Day 2: "Deus Tao Bom" & Other Adventures!

Day Two started out with a full night's sleep under our belt and a wonderful cup of cafe con leche this morning. Truly, the hospitality of the staff at our new home has been outstanding. Roberto began our day with devotions and Leah, our new friend and the music teacher at the program, taught us the Portuguese words to God is So Good (Deus Tao Bom) and Seek Ye First. Shelby brought her guitar and that has already proven to be a great blessing for the community as a whole.

By 8:30 am the crew, under the leadership of "Maestro" Denison and our very own "Heffe" Roberto, was scraping and sanding three large walls and having the time of their lives. The work crew from the neighborhood began laying the bricks to install a new roof over the dormitories where we are sleeping. After a lot of hard work, by lunchtime, half of the crew was beginning to paint primer on the first wall. By our good fortune, we have experienced glorious weather -- today was about 80 degrees, no humidity, full of sunshine and grace and a slight breeze to keep our spirits refreshed. The team is working well together and I beleive pleasantly surprised at what 10 women and 2 men can accomplish together in the name of the Lord!

Today we also learned that Brazilians take their largest meal at lunchtime. Over chicken and rice and beans, we enjoyed the company of the full teaching staff as well as all of the roofers plus another group from the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference joined in the fun too. Then after lunch, a number of our crew headed to the roof while the rest of us finished priming the other two walls and painting the final exterior coat a cheerful "kiwi" green (pictured right). What has touched me most about working at the project today is that everyone connected to the ministry has been here no less than 5 years -- and some as many as 25 years. Teca shared with us that a number of the teachers who are now the backbone of the program were children once raised in the slums who came through the program themselves. I believe God has brought hope to this community through simple acts of love shared one life at a time. It feels good to be a part of that hope too.

Day 1: We Arrived Safely!

Well, after 24 hours of travel, 5 airports, 3 different airplanes, and two van rides later... our humble group of 12 faithful disciples arrived in Belo Horizonte tired but happy to have made it all together safely. Originally, our work in Brazil was slated for a small outpost in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. However, after a turn of events, Teca Greathouse who is the in-country missionary for the United Methodist Church decided that it would be better for our group to serve in Belo Horizonte with a project that has been established brick by brick over the past twenty years in cooperation with The Shade & Fresh Water Project and a blitz build of 250 homes with Millard Fuller of Habitat for Humanity. Teca shared with the group that when Habitat committed to partner with the project 3,000 families applied for a home. Over that year of planning, Teca worked with the community and they set the criteria of who most needed a home. Mothers of single children, families with children under 12 years of age or who had special needs took precedence. Today, the community has changed for the better and the slums, which are still visible from our rooms, are becoming less a part of the landscape.

For the next week, our group is making their home in a simple but lovely complex that is connected with the project. It is reminiscient to me of some of the cloistered communities I have seen throughout the world for monks and nuns. Each of us has a simple wood frame bed and mattress and bathrooms are down the hall. Most of us are in shared dormitory style rooms overlooking a lovely courtyard of flowers and what appears to be open space for the children to play in. We will break bread together at 5 pm and then head to one of the local churches for worship at 7 pm. Apparently, Brazillians gather for worship in the evening on Sundays (the photo above was taken on Sunday evening as a number of the children who attend the project read from the Bible).

Tomorrow, we begin our work painting the exterior buildings and putting a roof on the dormitories where we are sleeping! Some of us have served on many mission trips, others are leaving the country for the first time -- all of our hearts and lives are being woven together into the fabric of love.

To Be Or Not to Be... The Discovery of One's Vocation

The summer after I graduated from college -- I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with my life when I grew up. And, unfortunately, the clock for being a kid was running out quickly.

At the time, I was working at a restaurant in Charlottesville. I had been working there for the better part of my college experience and so it seemed reasonable for me to keep on doing what I had already been doing. But, something wasn't quite right -- in the core of my being I knew it wasn't what I was meant to do with my life. But at 21 years old, who can really answer with certainty the number one question we all ask: What is the purpose of my life? At the time, I wasn't even really a believer but I felt like God had created me for something more.

But then again, at the time I was making less than $35,000 and according to a survey in JET magazine a number of years back, peopel who earn less than 35K per year are more likely to believe God created them for a reason, compared to people with a higher incomes. You can make of that what you will.

One day, the owners of the restaurant asked me whether or not I would consider helping them open up a new restaurant in the area and I was faced with a making a choice between what was once a job to me and what ultimately could become a vocation. But there is a big difference between a job and a vocation. As a job, working at the restaurant was a blessing -- it helped me graduate from college debt free, I met wonderfully interesting and diverse people, and for the most part, I was challenged by the tasks required.

But, as I considered what was really being asked of me -- I knew that was once a blessing would now become a curse in the worst way. I knew that ultimately I would feel limited, frustrated, and even resentful. I knew my life's purpose was connected in some way to leadership, teaching, and social justice. Being a restauranteur was not in the cards for me. God had something else entirely in mind for my life.

The word vocation comes form the Latin word vocare, which means "to call." Ultimately, our vocation is a call from God, if you are listening for it, and one that we are challenged to respond to with the gifts and graces of our whole lives.

For me, I discovered my vocation serving on the mission field with a bunch of youth in an area just outside of Tijuana, Mexico known as Matamoros. We went to work with Habitat for Humanity several months after Jimmy Carter had been there on a week-long blitz build to kick start the community with 100 homes. My life has never been the same.

At the end of the month I will return to the mission field, this time with a team of adults, as we go to serve with The Shade & Fresh Water Project in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. On this side of the experience, I wonder how God might work in my life and the lives of those who are serving. Will God's spirit touch someone's heart to clarify a call to ministry? Let's hope so!