Dedication Service

The Dedication Service is always the best part of the trip.  When we arrived, the whole town was there waiting for us.  There were also other churches from other
towns that the team had help build....they traveled to be a part of the grand
opening. 

Hilda
led a song with the kids, "God is so Good".  They sang it in English and Portuguese.  They also had a full band and we enjoyed
hearing many of the songs we knew sang in a different language.  Chuckie, the CMU leader, even played the
drums!

Samantha led a brief testimony about the importance of
service.  You do not have to be a foreign
missionary in order to be a missionary! 
All these people can be missionaries in their own town.  She shared how the most important part of a
CMU mission trip happens after the Americans leave and the Brazilians minister to their own.           

The church was completely
full....people flooded the streets just trying to get one glimpse of the
service.  Teenagers from another
CMU-built church came and sang during the worship; Brant knew some of these girls
from a prior trip when a church was built in their town. 

The church dedicated a plaque
with our names that will always hang in the church; we also received hammocks,
t-shirts with our names & straw hats! 
It was like Christmas!!! 

Leaving is always very emotional.  Brant noticed that more kids cried this year
than ever before.  We told our new
friends that we would see them again someday in Heaven.

Day 4 of building

Since we were able to lay the last brick on Wednesday, there was not much to do today.  When we got to the church this morning, the Brazilians had already cleaned the floor and was putting up lights for the dedication service tonight.

We were able to play soccer with the Brazilians.  They teams were mixed, so it was not just USA against Brazil.  For us Americans, we were lucky because it was short field, so not as much running.  We all had a good time on the field.  Jario, one of the Brazilian translators, was on our team and scored 3 of our goals. 

On our way back to the hotel to clean up for the service tonight, we got to stop by the mother church, First Baptist Church of Morada Nova. They have a nice building there with baptismal.  Chuckie, our CMU leader, got to hit around on the drums. 

Day 3 of building

Today was a very productive day on the mission field.

Hilda and Samantha went street walking with the translator.  They would fellowship with local Brazillians and invite them to the church dedication on Thursday. 

While on their journey they met some men who trained rodeo horses.  The rodeo has become a big sport in Brazil. 

Also, they met a couple who had a fully equipped soccer field behind their house.  You would think that would be common, but in this area, there is a lot of sand and soil is very dry.  There is very little green vegetation.  However, they have a bright green soccer field that they take care of and charge Brazilians to play on.  Maybe we will challenge them to a soccer game tomorrow....haha.

The VBS went great today.  Each day our numbers have been increasing.  Pastor Dave from Georgia led the 52 children in a craft where they built "salvation bracelets."  Hilda taught the children the song "God is so good" in English.  They may sing it at the church dedication.  Aftter VBS, we shared many of the donated items that were given to us.

Samantha and Helena gave the pastors wife some felt board materials for sharing the gospel.

Helena had time to relax after lunch.

We laid the final brick today....ahead of schedule!!!!!  Praise God.  This will allow us more time to fellowship and invite Brazilians to dedication tomorrow night.

A message from our translator, Israel.

My name is israel. I am Brazilian and I’ve been helping CMU since 2010. The first time I heard about the mission trips I did not quite understand how it would work. I mean you  do not see people spending their free  time in drought areas helping the poor communities all the time. I thought they would just come around and take some pictures playing around.

 It surprised me when I realized that they really lay the bricks and do all the hard work. I was 18 by the time and when I got back to my classes and my normal routine my friends asked me what I had been doing all this time away from the classes and at that very moment I could enjoy the feeling of being useful and used by God. This is my fifth trip and it feels like my first cause it all happens so fast. We always have something to share and learn.

Every trip has a different rhythm, a different taste, I could even say a different touch because after some time my volunteer friends are all gone and I have to go back to my city, but the trip is still happening ,you know. The message still goes on and on and I feel relly proud of me for being somehow part of it and for sharing something with the power to change so many lives. Brazil is a beautiful and rich country I don’t even need to leave my country to have this perception, but there are still so many godless people.

