Autazes, Brazil is not exactly a popular tourist destination. So the “crazy gringo” wandering around town gets noticed. This gringo has been setting up a computer classroom at a children’s center near the favela in Autazes. I first went to Autazes with my church’s mission team in June of 2018. During that trip the mission told me that they had been praying about starting a computer training program in their children’s center. After that trip I started planning and during the following trip in August of 2019 we decided to move forward with a pilot project.
With much prayer, God told me to prepare to live up to 6 months of the next several years in Brazil to support the project there. I was a newbie at international travel, so choosing a dangerous location as the first place to live outside of the United States took me way outside of my comfort zone. I had only spent a few hours in this community. Communication with the local community was nearly impossible. What messages came through did not translate well. It was clear they had no idea what I was trying to do. Which did not help to calm my nerves.
Millions of things could go wrong, and for the entire month of January I was playing every scenario of rejection and mistakes that I could make. Like a video game in my mind. I had to board a plane and make it past delayed flights, airport obstacles trying to keep me from making my connections, border security guards, duty officers, and that was just to get there. There would be numerous levels for working as a missionary for the first time: from figuring out local food, lodging, and transportation to “I hope I don’t start an international incident.” So I boarded the plane and flew off to Brazil. My only companions were the suitcases and carry-on luggage.
The flight and initial meetings with the mission team went well. We arrived in Autazes to the news that a gang war had broken out 2 days earlier. The locals gave my translator and I a quick “How not to be killed by the gangs” tutorial. Everyone agreed the risk is minimal as long as we remain near the hotel at night. People constantly asked if I was afraid. They were amazed when my response was “No, I would be more afraid of not being where God told me to be.”
I spent another six months living there in 2021. It was important to me to spend time in the community even if I couldn’t communicate well. Renato couldn’t spend much time with me because of classes. Being the only American wandering around the community, it didn’t take long for people to recognize me. I would often walk down the street and one of the children would call out “Olá Chech”. And the adults would talk about the gringo who is crazy enough to walk 5 kilometers in the heat instead of using a mototaxi.
Renato loves to run into people on the street and hear stories of the “crazy gringo” who wanders around town without being able to speak the language. He explained to his church how amazed he is that even without being able to have a conversation people are hearing that God loves them. He said “Here is someone who makes a difference just by showing up. When I talk to someone on the street and tell them I help Chet with the computers, they reply ‘Oh we know Chech, he’s the Gringo who listens to God!”