After an intensive missionary training in Zimbabwe, Severin Pelekara was to join his placement site in Brazil in 2015, where he served as social educator with the Shade and Fresh Water Project of the Methodist Church in Brazil.

Shade and Fresh Water is a Brazilian nationwide project that provides academic, recreational, and Christian education activities for children ages 6 to 14 during times when the youngsters are not in school.

One day as he was playing with Gustavo a game called Pick-a-stick that consists of a bundle of ‘sticks’, between 4 to 7 inches  long, are held in a loose bunch and released on a table top, falling in random disarray. Each player, in turn, must remove a stick from the pile without disturbing the remaining ones. After a moment, Gustavo earned many sticks and could have declared himself winner while Severin had gotten only one stick for himself.

However, Gustavo did not  claim victory and unexpectedly shared his sticks with Severin instead, so he could come back in the game and together have fun. That lesson learned from a nine-year old was the seed that led to INEXCELSIS today.

In July 2019, Severin was privileged to attend the Wild Goose festival held in Hotsprings – NC, to represent and promote the Global Mission Fellow program.

He made new friends including Savanah, a brilliant and inspiring young lady from Toledo – OH representing “Fresh Expression”.

They discussed about many issues  one being this time of uncertainty  the United Methodist  church is wrestling with since the last General Conference in 2018 with the risk of schism. Also they spent time brainstorming on how as young Christians, can they  impact the world surrounding them and make a difference that improves people’s lives in their communities.

Back in St. Louis – MO, Severin shared with friends the burden of serving the less privileged people and most specifically those experiencing homelessness.

December 2019, a couple of days prior to Christmas, Severin was invited to volunteer to an outreach event downtown St. Louis. When asked about the experience, Severin said: “I  found my purpose in life, I feel alive. This is what I am going to do for the rest of my life.”