Oi from Brazil,
We are Team Heart (Amazon)! It has been an amazing experience being in Brazil with our team this week, and we are just getting started! We have the joy of partnering with an organization called LifeShape Brasil. Time spent with the LifeShape students has been filled with so much laughter, and despite the language barrier, we have been able to have meaningful conversations and accomplish incredible work together as one team that loves and serves the same God. With the LifeShape students on our team, we are partnering with a project here in Brazil called Cristolândia. This organization does powerful work around the city, specifically by helping people who are addicted to drugs, homeless, or are in difficult situations, by giving them the opportunity to have a fresh start to life. They do this by sharing the Gospel and equipping them to thrive through their six-month program, where they recover and grow in their faith.
So far, we have had the honor to partner with Cristolândia by doing day camps for kids from difficult families, manual work on their buildings, evangelism, and spending time with the students there. Together with the LifeShape students, we have partnered with Cristolândia to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Brazil, serving the people and the organization.
The work that is put in front of us in Brazil is for the glory of the Lord and the love of the people around us. We got to go to Cristolândia and help run a day camp for the children in the neighborhoods around the area. We prepared a devotional for them, during which we shared the Gospel and responded in a time of worship. We have been able to have so much fun with the children by playing and dancing with them!
Another day, we did what Cristolândia calls an “active search”. This is when we go as a team out into the streets to offer to pray for people and share with them where they can find help, food, and hope. Some of our team went out with our partners for the active search, while some of us cooked and served soup to the people who came. I was serving food, and it was so beautiful to see people praying for one another, sharing the Gospel, serving others, and truly representing Jesus. There were some powerful moments, and I feel so blessed to have been there to witness God doing good work in the lives of the people in Brazil.
During our time here, it has been amazing to see how God works in and through the global Church. While we are from different cultures, we all have a relationship with the same God, and we are following Him together, glorifying Him and making His name known. The people we are working with are doing amazing ministry here in Brazil, and I am so thankful Jesus chose my team to be a part of the work that He is doing in this country. As our trip continues, my team and I are so excited to be going to the Amazon to evangelize and bring medical supplies to the communities along the river with another partner. It is going to be amazing; we can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us there in the Amazon!
I have seen the faithfulness of God while being here and am confident that I will continue to see it. As a team, we have learned how it is necessary to depend on God. We are unable to do the work put before us without the help of the Holy Spirit. We need his joy, patience, strength, wisdom, and grace to be able to do the work set before us well. He has given Team Heart everything we need and more, and I am so excited to continue to serve our partners and the people here in Brazil.
Braelyn Gowler (Team Amazon, Brazil)
Fellow, Class XX