A letter from Thelma Goodrum in Brazil
Spring 2014
Dear Friends,
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Thelma with Glenice Johnson
We lived at Mission Haven, in Decatur, Georgia, for a year in 2012 and 2013, and while there we attended North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, where we have been members for many years. During that year I had many conversations with Glenice Johnson, who resides at Mission Haven and is an elder at North Avenue. Glenice was a missionary nurse and teacher of nursing in the Congo during the 1970s. In recent years she took courses on the subject of spirituality at Columbia Theological Seminary, which is very near to Mission Haven, and she was interested in sharing what she had learned with our community here in Brazil. I thought that our Carnival (spelled “Carnaval” here in Brazil) retreat would be a good time for this opportunity.
In general, for the majority, Carnaval is a big deal here. (The New Orleans “Mardi Gras” was fashioned after the Brazilian Carnaval.) But traditionally Protestant churches in Brazil have encouraged their young people to take advantage of the five vacation days of Carnavalto participate in spiritual retreats outside of town. Our church here, of the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil, in a neighborhood of Vitoria called Maruipe, has always seen the Carnaval holiday as an opportunity for the whole church to rest, to review priorities, and to reflect together as a community at a retreat center outside of town. Since Glenice was available, I thought it would be a good opportunity for her to participate in the retreat as our guest speaker. In that way everyone, including the pastors, would have an opportunity to strengthen relationships and to grow in their faith in a secluded, peaceful setting.
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Practicing the music for worship. Our son Joel is at the far right.
Glenice arrived at the Vitoria airport during a heat wave, wearing a sweater and long black overcoat. Having left the very wintry United States, and with several bags to deal with, she laughed and said, “Believe me, it was easier just to wear them!”
After several days together in Vitoria to work on translating the considerable written material that Glenice had brought, we left, along with the members of the church who would be participating, for the retreat center at a beautiful, cool, mountain setting just outside a small town an hour or two outside of Vitoria. During the retreat we explored ways to deepen our relationship with God, examined how Jesus prayed, and learned about the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We spent time studying the Word of God and listening to each other in small groups. Before the retreat it was not common for people to talk openly about the action of the Holy Spirit in their lives, but in one of the small groups a young lady named Jhenifer felt free to share a recent experience in which she felt the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding her to make a decision that she had been resisting for three years. Once she had made this decision she felt a great peace; family and friends had been praying for her for a long time and she recognized this as the action of the Holy Spirit in her life. At the retreat she was glad to be able to share this with her group.
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Participants at the Carnaval Retreat
Psalm 46:10a says, “Be still and know that I am God," so in the evenings we spent time alone in silence in order to explore some of the practices that we had discussed that were designed to help develop a deeper relationship with God. Being silent, in order to listen for God’s voice, was not necessarily easy for many in our community, but Elza, a woman who has been a member of our church for many years, said she tried to be silent in the evenings during the suggested time. Initially she found this to be difficult, but at the end of the retreat she shared that she planned to develop the practice of listening for God’s voice instead of being the only one speaking.
In recent years an important phrase in mission settings has been “We are better together.” Glenice’s presence indicated that we really are better together, and I was pleased with the way the community received her with open arms, and how the participants, children and adults alike, found ways to communicate in spite of language differences.
At the Vitoria airport—baggage in hand and wearing her sweater and overcoat!—I knew that Glenice would return to the wintry United States with memories of the cool mountain setting and of the warmth of the Brazilian community of the United Presbyterian Church of Maruipe.
We truly are better together, and for this I wish to thank those who partner with us for your interest in our ministry, and for your prayers. We appreciate your faithful contributions to our sending and support, which makes our ministry possible. Thank you for all that you do to further God’s mission in Brazil.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Thelma Goodrum
thelmagoodrum@hotmail.com (or use the "Write" link below)
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 61
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