Secrets of a Pastor’s daughter 12 – Everything was brand new

 As soon as I got married, we were transferred to Puerto Rico. I left behind my dear family and a new phase in my life started. As much as I had an idea of ​​the life of a pastor's wife, now I was experiencing that same life.

When I arrived in Puerto Rico, I felt butterflies in my stomach, because there were pastors and their wives that I did not know and I would be living with them. It was a different country, different language, different customs and a husband who I still had to adapt to. I remember many nights I cried in my room missing my family and at that time there was no WhatsApp or Facebook which would make us feel a little closer to each other. The phone calls were very expensive so I could not be calling them all the time.

In the church it was also a struggle. I could not speak Spanish, therefore I could not help the people in the Church. I did not understand them nor them understood me. For me it was very difficult because I wanted to keep on doing what I was used to doing in Brazil, like taking care of the people of the Church, counseling them, also praying for them... but the language was a barrier for me. But I did not accept this situation. I started talking to my husband in Spanish and even if I was saying it wrong he would help by correcting me, I was not afraid or embarrassed  to mispronounce a word. Even when I would go out to buy groceries, on the street, I tried to speak Spanish, and even making mistakes, I would not feel embarrassed when people would  correct me. I would push myself to pay attention when my husband would speak and I would ask him what I did not understand. Even with him it was funny to talk to because I would speak in Portuguese and he would answer me in Spanish and sometimes I did not understand anything he would ask me, imagine him asking me to bake a cake and me taking to him a biscuit lol.

After a few months we were transferred to New York in the middle of the winter. Puerto Rico is Caribbean, tropical climate, hot, and it reminded me a lot the climate of Rio de Janeiro, so we were very surprised when we arrived. But when we arrived in New York, the temperature was already close to 32 Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) and we did not have appropriate clothes for that kind of weather. My husband and I would be freezing. To go to our Church, we would catch the train in the snow. We would go out to evangelize and it would be so cold that we would not feel our fingers or the tip of our noses and ears. But we were happy, evangelizing and saving souls for Jesus. After a few months in New York, we were transferred to Chicago, a place colder than New York. The wind and the snow were so strong that to go out to evangelize and say something was difficult, because our mouth would freeze and the movements were slow, making it hard to speak. Even with plenty of warm clothing, gloves, warm beanies, boots, scarves, the cold air would still penetrate our clothes..

At each place we would go, we would find challenges, but, when we go to where God sends us, with all of our hearts, looking only to Jesus and looking at the souls that are there waiting, to be reached and helped, we can overcome all the adversities and gain experience as well and God honors. Every place we went, every difficulty we faced, each desert we overcame, I thank God because I know they added to my spiritual growth and maturity. I'm not saying it was easy, but I know they were necessary and now when I look back, I remember every wonderful moment we went through,  the people of each church, the transformed lives, the joyful faces of friends I met and the name of my Lord being glorified, is there anything better than that?

With no doubt, serving Jesus is the best thing a person can do!

A big kiss and see you next week. God bless you.

Juliana Furucho