Jojó surfs the best wave: Jesus

BRAZIL — Jojó de Olivença was born into a poor family. Life was hard and it seemed as though his prospects were limited. At the age of five, though, he encountered the sea and, little by little, things began to change.

Drawn towards the waves, he began to surf using a borrowed wooden board. By the age of eight, he had graduated to a fibreglass board and was showing considerable skill. His talent grew and grew until, in 1983, he turned professional.

Dangers

But while his career was flourishing, his personal life was taking a turn for the worse. He began going to all-night parties and taking drugs. His parents warned him about the dangers of this lifestyle and tried to talk to him about God’s Word, but for a long time he was not interested.

“I had always been fascinated by the sea,” he says. “But I did not want to have anything to do with the creator of the sea because I was ashamed to be a Christian. I thought I would become a nerd the very day I started living as a ‘Bible nut’. I thought I would have to leave behind everything I loved: the girls, the parties and the drugs.

“But every day was the same for me. I was never satisfied. Any joy I had was short-lived. My parents talked to me a lot about the Gospel, but that didn’t ring a bell in me. I knew that there was a God but I decided to think about him only when I got old … very old!

“It was not until 1987, feeling empty and seeing that I was leading a senseless life, that I finally began to realise that Jesus was the only wave that would bring me real satisfaction. One day I visited my brother, who was recovering from drug addiction in a specialised Christian centre called Teen Challenge in the city of Feira de Santana. When I got there I saw this bunch of people with a changed look on their faces, like they had joy and peace that might rub off on you at any minute!

“It was then that I got afraid of dying and going into eternity without God. I decided to turn my life over to Christ completely. I invited him to come into my mind, my heart, my blood, everything! I got soaked in Jesus! I began reading the Bible and putting it into practice.”

Champion

At first Jojó wondered whether, as a Christian, he could continue with his surfing career. God soon gave him an answer to this, however: the following year he became the Brazilian surfing champion, a feat he repeated in 1992. His career reached its peak between 1993 and 1998, when he was a member of the Brazilian team that competed in the World Championship Tour, surfing’s top competition.

Now, at the age of 37, Jojó is married with two children. He runs a surf school in Guarujá, where he now lives, and undertakes missionary work with the New Life Assembly of God Church. He also participates in the Surfers’ Mission of Christ, which operates along the entire coast of Brazil and has around 1,500 members.

“The mission sponsors meetings designed to spread God’s Word and sends new members to the evangelical churches that are best suited to the young spirit of surfers,” he explains. “What we really want is for many people to have a personal encounter with Christ. I used to say that Jesus was the first surfer who didn’t need a board to ride the waves. He walked on the water to save his friends who were in a boat and who were afraid of the storm at the sea. Today we ride the waves on our surfboards but as people inspired by him.”