Luke's View

Tell me about Brazil.  Everywhere you turn, there's a mountain or a hill.  We road in buses on dirt roads through the country to get from city to city.  The smaller towns have houses that are pretty much a box with a roof on top.  The big city houses are more like ours just smaller.  

How were the people different from here?  The people were very outgoing.  You could make a friend really easily in Brazil.  

What did they think about you being there?  They were excited because we spoke English.  Brazilians are fascinated by our language.

What was the food like?  The food was much different than American food.  We had rice and beans at every meal, sometimes noodles, meat and potatoes and juice.  The water was not safe to drink, so we had a purifier that someone brought on the trip.

What was a fun, new experience?  I got to be on the radio in Montes Clares!  I invited people to VBS.  One of the kids that came to VBS heard me on the radio.  The guy spoke in Portuguese and told everyone that I looked like Justin Bieber.

What did spend most of your time doing?  I was on the rec team at VBS in Montes Clares, playing with the kids.  We played soccer, baseball, frisbee and tag.  The kids had a lot of fun!

Where did you stay?  We stayed at someone's house and a hotel.  The house was very small.  All the floors were tile, no carpet.  A translator stayed there too so we could communicate with the family that lived there.  The bed was so small that my feet hung off!

Were you ever afraid?  Sometimes I was a little afraid without Dad there. [They were in separate cities for 8 days.]  I'd hear a lot of noises and it was hard to go to sleep.  There were plenty of other adults that took care of me though, so I was fine.

What was the hardest part about this trip?  Towards the end of the trip, we were so exhausted that it was hard to get up at 7am and go again.  [7am there would be 5am here.]  It was hard to remember all the rules about the water, like wear flip flops in the shower, don't drink the water and don't brush your teeth in the water.  I got sick one full day of the trip, maybe from eating homemade chocolate.  

What was your favorite thing about this trip?  Leading the boy to Jesus.

Tell me more about how that happened.  At night worship the pastor said if anyone wants to come down and accept Jesus into your heart, just ask one of the team members in the camo shirts and we'll help you.  So I asked the boy sitting next to me, named Junior, if he wanted to go up there, using hand gestures.  (He only spoke a little English.)   I first asked him if he wanted to know Jesus and he said yes, so MariJo, one of the translators and I led the little boy in the prayer of salvation.  

In what way did God change your heart the most?  I realized we should be grateful for what we have because they don't have as much.


There are more pictures on THIS WEBSITE to see all of Luke & Brad's adventures on mission with God in Brazil.