[img_assist|nid=6587|title=A Brazil mission team member prays for a Brazilian woman|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]BELO HORIZONTE, Minas Gerais, Brasil – Most mission teams range between five and fifteen members, says the IMB. Wayne Jenkins took 199 people this year – more than half from Louisiana – for the 26th annual multi-faceted mission trip to Brazil.
An estimated $100,000 in donated medicines went with the team, which were used by the medical team to treat men and women at five drug rehab houses. One team went to the streets to do blood pressure checks and diabetes screening.A dentist pulled hundreds of teeth. Eye exams were another medical ministry.
[img_assist|nid=6588|title=A young boy admires a little girl s bracelet.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]Other ministries included Vacation Bible School at three locations, construction of three churches, three drama teams that performed in several locations, as did a street/prison team and a sports team.
New this year: a two-person scrapbooking team who taught beginning and advanced scrapbooking in six locations for middle- and upper-class Brazilians. Each session also included the women telling the story of what knowing Jesus did for them.
[img_assist|nid=6589|title=A view of Belo Horizonte|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]“It was a lot of seed-sowing in areas we were not penetrating,” said Jenkins, evangelism director for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, who leads this mission trip each year as a personal ministry with long-time friend Dwight Lowrie. “It was a real positive addition.
“With every team, there were unique experiences all along the way,” Jenkins continued. “Both the Brazilians and our Southern Baptist missionaries worked so hard in preparation for our visit, and everybody worked together in making adjustments as they were needed.
[img_assist|nid=6590|title=A mission team volunteer prays for this Brazilian man on the streets of Belo Horizonte|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100][img_assist|nid=6592|title=LBC WMU Missions and Ministry Director Janie Wise marked Portuguese New Testaments|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]It is such a blessing to be a part of a team that has a heart for wanting to do the will of God, even when that may be difficult, and who are willing to make adjustments to His will, even though we have other plans.”
The mission trip this year did have more adjustments than usual, Jenkins acknowledged. To understand this, the reader needs to visualize 199 people spilling out from a narrow hotel in the middle of a block. Vans out front had been rented to take a specific group from the hotel to that day’s assignment. But as assignments changed, people going on “this” van instead were assigned to “that” van. Amazingly, within 30 minutes the hotel lobby would be empty.
[img_assist|nid=6591|title=Mission team volunteers and Brazilians celebrate their first worship in a newly-built church.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67][img_assist|nid=6593|title=Cathy Jenkins teaches preschool children.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]“We were faced daily with adjustments and we didn’t have any complaints from our people,” Jenkins said. “They just said, over and over, ‘I will do whatever God wants us to do. I’m not just here to do one thing; I’m here to do the will of God.’”
A list already has been started of people planning to participate in the July 2011 mission trip to Brazil. Contact Jenkins at 318.445.3427.