2010 Trip to Brazil
A team of four veteran church builders (Joe SaPereira, Keith Sennate, Terry Warren and Mark Webb) departed for Brazil on May 30, 2010 at 4:00 AM. Normally we participate in the construction of one church, but this year we stayed a second week and built two new churches on this trip.
Our first job was totally different from any construction project we had done before. Since there were only four of us, the rest of the team was made up of Brazilians from the mother or sponsoring church. The folks from the church in Luzilandia had helped us on other projects, but this year, we were going to help them.
We were building in a town of about 5000 people called Joca Marquez which is in the state of Piaui in Northeastern Brazil. For Colorado people, the temperature was okay, but the humidity was high and we were very uncomfortable. However, the fellowship with our Brazilian brothers and sisters was sweet.
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| The church in Joca Marquez |
Joe with some local boys |
Maria (Ademir 's wife), Keith, Ademir (Brazilian lead on construction & deacon in Luzilandia), Terry, Mark, Alicia (Maria & and Ademir's daughter), and Joe. |
Keith, Pastor Muchado & Francisco |
Pastor Muchado had started the church in Luzilandia and now his son, Francisco is the pastor. Pastor Muchado is the pastor of this new work in Joca Marquez and he is planting a work in a small town about 9 Km to the West. Ademir is a deacon in the mother church and he was our leader and one of the hosts for us during our stay. Normally we bring our lunches to the job site. Two wonderful ladies from Luzilandia (Maria and Geselma) made us a huge Brazilian lunch each day. We left our “give-away” bags (containing Bibles, stethoscopes and clothing) with Pastor Muchado to support the work there.
Work was completed on schedule and we had the dedication service on Thursday evening as planned. A large flat bed truck was used to bring about 55 people from the mother church. There were about 150 people inside the building, but probably another 100 outside. Our translator, Jorio, is a pastor and English teacher. He preached a powerful message of salvation and one lady was saved. The seed of faith was planted in the 250 plus people there, many of whom may have never heard the real Gospel before.
The next morning we headed for Terisina and to catch an airplane for Fortaleza. We were going to get a couple days to rest before meeting with the team coming from the USA to build the second church in Russas.
The team from the US met us on Monday morning. When we arrived at the outskirts of Russas, we were met by a group of motorcycles and a couple of cars. They escorted us into the community where the church was to be built to the sound of fireworks and honking horns. We arrived on site to a reception of about 100 people and a lot of fan fare.
The next day we started the work. At this location, we had to do the roof as well as the walls. We worked on the roof and walls together. About half of the group that joined us were “newbies”. They were teamed up with experienced people and the work continued on schedule despite the heat and humidity.
Every day we had a group of kids on site to watch. We had the opportunity to talk with them and get to know them. They knew how to ask our names in English, but not much else. Joe speaks Portuguese, and the rest of us know a little bit of the language. We found out a few things about the kids: ages, names of brothers and sisters, what year they were in school and such. We hope we were able to be a good witness for our Lord to these youngsters. We encouraged them to come to the dedication service where we knew the Gospel would be clearly shared in their language. Almost all of the kids did attend and many brought their parents.
We were invited to visit the local school and see what they were doing. The physical building was like a normal school in the US, but they ran 3 shifts of children and had about 1480 students. We left some Gospel tracts with the principle and encouraged him to come to the dedication service. I did not see the principle there, but large number of students and teachers were among the 350 people attending.
We returned to Colorado Springs on June 15 after seventeen days working in Brazil. At one point, we were called missionaries. I normally reserve this title for people who put their whole lives into full time work. But in a real sense, we were missionaries, even if for a short time. It was humbling to be called a missionary and I pray that, by the Grace of God, I can be worthy of the title. Our mission had been to build two facilities, but we also had a wonderful opportunity to share with the people.
For those who go on these trips, there is the blessing from participating in the construction of the church which will be used to share the gospel and to disciple people. There is a blessing from the sweet fellowship with other Christians from the US as we do the work. There is also a wonderful blessing working with and fellowshipping with Brazilian brothers and sisters. The greatest blessing comes from seeing people come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
For more information about this ministry, please e-mail Keith Sennate.
2009 Brazil Mission Trip - THE CHURCH THAT GOD BUILT
By Denise Carson
God built a church in Araca’, Brazil the week of August 8, 2009 and I was blessed to be a part of His work. At 3:30 am on the morning of August 8, a team from Vista Grande Baptist Church in Colorado Springs met along with family and friends to pray and begin to be part of a miracle God had planned. As we met that morning I noticed that there were only seven of us going on the journey. We were later joined by Mark Webb’s dad, Bill Webb, and two other unsuspecting servants of the Lord from Florida and Alabama, Doyle Miller and John Glover. This low number of 10 was a little disturbing to me because I had previously been on a CMU mission trip and had about 16 to build that church.
Not only were we few in number but we were also youthfully challenged with no young whipper snappers with abundant energy to get those high places. We boarded our plane to Manaus with excitement and anticipation. We were greeted by our two translators Eglayr and Pastor Zeca and other friendly faces. After a short but good night sleep we were privileged to attend services at the mother church of the church we were building. Richard Boughton preached and Pastor Israel interpreted the service, which was also Father’s Day in Brazil. The two ladies in our group also learned the hazards of not knowing Portuguese and stood proudly when all fathers were asked to stand.
We soon learned the remoteness of our location as we had to catch a ferry and drive many miles in relative Amazonian wilderness to find the little town of Araca’ and our work site. With excitement we crossed the “moat” to the site and found that it wasn’t quite ready for us to begin our building the next day. We also were surprised with the very different and large bricks that we were going to use to build the church. This did not discourage any of us and if we didn’t realize it before we knew then God was going to get this Church built and we were there to be amazed.
