So it’s time for me to write an update. Time has flown by since I arrived here in Brazil and it’s hard to believe that I have been here for more than a month already! Much has happened in this past month and a half and I would like to share with you what God has been doing and what is coming up in the near future.
I arrived in Brazil on December 6th and I was welcomed at the airport by my good friend Trenton. Because of how things worked out with our tickets, Trenton actually arrived in Brazil a few days before I did. I very much enjoyed having Trenton here in Fortaleza and it was great to be able to show one of my close friends what I am up to.
About a week after we arrived, we (Jenn and I) had the opportunity to travel to an area in the interior of Brazil close to a city called Canide. Our purpose was to look for villages that did not yet have a church and where people were hungry for the truth. We set out not having any contacts and simply trusting the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We left in the morning and arrived in the city of Canide in the afternoon around lunch time. The city of Canide has a massive statue in honour of St. Francis of Assi. There is also a very large Basilica in the city where many Catholics come to worship. The city of Canide and much of the interior regions in Brazil, are full of idol worship. Catholicism has departed from Biblical truth in many regions in Brazil and the Catholic church is the main persecutor of the evangelical church in much of the interior regions in Brazil.
We came to a large square in front of the Basilica and a few of us felt led to worship there and others felt led to go and talk with people. After I time of worship, I preached the gospel there in the square and gave an invitation for prayer which no one accepted. I did not know this, but what we did there in the square was a bit dangerous. A short time ago, a YWAM team was thrown in jail for preaching the gospel in that same city. The Catholic church has paid the police and so they shut down any religious activity that does not come under the banner of ‘Catholicism’.
Two of the people (Lauren and Luan) who went to talk with people met a young lady who was part of a local Assemblies of God church. The young lady invited us to come to the church as they were preparing for a large party that day. We happened to arrived on the day of the sixth anniversary of the church and they were inviting the whole city to a party which included an evangelistic service. The man preaching at the service gave an altar call for those who wanted to give their lives to Christ and there were many who went forward. The message was quite fiery, definitely not seeker sensitive in any way. The pastor also called us forward to pray for the sick. We felt that the Holy Spirit was indeed leading us because not only were we provided with a place to sleep that night (we were expecting to sleep in the car), but the pastor in front of evangelism for the church advised us where to go, to places where there were no churches yet planted.
We left the next morning in search of a place called ‘Top’ and after driving and stopping many times to ask where ‘Top’ was, we started to wonder if such a place actually existed. We ended up a place called ‘Siteo do Meio’, which was a village without either an evangelical church or a Catholic church (it is rare to find a village without a Catholic church). We discovered that there were no believers in the village (except one who went to a Catholic church sometimes) but we also discovered that people were open to the gospel. We found a family who was willing to let us stay on their porch for the night and we talked with an older women who let the girls stay in her house for the night. We went around inviting people to come and watch the Jesus film which we planned to show that night. We showed the film, preached the gospel, prayed for the sick and invited people to give their lives to Christ. No one responded that night, though some people came forward to receive prayer for healing. After talking with many people in the village, we gathered that some people wanted to give their lives to Christ, but they did not want to make a half-hearted commitment. A few people said that if there was a church to be a part of, they would be more willing to commit themselves to Christ.
After praying for the family and spending some time with them in the morning, we left for the next village. The place where we ended up was ‘Carnabal’. The village had a Catholic church but only had a few evangelical believers. After asking around we were directed to the house of a man called ‘Isiais’ (Isaiah). Isaiah’s wife greeted us and welcomed us in. We had a good time of fellowship with the family that night (they have two young children as well). We encouraged them and prayed with them. We found out that they were hungry for fellowship and that they were having services when they could (the three believers in the village). This family is very poor and yet they offered the best that they had for us and they went out of their way to make us feel at home. We prayed with them the following morning and went on our way. We left encouraged, feeling that this village would be a very good place to plant a church. We are hoping to go to the interiors four times in the month of January.
I recently returned from my second trip into the interiors with a team of seven people. With some difficulty we managed to arrive in Carnaubal again. Our poor car had difficulty because of the dirt roads, steep climbs and big pot holes. Pray that God would provide a better vehicle to better reach the interiors. Isaac and his wife Regani received us gladly again into their home. Regani made us a wonderful lunch. We had times of wonderful fellowship with this family. They have faced a lot of opposition from the Catholic church in the area and they sometimes feel quite discouraged. We had the opportunity to pray for them, worship together and wash their feet. We also had the opportunity to show the Jesus film and share the gospel. The interiors will be one of my main focuses while I am here in Brazil.
The next place that we went was Sitio do Meio. We held a service and gave an opportunity for people to give their hearts to Christ. No one responded that night but the following morning when we were doing house visits, three young people gave their hearts to Christ. Pray that God would continue to open up people’s hearts in Sitio do Meio to Jesus.
There is also so much to do here in the city of Fortaleza. One major ministry for this base is outreach in the red light district. Prostitution and human trafficking are very real problems in Fortaleza though we have started seeing the power of the Holy Spirit break in and start to transform the lives of some of the girls who are working there. During the Christmas break, we held a love banquet near the red light district. There were a number of prostitutes who came and the girls from our base sat with them and talked, as well as did their nails. Many of the girls from the red light district felt the love and the presence of God.
We also held a Christmas Banquet in Oitao Preto which is the main favela where we work. We made a special dinner and had a draw for presents. We had a time of worship, a time of sharing the gospel and then a time of ministry where we prayed for people who were desiring prayer. One of my focuses in Oitao is ministering to drug dealers. There are a few drug dealers who are close to giving their lives to Christ but they are still unwilling at this point. I am praying that these guys make a firm decision soon to give their hearts to Christ.
One of our main focuses at the moment is preparing for a missions school that we are going to be having starting March 9th and going until the end of May with international outreaches after this. One of the goals of the school is to raise up missionaries ready to lay down their lives for Christ. My focus during the school will be teaching, discipleship as well as leading outreaches into the interiors.
