Uberaba Mission Trip 2003: A Report by Britt Canada
This was a very different type of mission trip, especially when compared to the previous 7 that I had made. We went to a new area, with a missionary couple that I was initially unsure about, partnered with a team of 15 from Campinas and brought 4 from Texas. I discovered that my fears and concerns were unfounded and that God is in control. Compared to the previous trips, overall, it was the best ever.
This planning for this trip didn't start out too well. Ideally, planning starts in September or October of the previous year. Typically, soon after we return from the mission trip. Well, it didn't work this way for this year. In my prayer journal, I have a note that says "Talked with Glenn (McCathern) today about a possible mission trip to Brazil, nothing was decided." The date on the entry was April 1 – just a little over 3 months from when we left. As it turns out, it was enough time – but, just barely.
Uberaba is known for a famous spiritist leader, Chico Xavier. He died last year at the age of 92. He would go into a trance and channel with dead Brazilian authors, then he would write books. He was sued by the widow of one of the authors because she wanted the royalty from the book that Chico wrote while in a trance. Overall, Chico wrote about 400 books. He never took any of the profits from these books. Instead he put the profits into charities. As a result, he gained a reputation as being a 'good' and generous man and was known as the 'pope of spiritism'.
It is my understanding that these profits were also used to provide food for the poor of Brazil. Of course, one had to be a spiritist to receive these provisions – so, there could be some penalty for leaving the religion. Spiritism is a mix of Catholicism, animist worship brought from Africa by slaves and spirit worship as practiced by the Brazilian native cultures. So, it is easy to see that there is a wide variety of spiritism – anywhere from voodoo to new age.
Those who practice spiritism are very difficult to reason with because they are so used to letting everyone believe anything that they want to believe. Generally, they are willing to let us visit with them because they are interested in what we have to say, but they are not willing to make a commitment because they believe that they have their beliefs and we should respect them as they respect what we believe. In the past, we have visited with spiritists and have found these visits to be some of the most challenging.
So, before the trip, I expected a great amount of resistance from the spiritist influence in Uberaba. Fuel was added to this fire when one of the pastors told Monty that, "the state of Minas Gerais is slow to respond to the Gospel and in Uberaba, it is even slower." After all, according to the Uberaba phone book, we were going to an area that had 77 spiritist centers, and 7 Baptist centers (4 churches: 1st, 2nd, Abadia and Parque das Americas and 3 missions: Delta, Primavera and Ebenezer).
With the realization that we would be facing some challenges, we began to plan the trip and to emphasize the need for prayer. At CHBC, I am the director of the oldest SS class. On the Sunday before we left, I gave them a presentation of the trip as I understood it and begged them to pray for us. I believe those prayers were made and answered. I know that others prayed for us also. It is very comforting to be in a foreign land in a foreign culture and realize that others are offering prayers for us. In the midst of trials and problems, one can experience that 'peace that passes all understanding' because of the intercessory prayers of faithful saints. Again, I say 'obrigado' (Portuguese for 'thank you') if you were one of those who prayed for this trip.
I wish that I could say that I had complete faith and never had any doubts. However, that would be a lie. Just 8 days before we left, I strongly suggested that we drop out of working with Delta. At that time, I did not think that the folks at Delta were interested – I doubted their commitment. I felt that we had some valid reasons to pull out of Delta:
1. Delta is about 25 miles from the other churches. The only way that we could go to Delta was to send Monty and/or Janis to that site. This would take the missionaries away from the rest of us for the entire day and would also take away a source of transportation. (Going into this trip, I expected transportation to be a major problem – as it turns out, this was one of the few things that I was correct on because transportation was a problem).
2. We were not getting any useful information about potential visits from Delta. We did not know if the folks at Delta wanted us and it certainly seemed like they did not have any visits set up. My thought was that if they weren't interested in us coming, then we could work somewhere else.
3. It was beginning to look like we had more to do than we could handle. There were only 4 of us going from Snyder. The numbers from Campinas seemed to widely vary from one day to the next. Sometimes, the Brazilians speak of numbers as they speak of time. For example, 2:00 may mean 2:30 or 3:00 or sometime in the afternoon (that is before 6:00). Sometimes, when Brazilians say there will be 10 people, then they actually mean 5 people (or it could be 15) – it just depends. The people want to participate, but sometimes they show up and sometimes they don't.
4. We also did not know how many of the churches we would be working with. We did know that the churches in Uberaba have not cooperated with each other in the past and this crusade would require a lot of cooperation. We had some churches that already had 30-40 visits set up and some (like Delta) that didn't have any visits set up.
