Comings Communiqué: Missions Trip Report

June 12, 2007

Missions Trip Report

A week has passed, and I have still not posted anything regarding the missions team that visited us from Faith Baptist Church in Winter Haven, Florida. Bad missionary blogger!

The team arrived early in the morning (about 2:30!) at the Juazeiro airport after an eventful, one-day stay in Fortaleza. We packed them into a topique and took them to the seminary, where they were able to rest up for the remainder of the day.

By the way, when I say we packed them in to the topique, I do mean packed!

On Wednesday (the 30th) we took them to see the statue of Padre Cicero. This is usually the first "port of call" when we bring groups down, just because it gives people an idea of the raw Catholicism of the region.

The blatant idolatry and overwhelming lostness of the people around the shrine to the Padre never fail to make an impression on visiting groups.

One of the greatest impacts a team from the US can have here is in the ESL community. The fact that they don't speak Portuguese actually becomes an advantage as they interact with those who are intent on learning English.

In the above picture, two of the team members interact with students at the American English Center--the school we worked through during the week.

During the week we had two "get-to-know-you" sessions at the English school in preparation for the main event--a two-day English camp held at the seminary. Here is the Faith team with a group of students and staff from the American English Center.

Another highlight for teams we bring down is a hike in the Araripe mountain range. From this vantage point, one can see the Cariri Valley in all it's glory.

Climbing on the rocks is always a big attraction.

Some of the team members were quite courageous.

And others were just plain crazy.

This is a group shot of the team, taken on the way back from the hike.

On Friday afternoon we began the main event. The Brazilians who came (about 60 in all, most of them un-churched) were divided up into teams, and competitions were held, including a "team yell" contest (below).

The neatest thing about this event was that several members from the Faith team got to give their testimonies during the English camp. They were translated into English--sometimes by yours truly, and sometimes by Brazilian believers in attendance.

Notice the rapt attention being given as testimonies are being shared!

The team from Faith was alive, fun-loving, and eager to serve.

I was very impressed with the way they mixed it up with the Brazilians. Many friendships were made, and the team maintained an excellent testimony during the entire visit.

One highlight of the visit was a ministry to the church for the hearing impaired on Sunday. As you can see from the above picture, we had a three-way translation going on--Pastor Pete preaching in English, me translating into Portuguese, and one of our seminary students translating into Portuguese sign language.

Of course it didn't help any when I read the wrong passage at the beginning of the message.

Also on Sunday the team had an outstanding ministry at our church. Many unsaved people showed up who had developed relationships with the group throughout the week. The team sang a special number, and Pastor Pete preached.

Goodbyes are never fun. Mikey in particular was torn apart--although I suspect it was because he wanted to ride on the bus. We said our farewells Sunday evening as the group boarded the bus for another week of ministry in João Pessoa. We were sad to see them go, but are hopeful they will chose to come visit us again.