Brazil
What about Brazil makes her so warm, so welcoming, so inviting, colourful and alive?
The country’s beauty and attractiveness goes way beyond the graffiti on it’s walls, the music that lingers in the streets or even the beautiful “touristy” infrastructure… what really makes Brazil special is her people. A nation that doesn’t shy away from welcoming any traveller whether from far or near, into their homes and offering up everything they have, to be shared joyfully and generously. The culture which is a will to serve and enjoy things along with us, is an attribute that one could dare say is buried at the depths of their very nature.
Widening our perspective on how it is that the Lord expects us to welcome our brothers and sisters when they cross our paths, or how we are to freely give ourselves up for the betterment of others, was displayed continuously throughout these 3 weeks.
A hug here, a kiss there, smiles everywhere…the Brazilian people took us in as their own and made us feel at home. Every country has something different to offer, but this one poured out a whole bunch of God’s love and generosity onto us.
Our team was already on a high of excitement as soon as the plane landed on the South American soil. A few of us hadn’t even stepped foot on another continent before and we were moving forward in full throttle, awaiting for what the Lord had in store for us for this next season. Gabriela, one of our team members, being fluent in Portuguese, allowed the team to have a personal translator which also became a point of excitement.
Upon arrival our hosts, gave us a warm, excited and enthusiastic welcoming to their homes and to the country. This immediately gave us an idea of what the culture would look like on this side of the world…neither of us were complaining. The varieties of foods and luxuries that were so effortlessly urged down our throats and into our stomachs was a pleasant surprise. Not to mention having cake for breakfast every single day…again, not complaining.
The Brazilians definitely knew exactly what to offer us to tickle our fancies.
Ministry in Brazil didn’t quite look anything like we were accustomed to in Africa. Our ministry here entailed a lot of evangelism, preaching, working with the youth and worship. Almost everyone on the team got a chance to be put on the front lines to worship…needless to say, we truly did witness how the Lord has been using our teams’ musical talents for His Kingdom. It’s an understatement to say that worship is stamped on the hearts of the One Year Team of 2022, and we believe the Lord still wants to use the gifts He’s given us in the nations that are still to come…
Part of our ministry time, the team was split up into 2 groups. Some members went to another area called Itaím, and were used by the Lord for different purposes to the team that stayed behind.
A testimony from Marko, and his experience in Itaím:
“Itaim, on the outskirts of São Paulo, looks and feels like one of those small, in-the-middle-of-nowhere towns in South Africa, filled with its own unique style of people, life and mannerisms.
Our team was excited for this adventure from the beginning. When we first heard about this two way adventure, with the team being placed in two separate locations, I was almost overwhelmed with excitement. We were mostly going into this blind, not sure of what we’ll be doing at this church, but we were excited nonetheless.
Our group (myself, Pasha, Azelle, Alicia) had to go with open hearts and open minds because we had absolutely no idea of the type of ministry we’ll be doing, where we would be staying, what the hosts are like, and the list goes on. When we arrived in Itaim we were met with the most broad smiles and a warm lunch meal. This type of generosity and kindness seems to be embedded within every Brazilian person and family.
The generous culture of Brazil is never ending. No matter how hard we try to serve those around us, they would always make sure that we were being treated like kings and queens. There was an endless supply of food, warm bedding and smiles that could change the world.
The type of ministry we experienced in Itaim is a testimony to the goodness of God, giving bread to the hungry, and his living water to the thirsty. Every place we went and every person we spent time with, was hungry for Jesus and they were often eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
For a week we did what we as “The Other Side Team” called, night time ministry. Every morning breakfast was no sooner than 10am, lunch was somewhere between 2pm and 5pm and our ministry started at 8 every night. Since most of our interactions and ministry with the community started so late, we stayed up past 2am every night chatting and building relationship with strangers we eventually called friends and family.
With so much free time during the day, as a team we decided to be very intentional with our time. We set ourselves daily challenges and a skill or challenge we would have wanted to accomplish by the end of the week. Along with our quiet time and these challenges, we did some prayer walks through the community and really prayed into the strongholds we felt.
This was definitely something we felt carried a lot of weight even though we couldn’t see what was happening spiritually. We walked through the streets of Brazil proclaiming the name of Jesus, praying blessings over the people and against any strongholds or schemes of the enemy.
Prayer was a prominent tool we practiced a lot. Whether it was going from house to house praying for individuals, or whether it was at the end of a house church or church service being available for people to come to and receive prayer…we showered the community with prayer. God continues to amaze me with His faithfulness in revealing His heart for His people, by revealing things about the people through words of knowledge or pictures to us as we pray for them.
Every late night chat with each other, our hosts and the community, made us love them just that much more. When it came to saying goodbye, it felt like taking a really sticky plaster off of a really hairy leg. We were all filled with joy and sadness; grateful for what God had done in the short time span of a week that we were there. It really did feel like strangers became friends and friends became family. We developed a deep love for this NTD Church in Itaim. If it was up to us we would have stayed there forever.
We are eternally grateful for what they had done for us and they were grateful that we were there. It was amazing to see how many young people were inspired to do missions, just by us being there. I really do pray that every single one of them had an authentic and real encounter with God, that it is not just a one time thing, but that it sparks a fire in their hearts for the advancement of God’s Kingdom!
For a week straight we saw the manifesting presence of God show up every night. We saw the Holy Spirit working and moving. We felt the love God has for His children and we saw lives impacted by a God that’s real and that desires only two things; relationship and intimacy with His children.
Itaim, you’ve got our hearts and we pray that we see you again. Thank you for all that you are and we are excited for all God has for you in the time ahead!”
Looking back on our time in Brazil, we’re amazed at how much bigger God’s plans are than we ever could’ve imagined…Initially upon arriving in Brazil, we prayed for the country and the nations surrounding her, and one of the words we got for Brazil was prayer. We felt that the Lord was calling us to serve here primarily through prayer. It’s how He wanted us to make an impact here. The Lord, being faithful as he is, has showed up consistently in moments of prayer with individuals and congregations…as well as in our own personal lives. Many of us have experienced the Holy Spirit in a way that we haven’t experienced Him before, and we pray that the same goes for all the people that we encountered.
The last 3 weeks have been proof of the fact that the Lord truly does go before us and prepare the way, all it takes is one small step of obedience at a time…
There’s so much more to be said about Brazil…we could write endless passages about our experiences with people, our late nights on the subway and the jam packed bus drives at 1am, but the rest of Brazil will have to stay stored away in our hearts…but rest assured in knowing that the memories we have created together will be a frequent place we visit in our thoughts and that we will treasure forever.
We hope to see you again Brazil. We know that all of you will be waiting for us with welcoming hugs and kisses upon our return. God continue to bless you, your families, your homes and your nation. The work He is doing here is evident, and we will continue to pray for an increase of Him!
Amen
Willem Taute
Exciting!