Bom dia!
Thank you for your prayers and support for LCOP’s mission to Brazil this summer.
God used the trip to bless our team members (Kaitlin Kim, Amy Trevino, Gabby Trevino, Clare Whalen, David Pritchard, Tana Pritchard, and Pastor James). As with all mission trips, our team was blessed far more than we were able to be a blessing to Brazil.
I’ve been telling our team for months that the mission field is not Brazil. We will make almost no impact to Brazil in the two weeks that we’re there. There are still hungry people, there is still much violence, there is still a great disparity between the rich and the poor, there are still millions of people who do not know Jesus in Brazil.
Our presence in Brazil had almost no impact on Brazil. However, the two weeks in Brazil can, and has had, a tremendous impact on our team.
The mission field was never Brazil. The mission field was always about the hearts of our members.
Being a missionary has nothing to do with location. Being a missionary has everything to do with our hearts. If our hearts are selfish and inwardly focused, then we could be in Africa or Brazil and still never be missionaries. However, if our hearts are kingdom focused, then whether we are in Africa or Brazil or Lakewood, we are missionaries for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, regardless of our location.
God is always a very wise investor. God invested these two weeks in order to touch hearts so that what God gets in return is the rest of our lives for kingdom service. The average age of our team was around 25. If everyone lives to be 80, then for two weeks of investment, God just got back 385 years of Christian service! God is a wise investor!!!
In reality, the mission trip for our team members is just starting. The rest of our lives will tell whether God’s mission in our lives was a success or not.
We will be going back to Brazil in 2015. We’re looking for folks who will join us. If you’re interested, please let pastors James or Brad know.
Obrigado!
Praxis: Faith in Action 
Hello pastor James,
So happy to hear that you had the opportunity to go to Brazil. And you when got to preach over there. God is really amazing.
When I saw the picture in the soccer field I thought that you had a soccer camp, but then again for Americans to come into Brazil to teach us soccer would be even worse than 7 x 1 to Germany.
God bless,
Bruno
Bruno, great to hear from you. Pray all is well with you. I love Brasil. I have had the privilege of visiting there multiple times. Love the people. Yes, indeed, Americans teaching Brazilians soccer would have been laughable. We had a wondeful time and look forward to being there again next year. Blessings!