So, it seemed that it would be a good idea to 'close the ranks' a little and scale our efforts back a little, just to make the trip more manageable. When I made this suggestion to Monty and Deborah, they were not in favor of dropping Delta. They didn't argue with my logic, they just questioned whether we should pull out at this time. Since Deborah had a good feel for who was going from Campinas and Monty knew the people in Uberaba, I agreed to leave things as they were originally planned.
As it turned out, Pastor Marcos at Delta didn't return the phone calls because his phone had recently been cut off. A total of 15 people from Campinas made the trip and the churches in Uberaba cooperated with each other for the first time in recent history. I guess that someone could use this opportunity to remind me that 'God is in control.' We need to plan and think about the possibilities but faith and trust is still important. I am glad that I listened to the wise counsel that Monty and Deborah provided.
Another interesting event occurred during the planning of this trip. At the end of April, I checked on ticket prices going from Lubbock thru Dallas and Sao Paulo to Uberaba. The tickets would be $880 each. Unfortunately, we only had a week to purchase the tickets at this price and we couldn't do so before the deadline. Later, when I got ready to purchase the tickets, the price had gone up to $975. This was somewhat discouraging – actually, it was really discouraging. So, we started thinking of other possibilities. We got creative, it turns out that the round-trip from Lubbock to Sao Paulo had a cost of $675. The flight from Sao Paulo to Uberaba was $300. Furthermore, the real problem was that we would have to change airports in Sao Paulo (they have two airports – Sao Paulo has a population of about 20 million) and there was also a 12-13 hour layover in Sao Paulo. With my extensive math background, I did some calculations. By bus, it was only 5-6 hours from Sao Paulo to Uberaba. So, we could just grab a bus and would still be in Uberaba several hours before the plane – also, a bus ticket would be less than the $300 difference. So, I suggested that we ride the Brazilian public bus from Sao Paulo to Uberaba. Deborah had an even better idea – we could go to Campinas on the first night (Friday night) and then everyone (those from Texas and Campinas) could travel by charter bus together on Saturday morning. Sounded good to me, but what was the cost? As it turns out, the minibus cost from Sao Paulo to Campinas was about $140 and the charter bus from Campinas to Uberaba was about $650. So, for about $800 ($200 from each Texan), we were able to save many hours in the airport on a layover and were able to take everyone from Campinas with us on the charter bus for less than the cost of the airplane ticket from Sao Paulo to Uberaba. My suspicion is that some of the people from Campinas would not have been able to go with us if they had to pay for the bus trip. Again, this was evidence of God working in the background to make this trip a success. During the trip from Campinas to Uberaba, we got to know each other a little better and get better prepared for the week that was ahead of us. Furthermore, we got to spend a night in Campinas and visit with friends and see some of the places where we had worked before.
There are other instances of how God worked through situations and got us ready for this trip. As I reflect back on the various situations, it is obvious that God was preparing us for a mission trip that would be unlike any that I had participated in before.
Let me give another example of how God was preparing us for this trip.
Before the trip, we had a lot of uncertainty. We had questions about lodging,
transportation, eating, the number of scheduled visits, which churches/missions
we would work with and if we could all go.
For example, Sheila received her visa on the Tuesday before we left on a
Thursday. In the midst of this uncertainty, Deborah got a word from the Lord
about the trip. As she was reading in Jeremiah 33 and found these verses:
"5b I have hidden My
face from this city because of all their wickedness: 6 'Behold,
I will bring to it health and healing,
and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.
8'I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have
sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have
sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me." We felt
that this was additional confirmation that God was going to do something
marvelous in Uberaba, even in the midst of our uncertainty.
At the scheduled time, we left Lubbock International Airport. As we flew over Brazil, (according to the pilot) we would be flying over Bogata, Columbia. According to the map, our flight path would put us over Uberaba (or near Uberaba) about an hour before we landed. It was about that time, that the sun rose over the horizon. It was a beautiful sunrise. I was reading my morning devotional material as the sun was rising, it seemed to concentrate on the need to be a world-class Christian and to realize that God is in control of all situations. Again, I felt that this would be an interesting, challenging, exciting and sometimes frustrating mission trip. It became even more apparent to me that God had put together this specific team of missionaries, interpreters, workers and Texans for a specific reason. I used this theme when I spoke to the folks from Uberaba on the organizational meeting on Saturday night.
The landing at Sao Paulo was interesting because we were in a fog as we landed. It cleared just before we hit the runway, but it was foggy up until that point. I am reminded of the quote that says "Every take-off is optional, landings are mandatory." It takes a certain amount of trust to land in the fog. I certainly don't know how to fly a plane and wouldn't do a very good job of giving advice to the pilot. So, I have to put some faith and trust in the pilot's ability. He has the experience, skill and knowledge that is necessary to land the plane – even in the fog. This was yet another reminder that I needed to do my part in this mission trip and trust God to do His part. During some of the trip, things might get a little foggy – instead of getting frustrated, I would need to put more trust in God. As it turns out, I had several opportunities to do this.