The first day as we began working the temperature and humidity were both heading over 100 and we felt drained and overheated but a little cold water over the head cooled us down. It was amazing to see spirits and expectations high with every obstacle we faced. As we helped God build the church we also had some wonderful help from many Brazilian brothers and sisters from the local and mother church. We were even privileged to work with Pastor Obadias, who pastors the 100th church that CMU built many years ago in Manaus.
Our translator, Eglayr, held a VBS for the local children and their smiles and laughter encouraged us as we worked. Some of the children even helped the building in small ways. There was a job for everyone. On the fourth day at the exact time we needed to be finished so we could drive an hour back to our hotel to get ready for the dedication the last brick was placed in The Church That God Built. The team enjoyed a glorious dedication service with our Brazilian brothers and sisters. Their beautiful voices raised in song to the Lord brought chills to my body as I anticipated that this was what heaven would be like.
We were tired, hot and covered in bug bites but we all felt extremely blessed to have been part of this miracle. Our prayers are with our little church family in Araca’. We are confident God wanted this church in this little town at this time. God built a church in Araca’ Brazil in August of 2009 and Mark Weber, Mark Webb, Keith Sennate, Terry Warren, Richard & Patti Boughton, Denise Carson, Bill Webb, Doyle Miller and John Glover were privileged to be a part of it. Click here for more photos.
2008 Brazil Trip Highlights
Vista Grande sent a team of 16 to Brazil, July 21-August 2, 2008. They built a church the first week, and then expanded their ministry the second week by leading VBS during the day and worship services in the evening. Click here for more pictures provided by Keith Sennate.
Terry Warren provided this update on the 2008 Brazil Mission Trip: You can click on this link to get the Google Map with pointers of where we were in Brazil.
We traveled to NYC on July 21, then down to Sao Paulo, up to Fortaleza, with a stop-over in Salvador, then finally to Teresina. From there we had a 3 hour bus ride to Pedro II where we built the church. Travel time is about 40 hours each way.
It took about 4 days to get the building erected, and the dedication service was held on Saturday, July 26. Then we traveled back to Teresina to do some Vacation Bible School and lead evening worship services. Then we reversed the trip, getting back on Aug. 1.
Thank you for praying our travel, safety and health. Please continue to pray God’s blessings on the new congregation and those that lead them.
Brazil 2007
Vista Grande sent a team to Brazil July 17 - July 27, 2007 to build a church in Juazeido, in the state of Piaui. The team members were: Gina and Doug Wamble, Richard Boughton, Tim Druckenmiller, David Boncler, Terry Warren, Lori Carrington, Keith Sennate, David Weber, Mark Weber and Mark Webb. Also joining them were Lori’s brother, David Smith from San Diego; Chris Watson, Terry’s son-in-law from Greeley; and William Webb, Mark’s father from Indiana. Along with the actual construction, ministry opportunities include distributing clothes, prayer-walking, evangelizing and having a dedication service in the new church.
July, 2007 Trip Update - Juazeiro, Piaui
The town of Juazeiro is a small, dusty town about 3 hours by bus (2 hours if Florencio is driving) from Teresina. Two ladies we called “The Grandmas” had been praying for a church in their town for over 30 years. They knew that God would send missionaries to build a church for them and we were blessed to be the tools God used to answer their prayers.
The team was mostly made up of volunteers from Vista Grande B.C. in Colorado Springs, but also included individuals from San Diego, Northern Colorado, Indiana and Florida. We stayed 20 km away in the town of Castilo do Piaui (Piaui’s castle) and worked with the 1st Baptist church of Castilo and Pr. (Pastor) Wilson. Pr. Wilson and his church were a blessing to us. He will be pastoring both churches until God provides a pastor for Juazeiro. We had the dedication service on Saturday, July 20 and there were about 300 in attendance.
Another blessing was to work with Pr. Machado from Luzilandia. We were able to build his church last year and now he was leading a team of men on their own mission trip. We were also able to be part of four services: Friday night, dedication service on Saturday and both Sunday services. The gospel message was clearly preached at each service. We met many people searching for God and asking many questions, but no decisions were made while we were there.
July, 2006 report from Mark Webb
In July 2006, a group of eleven from Vista Grande went to Luzilandia, Brazil to construct a church. We got to see God do some amazing things on this trip. Before we even got out of the country, spiritual warfare was happening and God was in control the whole way. Our flight out of Denver was delayed an hour which caused us to miss our flight out of Atlanta. We were scheduled for the next flight, but that flight was overbooked by 26 people! None of us had confirmed seats. Eleven strangers gave up their seats (tempted by varying amounts of Delta dollars) for us to continue to Miami. Richard and Patti Boughton were standing in the cabin waiting for two people to give up their seats.
Luzilandia is a 5 hour bus ride north of Teresina, the state capitol Piaui. Luzilandia has a population of 25000 and only two Protestant churches. Piaui is the poorest and least evangelized state in Brazil, but over the last 4 years CMU has built 11 churches within that state. This was the first Baptist church in this town.
We arrived late Saturday night and worked full days on Sunday and Monday and a half day on Tuesday. The dedication service was Tuesday night and over 400 people were packed into a church built for 200. There was a lot of excitement in the town as to why a bunch of Americans were building a church. The Holy Spirit had been moving during those days and about 20 people responded to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While the main mission is to provide a temple for the local church to use for ministry, any decisions made while we are there is icing on the cake. There is now a building where the Gospel will be preached, lives will be changed and people will be saved until Jesus returns.
After an intense period of difficult travel and hard work, it was nice to relax for a day in Manaus and spend time on the Amazon River. There are wonders of God’s creation on that river that you will never see anywhere else. We will be scheduling a team for next summer so please be praying about your involvement with the Brazilian missions.
