Drip, drip, drip. Thais Martins lay asleep in her hammock, tired from a day full of physical labor. It was the last night of the mission trip; the mission team had built a church and ministered to the local children and adults in a small community in the Amazon Rainforest. As the team slept in their boat hammocks on the river, Thais woke to find that a leak above her was causing water to drip on her foot. She readjusted her position and tried to go back to sleep. Drip, drip, drip. She sat up, looked for the source of the leak, and tried to sleep again. Once more, drops of water hit her foot. No matter what she tried, every time she’d start to fall asleep, the drip persisted. Each time she woke, she spoke to God. Thais knew what He was asking, but she wasn’t ready to answer.

Thais grew up in a small town outside of São Paulo, Brazil. She was born into a Seventh-day Adventist family who planted the seeds of faith in her as she grew up. In college something clicked for her. “During college I really decided to give everything for Jesus and become active in youth ministry,” she said. “That’s when I feel that my journey starts.” She became more active in the youth Sabbath school as well as the Pathfinder and Adventurer clubs, and she joined her church’s worship team.

As she became more active, she felt the urge to do more for her church. “I started to feel that God was calling me to go abroad. But I was scared.” She went as far as interviewing for a position with a friend who was serving in Cambodia. When she was invited to go, her fears stopped her, and she rejected the offer. Instead she reasoned, “I will be more active in my local church and will stop feeling that I need to go abroad.”

But God continued to impress upon her a desire for mission work. Thais, equipped with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, was a full-time working young adult. Despite her efforts to stay busy at her local church, she couldn’t ignore the calling on her heart. She began to consider full-time mission work in Brazil. In January 2024 she took time off from work to explore this option, and joined others for a 10-day mission trip in the Amazon Rainforest.

As she hauled sandbags from the river to the construction site, her heart felt happy. I don’t feel the same happiness working in my comfortable office in the air-conditioning, she thought to herself. “God talked to me in many different ways during this trip—about all the doubts that I had about taking the step to become a missionary full-time,” Thais shared.

On the last night of the mission trip, tired and frustrated with the incessant drip on her foot, she argued with God. “God had showed me many times during that trip that He was calling me but that I was not accepting,” she said. Eventually she gave up arguing and resolved to just be still. I will just stop here, and I will listen to any kind of thought that God is telling me, she told herself.

The words of Jeremiah 1:5 gently came to mind: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 

Thais listened and felt God telling her, “I choose you the way that you are. Just come.” Thais began to cry in the hammock as she surrendered to God and decided to take the monumental step to do missions abroad.

She went back home and began to interview for international mission work. Around that time she was up for a promotion at work, and when the time came, she took a leap of faith and turned it down. Thais had not yet received confirmation of an invitation to serve abroad, but she took the opportunity to turn in a one-month notice and let her employers know she would be moving on.

The invitation came. Thais would teach high school math and science in Ebeye, one of the many small islands that make up the Marshall Islands. She was excited, but faced complications at home. She’d need to break her rental lease, which would be costly, and needed to purchase her flight, also costly. She prayed and trusted God. 

Drip, drip, drip. Rain in the area caused a leak in Thais’ hallway that required major repairs to fix the damage. Her landlord asked her to leave before her contract was up and waived all of the fees. A week later the school in Ebeye called her. They needed her there soon and had found a sponsor for her flight. 

When Thais arrived in Ebeye, there were many challenges. She faced each one prayerfully. And God answered faithfully. Rather than teaching high school, a lack of teachers thrust her into the fourth grade classroom. Unsure about how she would do with the younger kids, she learned a lot from that age group and connected with a student who wanted to join her on her daily jogs. Soon they formed a Bible study group for runners.

Thais helped start, at the school, a Pathfinder Club that has 80 students involved. She’s also assisting, on Gugeegue, a neighboring island, a couple who has begun ministering to children. The islands are connected by a causeway. “It is literally a road in the middle of the ocean, just a road with ocean on both sides,” she says. Once a month, sometimes twice, Thais rides her bike the eight kilometers (five miles) across to help with the 30 kids in the Adventurer and Pathfinder clubs.

While adjusting to language barriers and cultural differences has been challenging, the warmth of the people reminds her of home. “People are very friendly; they like to celebrate,” she said. “And in Brazil we like to celebrate!”

Thais is now in her second mission year in Ebeye. She has embraced her calling and is grounded in her purpose. “In my journey prayer has been the most important thing to see how God is leading,” she shared. “What gives me joy is serving, knowing that I’m doing what God wants me to do, connecting with people, helping them to know the same Jesus that I know in my life.” 

— Kristina P. Busch writes from Arlington, Texas. Thais Martins was featured on the November/December 2025 Adventist Journey cover; visit nadadventist.org/adventist-journey/november-december-2025/ to watch her interview.