At the Saturday night organizational meeting, I felt it was important to stress that we brought a lot of mission trip/tract experience to Uberaba. Basically, there were 15 from Campinas and 4 from Texas. This was the first trip for Sheila, Nonato, Renata and Marcelo. Ana Lucia was first acquainted with this type of crusade in 2001. In that year, Jim and I made a visit to her home and her husband (Reginaldo) made a decision. So, Ana Lucia is a product of a previous crusade. A lot of folks became involved in the mission work in 2000. That was a year that we took 10 people from Snyder to Campinas and worked in Vila Uniao, Jardim Yeda, Parque Universitario and Maranata churches. During that crusade, the following folks (who were on this trip to Uberaba) were involved: Bee, Henique (interpreter), Simone, Leo (interpreter), Kely (interpreter), Hector, Elisangela, Amanda, Dario and Thiago (interpreter). As you can see, 4 of this trip's interpreters got interested in this work in 2000 and determined that they wanted to be a vital part of future crusades. In 1998, Paola first worked with the crusade when a group from Amarillo worked in Resende with her father (Big Bob). In 1997, Deborah first started working with the tract. Jim and I started in 1992. One can easily see that God started putting this trip together in 2002 when Monty and Janis worked with us in Guapimirim. Many of the folks from Campinas were also a part of that crusade (Deborah, Thiago, Leo and Kely) plus Jim and myself. Personally, I see evidence that God started putting this trip together in 2000, when we made the mission trip to Campinas. It is an amazing story to realize that the Vila Uniao Baptist Church is only 3 years old and sent 15 people to another city for a week to be a major part of the crusade. God is good at doing amazing things. Brazilians witnessing to Brazilians, that is the way it should be.
Essentially, the only thing that we (as Texans) bring to the mission trip is the novelty of folks having the opportunity to have a foreigner in their home. We are not trained theologians, none of us are pastors – we are just ordinary laypersons who are willing to go. We have some experience in going on these trips, but the folks from Campinas could have done this trip without us. It was just a pleasure to go and be with them. I am truly thankful for the experience. It may be that we helped to solidify the mission effort or that we encouraged the church leaders in Uberaba to work together. I do know that Deborah and Monty did a lot of ground work before we got to Uberaba, that they did a lot of the preparation. The success of the trip was due in large part to the work that they did.
Glenn McCathern took a group to Valenca in the week prior to the week that we were in Uberaba. Deborah worked as an interpreter there because one of the scheduled interpreters got sick. She told us several interesting stories from that trip but one was particularly interesting. One of the ladies that went on the trip had some great concerns because on last year's trip, she only had 4 decisions for the entire week. As a result, she felt a little defeated and didn't know if she should return. However, she did return and on the first Monday, she had 30 decisions. Again, God seemed to be confirming that she did belong on this trip. We told this story to one of the Uberaba pastors and his comment was "In Uberaba, you need to be prepared to work for 30 days and get one decision". On the first Sunday, right after he made this comment, we went out and made some visits. (I think sure that God has a sense of humor.) According to my notes, there were 35 decisions on Sunday afternoon and 10 of those were in the visits set up by the pastor who made the negative comment.
On Sunday afternoon, we had an interesting visit. Henrique was my interpreter and this was his first experience as an interpreter, as far as I know. We visited a couple and on the appeal, she said that she didn't believe in anything. I don't remember hearing that objection but I responded by telling her that by believing in nothing, then she actually believes in something – that is nothing. Let me try again, to believe in nothing means that you believe in something, that something happens to be nothing. Having a beginning interpreter, I didn't know how this would work out – whether Henrique could interpret it or not. I did some more explanation and helped her to understand that she had to do something with Jesus. Historically, we know that Jesus lived on the earth, this is a proven fact. There are three choices: either Jesus is the Son of God or He is a liar or He is a lunatic – those are no other choices. I explained each of the three choices and said that if my faith in Jesus is wrong, then I have lost nothing. If my faith in Jesus is right, then I have gained everything. She seemed to understand better and both the husband and wife said the prayer.
Another interesting thing happened on Sunday. Deborah was walking by a room in the basement of First Baptist and saw Renata and Ana Lucia talking. Renata was crying, but Deborah didn't interrupt. About 5 years ago, Renata and her sister were present when their father killed their mother. So, Renata would have been about 9 years old or so. Anyway, as it turns out, Ana Lucia was going through the steps and leading Renata in the prayer – she had just made her decision when Deborah walked by.
