These are some of the battles we’re facing…

ORPHANAGE:

Please pray for the future orphanage. We met with the developer hoping to at least get started on permits. He said it was pointless to go forward until we are recognized as a non-profit by the government here, as we are in the US. A lawyer has been working on that process for us, but it seems slow and endless. Please pray that God expedites what could be a very long and tedious process.

STREET WORK:

Pray for the street work. The dynamics of that work have changed greatly. There’s not the number of kids working the streets as there once was. Don’t be fooled into thinking things here are improving. They’ve just moved on, and we need to find them. We’ve lost count, but guess that about forty boys have been taken off the street and brought to the rehab. I would love to tell you that they’re all success stories, but that’s not the case. We seek for one lost soul, with the help and diligence of our Lord.

FAVELAS:

Pray for the work in the favelas. This work in the slums is ongoing. Along with the feedings, we have been doing all day first-aid care, either door to door or by setting up a table near our truck. We’ve been taking some of the teenagers from Aningas to help us. The conditions in the slums seem to become more desperate with time. There have been days when we have left the favelas and gone straight to the hospital with folks whose condition was beyond our help.

We had been purchasing medical supplies direct from a distributor. On our last visit, the owner informed her that the government had changed the rules and we will no longer be able to buy there. Please pray that the Lord finds us another resource.

ANINGAS & SUNDAY NIGHT GOSPEL:

Pray for Aningas. We have made some real inroads there. Many of the families have embraced us and are so thankful for the times when God, through us, has helped them. Satan is not pleased. There have been a couple of rumblings through the village that some are not pleased with these Americans. “Who do they think they are showing up and taking over?” God knows we’re walking a fine line. We do what we can, we help where we can, and we leave the politics of being accepted to God. It really has been humorous to watch God silence some of the naysayers using their own family members, who have started to attend on Sunday nights. Pray for Fatima, who is in the hospital. She recently began attending on Sunday nights, bringing her little daughter, Kathleen. Fatima’s mother is a devout Catholic and the loudest “rumbler.”

Our Sunday night effort has grown considerably. The kids are now rewarded for learning memory verses. We have changed our approach. We now focus on Bible verses rather than lessons. They need to understand that what we’re teaching is from God’s word. Some statements made they haven’t liked. They need to know that their argument is with God. When we show them what God says and where it is found, they have accepted the truth.