Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Brazil 2007

Carole Peterson

It was Monday morning and we were walking down a dirt road to our assigned building site. I was wondering, "What am I doing here? I don't know how to lay bricks. It's already hot and humid. What's it going to be like at noon, at 2:00? What difference will I make here??"

So began our week of building houses for Habitat for Humanity in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. My questions--and doubts--were answered over the course of the week. I could lay bricks. I could build houses. And I could make a difference in people's lives. (And the heat and humidity really weren't bad.)

My son and I were part of a 14-member team who traveled to southern Brazil in March as part of the Thrivent/Habitat Lent-Build: 40 houses in 40 days project. Four of us were from Bethlehem--Carol Pfleiderer, Sharon Mason, my son Mike and me. Another two were from the Twin Cities, the rest were from across the US and Canada. Carol was our Habitat leader.

We worked for five days alongside the new homeowners and Brazilian construction workers. We moved dirt, moved and laid bricks--enough to raise the walls of three houses in a poor neighborhood of Sao Leopoldo, a city of 250,000. The houses were small--about 450 square feet--but sturdy and would replace small shacks that the residents lived in.

This was the first Habitat project in this neighborhood. Several local organizations and companies were involved with Habitat and Thrivent Financial to make the building project a reality for these hard-working families.

Our group visited Porto Alegre, a city of over one million next to Sao Leopoldo, and the island where our Lent Build was originally scheduled to be held. There, some 15,000 people live in poorer conditions than in our Sao Leopoldo neighborhood. Political issues having to do with the land postponed that project---maybe next year.

Our team members were overwhelmed by the experience of meeting and working with our hosts, including Antonio of Habitat Brasil. The food was out of this world and we had some time for sight-seeing. Building houses was important--and I proved to myself I could do it--but building relationships is as important if not more so. We were ambassadors of good will--for our church and for our country. We got to know people of another country and they us. It was very good.

"Just as you did to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." Matthew 25:40