Living the pandemic at home in Brazil

 Yes, you read the title well: living the pandemic at home in Brazil.  

"But isn't she from Canada/ Cameroon?"

 Yes, I am. And no, I didn't get married here.

Well... sort of.

Shalom what?

 You see, since 2018 I am a part of a community called Shalom Catholic Community. I first met its members in the Florianópolis mission (south of Brazil) back in 2015, when I did a student exchange there. It was in an event from the Charismatic Renewal, a movement from the Catholic Church that in which we pray using the Charisms of the Holy Spirit. Basically, from outside, we pray in a similar ways as some of our Protestant brothers: with a lot of Praise and Worship, out loud, speaking in tongues, etc. Shalom is considered a Charismatic Community.

So I met Shalom at that event in September 2015, and it was love at first sight. Every intervention that the Community made at that event: the play called "Canto das Irias" (the most famous of many plays of ours), the show with the Missionnaries singing songs of our band Missionário Shalom (MSH), the prayer  one missionary did for me, everything just mesmerized me. I was invited to attend some of their events afterwards, which I did. Each one won my heart a little more. Then I eventually went back to Canada to finish my Master's degree, but I was stung. 

Back to life, back to reality

As much as I tried to convince to myself that it was just a good time spent with them in the last couple of months, I couldn't help researching the Shalom Toronto Facebook page. See, the Community has missions in over 32 courntries, and Canada is one of them. Eventually I entered in contact with one of the missionnaries of the Toronto Mission, contact which I had been given back in Brazil. Soon after that, the mission organized a pilgrimage to Montreal and stayed in a hotel 2 minutes from my house, so of course, I got to meet the Toronto missionnaries. I was also doing,  on my own, the Bible study that I would be doing had I been a part of a Shalom Prayer group. I think God saw, on the one hand, my heart still burnin for the Charism, and on the other hand, my indecision to take further vocational steps. And so He used music as a way to attract me to the 2016 World Youth Day in Poland. I was called to sing there at the Youth Festival, so I registered at the last minute with a group that went with the Arquidiocese of Montreal.

Vocation confirmed

There, in Łódź then in Krakow, God confirmed in many ways what many people had already told me and which I was too scared to admit to myself: I was Shalom! And if that "name" can apply to anyone who identifies with our Charisma, only a few of us are chosen to embrace the call of being a Shalom Missionnary, leaving everything to dedicate themselves exclusively to evangelization (Life Community), or embracing the calling as a Missionnary in the midst of Family life, work and Studies, making those their mission field (Covenant Community). To me, it was always clear that I identified more as Covenant Community. So, after 6 months of Vocational discernment at a distance and 6 months in Toronto, I eventually sent my letter asking to be part of the Shalom Covenant Community in Toronto, and I was accepted. 

Life in the T-Dot

Evertything went really fast. One day I was participating in the Youth Prayer Group during my Vocational year, the other (months later) I was the Shepherd (coordinator) of the group, and also of another group for Beginners. On top of that, I was part of the Music Ministry, performing with our band in various events. And of course, as Covenant Community, I was working. I first worked part-time in a restaurant, which I chose in order to finish a big translating mission the Community had given me. I had been asked to translate to French the book of the Shalom Vocational, which is just what I needed as my vocational had been quite "rock & roll", wth lots of travelling and missiing meetings in Toronto and the first retreat. Afer six months at the restaurant, God (literally) gave me  a job in a bank, in which I climbed the ladders real quick, until I got this "perfect" job, fruit of one and a half year of blood, sweat and tears. 

The calling

Well, perhabs God saw that I was getting too confortable at this point, because that's exactly the moment He chose to send me on mission to be part of the Community's band Missionário Shalom, while living with the Life Community (full-time mission) in our Mother House in Fortaleza, Brazil. So there was I, leaving everything I had earned and built during my almost two years in Toronto, to step into the unknown. Actually, the band (and the Community) is pretty well-knowned in the Brazilian Catholic scene. And so, as noble as my motivations might have been, I must admit that part of me was attracted by the Fame and Lights (no Fortune, as I would not be paid since I was living as Life Community). It was a different mission, a full life offering to God and to the Community for a pre-determined period of three years.

Surprise, surprise!

