Some of the best experiences in life start off with, “We didn´t know what all we were getting into”. For the build team of the Bachelor Creek Church of Christ serving with CBM on the March 7th-17th this was true for us! On Thursday the 8th four of us and our CBM team leader, Cesar Nascimento, were dropped off in small town of Sao Sebastiao. We knew we would be serving at the mission´s green house at this port on the Amazon where much of the food for the medical boat trips was sourced and worked at by believers from one of the many churches that has been planted by CBM. We did not know the details of what we were doing ahead of time as many Americans would like, if not feel the need to know.

When we got settled in to our new home for the week and were greeted by our soon to be new best friend Elizia (our cook for the week) and we were put to work moving 600 concrete blocks. The task seemed menial to us and we were concerned that we would have to turn around and move these same heavy blocks again sometime in the near future but we trusted our local leader. We came to learn that we would be building a fenced in chicken pen for the mission. Our following days consisted of some hard work in the heat from 7:30am to 5 or 6pm each day with a 2 hour siesta after lunch during the hottest part of the day. Our communication was minimal as none of us spoke Portuguese very well and our host`s English was limited. There were times of frustration when we could not understand why we were doing something a certain way only to find out later on in the process. We spent the evenings laughing over some of the best food I´ve ever had making our way through broken communication to get to know each other.

I took away a reminder from this time. There are times when we don´t know all the details and we have to trust in others. This is true for our brothers and sisters advancing the kingdom in Brazil. I saw firsthand the ministry of the Church alive in Brazil, bringing people to Christ and making disciples. This reminder is also true in our walk with Christ. We may not see the blueprint but we trust in the one who holds the plans.

This week we built more than a chicken pen, we built friendships, blisters, and faith all through Christ.