the balcony going into Elijah's room and ... we were in! We enjoyed a late supper, hung the wet laundry up to dry, and laughed about our adventure. God is so good. (Someone came Sunday morning with the other keys to unlock the front door.) "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." 2 Cor 1:3-4
We've been keenly aware living here how the U.S. is the land of the plentiful. Even in little things like the tea bags we notice such a superior standard of quality in the U.S. (4 Brazilian tea bags = 1 U.S. Tea bag) In almost everything (except the tapioca ice cream and delicious tropical fruits) it is cheaper more abundant, and better quality in the U.S.. A 17 year old came up to us in the mall because he wanted to practice his English. He said his dream and the dream of many people here is to one day go to the United States. Wow! What a sobering thought of stewardship. “To Him who has much much will be required.”
We've enjoyed the church here at Mauriti
. Melissa and Esther enjoyed a baby shower with Wednesday before last, a brother came to the front and in tears thanked people by name for trying to stay in touch with him even though he had been running from God. He also asked forgiveness for each of those he felt he had wronged and expressed gratefulness for God powerfully drawing him back. The church here is quite strong in many ways relationally, prayerfully, in the Word... It's the 3rd and last church Dad & Mom planted. God was honoring my His work done here through them when a brother stated, “Where would all of us be if your parents had not come here? We'd be lost!”
A dear friend, Ricardo Marques, has invited us to come to stay in his home this Saturday until around January 9th while his family is away for the holidays. It will be a swell situation for us in many ways. First of all, we'll be refreshed with Ricardo's fellowship until he leaves Christmas day. We'll also enjoy waking up to birds singing instead of loud traffic. Elijah and Esther can pay a small fee to swim in the pool near his house and we won't have to transport our laundry by bus each week. Ricardo's home is on the A.V.A. (Amazon Valley Academy) complex where Daniel and his siblings went to school while growing up. Elijah will have lots of area to run and he plans to join the Saturday soccer game on the A.V.A. Field. He played last week and almost had a heat stroke. (He misses the mid-west snow storms.) Our goal is to have more time to focus on our Portuguese study and less on housekeeping.
Esther is much better from her fever and Elijah is over his stomach aches. 
Esther entertained herself with finger puppets while sick (see pic). They are especially grateful for our friendly allies, 
the cute lizards who roam the walls here and regularly feast on mosquitoes. The kids are so looking forward to a trip to the beach but we don't know when we'll fit that in. Joelsila teaches us Portuguese Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the afternoons. Elijah and Esther are cruising in their “Teaching Textbooks” math book and are enjoying some musty smelling but wonderful classics we're borrowing from David and Carol Bayless, a dear missionary couple who have helped us so much in our time here.
We've also really been challenged and encouraged each morning with the teaching from “Victorious Christian Living International”. We're in the first booklets on “My Relationship with God.”
We are sure missing all of you, our treasured family, friends, fellow servants of High King Jesus. Chloe and Hannah and their sweethearts are thriving in their relationships and we couldn't be happier about it. Tom and Linda Ledford, our forwarding agents are keeping us propped up here. We especially miss our Hope (church) family. Thank you for your love and prayers!
If you'd like to mail a Christmas card to us (hint, hint:)), mail it to our Brazil address shown in the right margin (this is actually David & Carol Bayless' address). The postage for a card/letter is about two 1st class stamps and it takes about a week to get here.
Our phone numbers:
011-55-91-8835-5053 – Daniel's mobile
011-55-91-8835-5046 – Melissa mobile
011-55-91-3235-3788 – From December 15th – January 8th , Ricardo's land line
913-871-6490 – Call us for free on our Skype-In # if we have a good internet connection.
We're sending you our love and the merriest Christmas greeting. We especially thank those of you who have already sent some Christmas money - totally unexpected!
Growing in God's Wonderful Grace –
The Madduxes
Daniel & Melissa, Elijah & Esther
