I was born and raised in Minnesota.  My dad was a pastor with the Evangelical Church and is now the superintendent of the North Central Conference.  Both my mom and my day are wonderful, godly people.  I am so grateful for the way they raised me and showed me Jesus from a very young age.  I also have an older sister, Holly.  She is 2 years older than me and lives in Ocala, Florida with her husband Scott.  Holly and Scott are a great couple, both have a heart for missions and service for the Lord.  I am really proud of them.  Because of such a great family my childhood and teen years were fantastic and vital to molding me into the person I am today.

There were some difficulties in my teen years at junior high and high school.  I was chubby and all the other kids, and some teachers, made sure I knew it.  I no longer had the name Aaron at school, but rather a nickname the kids used to make fun of me.  As a result, I struggled with feelings of depression and a lack of self-worth.  I received no value from the others at school and soon I became convinced that I had no worth and no potential.  Eventually, I realized how ridiculous it was for me to place so much value on what my peers thought of me, but the scars remained.  I realized through this dark time that first of all, I have a tremendous family and I need to place more importance on them not the snot nosed kids at school.  Secondly, I learned that my life is not my own and it was paid for with the blood of Jesus and so every aspect of my life must be turned over to Him.  Finally, because of my experiences I was able to recognize that many other people my age were feeling the same things I felt and were searching for love.  But unlike me, many of them didn’t have a family that cared about them and they certainly did not know the Jesus I knew.  After realizing this I started having a strong burden for the lost and especially young people who struggle so often with not being loved.  Their parent’s don’t care about them and their friends, if they have them, are extremely superficial.

After high school I decided that I would go to Vennard College (www.vennard.edu) in University Park, IA to study to be a pastor.  While I was there I got involved in multiple youth ministries (camp counseling, YFC, a skate boarding ministry and a couple music ministries).  It was at this time that my passion for youth was solidified.  I changed my major to youth and urban ministries, but I was not sure what I would do after college and what full-time position I could get in our denomination that would allow me to focus on youth.

While at college Duane Erickson, the Executive Director of Evangelical Church Missions (www.theevangelicalchurch.org), spoke in a chapel service about a ministry opportunity in Brazil.  He spoke of how it would be teaching English, something I already knew; working in a large city, something I wanted to do; working with youth, my passion; and he threw in that it would be close to the beach.  Once I heard that, I thought this sounds perfect for me.  I spoke with Duane and Dr. Bruce Moyer about the possibility to go to Brazil for an internship.  Everything worked out perfectly and I was on my way.

After just a short time in Brazil I realized that I was at home, exactly where I needed to be.  Granted, I was in a foreign country with no one that I had ever met before in my life, speaking just a few words of a foreign language; I but was sure that this was the place I needed to be.  I was in the perfect place for me; all the passions that God had placed in my heart were met by the ministry there.

While I was in Brazil I met a wonderful girl.  She was a teacher at the English school and she was one of the first members and a leader of our church there.  After a few months of seeing her everyday we decided to start dating.  Obviously it was Cristiana.  Along the way, I found out that she had been feeling restless and felt God leading her into a different area of education and that teaching wasn’t for her.  So, we started the process for Cris to get a student visa to go back to the States with me and study at Vennard College.  God provided the student visa and got the blessing from her family and went to the U.S. with me on the same flight.

We went to Vennard for a year.  In the summer we went back to Brazil and got married.  Then we returned to Vennard College and finished our schooling, me with a BA and Cris with an AA.  After we graduated in 2004 we started working with Evangelical Church Missions and began the process of raising funds to return to Brazil as full-time missionaries.

In June  of 2006 we were able to come to Brazil and start our work.  The first few months were a whirlwind of projects; find a house and move in, buy furnitiure and appliances, find a vehicle, hook up telephone internet all of the normal things when moving to a new place.  On top of all of that I started a master's program by distance education, I began my first Porutguese class, I also taught and English class and led 3 English activity times.

However, now that the dust has settled I am able to start the work I have been dreaming of.  In late February I was able to open a community youth outreach center.  I am so happy that I am able to focus my energies on reaching the lost youth of Cubatao.  Please pray that God will break through to these young people, that they will have the courage and sensitivity to listen and obey and that I will have the wisdom to lead them closer to Him.

