Stretching in Portuguese

Youth Leader Conference: Today we hosted between 50-60 people on property for a youth leader conference. Mike Calhoun was our speaker, he and his wife Betsie arrived from the States yesterday morning and are here for two weeks speaking at various churches and events. I sat under three of his classes at the Bible Institute in New York. He has years of experience in youth ministry and was able to offer a lot of encouragement to the youth leaders who came. I enjoyed listening as well as serving in the kitchen with Abbie, Aunt Christy, and Macy. 

Portuguese:
"I need to work on speaking Portuguese no matter how uncomfortable and awkward it is." I told Paulo on Tuesday. 
He replied with something in Portuguese and I had to think about what he said before I could even begin to answer in Portuguese. 
"This is like the delay you get when talking on Skype sometimes," he said as he laughed.
We conversed like that in Portuguese for about 30 minutes with simple phrases like "What is your favorite animal?" "What is your favorite fruit?" It was a good test for my Portuguese. 
On Friday morning Uncle John, the Word of Life South Africa director, pulled me away from the kitchen to help him write a letter in Portuguese to send in to the Mozambique High Commission for a visa application. I was certainly intimidated by that but we ended up taking a different letter and just changed a few words. 
Some university students came to the conference today who are from Mozambique. Paulo told me I had to practice my Portuguese with them but I was being shy and did not know what to say. I did manage a few phrases before going back to English. I wish I had tried harder but it was better than nothing.  
I thank the Lord for these opportunities to practice my Portuguese and continue to ask Him for the strength and courage to continue no matter how hard it is. 
I deeply desire to go back to Mozambique able to do some ministry in Portuguese and able to understand the sermons on Sundays.