Brother Hamilton is a lawyer in Uberaba, but he took a week away from work and went with us on most of the visits in Primavera. I was really impressed with this leader. He is the president of 2nd Baptist and they don't have a pastor at this time. On Sunday evening, he read John 14:1-6 during the evening service. Of course, we use John 14:6 in the presentation and he was a team member when we went through the tract on Sunday afternoon. By Tuesday, Bro. Hamilton was doing the entire tract by himself. As far as I know, none of the other church leaders (from Uberaba) did the entire tract. Some would do one or two steps, but most were reluctant to do any of the steps. I was very fortunate to work with this warrior. He has a heart for his community and for the lost of Uberaba. His prayer is that the youth of Primavera can be won to Christ. He sees that as their hope and salvation from a life of alcohol and drugs.
On Monday morning, we had another visit that had some interesting twists. A young man was in the visit, but he didn't show much interest until we got to talking about church membership and the fact that we aren't saved by church membership. He said that he was going to church – I guess that he thought that he was saved. A young, pregnant lady was also in the visit. The baby was due on Friday (just 3-4 days away). She had some sort of speech problem. When we got to the sinner's prayer, Deborah read a phrase and the lady simply nodded to indicate that she agreed. Another lady, I suspect it was the mother wouldn't quit talking and the grandmother was also there and she couldn't hear. So, this was a visit with 'not interested', 'can't talk', 'can't be quiet' and 'can't hear' challenges. However, everything turned out well in the end as all prayed. God is so good.
In one of the Monday afternoon visits, the lady interrupted during the third step. In this step, we talk about Jesus dying on the cross and becoming our mediator. She said "Can I ask a question?" Well, we always allow folks to ask questions – although, it does get to be very interesting, especially if it is a challenging question. So, I was ready for a challenging question – maybe something like "How do we know the Bible is true?" or "Why are there so many different religions?" So, I was ready – go ahead, ask the question. Well, she asked a question that amazed me for a while – it still amazes me, especially when I think about it. She asked, "Why did He do that? We don't deserve it." And then she looked at me, searching for the answer. All I could do is agree with her – we don't deserve it. It is difficult to explain but I used John 3:16 and went over it, just one more time. She prayed and 5 others in the house also prayed.
Also, in this visit, Hector did the 4th step. In this step, we give away a pen to illustrate the difference between BELIEVE and RECEIVE. Hector said that he wanted to give her this pen that I had given to him. The lady interrupted and said "I don't think that you should be giving away something that someone gave to you." I had a good laugh out of this comment. We convinced her that it was OK.
On Monday, Hamilton did steps 1 and 2 from the tract. So, on the first visit on Tuesday, I asked him to do step 3. So, I did steps 1 and 2, Hamilton did 3 and Hector did 4. We had prearranged this even before we got into the visit. The lady was nursing and had 3 other children in the room with her. She said that she had 7 children. The kids were crawling all over the mother and distracting her, so after she finished with the interpretation of steps 1 and 2, Deborah took the kids outside. I didn't have an interpreter but Hamilton and Hector did a great job and finished up. To me, it was amazing how God took care of the issue – even before I realized the issue. It seems that God made preparations for taking care of the children, even before we realized the challenges that we would face. It was obvious to me that they were very poor. I guess that Deborah talked to the kids while she was with them. Anyway, after the visit, we walked up the hill to where Jim and Kely had a visit. Their visit was still going on. Fabiano (the van driver) had been parked on the street but I noticed that he was gone – and Deborah was gone also. After a while, I noticed that the van had pulled up in front of this lady's house and Deborah was carrying some sacks of groceries in.
Well, this trip certainly did not turn out like I expected it to turn out. On Tuesday night, it was my responsibility to speak at Primavera. I had brought 7 or 8 different messages to be used on this trip, but when I looked through these I found that I didn't like any of them. They just didn't seem to fit. So, I quickly wrote something else. Basically, I told the story of Peter denying Jesus and then Jesus saying 'go tell the disciples AND PETER'. This passage has a great significance to me because it played a great part in a visit that I made in July 1992. That visit was a real turning point in my life. Deborah was interpreting for me, so she wasn't too worried about what I would say. I usually like to let the interpreter see what I plan to say before the service, but this time it wasn't possible.
The next day, Monty asked me how many were at the Primavera service and I said 15 or so. He asked how many were kids and I estimated 3 or 4. He looked at me and said that was a real switch because they usually have 13 or 14 kids and 1 or 2 adults. So, he was encouraged that 11-12 adults were present for the service.
