Hola friends and family! Greetings from Columbia!
Our team is currently helping with maintenance work at a New Tribes Mission camp in Fusagasuga, just over an hour from the capital of Bogotá. We have been here a week now and although the work has been physically tough and demanding, I have loved every minute of it! God has really blessed our teamin providing this opportunity to be a part of the ministry here. We finish up in Columbia in just over a week and are prayerfully considering how to get down to Peru for our next ministry service place, where we will stay for the month of May.
And so that brings me to my Brazilian experiences in Ubatuba, throughout the month of March. Our ministry focus was to build relationships and disciple the youth and young adults in Agape Church Ministries, and although we didn’t get a chance to head up north to Natal and work in the Amazonia’s, I really enjoyed my time in Ubatuba.
Such a ministry focus was not without its personal difficulties and struggles. Although I much prefer and enjoy practical ministry and physical work, God taught me so many things about His heart for people and that fact that Jesus’ ministry focus was based around building relationships with His disciples and followers- what an example to follow! My key verse for Brazil was 1Timothy 4:8- “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Paul encourages us to pursue godliness (1 Tim 6:11) and that knowledge of the truth leads to godliness (Titus 1:1). What great lessons to learn so early on in my GC journey- that a relationship with God and others has much more value than any physical work you may do in ministry.
I also learnt the importance of enjoying God for who he is- in the words of John Piper, (The supremacy of Missions) ‘…a God who cannot be served is a God who can only be enjoyed.’ Acts 17:25- “God is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind, life and breath and everything.” God does not need us to serve Him- only to love and enjoy Him by building a relationship with Him! There is such freedom in this truth!
Interesting stuff about Brazil:
- Main religion is Catholicism (90%+)
- Ubatuba lies on the Tropic of Capricorn- hence why it’s quite hot and humid- tropic!!
- The Brazilian Acai berry is amazingly yummy!
- Brazilian sorvette (icecream) tastes great even in the rain, as it seems to always rain in Brazil!
Highlights from Brazil:
- Visiting a local men’s rehabilitation centre and worshiping God with them through music, song, bible reading, words of encouragement and testimonies
- Sharing the gospel through song, dance and testimony at a local school, and having the privilege to see and be a part of 20-30 young people come to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour!
- Joining cell groups at Agape and building friendships with the young and young people in the church
- Swimming/surfing/running along/visiting and exploring just some of the 103 beaches in Ubatuba alone!
- Seeing Helen get baptised with the Brazilian’s in our first week in Brazil!
- Experiencing team members growth through different ministry points
But my main highlight was experiencing the pure joy of sharing the Gospel entirely through scripture without any extra English & lsquo;fluff’ so to speak! I loved sharing with people using my English bible and finding the references in a Portuguese bible for them to read in their language, without using any of my own words (as they couldn’t understand English anyway!) but allowing God to speak to them directly from His Word!
What a privilege and amazing learning experience! I also learnt a few very important words when the sharing the gospel in Portuguese- graca (grace), pecardo (sin), cruz (cross), perdao (forgiveness), Deus (God), Jesu Christo (Jesus Christ), Espirito (Spirit), fe (faith), feol (faithful)…
What a blessing to learn such things in our first ministry country so we would be equipped and better prepared for the journey God ahead for us yet! Funny how God’s ways are always better than our own!
1 Tim 4:8- pursue godliness and enjoy God- definitely a Global Challenge lifestyle lesson worth learning!
Thankyou so much to my family, friends and supporters for your continued love and support, both in prayer and finances- you are blessing to me! Please continue to pray for divine appointments to share the gospel wherever I go, team safety and growth, and that God would reveal His will and heart for us as we prepare our hearts for Peru.
Until then- Ciao!
Erin x