Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Pedro and Priscila (Lima) Albuquerque

Priscila joined the CO Belo Horizonte team at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in 2008 as a campus staff. Since 2014, Priscila also serves as the Shepherding Coordinator. Pedro came to Christ through Campus Outreach in 2006. He graduated from UFMG in Environmental Engineering and joined the Resource Team in 2015. Pedro and Priscila were married in August 2015. Now as a family, they desire to help college students know Christ and grow through discipleship.

Braden & Aniah Dowdy

Braden was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, into a Campus Outreach staff family. He grew up surrounded by Christians and believed in God’s existence but did not start spending personal time with Him through Bible reading and prayer until high school. Through CO at Wofford College, Braden learned how to be truly involved in discipleship community, through vulnerability and intentionality. He is excited to be a part of the transformation that God is working in Brazil through CO by building relationships and sharing the Gospel with students on campus.

Aniah was born and raised in Greenwood, South Carolina, and became a Christian in high school but experienced the most spiritual growth through her four years at Wofford College, where she majored in Physics. Aniah found Campus Outreach halfway through her freshman year, and it was through the ministry that she experienced true Christian community, regular discipleship, and teaching and accountability for sharing her faith with her peers. Aniah is very excited to take what she has learned and move to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to be campus staff.

Jeff and Amy Dowdy

Jeff and Amy currently serve in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Jeff is the assistant pastor of Comunidade Horizonte (the CO partner church). At the same time, both he and Amy focus on Member Care, regularly supporting the local staff and encouraging them in their work. They have four children and one daughter-in-law. Braden and Aniah attended Wofford College, were married in 2023, and now serve with the CO LEAD program in Belo Horizonte. Simon is studying at Berry College (’25), where he captains the Ultimate Frisbee team and is on the leadership team for CO. Lucy is a freshman at Georgia College & State University (GCSU). Their youngest, Everett, is 14, living in Belo, and enjoys working out and serving in the children’s ministry.

Simon Dowdy

Simon was born in Brazil to missionary parents. During a gap year after high school, he realized he was not trusting the Lord or His promises. Instead, he wanted to be in control of his own life. Simon later attended Berry College, where he learned how to fully trust God with his whole life. While in college, he was invited to spend six weeks in South Africa ministering to college students with Campus Outreach. There, he gained a clearer understanding of CO’s mission to reach the world by discipling local leaders and sending them out to make a larger impact. Knowing that Brazil is one of the world’s leading missionary-sending countries has opened Simon’s eyes to the incredible work the Lord is doing there. His personal connection to Brazil and the need for the Gospel there have inspired him to minister to the world’s next generation of missionaries in a country that he deeply loves.

Lauren Griffin

Lauren grew up in a Christian home and gave her life to Jesus at a young age. Since childhood, Lauren has held a deep fascination and respect for global missionaries. While participating in a short-term mission trip her sophomore year of college, she felt the call to dedicate her life to the Great Commission. During her time at Troy University, God has used Campus Outreach to grow her global heart and to prepare her to advance the Gospel. After serving on a Cross Cultural Project in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, God shaped her outlook on campus ministry, and she is excited to be able to go back to Brazil to continue the good work the Lord has started. Lauren is so excited and honored to be a part of the CO team in Belo Horizonte and is praying that God will use her as a vessel for His Kingdom.

Kinley Herring

Kinley was born and raised in Dothan, Alabama. She grew up in a Christian home and came to know the Lord at the age of seven. After high school, Kinley attended Troy University, and it was there that her relationship with the Lord deepened. The Lord used the Campus Outreach ministry at Troy to help foster spiritual growth in Kinley’s life and ultimately grow her heart for international ministry. The Lord opened numerous doors and led Kinley to join the Campus Outreach team in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Kinley is excited and expectant for all the Lord has already done in Belo Horizonte and what He will continue to do. Kinley will spend her time fostering relationships with college students at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and being faithful to share the goodness of God that she has experienced with those around her. Praise God for His heart for the nations and the promise that He uses all things for His glory and our good.