Working for CMU made me see my state with other eyes and it all gave me different perceptions, some things that I just could not see before because they are part of our culture so it would never sound weird to me. I started to notice how catholic people are in the countryside. I mean, of course I knew that we got it all from Portugal, but I could not see how deep it was in our culture. For example, every small town in the countryside has a huge catholic church and the kids usually hang around with their bikes and soccer balls in front of the church in the square having some ice cream or some snacks. When something really bad happen we say “ave maria” that would mean  holy mary. I started to see this things happening around me in our last trip to Canindé – it’s a city where people go to see a  huge saint statue – as we were evangelizing a man came to us and told us that they already had a church, a catholic one and we couldn’t just arrive now and just tell him that he had been going to the wrong church because it is part of the city. The thing is 85 % of our people is catholic and that’s why CMU work has been so precious to us. It help us to reach every place where God’s words need to be shared.

This trip has been great. Everybody in the small town is really friendly and they do have a catholic church and some nuns working in the community I was glad I saw and assembly of God church right in front of the catholic church, but I’ve been told that the Assembly church is no longer working. Considering this fact you can tell how important this new church will be in this community and I feel grateful for having the opportuinity of being part of this.

Day 2 of Building

Building is going pretty quickly.  Our entire team has many years of experience on church building trips in Brazil.  We have another day and a half of work and then dedication is on Thursday night.  Tomorrow Samantha and another builder, Todd from the Georgia Team, will race to see who the faster mason is....haha.

We were able to go to a school that is just walking distance from the church.  We invited them to the VBS we are doing each afternoon. 

Today we had 27 children and we got to share the story of Zaccheus in the bible.  Again, we did a puppet show and a craft to help the children remember the story.

During lunch break, the pastor-in-training and his wife shared about their failing marriage and how Christ saved them and their marriage.  Since then, they have been attending church and are now being called to minister to others.  They began meeting weekly with a small group at their house.  Now a church is being built for this community and they were very appreciative of us helping to fulfill this need.  They had been praying for over 3 years for this to happen.

On a funny note....we told our translator that we need to develop a concept when planning VBS.  He kept getting the word wrong and called it conception.  We told him those are two very different things.  Mix-ups happen regulary with the translators....it keeps things very interesting!  We laugh alot!

  

Day 1 of Building

Today was the first day of building and VBS.  When we arrived at the church, the children greeted us with a homemade sign!  Usually the brazilians have only finished the foundation and roof supports, however, they had the roof done too which is SUCH A BLESSING!  That is a  hard task and very dangerous.

Brian and Brant worked on laying brick most of the day with the other men;  most everyone on the trip had laid brick previously so it has been going well.    

The ladies all worked on lunch and/or VBS preparations.  We had told all the children to come at 2pm....however, at 2pm, there were only 3 kids.  I was so distraught because we had planned for months.  I was about to start bricking again and had given up on kids coming....and as I was putting my gloves, I looked up and saw about 10 children walking down the road towards us.  I hoped they were coming to our VBS but wasnt sure until two of the little girls grabbed my hands as I they walked by.   Thank you God.....it is hard to have VBS without children :-)    I must have forgotten that Brazilians dont pay attention to time! haha

Here is the group after a hard day of work!  Helena is recovering here from her encounter with an bull....he didnt do anything except scare her!  Strange how animals wonder the streets here. 

The church after day 1 of building.

Mission Planning

The 5 person team met at the Marston's house for some dinner, fellowship, and planning.  Since we have some new individuals going this year, it was good to discuss all the particulars of the trip.  We have the opportunity to host a VBS over three days while constructing the church.  At our meeting, the ladies were able to finalize the details for the activities and the stories that would be shared with the children.  The other church from Georgia that will be on this trip will be providing all the supplies for the VBS.  We concluded our evening with prayer.  Thankfully, we have received our passports back and all with 10 year visas.  Please continue to check back on this blog for updates and prayer requests and praises.