By Cindy Mullet
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
After hearing all the warnings about the Zika virus in Brazil, a missionary team from the Evangelical Church of Circle arrived in Cubatao, Brazil, asked about Zika and discovered no one there knew what they were talking about.
They were all prepared to ward off hordes of pesky mosquitoes, Rev. Bruce Inion, who led the team of 14 youth and adults, said, but during the 10 days they were in Brazil they only saw a couple mosquitoes. He was the only one who got bitten and he only had one bite.
The youth group from the Circle church started planning the mission trip at the beginning of last school year, Inion said. Aaron Brakefield, one of the missionaries the church supports, was working with church planting in Cubatao, a city with a population of around 130,000 located 35 miles south of Sao Paulo. He had invited them to come help with several work projects and do some ministry in the area.
Team members ranged in age from 12 to 44 and included four adults, two students starting college this fall and eight high school and middle school students. They worked hard throughout the year to raise money for the trip, he said.
There are no direct flights from Billings to Sao Paulo, Brazil, but after 17 hours in the air they arrived and set up camp in a local church, Vida em Cristo, or Life in Christ, he said.
The area around the church was a very high crime area. A month before they left Montana, team members learned the church had been broken into and its sound system had been stolen. They were able to bring replacement equipment for the church and help install it while they were there, he said.
Because of the high humidity in Cubatao, mold and mildew are big problems. The team did a lot of scrubbing and some painting at the church but the primary emphasis of their time in Brazil was establishing relationships, he explained.
They visited children living in the favelas around Cubatao and interacted with students in a couple English schools. Although they didn’t speak Portuguese, many of the people they met knew or were learning English and were eager to communicate with them, he noted.
Even when they couldn’t talk to each other, the youth on the team and the local youth still managed to build relationships. It was exciting to see them playing card games together and watching the Brazilians teach them new clapping games and dances.
“They were able to communicate love and acceptance even without knowing the language,” he said, adding that the trip was not about work or projects but about relationships.
“We can do a whole ton of work … but at the end of the day, it’s all about people,” he emphasized.
The team arrived in Brazil on the night of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. They weren’t able to attend any Olympic events but they got caught up in Olympic fever, and one of the soccer tournaments was hosted in the town where they were staying, he said.
Everyone came back with Brazilian t shirts and team members have been cheering on the Brazilian soccer team, he added.
On their first Sunday back in Circle, team members shared their photos and experiences with the church. It was easy to see how much the experience had impacted their lives, he said, adding that at the end “there was not a dry eye in the place.”
Reading about missionaries and their work, receiving their prayer letters or hearing them talk about their experiences is much different than actually walking with them for a few days and seeing what they contend with, he said.
Perceptions dramatically change when people step out of their comfort zone and experience a new culture, he added, encouraging others to take steps to build relationships with people from other cultures.
Reach Cindy Mullet at
crmullet@midrivers.com