It’s hard to even know where to begin. This week definitely had a bit of a different flavour to it but it’s all been for the glory of God. Here’s a recap of some of what God has been doing and the adventures of our team!
Last Sunday included a fresh start for me – quite literally as Olivia graciously gave me a haircut! Unfortunately later in the afternoon, I started feeling pressure in my eye and it looked bloodshot. When it moved into both eyes by the next morning, i realised it was actually pink eye so we started taking lots of precautions including a Monday evening visit to a Brazilian hospital in order to get a prescription for eye drops. But in between we got to be part of a birthday part for a family friend who was coming of age and turning 15! In Brazil, this is greatly celebrated with lots of traditional food, decorations and a dress that looks like a prom dress! It was a fun cultural experience and we got to dance with some of the girls to Brazilian music as well as North American tunes that are familiar here. Monday was our official team day off and we took the opportunity to go and visit an island and hang out on a beach at the Amazon River! We got our first coconut waters and took a boat ride and then rode in a wagon behind a motorbike down a long and very bumpy road.
Oh, have I mentioned the road infrastructure and driving systems here are a little different than back home? First of all, the road are filled with pot holes – whether the road is paved or dirt/clay, they get so much rain here in their flash thunder storms that it erodes the roads (plus a lack of good maintenance) We’ll be cruising along at a decent speed and then all of a sudden we are going 5 km an hour to weave around the massive holes in the road. The main roads are better but have speed bumps every so often. The highways are pretty smooth, but traffic is a whole different ball game! Any lines painted on the road are simply for looks, merges happen within inches of your front and back bumpers, traffic suddenly will slow for a rare cross-walk or for photo radar locations, busses pull out and narrowly miss your side mirror, U-turns are 100% normal and expected at places where the divided highway has a connector, people cross the highway wherever is convenient for them, pedal bikers and pedestrians frequent the shoulder and the motorbikes – they just weave in and out between the traffic, especially during rush hour. Horns are used frequently, simply as a means of letting the other drivers know that you are coming up behind or beside them. Thankfully we have a great local driver who is comfortable with the system and we have been safe through all our travels thus far, but it has been fun to experience a different road system.
Back to my story – we enjoyed a meal of more traditional rice, beans, farofa and meat at the little beach restaurant and went swimming in the Amazon River (which was bathtub temperature and definitely warmer than the showers we have back at our Brazilian home)! On our way home from the beach, some of us made our stop at the emergency for myself and one of the other members who was struggling with dehydration and stomach issues. Honestly, I was impressed with the Brazilian hospital; it was clean and organised and had good technology. We have Kelly and Mayara (our Brazilian sister) with us who helped translate everything from the doctors and we both got prescriptions.
Tuesday, Jo and I stayed home all day and supported the team in prayer while some of the team went to a prison in the afternoon and others went back to a different hospital to get precautionary eyedrops for the whole team. It was powerful to see how even though we were going in three different directions, we were still unified as a team through prayer and also to pray for specific names that Rafael (one of the ProVida workers) had given us of men they are currently discipling in the prisons.
Wednesday, Jo and I took the opportunity to sleep in again and recover, catching up on Bible readings and journalling. The team ended up coming back for the afternoon because of a change in the schedule (which is a frequent occurrence) so we were able to go and play floor hockey again. I was feeling up to it so along with my new best friend – my hand sanitiser bottle – 4 of us heading out to play! Even though it getting to be overcast and it was already 4:30 pm, within 5 minutes of running around playing basketball and warming up for floor hockey, we were dripping with sweat! The humidity and heat is real around here. It was fun to play with some of the same kids as the week before and also to speak a little bit of English with them as the older ones in particular do take English classes in school. In the evening, after dinner (in typical Brazilian style, dinner was around 8 pm), we learned our first Portuguese song, Nosso Deus (Our God by Chris Tomlin).
On Thursday, we went back to one of the male prisons from the previous week. 5 guys were allowed to join us in a room where we got to know their names, Mel shared her testimony with them and Rafael shared the story of the Prodigal Son. We then had time to play some games with them and get to know a little bit of their stories while having fun with a little competitive Uno between Canada and Brazil! Our lunch time conversation consisted of a great discussion about theological things as we got to hear from Rafael some of the things he learned about in Seminary and we talked about the differences between Calvinism and Armenian views of free will and original sin. Thanks so much to Kelly who did an amazing job translating for us and for a greater appreciation for the global Church where, in the end, we can all agree that Jesus died for us and that is the most important thing.
In the afternoon, we helped with the PePe kids program. There were 5 kids this week and after their regular activities, Olivia (and her amazing art skills) taught them about winter in Canada and then proceeded to explain how we love to camp in the summer and have S’mores! So snack that afternoon was chocolate cookies and marshmallows from Canada! (Thanks for being so prepared Kelly!) We played Portuguese versions of Duck, Duck, Goose, Simon Says and taught them other English songs like Head and shoulders, knees and toes! It was very fun but we were also made more aware of the needs of these kids. One of them, before the age of 5 is already aware of his parents being separated and asked us to pray for them. After dinner, we got to walk to the ice cream store and have a little bit of Sorvete with Rambo (Our Brazilian Dad whose real name is Mariano) as our ‘body guard’.
Friday morning Olivia and I went into one of the same women’s prisons that we had been in the week before. Along with two of the amazing missionaries from ProVida, we were able to chat with the 4 girls about our lives through parts of our testimony and we were able to dialogue with the girls about self-image and how what we were as women has such a huge impact of us and others. Being in Brazil we have become more aware of how women are culturally objectified and yet these young women see it as a way of gaining attention. God definitely opened our eyes to how different the culture is here and the things that are breaking his heart. Nominally many here claim to be Christians but few truly understand what a relationship with Jesus means so through our stories and personal testimonies we hope that the work of Jesus in our own lives is evident and the way he is constantly present with us to work through life.
Our afternoon with ProVida was cancelled so we had opportunity to rest …. and our Brazilian family took us on an adventure that included 4x4ing, mud, swimming and a canoe ride, ending with Acai, a volleyball game and swimming in the pool! These people are so hospitable and have been taking incredible care of our every need!
Saturday afternoon we joined Charlotte – a long-term missionary from Germany and visited some family homes in the favelas (the slums). The first family owned a little shop and had 4 kids who all had gone through the PePe program. We sang some songs, told them about Canada and shared our testimonies of how we came to read the Bible in regular devotions. The second home had multiple family’s present – mostly just the kids. Many of the parents were out at church or not around. We were able to debrief our visit and recognise how God was just showing us a little more of his heart in these homes and the community.
The last two days have included some great times of rest and exploring Belem as a tourist as well as practicing my Portuguese! 🙂 So yes, we have much to be thankful for as a team and many more things that I would love to share and more stories to tell but my word count is getting a little long! We are thankful for renewed strength and health on our team and for the many people we have met and been able to share our stories with. We are also so grateful for ProVida and their long-term commitment in the communities we have been able to visit.
So to end, some prayer requests as we head into this new week:
- the new ministry opportunities as we will be heading into a few new locations with ProVida
- continuity in the prisons that we will hopefully get to go back to
- For God to continue working in the lives of the young people we have met in the prisons.
- the families and the young kids in the PePe programs; that they would continue to seek and follow God on their own once they graduate from PePe
- stamina, flexibility and increased cultural understanding for our team
- for God to prepare hearts with people that we will get to meet and for us to be aware and sensitive to the testimony that he wants us to share.
Sea to Sea 2017 