Today in the PC-USA Mission Yearbook

The Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is a daily devotional with 365 inspiring mission stories that come from next door and all across the globe. It inspires thousands of Presbyterians daily as they uphold the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in intercessory prayer. How often have you wondered, where are the young adults in the PC(USA)? Wonder no longer. The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study is devoted to the theme of young adults in the church. Its stories, many told by young adults, lift up how Presbyterians of all ages are engaging and joining with Presbyterian young adults in reforming the church for Christ’s mission.

Today in the Mission Yearbook: February 25, 2014

BRAZIL (continued) - Kim and I were appointed as mission coworkers in 2010. I was fresh out of graduate school; this began an amazing time for me and my whole family. We moved to Brazil, and I began teaching Old Testament at the Graduate Ecumenical Institute for Religious Sciences, a PC(USA) mission partner and part of the Methodist University of São Paulo.

Learning Portuguese has been an arduous process. I have often been frustrated, but I know language acquisition takes time. Just as an example, Portuguese uses the subjunctive much more than English, and there are three different subjunctive conjugations: present, imperfect, and future. Whenever I begin a sentence with “if” or “I want you to,” the verbs that follow must be in the subjunctive. Mastering this is my next linguistic challenge.

The first semester of 2013, I taught my first solo class, and it went quite well. I certainly made plenty of errors, but the students were gracious and engage.

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