Assuming we have made it through the TSA lines, our Brazil Mission Team will be in the air on our way to Brazil by the time many of you read this post. The details; a three-hour flight from Newark to Miami, a six hour (groan) layover in Miami, and then an eight-hour overnight flight from Miami to Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Total distance traveled will be about 5,000 miles.

The weekend will be full. We will have dinner with the Session of Igreja Presbiteriana on Friday evening; attend a presentation by the School of Music, which is reaching into the favela with the good news of the Gospel as it touches the lives of its students; participate in the “Heirs of the Kingdom” children’s program, another missional reach into the favela, Saturday afternoon; and be a part of a special youth worship service in which Eva Jennings will sing and Brian Jennings will speak Saturday evening. We’ll join the church for Sunday School on Sunday morning, followed by a congregational lunch, and then evening worship where I will preach.

Our weekdays will be less full of activities, but every bit as important. We will be visiting families and homes and work places. We’re not making the 5,000 mile trip just to attend events, though our presence at the events matters.

We are making the 5,000 mile trip with the conviction that the Holy Spirit still sends men and women to the ends of the earth as witnesses to the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. It would be easier if all we had to do was sing and speak and preach and eat good food. Instead, we are to be instruments, vessels, of faith, hope, and love. We are the jars of clay into which God has poured the light of the Gospel.

Pray that these jars of clay not only make it through the TSA inspection and Brazilian customs, but that they will be emptied day by day as we visit families, homes, and work places; as we talk late into the night with our host families; and, yes, even as we travel to some tourist spots.

That’s it: Cathy, Brian, Eva, Becky, Bill – jars of clay filled with Kingdom Light sent to be emptied in worship and at table fellowship, in friendships old and new, in smiles, and through broken Portuguese and English. God will do great things as he empties us.

Pray for us!

We will send email updates as possible and post photos the the Langhorne Presbyterian Church Facebook page