In a matter of 2 months, I had gotten rid of (almost everything) I owned and was flying to Brazil, just in time for the Halleluya Festival, our biggest event of the year and the biggest Arts Festival in Latin America. I arrived full of expectations, more than ready to contribute with the talents God has given me. Let's just say that things did not quite  happened as planned. Contrary to what I thought/had been told, I was not start singing and doing shows anytime soon. It took three months of transition (between me and the former singer) before I started going on the road with the band. By th end of these three months, we officially announced the change of female vocalist in a recorded live show which we would releasedas an album and videos a few months later. That was in October of 2019. I arrived in July 2019, started touring with the band in November 2019, until the pandemic started in March 2020, four months later. 

Life in the time of Covid

From one day to another, all the shows were cancelled and we were stuck at home, in the outskirts of Fortaleza. Just before the beginning of the pandemic, lots of the missionnaries living in my mission, the Mother House, had travelled around the country to preach in our different missions for our Carnival Retreat. Some came back with Covid. No one knew what that was. Eventually lots of us started to get sick. Most of us, actually. Where we live, we are more than 130 missionnaries. More than 100 got sick at that time. Thats a lot of Covid in one place! Thank God, only a few cases were confirmed in the beginning, there were "only" 12 people that were known to be positive. That was enough for people arounf town and in Brazil to start being "scared" of us, newspaper articles were released about us, we would watch people pass in front of our gates covering their nose (not everyone wore masks back then) and pointing at our houses. In my appartment, almost every one got sick and had to be isolated, only me and another girl showed no symptoms, and so, our role was to serve the others, make the food, clean. ALL DAY, for about two weeks, until everyone started getting out of quarantine. Then the rest of the results came out. Positive. Positive. Positive. But it didn't matter anymore because all those who had had symptoms had been isolated for 15 days, the rest didn't get out of the house or almost. 

On Easter (providence of God), we were all able to celebrate the most important mass of the year together,  without getting out of the house (we found a way to that, lol!). It was beautiful. We stayed home and without contact with people from others apartments or houses for months, until the number of cases went significally down in our state of Ceará. Then we were able to start working in our offices again (they are in the same place where we live, different building). 

The Evangelization cannot stop

All this time, the missionnaries of the Mother House have been working non stop, sustaining the missions worldwide, accompanying them in this new way of online evangelization, organizing online events and masses, most of which were broadcasted from the Diaconia Geral, where we live and work. We also started going out in the streets and give assitance to the most vulnerable: the poor. My band Missionario Shalom kept releasing music and videos, from the previously recorded live show. Some  songs and videos had been providencially recorded just before the pandemic, others were recorded at home. I never thought in my life that I would one day record a videoclip by myself, with my cell phone! The year went by. By the end of it, our centers in Fortaleza and Brazil were opened again, masses were happening again, the rest of activities and gatherings were all online. 

Then, around the same time as the previous year, the second wave hit us. Back to quarantines. Back to home office. We tried to find ways to go out without compromising the others' health. We had to because it was becoming unbearable to stay locked where we live. Months went by. Outside, in Fortaleza, life went back to normal again. Right now, at home, even though we are all partially vaccinated, almost completely vaccinated, we must follow prevention measures everytime we come from outside. The band still isn't touring, we get to do only some important shows for now, with no public, all broadcasted online. And we reciord, and we shoot videos (see links in the end)!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day

So that's how things have been for most of the 2 years that I have been in Brazil! I spent more time here in the pandemic than out of it. Some people who arrived in the mission after the beginning of the pandemic have no idea how we lived before!

 This time has been of a lot of self-knowledge. Sometimes I have had emotional breakdowns, like lots of people during this pandemic. 

I am in the middle of the third year of my mission, the end of it. New horizons are opening, even before I complete that third year. So I ask for your good vibes and prayers for this new time that God has prepared for me! 

Thank you for your attention! I'll keep you posted!

 Take care,

Shalom!

Gravação de um dos clipes do MSH

Links for the curious people:

-What is the Shalom Catholic Community? (I actually appear there, at 0:19!) 😉

https://youtu.be/XKfPSF8dL2s

-The latest/ coolest videoclip of my band Missionário Shalom: 

https://youtu.be/T7B0PPySlEA

-About the Halleluya Festival (our last presencial edition, with show of MSH, to give you an idea):

https://youtu.be/AiJN8ip1n1w