The Brazil Team United with Purpose

In June 2023, a small mission of Shepherds College® students and alums made up the first team of young adults with disabilities to serve internationally on a Joni and Friends International Family Retreat to Brazil. The humble giftings of each person combined with their love for Jesus to become a powerful force — a team only God Himself could bring together.

Precious Libbie is small in stature but great in faith. She is a missionary daughter who spent considerable time in Laos while growing up. Like the others, she called upon deep reserves in the Lord and pressed through numerous fears to serve. She arrested my heart one morning during devotions by quietly referring to the famous Rio statue, Christ the Redeemer, as “Christ MY Redeemer” – a slip-of-the-tongue that was a window into her heart.

Meet sweet Jessica, who bravely volunteered to lead morning devotions from the passage of Romans 12 about leaving vengeance to God, the call to return good for evil. One morning our Joni and Friends internship leader Kimi Archer asked the group for favorite Bible verses. Jessica said that she loved the creation story where God made everything and called it “good,” but when He made us, He said we were “very good.” The message of Shepherds College had clearly sunk deep for her: “You just as you are, were created ON and FOR a purpose.” She got it and radiated the lovely truth of her Belovedness to each of us. She and I made some of our favorite memories while pushing our “buddies” around together in their wheelchairs, singing “Jesus Loves Me” – “Jesus Te Ama” in Portuguese – listening with joy and laughter as our little Brazilian friends sang and voiced the words as they were able.

My own son PJ, adopted from Thailand at three years old, was returning to Brazil a second time with Joni and Friends, this time as a mentor of the team. PJ has a heart and a smile the size of Texas and looks like he could be Brazilian. PJ felt keenly the God-given gift of both of his trips to Brazil, and he daily encouraged the team on with his faithful service and deep empathy for his teammates.

Brett came along as one of the older Shepherds College graduates and brought wisdom beyond his years. He is such a deep lover of the Lord and His Word. When I privately found out mid-mission that his birthday fell on the first day our team would be serving on the family retreat, he made me promise NOT to share that information, telling me so earnestly that it was a day designed for Jesus to be glorified through our service, not for honoring himself. What a gem he is. And one of the more honorable men in the faith I’ve ever met.

Next meet Matthew, a tall, reserved Korean-American, who seeks to honor the Lord in every way possible. Having lost both a stepfather and father tragically, he touched us all deeply on Father’s Day by saying that he had prayed that morning wishing our Heavenly Father a “Happy Father’s Day.” And then he added, “I also told Him that if He saw my dads, to please tell them Happy Father’s Day for him.”

Amber has curly red hair and an impish smile that shields a lion’s heart. She was adopted from foster care at 8 years old, and I overheard one of the Shepherds leaders quoting her mom, “They said she wouldn’t walk, and she’s going to Brazil!” Amber led our morning devotions by moving into the center of our circle to stand before us, knee braces over her jeans. If her disability slowed her, it surely didn’t stop that Spirit-empowered young woman. In an unforgettable moment, she quietly took her own headphones – which help regulate outside stress and decibel levels – and put them onto my young buddy Renato’s ears during a family retreat worship service that became too noisy and emotional for him. She just intuitively knew how he felt.

Sarah is a Chinese-American adoptee who served so beautifully as the second “returning” mentor for the team. Sarah became so dear to me last year when she and PJ came to Sao Paulo to serve as the first Shepherds College students on a Joni and Friends wheelchair distribution mission. She melted our hearts when she sang “Good, Good Father” with all her soul on the bus one morning. This year she repeatedly quoted Psalm 139 and told us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Andrea is a recent Shepherds graduate who lost her mom about ten years ago. She loves children and hopes to work with kids occupationally upon her return. She bravely worked through not feeling well early in the trip, continuing to serve and was always the first to raise her hand when Kimi asked for insights from Scripture, prayer requests, or thanksgivings from our day. She touched us all during the devotional from the closing verses of Romans 12 when she shared about learning to pray for the boys who made fun of her at school while growing up.

Joni Eareckson Tada loves to say that it’s not a disabilities ministry until the disabled are ministering. Each of these extraordinary young adults had to overcome so many personal challenges to be in a position to serve others who were similarly challenged, but I saw it in each a persistence to continue caring for one another and for the people with disabilities in Brazil whom the Lord brought to us. They intuitively understood some of the needs of our guests far better than we supposedly-abled adults could.

“It is easy to imagine Christ the Redeemer smiling over this team as He symbolically watched them serve from His great height over Rio, saying so proudly, “Libbie, Jessica, PJ, Brett, Matthew, Amber, Sarah, and Andrea, WELL DONE, my beloved children, so very WELL DONE.”