Making a new home: Brazilians find new home, community in Vestavia Hills

When she first moved to the United States in 2002, Jennyfer Goodnight didn’t know of any Brazilians in the Birmingham area.

Seventeen years later, she said she can hear Portuguese being spoken as she shops in Walmart.

“It’s still weird,” Goodnight said.

Goodnight is one of many Brazilians who have relocated to the Vestavia Hills area, with others living outside the city but traveling weekly to attend Horizon Church on Old Columbiana Road, which has a large Brazilian population.

In 2002, Goodnight left her home to come to America with a friend, leaving behind the world she knew.

“I left pretty much everything,” Goodnight said.

Goodnight was a 21-year-old college student in Brazil who was working for her family business when she left. Her mother was upset about her leaving, but her father gave his blessing, despite Goodnight leaving on his birthday.

Tools like Google translate didn’t exist when she first moved here, so Goodnight had to rely on some English language skills she had learned in Brazil, and then learned to lip read. As she began working with American coworkers, she began picking up more of the language.

Goodnight said she received help from others along the way after she moved to America, even though she was told Americans were “cold” in nature, instead of warm and inviting. Goodnight said she’s found the opposite to be true. While Americans can be honest and straightforward, they also show a willingness to help when needed, she said.

Horizon Church has epitomized what it means to help others, Goodnight said. When she began attending the church seven years ago, some Brazilians were already at the church. Pastor Joe Comer had told them they could use their sanctuary for worship services on Sunday evening, after they had originally asked just to use the kitchen.

It was at the invitation of a friend that Goodnight came to her first service at Horizon. She had been invited to an Easter service but almost didn’t attend after those who invited her told her they weren’t going to be able to make it. Goodnight still put her daughter in the car seat and began driving toward the church, questioning her decision the whole way. She thought about going various places, but before she could finish arguing with herself, she realized she had made it to the church parking lot.

Seven years later, Goodnight is one of several leaders of a Brazilian Day festival at the church, which offers the community a chance to get to know those from a different culture who live in their backyard. The church, which now has just one combined service, has played a huge role in her transition to the United States, helping remind her of the importance of faith, Goodnight said.

“They help you understand that faith is not easy,” Goodnight said. “It’s hard to believe … when you’re going through hard times. I believe God, since I got here to this country, he’s always by my side.”

The church has become a family for people like Goodnight, as well as Katrine Sampaio, who serves as the children’s minister at Horizon Church.

“I never imagined I would be here, but God has bigger plans than us,” Sampaio said.

Sampaio first came to the U.S. in 2011 as a study abroad student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, which helped her improve her English-speaking skills, and in 2013, she was offered a scholarship to attend a Bible college in Tampa. Her and her husband went to Tampa, with the intention of returning to Brazil after school.

However, after planting a church in Tampa, Sampaio met a Brazilian family in late 2014 who had just moved to the city. The family had attended Horizon and told the Sampaios they should stay in the U.S. and introduced them to leaders at the church.

In July 2015, the Sampaios moved to Hoover and immediately found their home at Horizon and in the greater Birmingham area.

“The church has been a family for us,” Sampaio said. “It was … meant to be.”

Living so far from home is a challenge, Sampaio said, especially not being able to see family as often.

Goodnight said there have been times where families in the church have lost loved ones back home without being able to say goodbye, a harsh reality of living so far away.

Both Sampaio and Goodnight said the change in weather has been a big adjustment as well. It is much colder here during the winter than it ever is in Brazil, Sampaio said.

The weather doesn’t bother Adoney Barros, who moved to Helena with his family to join his parents, sister and brother-in-law in July of this year. He said he enjoys the colder weather.

Barros moved from Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, which has millions of residents. While there isn’t as much to do here, and the cities in central Alabama are much smaller than Brasilia, Barros said he enjoys the security of the area.

Two years ago, Barros’ parents, sister and brother-in-law moved to Alabama, but Barros had been thinking about moving here for more than a decade.

Thirteen years ago, Barros married his wife, and they honeymooned in America, and talked about moving here at some point in the future. After his family moved in 2017, Barros and his wife prayed about joining them.

“We started to pray about this, because we didn’t want to move without asking God what he wants from us,” Barros said.

After moving his family this past summer, Barros went to work at his brother’s company, Ark Flooring, Supplies and More in Pelham.

Barros owned two companies in Brazil at one time, while his wife worked as a dentist. She’s thinking about opening a dental clinic here, Barros said.

While his three daughters miss the family that still lives in Brazil, Barros said they are doing well so far. Barros said he wants to take advantage of the opportunity to learn a new language and culture, and how to be a better citizen in his new country.

Barros attends Horizon with the rest of his family and said having both English-speaking Americans and Brazilians in the same congregation help his family as they continue to adapt to their new home.

Goodnight’s family now includes her husband, Patrick, and their two daughters.

Over the past 17 years, Goodnight has become involved with the community while working as an assistant vice president, commercial relationship assistant, at Iberia Bank. Goodnight serves as a junior board member for The Bell Center, which provides early-intervention programs in the Birmingham area, and also has helped organize the annual Brazilian Day festival in October.

The festival brings together everyone in the church and others from the community, Goodnight said, and allows everyone to enjoy authentic Brazilian food, something each family said they miss. The festival has been supported by Vestavia city leaders, Goodnight said.

The positive relationship with the community, Goodnight said, makes the Brazilian community want to give back, as they have done with the annual Help the Hills Day, where various service projects are carried out across the city.

In 2018, Goodnight said, a group of Brazilians from the church went to help clean up a woman’s house and found out the woman had traveled to Brazil many years before on a mission trip.

“When you do good things, it will come back to you,” Goodnight said.

In August, Goodnight celebrated 17 years since she left her home in Brazil and moved to America.

“It was a challenge; things are not easy,” Goodnight said. “A lot of people think the American Dream is awesome. … Let’s be real. You’re working, you have to pay for your expenses. You’re on your own.”

In a Facebook post created Aug. 24, the anniversary of her arrival in the U.S., Goodnight, reflecting on her life since moving here, said despite the challenges, all that has happened since she left Brazil has helped her grow as a person.

“Seventeen years ago, I left my family, friends, work, college, the comfort of my home and my beautiful country not knowing what to expect on the other side of the world, just a little girl going on a new adventure,” Goodnight wrote. “I went through many challenges, countless tears of sadness and happiness, but all of this just made me stronger and stronger.”