By Kristy Floyd, Bayou City Fellowship Amazon Mission Trip 2025
At the beginning of this summer, our family was truly blessed to be able to join JMI on one of their trips on the Amazon River in Brazil. This trip was almost a decade in the making. Nine years ago, my husband, Dane, and I were called to Peru on a mission trip where we genuinely left a piece of our hearts on the Amazon River. Even as we came back, we were determined to be missionaries, and in our timing, that meant immediately, there in Peru with our 5-year-old daughter, B. As we returned stateside, we quickly realized that was not the plan God had for us, just yet. Doors were opened for us to move forward with our plan for Peru, yet we were obedient to remain stateside, where God knew our family was about to grow through adoption.
Nine years later, we found ourselves on the Amazon River again, this time with our now 14-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, T. M. Although it was in Brazil, it was still the river that our hearts longed to call home. The most pivotal moment on this trip was watching both of our kids embracing the mission field through VBS. Our daughter found such freedom and joy as she noticed the trust that the parents and kids had in God, despite not having material things. Our son found such comfort and ease when interacting with the teens in every village, grabbing an interpreter and bringing them close without any hesitation. His usual fear of social awkwardness was completely gone. I stood in awe as I watched God plant those same seeds of missional work in the hearts of our kids, and He reminded me, yet again, that His plan is perfected by only Him, in His time.
It was awe-inspiring and exciting to see what God was showing us through and in our kids as they ministered. It was as if he were showing us a glimpse of what the future may hold for them. Dane found himself truly moved during the church services, as his perspective shifted as he listened to the impassioned preaching and worship of God. The love of Christ shown by the villagers was a testament to the work God is doing through the pastors and, in turn, through JMI, as they provide pastoral conferences, training, and visits. What a good, good father God is. Our family all wanted to stay longer. We came home ready and expectant of God’s leading on where and how to serve next.
So long ago, there was such a yearning placed in Dane’s and my hearts, and both of us had found peace with the “not yet” that God gave us on our first trip. It was a felt yearning, but one that we waited for expectantly and surrendered to. Yet years later, here we were, serving alongside our kids and our church community. The most ironic element of serving with our church community was that sometimes we really do have to travel to another country to get to know people who live in the same city and attend the same church. The NIV translation of Romans 15:5-6 says, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Going on this trip to Brazil provided more than one way to unite our church, Bayou City Fellowship. We are a multi-campus church that feels very small, yet we offer multiple services in different cities throughout the Houston area each week. As Bayou City Fellowship, we do a lot of engagement, service, and hands-on work in the community, but it is done separately in each campus’s area. It was so neat to watch our church come alive and come together as one in so many different ways.
As a family, we connected with church members at the other campuses and began new friendships, while also serving with church members from our own campus who attend a different service, creating an opportunity to bond in a way that the busyness of life hadn’t allowed. Serving alongside one another, there was no indication of singularity. Age, stage, economic status–we were all working for the Lord. We also watched as people that we knew from our campus and community group accepted the challenge of laying themselves bare through sharing their testimonies in front of our group, as well as at church services along the river. It was so touching to be trusted with their stories and to see God use them in specific ways at the villages and in our relationships. God grew them tremendously and used them as reminders of His goodness and power. And yet, as we returned, we were reminded of how God also brought our community closer stateside in specific ways.
Recently, we were honored to be included in a dinner hosted by our community group, which was specifically planned to share our trip to Brazil and another group member’s trip to Moldova with JMI. We were surrounded by twenty friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, waiting with their own yearnings to know just what it was like and how they could be even more involved. We also got an opportunity to learn that some of our peers had also gone the year before on another mission trip to Honduras. My heart was truly overwhelmed by their hearts for God and His people. It can feel so abnormal these days to encounter a few people, let alone be surrounded by a group of people who are all willing and longing to serve the Lord in uncomfortable ways with joy in the obedience of it all. We are so blessed by their hearts and influence in our lives. This was also shown in another way: we were united as a church.
Remember, today, you are an answer to prayer.
Our family signed up for our trip in January 2025, in faith, knowing that we were unsure how the remainder of our trip would be paid for. We paid the deposits and sat expectantly in obedience. Our church family, friends, and individuals that we didn’t even know, covered the expenses of our trip quickly and in full. Not only that, many people from our church campus jumped in to stand in prayer for each of us individually and collectively. Going on this mission trip, opened doors for our church to come together to support in ways they felt led to on each campus and as the church body of Bayou City Fellowship where the heart for missions beats with one mind and one voice to glorify God. It was also wonderful to connect with others from churches outside of Bayou City Fellowship. We were so blessed to be joined by fellow Christians from our area as well as one new friend who came from states away. Our stories are forever connected, and as they share their experiences, it can only open doors for our churches to come together in serving our cities and the world to glorify Christ.
If you are reading this and are pondering whether you could do a trip like this, honestly, lean into God and listen. If He calls you to go, go. The impact that it has on your life and on your church will be undeniable. The impact it will have on those that you serve can be summed up by the phrase we were reminded of daily by the JMI staff, who serve in their home with hearts full of love and care for their country, “Remember, today, you are an answer to prayer.” Christ calls us to be His hands and feet, and will show you His beauty of His creation in your surroundings and the faces of His people.
Join JMI on a trip! Learn more at justiceandmercy.org/go.
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