Why We Went to Brazil

Why was taking this trip so important to Kendall and me?  We have both been blessed to experience other cultures.  Kendall grew up a TCK (Third Culture Kid).  He was balancing Canadian and US culture.  He also grew up with First Nations friends.  Kendall visited Haiti as a child.  After high school we were on REACH together.  Kendall arrived in Costa Rica knowing almost no Spanish at all.  He lived with a host family in a jungle village and learned to communicate.  Language was secondary and came after the bonding.  From Costa Rica we went to Ecuador for 5 ½ months.   

I grew up smack-dab in the middle of white Mennonites like me.  But my parents had both spent time in other cultures and valued passing that on to me.  So they had friends who were very different from them.  My first overseas trip was at age 3, when we went to visit Honduras where my mom had spent time with her aunt and uncle.  When I was Eli’s age, we spent 6 weeks overseas, a month of that in Kenya.  I don’t remember nearly everything from that trip, but I value the memories I do have and know that even the things I don’t remember had a major impact on me. 

A year after Kendall and I were married, we signed on to 2 years as missionary interns.  The first 2 ½ months were spent in Costa Rica, bettering our Spanish skills.  Then we lived in El Paso, Texas and worked with a Spanish-speaking church. 

Because of how we have seen our cross-cultural experiences shape our lives and our worldviews, we’ve always known that we have wanted to give this gift to our family.  Because of the role these experiences have played in our lives, it has become a high value to us. 

This opportunity to visit cousins in Brazil just seemed perfect.  First of all, we could go spend time with important friends/relatives.  Kendall and Delton were great buddies growing up- partners in crime and in adventure.  We support their missionary work and how many times do you get a glimpse of where your support goes?  What a great opportunity to get in on Delton and Fernie’s lives.  Our kids got along so well when they visited us in Red Lake last winter.  This seemed like the perfect way to introduce our boys to a different culture and level of need while in the safety of cousin-friends.  It was rewarding to hear Eli admire how Kendall and I put ourselves out there and used the language skills we had even though they were lacking.  It’s always nice to hear a bit of admiration from your kids, but it was also good to know Eli was seeing that it was okay and even good to do something that you’re not comfortable with.  And, of course, once we realized that Twila Fern would be joining us soon, we knew that now was the time to go.  It will not get easier.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe these photos will describe our reasons for going to Brazil:

My favorite:

Kendall and I are so grateful for this opportunity.  It was fully worth the energy and expense.