Lessons and thoughts on Brazil Mission Trip

               To be blessed or not to be blessed?…this is the question for your life!

Ok…finally a time to try to sum of some of the highlights of this “Mission In Motion”, Brazil Mission Trip. I am on Tam airlines headed back to the states right now at 8 am local time. I am first of all blessed all the way around in many aspects. Starting off…the seat next to me is empty and I am blessed because with the fold down table and Darin’s Bible as a prop this is as good of a place to right as any. I had been listening to Godly music from wow worship green album but now that some time has passed I am listening to local Brazilian Portuguese music. Another blessing is that I understand what I hear in Portuguese. I had some concerns if my bilingual English /Spanish was going to be helpful or not in Brazil as they speak Portuguese here. I had heard many versions of whether knowing Spanish helped or hindered. I am happy to say that in my case walking as one blessed of the Lord, knowing  Spanish was key to hearing, speaking and understanding Portuguese.  It sounds like Portuguese is a mixture of Spanish, French and Italian to me.  Portuguese definitely has the ring of a European language.  So the end result is that I could pretty well communicate down here. I am sure that from the Brazilian, “Portuguese” perspective I often butchered their language. Sorry about that but as the Lord leads I was able to effectively share “Who is the Christ?” with some of the people of Teresina, Brazil.

As this was principally a labor oriented construction trip it was certainly a challenge to be able to find the energy, time and opportunity to share Christ directly. But God is certainly always faithful and provided ample opportunities.

Let me give you a quick bullet of some of the blessings that went ahead of our arrival, were there while we were there and blessings that remain and go also with us. If that confuses you allow me to say that in the Lord Jesus Christ we are blessed in all of our comings and goings and all of our “doings” if we walk according to his promises, grace and mercy. Ok get ready for bullet blessings:

·         Everything clicked and harmonized. No big “A” type personalities dominated the group of mission workers. Everyone worked together with great harmony, concern and leading in the Lord.

·         Everything worked, except one van that broke down and was replaced. The drills worked, the mortar  worked, the electricity worked. Although a bit of rain would have been nice to cool things down it worked in our favor that it did not rain or hinder our time constrained labor.

·         This CMU organized and led mission trip was blessed by effective humble leadership of the  trip leaders. Things happened when they were supposed to and didn’t happen when they were not supposed to.

·         The job site was quickly summed up for optimal and effective construction including the thoughtfulness and necessity of providing shade for the largely fair skinned labor force. Temperatures in the shade are usually 10 to 15 degrees cooler than in the sun. I think those numbers can safely be multiplied by a factor of 2 here. A cooling factor of 20 to 30 degrees can be achieved in the shade versus direct sunlight. A quick assessment and a determination was made on which side of the building to start putting up sheets of roofing materials and which side would soon get any portion of shade useful for those laying brick. Flawless execution and planning by the construction leaders. My respect you guys.

·         The labor force each working “in their groove” was good to see. Some laying brick, others on the roof while yet others prepared meals, served Gatorade and water to the sweaty crews. Those who paced the work site assuring that everyone had sufficient liquid were often busy reminding of the necessity to drink sufficient liquids. We even had a paramedic in the group who attended to at least one medical need and nipped a potential problem in the bud. These are blessings.

·         The local native missionaries were nearly flawless in their execution of duties as well by be “Johnny on the spots”. Our interpreters were always handy and every attention to a great trip was well executed. Security was never an issue or concern as a person was assigned to watch over personal belongings on the job site and access was limited to those areas.

·         The  division of labor and jobs was neat to observe with some these kind of instructions…”If you feel safe up on the scaffolding and you want to lay brick up there then go for it. If you don’t then stay on the ground.” The neat thing is that there was always just enough people for the scaffolding work and the ground work. A body of many parts all working together. In a matter of three work days the facility was totally bricked in and roofed over. Door and windows were installed and operational as well as electricity. A blessing for us and the local church.

·         At the dedication ceremony two people professed newfound faith in Jesus and this was a blessing for all.

·         The kids were blessed because “Magic Bob” was with us and he performed often. We also had another fellow who was quite the clown with the kids teaching them about water wars and shooting water balloons at each other with a giant sling shot. Soccer balls were given away along with school supplies and small gifts. One 12 year old girl told me in plain English,” I pretend to go to the United States some day…don’t forget about me!” We also had Hercules with us. Hercules is actually a jet engine mechanic from Atlanta, Georgia but he is a power weight lifter and he can bend giant nails in half when no one else can even slightly bend them. He can also blow into a hot water bottle with such force as to explode it. A blessing for the kids.

