School of Missions

Seems our holiday season was a full one with back to back missions events!  Just two weeks after the Wordless Ministries event, Byron and I traveled to another state to participate in what is called a "School of Missions."  It's basically a missions trip where each participant has to make his own way to the spot where the action is.  During the mornings classes are held about missions sort of like a missions conference.  In the afternoons and evenings there are door to door evangelism, kids activities and street preaching.

This particular "School" was held in a small town of about 4000 people in the state of Paraíba.  It is located near a slightly larger town that already has a small church.  The purpose of the event was to try to make contacts with residents in the hopes of getting some interest to start a small congregation that could be taken care of by the nearby church and pastor.

These events are run by a local pastor/missionary with the help of several area churches.  About 60 people overall helped during the three days we were there.  Some didn't live real far away and came only for the day.  Others stayed the entire time.

Pastor/Missionary Silvany with Byron

The base of operations was a local school.  Use of the school was given freely by the local mayor's office.  Classes were out for the Christmas holidays which are longer here than the USA.  Byron did one of their morning class sessions and was given opportunity to preach at night for an open-air meeting.

Overall I like the family atmosphere of the event.  Many people came with their whole family.  Several ladies told me that they come to each "School" and always take their children because they want their sons and daughters to participate in missions at an early age.  The events are held several times during the year.

The little guy in the yellow shirt was with his father, a local pastor.  His mother and another sibling couldn't come.  The little fellow had the best time.  It was obvious he had been before.  I didn't see him once fuss or complain about anything.

Three young men from Sobradinho went along with us.  I hope that this concept is something we can bring to Bahia to help build up our missionary efforts.

By the way, I fell in love with their VW Kombi.  I gotta git one for us.  I also loved the style of music they use in the street meetings to attract attention... Check it out below.  It was a little windy!  This type of music is traditional in the Northeast of Brazil.