We did have Internet access through an Internet network that was in the middle of a mall that was about a block from the hotel. For 70 cents, I could get 1 hour of Internet access. I usually just used 20-30 minutes, but I emailed from this spot several times during the week. It was a rather interesting experience. Sometimes, the connection would work fine and at other times, it would quit and erase everything that I had typed. So, I typed a whole lot of short messages and didn't even try to use capital letters. The Portuguese keyboard has some extra characters and I kept hitting them when I tried to hit the SHIFT key. Lots of kids were there and they were playing some type of commando game. Even though I didn't speak Portuguese, I could walk up to the attendant, show him the money and say Internet and he would point to a computer. Worked like a charm.
On Wednesday, I asked Hamilton if he would do step 4. He said 'yes'. This is really a big step because the Brazilians don't really like to give the appeal. So, I told him that if he wanted me to take over, then I would at any time. Actually, we planned for him to do steps 3 and 4. In step 1, I asked Bro. Hamilton to read a verse for me. (I don't like to read the verse in English and then have it read in Portuguese. So, I just let someone read it in Portuguese – saves some time – gives me a chance to pray.) Well, he read the verse and just kept on going – I didn't do anything else in the visit.
Later, in the afternoon, we went to Hamilton's sister-in-law and I did the whole tract. In the next visit, I asked Thiago to do step 4. After the visit, Thiago said that this was the first time that he had done step 4. It is good (in my opinion) to allow others to do the various steps. My hope is that Bro. Hamilton learned as he saw others do the various steps. In this visit, two people made decisions but I knew that there was another person who was listening around the corner. I had to convince Thiago that there was another person that we needed to talk to but finally we got it taken care of. In the next visit, Hamilton did the entire tract.
On Thursday afternoon, we had a tough visit with a spiritist. This was a visit for Abadia. Up until this point, all of our visits were are Primavera or 2nd. It was a typical spiritist visit, the lady wouldn't admit anything. She wanted to reason her way to heaven. Thiago was my interpreter and after the visit, he said it was the first time that someone had rejected the message in a visit that he was in.
In a visit last year, we visited Marcia and she was in her spiritist temple in Belford Roxo. She rejected the message, so I asked for permission to pray that God would reveal Himself to her. She said that was OK. I explained that God might take away something (possessions, money, health, her temple, etc.) that is getting in the way – anything that kept her from a relationship with God. I asked if that was OK and she said it was. So, I prayed that God would reveal Himself to Marcia. At the end of this Thursday afternoon visit in Abadia with Mora, I asked the same question, that is, if it would be OK to pray that God will reveal himself to her. She said it was, so I did.
Of course, God does move mightily in the lives of some spiritists. At Belford Roxo last year, the most enthusiastic church members and witnesses were ex-spiritist. This year, in Uberaba, one of the visits was to a person who had run a spiritist center. About 3 months before we arrived, this individual claims to have had a vision. In that vision, they were told to shut down their spiritist center. So, for 3 months, they did not know what they were supposed to do – that is, until they heard the gospel on the visit.
Last year, at Belford Roxo, the most dynamic individuals in that church were ex-spiritists. Sometimes, when a person realizes what they have been saved from then they are more enthusiastic about their salvation.
On Thursday, after supper, we went to another visit with a spiritist couple. Earlier in the day, we knew that we would be going to this visit and knew about this couple, so I spent some extra time in prayer before this visit. Deborah interpreted for me. It was very interesting, we got to the exact same point as in the visit that we had earlier in the day. The couple said that they wanted to say the prayer. We read through the prayer and asked them if they were sure this was what they wanted to do – they both said 'no'. We explained a few more things but couldn't get them to understand that they needed to do this. So, I asked for permission to ask God to reveal Himself to them. They gave permission, so I prayed. For the next few hours, I had a difficult time dealing with this visit. I felt that we had prepared for it, that we did a very good job of presenting the gospel, but the folks didn't want to invite Jesus into their lives. I do tell folks that find themselves in this situation that you have to learn to love fishing as much as catching fish. However, just because I say this doesn't mean that I have learned this lesson. I still like catching fish. I also realize that this is something that the Holy Spirit does. However, even with all my experience and all my reasoning – I still had lots of difficulty dealing with this – it was probably the low point of the trip. I went back to the hotel at 10 PM and finally got some peace about this visit at midnight or so.