When I was 14 years old I saw a sign that said “Young’s English Club, come and study English with us.”  I remember thinking that studying English would be something fun to do.  If you are not from Brazil and you ever go there, you will notice that the radio stations play a lot of music in English.  I really enjoyed the American music even though I didn’t understand what they were talking about.  I was also exposed to American movies.  For those reasons I thought it would be advantageous to study English.  So I went home and asked my family if it would be possible to study at the English school and they agreed that it was a good idea, thinking it would be an investment and maybe in the future it may help me to get a good job.

I started studying at Young’s and I loved it there.  I especially liked the teachers and the directors of the school.  From the first day I noticed that there was something different about their lives.  I could also tell that when they asked questions about me they really were interested in my life, and that meant a lot to me as a teenager.  After three and a half years of studying there I completed the course, but I didn’t want to leave because I knew I would loose my English skills and I would also loose my friends at the school.  So I talked to the school director and asked him what I could do to continue to be involved there, his response was an offer to teach.  When I started teaching I was very nervous because I had to teach people much older than me and people with very good jobs. 

After the first semester of teaching I was told that there was a group coming from North Carolina.  This group was coming to Brazil to share their faith and help at the school in any way they could.  There was a sign-up list for interpreters, I remember thinking, “I don’t understand why these people are coming, but it will be a good opportunity to sharpen my English.”  So I volunteered to be an interpreter for the group.  Similarly to how I felt drawn to the people of the school, I felt drawn to the people in this group; there was something different about them.  It didn’t take very long for me to feel comfortable around them and start sharing things about my life.  As it says in the Bible that God’s word is living, I am a testimony to that, because as I was translating the scriptures and the faith of the people in that group God was speaking to my heart.  I realized the great need I had: to have God in my life and have a relationship with Him.  By the end of that week I was ready to give my life to the Lord Jesus Christ.  When a member of the group confronted me about my need I did just that, I asked Jesus into my heart.

Later on a missionary, David Dormaier, came to my town and he felt the need for a new church and I was a part of that church plant.  Unfortunately, David had to return to the U.S. and we were left without a pastor.  But the Lord kept us together and we constantly prayed for God to send someone to help us continue that ministry.  The Lord answered our prayers and sent us Jeremy Kochendorfer and to this day he is still the pastor of our church Vida Em Cristo (Life in Christ).  It is exciting to hear the reports of growth in our church.

In the year 2001 I was having a tough year trying to decide what the Lord wanted for my life.  At the time I was still teaching at Young’s and I loved my job, I was involved in the church and I was going to college get a teaching degree.  My college major made logical sense to me, but my heart wasn’t in it.  So I started praying and asking God if He had something different for me and as I prayed the feeling became stronger.  I didn’t tell anyone about this dilemma inside of me.  The following year Aaron Brakefield was sent to my school and church to help in both places. Aaron was always excited to share about his college (Vennard College www.vennard.edu) with us.  Soon my desire to go to a Bible school was very strong.  Later on Aaron and I started a relationship and of course the desire to go to Aaron’s school became even stronger.  So I started praying that God would make this possible.  But I needed two things to happen.  First I needed a student visa.  Secondly, I would need my family’s acceptance to leave and go so far from home.  Once I started the processes I got the visa in miraculous time, two weeks.  After that I had to face my family.  I praise the Lord that He worked in their hearts and they gave me the blessing to go and study in the U.S.

Aaron and I studied at Vennard College for a year.  During that year we got engaged and the following summer we were able to go to Brazil and have a beautiful wedding.  After our wedding we returned to Vennard for one more year and we graduated May 2004 (Aaron with his BA and me with an AA).

After graduation we began working as full-time missionaries with Evangelical Church Missions traveling around the U.S. raising support to come back to Brazil as missionaries for four years.  The fund-raising process has been pretty tiring and when it was all said and done we jumped around to 28 states for over two years without a home.

In the midst of all our travels, on October 7^th, 2005, we had a new addition to our family.  Our son, Nicolas John Brakefield was born; he has completely changed our lives.  It is impossible to imagine life without him.

In our first 3 years of marriage (2003-2006) we have lived in 7 homes (for between 2-9 months each).  Now in our most recent 2 years of marriage by June 2008 we'll have been in the same house the entire time; two full years.  We know, however, that by June we will have to move out of our current home.  We hope to be able to find a house where we can stay "long-term" to raise a family.  Please pray that God shows us the right option.