OUTREACH IN BRAZIL - WORTH THE RISK? // NEWSLETTER 2021#01

Doreen Terwesten
23. März 2021
6 Min. Lesezeit

A missions trip to the other side of the world in the middle of a global pandemic - who would do that?

These last 4 months I've been asking myself this exact question over and over again. And still we dared, flew to Brazil and experienced how God is faithful. How did we end up there and what exactly did we experience in our time in Brazil?

Maybe it's good to start where I left off in my last newsletter:

End of September last year, despite Covid, 19 students had come to Herrnhut to Youth with a Mission to be part of the new DTS (discipleship training school).

We were in the middle of our lecture phase, which focusses on deepening the personal relationship with God, and in spite of a Covid-outbreak in Herrnhut, we experienced God moving in this school.

Part of a normal DTS also would have been to go on a 2.5 month-long mission trip (outreach) to another country, which at that point we highly doubted would be possible. Quickly it became clear that an outreach to Europe (as originally planned) wouldn't make sense, due to the rapid spread of the pandemic here.

At the same time we saw how through personal relationships many opportunities opened up for us to go to Brazil to help and serve there. As we saw that at this point the pandemic hadn't spread that much in Brazil, we figured this would make even more sense than staying in Germany.

Long story short - after a lot of prayer and consideration we decided to go on a two-month outreach to Brazil.

In total 16 of the students decided to join and so in mid-December as a team of 19 (3 staff) we headed to the other side of the world.

We visited 3 different locations, in which we worked with both YWAM bases and local missionaries:

1. Recife

2. Imperatriz

3. the team split to go to either Contagem or Rio de Janeiro

As this post would become endless, if I would talk about everything we experienced in Brazil during these two months, here's my attempt to summarize our ministries and experiences in some pictures and videos:

PRAYER AND STREET EVANGELISM

Big part of our ministry was to visit the homes of different people or talking to people on the street and offering them prayer.

I was really touched by being part of the ministry " Jesus at dawn" in which we partnered with a local church in going to the streets of Imperatriz late in the night to hand out food to the homeless, drug addicts and different people working during the night (like street cleaners, nurses,...) and to pray for them (like in the last picture).

KIDS MINISTRY

As in almost every outreach, we also had the chance to be a blessing to the kids in the communities, both in churches and schools and in poorer areas like the favelas, bringing God's love to them through games, stories, music and fun.

CHURCH MINISTRY

Something we're not used to in Europe and other outreach countries is the high value that missions have in Brazil and through that the way we were honored as missionaries in the churches. We were invited to many different churches to talk about our ministry, to pray, to play skits and to pray for the congregation after the church services. It was almost a little uncomfortable, though to be highlighted so much as "the missionaries", so that we had it on our hearts to remind the churches, that missions can be and are supposed to be lived in our daily lives as well, and that our job isn't any more important than influencing the area of society in which ever they work in.

VISITING AN INDIGENOUS TRIBE

One of my absolute highlights of the two months was spending two days in the indigenous Krikati tribe. (Learn more about them here).

We were surprized how warmly we were welcomed in their midst and how they even let us become part of their traditions. (In the video you can see a part of the tradition how they start into the phase of mourning over loss of one of their members as whole community).

We had many great and fun(ny) encounters with the people there and even experienced how some of them gave their lives to Jesus. Feel free to ask more about these stories!

REHABILITATION CENTERS

It was also beautiful to bring joy and God's hope to people, that are separated from society or maybe even have been cast out, like in the many rehabilitation centres that we got to visit. There we got to preach and perform dramas, but also just to simply spend time with them and listen to their life stories.

PRACTICAL HELP

It has been of big importance to us to also be a blessing through practical help. Not to make it seem like they wouldn't get along without "the missionaries from the western world" (as it has been portrayed in the past many times unfortunately), but to do the opposite and show that we came to serve and love them - because they are worth it!

As the Covid situation in Brazil quickly deteriorated and Germany reacted to that with stricter travel restrictions, we decided to travel back home earlier than originally planned. Even though it was somehow disappointing for a few of us to leave earlier, we also carried a lot of thankfulness in our hearts as we travelled back home in mid-February to close off the DTS (and quarantine 😉) there all together.

To put it in a nutshell, it wasn’t always easy. Especially the Covid situation often made the outreach very complicated, not only in the practical part. Over and over we had to think what love looks like put into action in certain situations; being near to the people or protecting them through distancing from them, and not always we would find a clear answer to that (or agree on one)…

Nevertheless, I can say with a sincere heart: It was totally worth it! God did so much during this time; He touched people with his love and filled them with new hope, joy and passion. We experienced miracles and people giving their lives to Jesus and would witness that even - or should I say especially - in the middle of a global pandemic; God is present and He’s moving!

Yes, having wisdom and discernment and keeping safety is important and we did our best to keep all of that. But in the most important thing is that people experience the living love of God (even if that love looks like distancing sometimes). I look back on these last three months and I can say, I’m so happy we didn’t let Covid stop us. Because one thing is for sure: God is unstoppable!

Two of our students created I nice video clip about our time on outreach, in which you can get an even more visual insight into our time in Brazil. If you’re interested to watch it click here.

DTS as a whole was a significant time for all of is students and staff, in which we were challenged and in which we grew both in our character as in our relationship with God. I would love to also let you be part of these personal experiences of our students. That’s why I want to focus on that in my next newsletter. (Coming soon I hope ;))

WHAT AM I DOING NOW?

After our staff days these next few weeks will be a time of less responsibility for me than these last six months. I will take some time off and afterwards be part of some project we will be running at the base this spring and summer. More about that in my next newsletter.

I’M THANKFUL…

- that we had an amazing outreach and saw a lot of fruit in it

- that God kept us safe from Covid and other deceases

- that we grew through and learned from the challenges

- that I could see that God doesn’t stop moving and that I can be excited for the next moths

PLEASE PRAY...

- for our students to be able to settle in well at home and that they experienced God’s guidance in their next steps

- that I as well will be guided by Him in my next steps

- for our base Herrnhut, that despite Covid we keep finding ways to build God’s kingdom

- that I can be a blessing to my family and friends in my time at home

If you are interested in how you can support the work we do at YWAM Herrnhut or want to partner with me in what I do, I'd be happy to talk to you.

THANK YOU FOR READING!!!! 😊

(If you only came to watch the outreach video, click here 😉)