The folks from Campinas asked some questions about what I am trying to do when I ask if I can pray that God will reveal Himself to someone. Each night, they have a sharing, singing, praising and Bible study time. I asked if I could take some time and explain during this time on Friday night. They agreed, so I did. As I mentioned before, this is something that came to me when Marcia, the spiritist, did not accept the invitation during the visit at Belford Roxo in 2002. I started off with that story and then moved on to Matthew 10:14 where Jesus says "And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet." To me, this sounds a little drastic. I know that the Jehovah's Witnesses are told to do this, it just does seem like the way to show love. So, I went to Hebrews 11:6 where the scripture says, "For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines". My thought is that when I ask if I can pray that God will reveal Himself to them, I am just reminding the folks that God is in control. Certainly, He doesn't need our permission to teach us or to discipline us. I could ask that God reveal Himself to these folks without asking for their permission – it just seems that it will be more effective if they agree to let me do this. I also shared Hebrews 11:11: "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful." Again, discipline is not fun but it is useful. After the talk, I asked if the Campinas folks had any questions and nobody did. I am not sure what I would say if someone said "Oh no, please don't pray that". Of the three times, I have done this, nobody said 'no' – (and I don't know what the results have been either. I don't know how their lives have been changed. For all I know, they are still unsaved.). However, if someone did say 'no' then I would probably ask them what they were afraid of. If my God doesn't have any power, then why are they worried about my prayer. If my God does have power, then why don't they accept Him. Never have gotten to use this, but I am prepared if I get a chance.
I read a quote by Lee Strobel, who was an atheist at one time. He said that while an atheist, he prayed "God, I don't believe You're there. But if you really are there, I would like to get to know the truth about you." As an atheist, he didn't believe that anybody was listening, so he had nothing to lose. However, if someone was listening, he wanted to know. I think that whenever people reject the gospel, it might be useful to ask them to pray something like the prayer that Lee Strobel prayed. Christianity is open to the skeptic's probing mind.
On Saturday, one of the Brazilians who worked with us (another Marcelo) met an individual who was probably drunk and visited with him for a while. The man agreed to a visit. On Sunday morning, as we were headed to church, we dropped Marcelo off at this person's home. Later, I asked Marcelo about the visit and he said that the man was very confused (probably had a hangover). He didn't make a decision, but Marcelo ended the visit by asking the man if he could pray that God reveal Himself to the man.
We were waiting for the van to arrive on Friday. (Did I mention that we had transportation problems throughout the week?) We were at First Baptist – had just finished eating supper. Basically, First Baptist's involvement in the crusade was to provide a place for the folks from Campinas to sleep and a place to prepare and eat the meals. First Baptist did not schedule any visits. So, we were waiting for the van. I walked up to the front doorway of the church and Deborah was standing there – watching a young lady walk away. I could tell that Deborah was disturbed, but I didn't know the reason. It could have been some of the actions of the folks from Campinas or the slowness of the van or something else. So, I asked "What is wrong?" She replied, "Do you think that we have time to present the tract to that lady?" (Actually, Deborah knew the answer to that question before she asked it.) "Sure", I said, "How about right here in the foyer?" Deborah called to her and as she walked back to the door, Deborah told me that this is the second time that she has come to this church and they were having prayer meetings and other meetings but nobody from the church would talk to her. Basically, my impression is that First Baptist was interested in some of the things that they do and their programs but not interested in those folks that God sends to the church. Their praise band has their own CD and they have a choreography group that performs during some of the songs, but nobody was willing to visit with this seeker. So, we sat down and quickly went through the tract, then the lady prayed. She had a question or two but Deborah answered them. We still had time before the van showed up. We had two visits scheduled for Friday night, but neither was there. As I thought about these events, what if I had said, "No, we don't have time because we have two visits tonight and the van will be here at any time." Then the van doesn't show up for another 20 minutes and our visits don't make – I think that we would have been very frustrated. I am reminded that God is in control and we should make every moment count.
So, whether they intended to have visits or not – two decisions were made at First Baptist during the crusade: Renata on Sunday and Elenice on Friday. Actually, there is another to come but I'll wait a few paragraphs to tell that story.
Friday night was a scheduling challenge – we sent out 9 different teams. I think this was the most teams that we sent out at the same time. Five of the teams were preaching and the other 4 were making visits. In the 4 visits, 10 decisions were made.
On Saturday morning, Deborah and I went to Delta. This is the place that I had almost given up on. Deborah interpreted and we made one visit with 7 decisions. Delta is a very poor neighborhood but has been very receptive to the gospel. At the community center, the Thompsons were given the chance to present the gospel through chalk talks to groups of women that meet. Through this opportunity, they have reached 30-40 women each day of the crusade in this neighborhood. The group from Campinas was really touched by this community. They have made plans to continue to work with and support Delta. They have planned to return and do additional Bible studies as well as contribute financially. The Baptist church in Delta has a problem because their current building and land was put into the name of the previous pastor. He should have turned the church property over when he resigned but he has not and the current members are not willing to make improvements on the property because they do not have ownership of the property. The previous pastor was asked to leave because of some improper relationships, but he is still a member of the church. Another piece of property has been located and the total cost is about $1300 – so, the folks from Campinas have committed to help pay for this land.
