Not totally sure.

Here’s the deal.

Friday night, Nov. 12, we were at the mall.  Just after we got done eating, my face, chest, and arms were red and my throat began to get tight.  I could breathe, but it was difficult to swallow.

The first thing that came to our minds was that I was having some sort of allergic reaction.  I didn’t have any food allergies that we knew of, but we didn’t have anything else to go on.  So, after a call to a dr. we know, off to the hospital we went.

The doctor called ahead and they got me right in.  The also assumed it was a food allergy and treated me for it.  Several hours later, they sent me home.  I was not, however, feeling normal yet.

The next few days were full of “flare ups”.  I would hive, my heart would race, and my throat would tighten up.

Wednesday we went to see an allergist.  She put me on some meds.

They didn’t help.

Thursday I had a pretty bad flare up.  Back to the hospital we went.  My allergist called ahead, so they got me right in and treated me for a food allergy.  Several hours later I left, not feeling normal yet.

Friday, I had yet another bad flare up.  This time we went to the downtown hospital close to my allergist’s office.  She tried to call and get me in quickly, but it didn’t work out.  I think this was of the Lord.

They made no assumptions with me this time.  They did not just treat me for an allergy and send me home.

They asked questions and ran tests.

The 2 doctors I saw did not think I had a food allergy.  (But it has not been ruled out)

One in particular thinks I may have a problem with my thyroid.

After an ultrasound, my thyroid looks fine.  We are, however, waiting for some bloodwork to come back.

Tomorrow we pick up the bloodwork and go to yet another doctor to hopefully get some answers.

It has been an exhausting, confusing week.  But God has shown Himself present and good in the midst of it all.

How can you pray?

Pray we get answers.  Tomorrow.  We know it may be a long shot, but it would be such a blessing to leave the doctors office tomorrow with answers and a road to recovery.

Pray that my symptoms subside.  It is difficult to sleep with this constant feeling of pressure in my throat and the occasional racing heart beat.

Pray for Lucas and the kids.  Lucas has been picking up all the slack and has been amazing.  He still plans on preaching his first message in portuguese on Sunday, so pray about that.  The kids are confused and I think a little scared.  Pray God will speak to their little hearts and comfort them.

Yesterday I tried to watch the morning service at my home church online.  Our internet wasn’t working to great, so I only lasted about 10 minutes.  But in that 10 minutes, God gave me what I needed to hear.  Pastor Nemmers was talking about difficulties in our lives and quoted Job 2:10.

“…Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

Hello.  My name is Teresa Bair and I am a missionary.

That’s my line at my “MA” meetings,  ”Missionaries Anonymous”.

Ok, that was nerdy.

Anyway…

I’ve been a missionary for a year now, but now I’m finally starting to feel like I’m doing what a missionary is supposed to do.

Minster.

Our brazilian pastor, Geferson, had us come up at the end of the service on Sunday night.  He shared with the church people our vision to help them become a healthy church.  They already knew we were there to work with them, Geferson just wanted to make it official.  We also felt the need to have it known that Lucas is not their pastor.  Our plan, Lord willing, is to help them become active in evangelizing their community, grow leaders, and eventually, be our partners in a future church plant down the road someday.

What is this going to look like?

Who really knows.

Just kidding.

Well, kind of kidding.

I do not want to try and paint a picture of something that the Lord will do His way, in His timing.

I can, however, tell you what we are doing right now.

Lucas is meeting almost daily with our pastor Geferson.

They are studying through the book of 1 John together as Lucas teaches Geferson how to do expository preaching.  Lucas is also attending discipleships with Geferson to help them learn how to more effectively make disciples and leaders.  This week he will begin discipling our church’s youth leader, Lucas Feijó (we all call him Feijó).

He always seems to be laughing when we talk to him. I’m not sure if its because we’re odd, or because he has no idea what we say!  Probably both.  He’s a good kid though.

These things are keeping Lucas quite busy along with his preparation for his first sermon in portuguese at the end of the month and the random things that come up during the week.

The majority of my time lately has been trying to get a handle on homeschooling these three crazy boys.

I think we’re figuring this thing out though!

I begin mentoring Geferon’s wife, Márcia, this week.

I just haven’t quite figured out what we’re going to do yet.

I suppose I should get on that.

I am really looking forward to our time together though.

I am also going to their ladies Bible study that meets every other week and trying to visit the ladies in their homes to get to know them better.  I love these ladies!

Márcia has asked me to help them on their worship team.  My plan is not to be a regular singer on Sundays, but to teach them and give them some tools to help their worship leading go a little smoother.  They have such a heart for singing to the Lord!

That’s the ministry part.

Now for the mullet part.

I noticed this morning that his hair was starting to look a little mullet-ish.

Down here, he could totally pull it off. The ’80′s are in full swing…mullets, rat-tails, you name it.  And I know Paul tells us in the New Testament to be all things to all people, but…

I draw the line at mullets.

I declare a hair cut emergency.