Two month mark!

    It is incredible to think that I have been on the field for two months already! It’s been awesome to see all that God has done just in this short time. I want to thank all of you for all your continued prayers! It is only because of the prayers of faithful Christians that I am able to be here and live here. The Lord has allowed me to accomplish much in the short time that I have been here, and I have been able to start getting involved in a small part, in the ministry here in Ribeirão. The last two weeks, my mom has been in town. It has been a blessing and encouragement to me to have her here for this short time, I am so thankful that God worked it out for her to come and spend some time with me. 

    In the time I have been here, the Lord has opened the door for me to start getting to know, and begin building relationships with several of the young people in the church as well as meet people driving Ubers and out in the community. There is one young lady I have had the opportunity to get to know who is very new to the church, she started coming after I got here. I have been able to get to know her pretty well, going out with her outside of church. I would ask that you pray with me that I would have the opportunity to witness to her, and lead her to the Lord. 

    Along with the relationships I have been building, I am starting to notice a very interesting pattern amongst the youth in Brazil. Brazil, as many of you know, is a very Catholic country. I have been to the Largest Catholic Church in Brazil and it was awe inspiring just how large it was, and it was so evident how much the Catholic faith has a death grip on the culture here. Amongst the youth, however, I am starting to see a strong shift in mentality towards religion. I have met people in their 20s who are so fed up with religion, people who are tired of the show put on by the Catholic Church. I met a young man driving my Uber one night and he was telling me how he was raised Mormon. He told me that at one point he was so devout he was planning to be a missionary, but he explained to me that he got to the point where he was so tired of never having enough for the church. He said that he finally just quit going to church anywhere because he just couldn’t do enough or be enough of what they wanted. 

    I had another conersation with another girl who had started coming to our church. She had attended a ‘Christian church’ in the past. I asked her why she had left her church to come to ours, just wondering what drew her to our church. She told me very excitedly that, ‘The people in your church actually act like Christians!’ We both laughed about it, but she went on to tell me how great it was that outside of church, our members are still Christian. 

    All of these conversations have put me to think much on the spiritual temperature of Brazil. The country has been so Catholic for so long, but the youth are done with the show of religion and want something genuine. What a time for the Word of God to have free course! How exciting to have the opportunity to bring the Light of truth into this nation so blinded by the darkness. Please join me in praying for the youth in Brazil, that they would be guided to see the truth. 

Thank you so much for your prayers and for keeping up with me! 

-Beca