Saturday afternoon, Thiago went with me and we visited another technician from Novo India with Joao. On Thursday morning, we had gone to Novo India where Joao is the veterinarian. The visit on Thursday night was to one of his technicians and this Saturday afternoon visit was to another. It was quite a contrast to compare this morning's visit on the dirt roads of Delta to the fairly nice house that we found ourselves in. Both of the individuals made decisions. It was just a reminder that God loves everyone, the folks on the dirt road and those in the nice house.
On Sunday morning, I was scheduled to talk at 2nd. Again, I wasn't sure about what to talk about. The drama group was scheduled to do the drama at 1st, which meant that Deborah couldn't interpret because they are in the drama. Thiago would be my interpreter. Thiago did a good job throughout the week, but I didn't want to try a message that my interpreter may have difficulty with. So, I decided to do something a little easier – I went through the book of Isaiah in about 20 minutes. Essentially, it was what we have been talking about in the visits this week. So, Thiago had heard and interpreted many of the comments that I used in the message.
Man is a sinner (6:5)
God can forgive (6:7)
God gives us a choice (6:8)
Don't trust in others (31:1)
God gives peace (35:4-10)
He can put all our sins behind Him – can't see them anymore (36:17)
God restores us (40:31)
God will lead us (58:11)
plus some other scriptures – such as Is 64:6 which is an important part of the presentation.
So, basically, Thiago read the scriptures and then I made a comment about each one – it was more of a Bible study, but I think it went well and Thiago did a great job.
However, one of the more significant things that I did on Sunday morning was to invite Nonato to give a testimony. On the way to 2nd, I asked Nonato if he would like to give a testimony. I was surprised by his reaction. Nonato has been rather quiet during the week. He has been an encourager and has sought ways to invite others to be a part of the various presentations – he did this on at least 2 visits that I was on. I had the impression that he was rather quiet and possibly shy and would not be interested in giving a testimony. However, as soon as my words were interpreted, Nonato got a sparkle in his eyes and nodded his head – he really got enthusiastic and started looking up scriptures. I guess that he did a good job – I didn't understand anything that he said and didn't ask for a interpretation because it seems to be distracting to the rest of the worship service when the interpreter tells me what the speaker is saying. The group from Campinas did a report service at their church and Nonato said that giving his testimony was one of the highlights of his week.
On Sunday afternoon, we would have a wrap-up/evaluation session at 4. About 1:45, Deborah asked if we had time to do a visit. I think that she knew the answer before she asked and before I responded. Fabiano took us to Primavera, it was about 20 minutes away. Instead of driving back or waiting in the van, Fabiano decided to come to the visit with us. He had been invited to other visits during the week but did not go in – until this visit today. This was the last visit of the crusade. I did step 2 and talked Kely into interpreting for me (so, I worked with all of the interpreters: Deborah, Kely, Thiago, Henrique and Leo plus Laecio interpreted for me on Wednesday night). The others with me did the other steps. The two folks made decisions. Actually, this was the same house that Dario and his group had visited earlier in the week. The mother and one daughter made a decision then. The father and another daughter made decisions today. Maybe the father saw a change in the mother and daughter and wanted what they had. Anyway, Fabiano drove us back to the church. I didn't ask Fabiano during the visit because I didn't want to embarrass him. When we got back to the church, Deborah and I asked him what he thought about the visit. He said it was good. I then asked if he had ever invited Jesus into his life and he said "No, I wanted to but nobody gave me a chance in the visit". I said, "Well, I am asking now". He said that he was ready. He and Deborah got into the van and I stood outside as he read through the prayer. After he was finished, I explained that I didn't ask him during the visit because I didn't want to embarrass him. Later that night, they had a surprise birthday party for him. His birthday is on the same day as Laura's – so this was a couple of days late. After he blew out the candles, he gave me the first piece of cake. In Brazil, the person who has the birthday cuts the cake and gives the first piece to someone that is special to them. I was honored.
As I mentioned before, we did have some frustration with the transportation – I guess that has always been a problem in the Brazil trips. Last year, it was a 45 minute drive from Guapimirim to Belford Roxo. So, I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that transportation was an issue. We didn't complain to Fabiano – he did the best that he could do. It was just there were many times that we all needed to be somewhere at the same time. I wondered what would have happened if we had started complaining. It took Fabiano all week to decide to come into a visit with us – he literally waited until the last visit. If we had been visibly upset with the transportation, then I am sure that we would have alienated him and would not have had a chance to effectively present the gospel to him. Having said that, how many times do I alienate folks without even knowing it?
