What a God we serve and what week we had! After finding out on Sunday what our week would look like, our partners at In Jesus Church were ready to take us, and we were ready to meet with them.
On Monday, we would wake up early to leave for an impactful week. Once we arrived at the church, we were immediately met by their pastor. He had such a warm heart and welcoming attitude. We were given a tour, which included a sneak peek into some of the work we would be doing later. We were allowed some downtime to grow closer to each other, and we were led into worship and a devotional lesson about servanthood. The rest of the day was spent renovating different rooms around the church for children’s care and discipleship purposes. At the end of the day, we got to head to one of the most memorable things about this trip, which was spending our nights with wonderful host families.
On Tuesday morning, we knocked out the rest of the projects we started the day before. Once those jobs were done, we could prepare for Wednesday. We were led into a time of creative thinking so that we could create conversation-invoking art that we would use the next day. For Wednesday, we headed into town to split up into evangelism groups. We partnered with the LifeShapers to speak with the locals at different locations. This is where we got to use our poster art as a hook to start religious conversations with the people we encountered.
After eating lunch that the church made for us, they took all of us to Salto do Itiquira, which is a 200-meter-tall waterfall surrounded by tropical vegetation. We got soaked just standing in the area and had a blast swimming in the water downstream! Wednesday was our last night with our host families, giving us the chance to truly thank them for opening their homes to us.
Thursday morning, we spent time at the church doing something very special. Our team split in two; half of us went to an assisted living home to sit with some very sweet people, giving them a chance to visit and be heard. The other half of us went to a hospital where we had the opportunity to pray over newborn infants and their families, worship with them, and leave them with a goodie bag for their babies.
In the afternoon, we had a great opportunity to reach and evangelize to some people at a flea market. We sang worship in the food court of the market, and it drew in a nice crowd that could spark some awesome conversations. Our last night with our partners at InJesus was bittersweet to say the least; the pastor gave a message, and the worship team at the church led the congregation in an awesome moment. Our host home families were also recognized for loving us and taking us in. We really thank InJesus and the partnership we had with them.
Please pray for us as this week we are pouring into the lives of some amazing Brazilian campers at Overnight Camp. We pray that we can shine the Lord’s light on these kids and they can be a light in their own world!
Austin Wiggins & Henry Anderson
Current Fellows, Class XX