Our team went to a favela (shanty towns in Brasil) the other day. We met Pastor Marcelo at his church which is located right at the entry of the favelas. He sat us down and began to explain about the area. He told us all about the favela being really dangerous, wars between the gangs in the area that were especially hostile at the moment because of recent murders and so on. He smiled really big and said, “We heard ya’ll aren’t afraid of stuff like that so lets go!” Marcelo has been given permission from the head narco trafficker in the favela to walk freely around to bless the people, so we would be fine as long as we were with him.
We started down the street and I was amazed at the pastor. It was like he knew everyone.. people were smiling at him and waving. He greeted so many people and introduced us to them. We prayed for person after person as we walked. Soon we were warned that the other gang was coming to attack at any moment and people started closing up their shops. We decided to keep visiting the people and continued walking as police cars with guns pointing out the windows patrolled past. For a little bit you could feel fear settle over the area but whatever, light shines so bright in darkness. Honestly we were all just relaxing, strolling around as sons and daughters of God blessing people and praying for the sick not really bothered at all. It’s funny how when you are so aware of the kingdom of God the kingdom of darkness is just not that intimidating.
After hanging with the people we headed back to the church to eat some lunch before going back to our house. We had a great time eating and blasting worship music from the speakers. When we got back to Carole’s house her mom said, “You’re back and you’re okay! I have been calling people to pray.. the gang came to attack and its all over the news right now!” “What, really???… everything was just fine while we were there.” Apparently at the same time we were in the church for lunch the gang actually did end up coming. God is great at keeping his people safe
We started down the street and I was amazed at the pastor. It was like he knew everyone.. people were smiling at him and waving. He greeted so many people and introduced us to them. We prayed for person after person as we walked. Soon we were warned that the other gang was coming to attack at any moment and people started closing up their shops. We decided to keep visiting the people and continued walking as police cars with guns pointing out the windows patrolled past. For a little bit you could feel fear settle over the area but whatever, light shines so bright in darkness. Honestly we were all just relaxing, strolling around as sons and daughters of God blessing people and praying for the sick not really bothered at all. It’s funny how when you are so aware of the kingdom of God the kingdom of darkness is just not that intimidating.
After hanging with the people we headed back to the church to eat some lunch before going back to our house. We had a great time eating and blasting worship music from the speakers. When we got back to Carole’s house her mom said, “You’re back and you’re okay! I have been calling people to pray.. the gang came to attack and its all over the news right now!” “What, really???… everything was just fine while we were there.” Apparently at the same time we were in the church for lunch the gang actually did end up coming. God is great at keeping his people safe
No comments:
Post a Comment