Bigfoot in Brazil
by Toni Lamparter Mabry
Essental Connection (EC) magazine May 2002






Wow, I'm really going to Brazil, I thought as I held the passport in my hand.  I'm the only teenager I know with a passport.

Thumbing through the little blue booklet made me feel kind of special--until I saw my passport photograph.  It was about as flattering as those driver's license pictures.  But there was nothing I could do about that now.  I was already on my way to another part of the world!

This whole adventure had started so suddenly.  Sure, my family is active in church and mom has always been interested in mission work.  She and I have volunteered with mission projects around Memphis, Tennessee.  As it turned out, these smaller mission projects were a big help in preparing us for my trip to South America.  God used them to teach me lessons on being responsible, and they gave me experience working with others.

At a Bible study, my mom met some missionaries who arrange trips for laypeople.  The missionaries--Andy, Sandra, and Jay--asked if mom and I would like to join a mission team and help evangelize inside the Brazilian public school system.

Would I?   Sure!   I thought.  Then I thought a little longer and wondered what was expected of me.  I hoped I wouldn't let anyone down.

Our team met every Saturday for Bible studies where we also learned more about what we would do in Brazil.  I found that I would have to stand in front of other students and share my testimony.  This really frightened me.  I kinda freeze when I talk in front of people--especially people my own age.  I almost flunked speech class because of my fears.

I also would share the plan of salvation using the beaded salvation bracelets.  Each of the team members was given a sack of leather straps and colored beads to make the bracelets at home.  Mom suggested we get the children and the youth group at church involved in our project by asking them to help us.  We needed thousands of bracelets to give to the students to help them understand and remember the message of salvation through Jesus.

I guess the most frightening thing about our adventure was the plane trip--14 hours in the air.  This was my first time to fly.  When the plane left the ground, I was sure we were going to die, but I kept my mouth shut.

To make matters worse, I had a tough time sleeping on the plane, too.  For one thing, I was restless, but that wasn�t all.  Believe me, airplanes are not built with a 6-foot, 4-inch teenager in mind.

Finally, the morning came, and we traveled through the clouds to land in Rio de Janeiro.  We even saw a rainbow over the city--a rainbow beside us in the clouds, instead of over us.  By the end of the day, I would be playing on the very beach we saw from the air.

The next day we again packed our bags and headed to the mountain city of Petropolis.  I have never seen such vegetation before.  Green papayas and coconut palm trees were everywhere, and vines grew from the bark of other trees.  Poinsettias grew to the size of trees.  It was like traveling in a huge greenhouse.

Once we got to Petropolis, I began to learn interesting things about the area.  For instance, the schools in Brazil use the same building for all the grades.  Elementary grades meet in the morning, while older children go to school in the afternoon.  Then, adult education classes are held in the evening.  That meant we started our visits early in the morning and did not finish until about 9 p.m.

I also learned that sharing the gospel to a group can become an impersonal thing.  But we didn't want it to be that way.  We wanted to touch the people on a personal level.  So, early in the week, our team prayed that each of us would have a special mission story we could call our own.

On Monday, I was paired to work in the classroom with Andy because he could teach me how best to share with others.  I prayed to have the courage to share; and, to be honest, it was rough in the beginning.  I was glad to discover that, as things went along, speaking in front of others got a little easier for me.  God had taken me out of my comfort zone, but He also had given me the strength I needed to do my job.

On Tuesday an 8-year-old student stopped to talk with us.  He seemed amazed by my shoes and talked in an excited voice.  He kept repeating.  "Zapatoes grande!" Andy finally figured out that he wanted me to take off my shoes.  He wouldn't be satisfied until he actually saw my feet.  He walked away, shaking his head in amazement.

On Wednesday night we were too tired to go out for supper.  We finished our last class around 9 p.m. and decided to walk to a shop on the corner and get some ice cream before going back to our hotel rooms.

Though it was late, the city sidewalks were still crowded.  Our team stayed pretty close together.  I was with those in the lead, while my mom and a few others were behind us, moving a little slower.

Along the way, a Brazilian family crossed in front of my mom.  The little boy in the family ran toward Mom and pointed to her shoes.  He was so excited he actually touched the shoes with his finger.

"Andy, what is he trying to tell me?" Mom asked.  "I need someone to translate for me."

The boy turned his attention to Andy.  That's when he began pointing to Andy's shoes.  All the while, he continued shouting to his own mother.

"Wait, I know this guy," Andy laughed as he explained.  He took the boy by the shoulders so he could see the child�s face.  "He's the kid I told you about, the boy who insisted that Adam take off his shoes.  He wants to see Adam!"

Soon the whole team was shouting, "Adam, come here!  Someone wants to see you!"

The instant he saw me, the boy's eyes got huge.  He ran to me, got on the ground, and measured my shoes, putting one hand at my heel and the other at my toes.  He held those hands in the air for his mother to see.

"Grande zapatos, grande zapatos," he kept shouting. 

I didn't need to speak Portuguese to put it all together.  He was telling his mother that he hadn't been exaggerating: "See mom.  I told you that this guy wears huge shoes!"

Through an interpreter we spoke briefly to the boy's mother.  We also gave her a gospel tract and some salvation bracelets.

Candy, another member of the team, said that this puts a new light on Romans 10:15.  "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Now my new nickname is Bigfoot.
I think our prayer was answered.  Each one of us came back from Brazil with a special story about witnessing.  Maybe mine was the funniest, but that's OK.  Getting another chance to share about Jesus is the important thing.