Joel Ladd

Joel became a Christian at Indiana State University in 2007. Upon graduating in 2010, he began working as an ESL teacher (English as a Second Language) in Indianapolis. He has been on staff in Belo Horizonte since 2017, teaching English and laboring on the campus of UFMG. In 2022, Joel married Adriana, whom he met at his church in Brazil. They are excited to learn how to work in the harvest together in the coming years!

Vitor Letro

Mary Kelly and Vitor met and became friends when she moved to Brazil in 2017 as a LEAD staff. Vitor joined the staff team in 2021, and they began dating. They married in 2024 and are now eagerly laboring on the campus in Belo Horizonte and mobilizing others to join His work all over the world.

James and Grace Pineda

James and Grace Pineda live in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, with their two little boys, Oscar and Elliot, where James serves as the Campus Director for CO Belo. James came to Christ through the ministry during his time as a college student at Troy University. Grace grew up in Brazil with her family and later attended Troy University, where she and James met. They are passionate about seeing Brazilians come to know and follow Jesus for a lifetime!

Lorrayne Salvio

I connected with the Campus Outreach ministry in 2013 as a student on campus. I was greatly impacted by the lives of the staff – how they not only were able to share their beliefs about Jesus, but also had their lives transformed by Him. God used them to draw me to Himself and through the study of His Word, I found in Jesus the redemption, love, and grace I had spent my whole life longing for. After my personal encounter with Jesus, I spent 5 years being discipled. Over the years, the Lord used discipleship to grow my desire and vision to invest in others in the same way I had people investing in mine. Since then, by His grace, I have had opportunities to be a part of and see the fruits of His work in others while still in college, in my own family and at work. I’m excited to go back to the campus, to the same place God used to reach my life, and to continue to partner with Him in His work of transforming students’ lives.

Grace (Hanson) & Pedro Siqueira

Grace grew up in Lino Lakes, Minnesota. At a young age, she came to discover that Jesus had many answers to our questions about identity, purpose, and satisfaction and that a personal relationship with Him was what she was really longing for. Since graduating from college in 2015, Grace has been seeking to help develop the next generation of world leaders in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, inviting students to investigate and consider the impact that knowing Jesus could have on their lives and the lives of others. In April of 2023, Grace was married to Pedro (a Brazilian), who works in the Wedding Business. Together, they hope their home and marriage will be used to encourage others in their search for fullness of hope, life, satisfaction, and joy in Jesus.

Jordan Thomas

Growing up in the Bible Belt, there was not a time I could say I didn’t know of Jesus; half of my family had some type of role in the church. Due to my family’s connection with God, I believed that I was grandfathered in. However, once I arrived at college, God graciously revealed, through a few men on staff with Campus Outreach, that I was living in the world’s standard of “good” and not His, leaving me feeling empty at any shortcomings. As I grew and developed in my walk with God, I was able to lead others and travel to Johannesburg, SA with CO, where God showed me how He meets everyone’s particular needs. Now, I can’t wait to serve overseas in Brazil and witness how the Lord pursues the hearts of His people in another culture.

Fabiana & Diego Vidal

Fabiana was introduced to Campus Outreach in 2002 and in 2003 she recognized her true need for Jesus Christ through conversations with her friends. She was hired in 2008 to split time working on campus as well as to use her gifts on the administration team. Currently, Fabiana works on the Resource Team as Event Planner and Assistant to the Director. Fabiana was married in November 2015 to Diego Vidal, who works as a lawyer in Belo Horizonte.

Larissa Vieira

I grew up in a Spiritist family. I didn’t believe the Bible was all true or that Jesus was God. Until college, I had never even read the Bible, and what I knew about Jesus came from the Spiritist teachings my family and community preached – that Jesus was just an evolved being whose example we should all follow. God used my first two years in college to break me and show me that I could not have victory over my sin in my own strength and that only He could satisfy me. After two years of investigating and trying to understand who Jesus was through Campus Outreach, God opened my eyes to His truth, that Jesus is God and that my sins have been paid for on the cross! Today, as I build relationships with lost college students, I hope to reflect the love of Jesus and that they would come to know Him and have their lives transformed by Him just like I experienced!