Mission Trip Brazil by Melanie Sink
Brazil Mission Trip 2003
Wow! We finally made it back home to North Carolina after traveling 28 hours from Rio Verde, Brazil. We went from van to plane to bus and back to the air. For all of us, the last couple of days were emotional. It was like we were leaving family. There were tears for the new friends that we would be leaving. There were tears for the driver of our van and foreman on the job site coming to know the Lord and agreeing to come to the church we were building. There were tears for the 75-year-old Pastor Belmir who cried because his prayer had been answered. Soon, he would be able to pastor the church that we were building at Rosalina.There were tears for Lucia and her sisters as they watched us build the walls of a new church next to the mission that their father had built many years ago. There were tears for the poor who were living in Dom Miguel, which Sam Ganem describes as “a children’s fort made out of wood, plastic, and dirt floors.” There were tears for the Presbyterians back home from whom Two-Cents-A-Meal offerings were providing the food for us to deliver to the families. There were tears for the new homes that would be built by the poor families as they saved their food money and bought brick to one day be able to build a home with concrete floors and solid brick walls. There were tears as we stood in several of the homes and saw where Caroline, Katie, Bob, and others had worked with their hands to provide housing for families in the poor section. There were tears as we were told about a mother whose household income doubled, after she moved into her new home, because she no longer had to pay for rent.There were tears for a people who put all of their faith in God’s promise that He will provide for their every need. There were tears for the person with AIDS whose family had deserted him and for Pastor Eudoxio, who was able to visit and share God’s love. There were tears for the children who looked you in the face and their eyes told you “thank you” for feeding their hungry bellies and for helping to make their mothers not worry so much. There were tears as the 16 of us were blessed by God’s love through our brothers and sisters in Christ.I wonder what Paul and Barnabus thought as they traveled on their first missionary trip to spread the Gospel. Pastor Eudoxio reminded us daily that we had answered the community’s prayer and that the church we were building was more than just walls, but from it would be built a congregation of at least 250 people over the next couple of years. This congregation can then help with a mission in the poor section where we brought hope and encouragement. Like Paul, we quickly realized the spiritual gifts that God had given each one of us and it gave us a sense of unity amongst our diversity. Each of us, working as the body and allowing Christ to be the head, saw how beautiful the church works when we rally around the Gospel and allow the holy spirit to empower us with His power. We can not only lead others to salvation and help the church to grow, but also increase our own faith.The greatest commandment of all is love. We all take home a glimpse of Jesus’ love for us as He ministered to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ, when we daily broke bread and ate with simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with His people.God’s church has no boundary lines, just the distance we are willing to travel. There will be more information forth-coming on how we can help our brothers and sisters in Christ in Brazil. May God’s people go about doing His work with a happy heart. – Melanie Sink, Witness Committee
