Hi friends!
I figured I should tell you about last week, because it was a pretty unusual, big event! I spent Mon-Fri in the Northern end of my city (about an hour and a half drive from where I live in the Southern end) helping to translate for a short-term mission's team from South Dakota! The trip was organized by one of my Sepal team members, Val Gill. It was a cool experience - seeing the way God is working through a church/preschool in one of the poorest neighborhood's in São Paulo, and being able to contribute to something that was blessing them! The church (which is actually still in the construction phase) looks out over a slum and a group of government high rises that were built several years ago to replace a lot of the slum shacks. It was sad and sobering to get to know more about people's lives in that area, but here are some things God has been doing:
1. When the church opened the preschool in 2000, there was an average of three shoot-outs a day in the immediate vicinity. Kids and parents would often barely escape them on the way to or from the school. The church began to pray that God would bring "peace that passes all understanding" to the neighborhood, and one day a whole set of undercover police men showed up and managed to take away most of the gang members. Since then, the whole area has been much safer.
2. A huge fire destroyed most of the slum a few years ago. Hundreds of people were left homeless, and the church provided them with food, shelter, and hope. As a result of that occurrence, and the continual services the church/preschool provide to the area, all those involved are held in high respect in a neighborhood where respect even for your own family is relatively rare.
3. The preschool was originally happening in three small houses on a plot of land donated by a friend of the pastor's. However, the buildings were barely functional. Through old business associates, the pastor has gained grant after grant allowing them to tear down the old buildings and create new church and classroom space. They went into the project without a cent to their name, and God has already provided several million reais (Brazilian currency - currently a real is worth about 50 cents). And get this - none of the donators are Christians! While we were there, the vice-consul of the Japanese embassy here in São Paulo visited to see what the project was like and make a final decision about whether to donate all of the furniture necessary for the church and school, including a couple rooms of triple bunkbeds for visitors.
4. The leadership of the project discovered that if they provided full scholarships for kids to go to the pre-school, people did not respect what they were being offered. But if they charged SOMETHING - be it R$ (reais) 50, or some labor at the school or on the construction project, each month, people began to take what they were offering seriously and really appreciate it. This has once again created relationships of dignity and respect between those who work at the school/church and the neighborhood.
5. A little boy at the preschool was born with a huge head and a tiny, malfunctioning body. One day, God told one of the workers at the school that he wanted to heal the boy. They prayed for him, and he was completely healed. I got to meet and play with the little boy. If you saw him today you would never know there had ever been anything wrong with him.
These are just a FEW of the miraculous stories we heard about the way God is working in that neighborhood. As I studied sociology at Wheaton, we talked often about how the coming of God's Kingdom transforms not only individuals, but the context in which they live. I never before had seen this reality in such dramatic, clear ways as I did last week. May God's name be ever praised, His will be done, His Kingdom come.
I pray that all of us would turn to God when circumstances are beyond us, and as a result, be able to rejoice in the work He does.
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