·         We were blessed with great food and plenty of it at evening meals to restore energy. No one became ill, with the only exceptions being normal travel issues. 

So you ask how do all of these blessings happen. Are you folks just lucky? Let me lay it down loud and clear once again. Luck does not exist but blessings do. When we walk faithfully in Christ He blesses us. All good blessings come from above. Our heavenly Father knows how to bless abundantly and takes special joy in blessing his children. Blessings come by faithfulness. As a personal illustration let me share with you that I ended up with the best room at our local hotel. Did I ask for it? NO  Did I know about it? NO Did I know my room was different than anyone else’s? NO …not till a few days into the trip. You see my room had a large plasma wall mounted TV, an air conditioner that would consistently freeze you out, a wireless internet connection from the room. The room had a kitchenette, a desk area, a king size bed….do I need to go on? In any regard this too was a personal blessing. How do I know this? Well to start with my name was never assigned to this room and all through the stay another person’s name appeared on the room chart. People eventually would stop by for visits and they were quick to share that their room was a far cry from this room. They would ask me …”How did you get this room? “ “ Who did you pay off?”  I ended up sharing that when God blesses …He blessed big and he blesses who He wants, when He wants. When God blessed Abraham…He blessed him big time!  I am sure that there were folks who said…”Abraham how did you get all of these cows and goats and servants?” “Abraham, who did you pay off?” Ha Ha… God blesses faith and faithfulness.

I will share with you that one time God asked me to get up at 3 am and pray for someone so I did. Then God said…”Go and lay your hands on them and pray for them” Knowing the other person lived hundreds of miles I said to God…”You mean I can’t pray for them from here?” Do you know what God’s response was in this particular case? God said, “I don’t bless that kind of faith! Now go and lay hands on this person and pray for them!” Wow up quick, no money….who cares put it on the Credit Card, Get a ticket go now. So up and at it….searching for flights. Human nature says …”If I get a flight a few days out then it will be cheaper …” God says….” I don’t reward that kind of faith!”  So the next flight out was booked and God’s leading was followed. By faith I went and prayed for a person and as it turns out God healed the person for His own glory in a very private and discreet way so that the person and I know that  God alone was glorified in it all.

Do you want to have a faith that God can bless? Listen for his voice in listening prayer and be ready to confirm by the word and then move out in the faith that you have that God can bless. A funny thing happened on that trip to lay hands and pray for a special person. I missed a connecting flight at no fault of mine and the airline rushed me to another flight. I was the last one on the airplane but they gave me seat number F1… God is funny like that…F1 is first class, first seat. Almost like God saying…because of your faith and obedience I am going to bless you… first seat, first class.  In all of my years of travel I have never had a first class seat so this was a blessing from God. God wants to bless us so much but we are slack of faith. We won’t give God all of the control. We give Him a reign or two but not all of the reigns. Let me encourage you to give it all over to God who wants to bless you by your faith and obedience.

Let me end with where I could have begun this writing. Since before I went to Thailand in June of this year I have suffered with “plantar’s warts” on the bottom of my feet. I had one before Thailand and then they increased to over 12 making it very, very painful to walk. I went to the doctor and he said that he could operate on them to remove them but that there was no way that I would be healed in time to go to Brazil mission trip.  With Brazil on my heart and plans I elected to forgo any surgery. I did pray a lot about it and ended up with this kind of prayer…”God remove them if it is according to your will, if now use them in Brazil to somehow glorify your name” I also asked Christians in the USA, Pakistan, India, Africa, Bangladesh, Honduras, El Salvador and other places to pray for healing so that I could participate on this mission trip to Brazil. I am reporting to you right here that a few days before the trip I have no more plantar’s warts. I could walk with no pain. You may ask, “Did God heal you?” I think so, although I operated on myself a couple of times God healed and made well just prior to lift off!” A blessing no doubt as it would have been miserable to travel and work in Brazil under these conditions of constant pain. Am I blessed ? Am I am blessed man? YES , most definitely Yes…and God wants to bless you the same way by faith and obedience if you will just hear his voice today. Go to God and find His blessing for your life.   
                                  

Blessings to you today from a TAM Airlines A320 Brazilian Airliner flying over the Amazon Jungle.

Update. It is now midnight and we are overnighting in Miami having made a good series of flights to get here. Tomorrow it is on to Atlanta. Getting up at 5 am and headed out.

Wayne Gaines

Founder/Director

M300 Ministries

http://www.m300ministries.org