Thank you so much for your prayers for this mission trip just completed. God was faithful and many of my anxieties over new challenges were relieved. First and foremost was God's provision of dialysis treatments, often unexpected or despaired of. A friend scheduled an appointment for me just before my arrival in Brazil, while two appointments were confirmed in another city only after I arrived in São Paulo. That's what we call Brazilian time.
Ministry began almost immediately as I arrived on Friday morning and was invited to share a Bible study on Friday night with an alumni mission group I had taken from São Paulo to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2014.
It was an opportunity to spray some Rustoleum on my unused Portuguese. Believe me, it was rusty! Using the wrong verbs and confusing masculine and feminine pronouns. Ugh. This video serves to keep me humble and motivated to continue studying.
The next morning, I was able to meet over lunch with one of JEMS key partners, the superintendent of the Japanese Free Methodist Church in Brazil, Pastor Daniel Abe. We were able to chart a course of ongoing collaboration and ministry partnership with churches in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.
Saturday evening I was invited to meet with the leadership of the São José dos Campos Holiness Church. They are among several churches who have requested JEMS workers to serve in July 2017. Part of the negotiation involves setting up the program, providing guidelines and establishing vision. This will be their first time ever receiving a JEMS team. Please pray that God would raise up workers to serve in Brazil this summer! The deadline for application is the end of March.
Having been invited to preach in São Paulo the following morning, I spent Saturday night refreshing my language and preaching skills. I went to bed at 2am still feeling a bit unsteady. On Sunday morning, we were up at 6am and heading down the highway to the city of São Paulo to the Holiness Church in the Liberdade (J-Town) section of the city. Early morning worship required the early travel schedule. The combination of jet lag and a lack of adequate sleep could have conceivably created some misadventures, but the message went well. I am pictured below, preaching seated. All of my South America speaking opportunities were seated due to a painful back condition.
It was a blessing to reconnect with old friends and to engage new ones as I taught Sunday School and met for fellowship during the lunch potluck.
In addition to ministry opportunities, I was blessed to meet in conversation with on-field supporters. These couples have been partners in the mission work as they offered financial and practical support. One key to communicating with pastors and leaders is something as basic as a cell phone, easing the task of setting up meetings and appointments, confirming preaching and other ministries. In the past six years these tools have been provided by faithful ministry partners:
More to come! The next phase of the mission: launching outside of São Paulo state to the state of Paraná, the second most populous state in terms of Nikkei inhabitants. São Paulo state: 693,495; Paraná state: 143,588. Source: Wikipedia
