It is almost here.  It is with a weird mixture of excitement and sadness that Sunday approaches.  I am excited that I will be going to Brazil for 13 days and spending a week with a local pastor in the Rio de Janeiro district of the UMC.  I am sad that I will be leaving my nearly full-term pregnant wife and our little girl.  Sarah has repeatedly committed to severely beating me if Pax comes before I get back, so... Pray that the little guy is patient.  

I am going this Thursday to get some vaccinations.  There are certain things that are sort of fundamental to being a functioning adult citizen that I haven't quite grasped, like keeping up with what immunizations I have.  I am glad it is safe to double up on Tetanus - just in case I have had one in the last decade. Also, there have been some outbreaks of Yellow Fever in Brazil and we have a national shortage of vaccines here in the US.  That translates to lots of mosquito repellent for me.  

So what is the purpose of this trip?  Essentially it is this:  The Brazilian conference of the United Methodist Church is the fastest growing UM conference in the world.  Our mission is to go down there and see what they are doing right.  The bishop there, Paulo Lockman, is part of the reason the conference has experienced so much growth.  After a spiritual conversion Bishop Lockman began preaching and winning many people to Christ.  Since becoming bishop he has established an evangelism school that local pastors are required to attend periodically.  We will be attending a few days of this school and then dispersing to stay in the home of a local pastor and accompany him in his ministry.   

Stay tuned for photos and updates from the field.  

Posted In: missions life

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