At the 4:00 meeting, the various pastors and leaders were given a chance to talk about what this week meant to them. Mostly, the pastors admitted that there was a lot of work to be done in following up on those who made decisions. After the pastors, Henrique gave a report from the Campinas group. Next, Monty talked about the crusade from his perspective. He said that the crusade put the Uberaba work about 2 years ahead. He was also impressed that the 3 year old Vila Uniao church could send out a mission group of 15 folks. He also acknowledged that it would take a lot of work to continue the follow-up. I guess that I would have been the logical person to talk about the trip from the Texas perspective but I got the impression that Jim should give this report. Jim talked about being a part of a spiritual awakening – it certainly seems that we were a part of something like that.
Overall, there were
42 decisions at Abadia
35 decisions at Ebenezer
72 decisions at 2nd and Primavera (a mission of 2nd)
290 decisions at 1st and Delta (a mission of 1st)
67 decisions at Parque das Americas
for a total of over 500
On Sunday night, I was scheduled to bring a message at 2nd. Again, I didn't have anything that seemed to be appropriate so I decided to let the team members give testimonies. Hector, Paola and Deborah all spoke. Each of these had been very useful during the week. Hector and Paola were the team that was sent out on several visits – Paola was 14 and Hector was 16 years old and they are doing the tract effectively. The only problem with the service was that it was all in Portuguese and I didn't know much about what was going on. I felt that the church probably wanted to hear me say something so I gave a little bit of a testimony and asked that they help Bro. Hamilton with the follow-up. Then I concluded with Romans 5:8 – ” But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." When we use this in the presentation, we stress that Jesus died for us while we were sinners, not after we cleaned ourselves up. Many people want to wait until they are perfect to come to Christ or to start doing things for Jesus. If we wait until that time, it will never come. Jesus can use us as we are – if we are willing to allow ourselves to be used by Him.
Throughout the planning, development and completion of this trip, I was aware of the situations where God worked. He worked through my fears, concerns, misconceptions and abilities. I believe that it is true that God uses us when we are at our weakest because that is when He is strongest. When we realize that we can't do anything, God takes over and shows us a way.
God reminded me several times that He did not see the situation in Uberaba as I saw it. I saw Uberaba as a battleground where evangelism would be a challenge, God saw it as a field that was ready to be harvested. I thought the people in Uberaba would be loyal to Chico Xavier and have his picture on every wall in every house. God saw the people in their need – the need to have someone explain the truth to them. I thought the people from Campinas would go with us on the visits: that we would have a Texan, an interpreter and 3 from Campinas on every team. The folks from Campinas would be scheduling the next visit while we were in one visit. The truth is that God wanted the folks from Campinas to form teams, to develop as leaders and to lead us in evangelizing this city. This list could go on – the point is that God's view was different from my view. I had to adjust my thinking and my view.
Throughout this trip, I was amazed at several things. First, the folks from Campinas were amazing in how they got along. Fifteen people were crammed into a small place for over a week and I never heard of any disagreements or fights. Even more amazing, as far as I know, none of them got sick – they stayed healthy. Second, as far as anyone could remember, this was the first time that all of the pastors in Uberaba cooperated and worked together. Third, it was interesting to see how my perception changed. I was expecting spiritist centers on every block, but I only saw a few during the whole week. I took messages that were aimed at the fallacies in spiritism, I didn't feel the need to share these messages. Through all of these amazements, God showed that He was still in control.
Every mission trip has some special moments and significance. In 1992, there was one special visit that changed my life. In 1993, Shannon went with me. In 1994, Tonya (and Shannon) went with me. In 1999, several events in the middle of the week revealed to me that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle and we may not even recognize it. In 2000, Britney and Laura (and Tonya) made the trip. On Father's Day 2000, I was in Brazil and realized that my dream of taking everyone in my family to Brazil had been realized. In 2001, we got to return to Campinas and see how the congregation in Jardim Yeda had grown and we also went to Resende and revisited the church in Getulio Vargas (where we had worked in 1993 and 1994). In 2002, we made a joint mission trip with Coulter Road (Amarillo) and we got to work again with many of our friends.
Each trip is better than the previous trip because I learn more about myself and my God. I learn more about how God works. God works through the ordinary and through the extra-ordinary – through common circumstances and special events. In each situation, through eyes of faith, we can see that God is in control. No matter what else happens, God is in control.