As you may have heard we just had carnaval in Recife and Olinda (a city just north of Recife). Up to 5.6 million people enjoyed the festivities in both cities, including 400,000 foreigners! Some of our staff and local volunteers went to do a treasure hunt to find God's treasures, His people. At 8:30 am a group of 9+/- missionaries started worshipping and asking God to show us specific people or things like clothing to look for amongst the partying people. We wrote down what God shared with us and went out to look for these treasures. What God did through these encounters probably impacted us as much as it did for the people we met and prayed for! We saw people touched, remember their calling, healed physically and we got to pray for many members of the LGTBQ community.
One of the women we met suffered a stroke and could not feel her right arm or use her right leg normally. After our first prayer she started crying because suddenly, she felt the hand of one of our missionaries on her right arm. Something she did not feel before the prayer. After another prayer, she could lift up her arm and had greater movement in her right leg. We felt that God would continue healing her after this. As a team, we are incredibly grateful for what God did in these 4 days during carnaval. While still reminiscing over the time we experienced there, news reports started coming in that this had been the least violent carnaval Recife/Olinda has had in over 16 years!
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Until last month, we had a very special guest staying at our base. In one of our previous emails you might have read about a transgender person that became a man again. After his transition, he went to do a school with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and part of that school was to experience outreach at another base. So, he came to stay with us! This time was an incredible motivation for our Father’s love team and everyone at our base. Seeing the growth and transition he has gone through was amazing. During this time, we got to learn so much from him. He shared about the places where he had worked on the streets, the difficulties and challenges he has faced. He was glad to discover that we are not any different than we are when out on the street. It was an amazing time of laughter, bonding, and excitement for the future. He has just graduated from his program at YWAM and will continue to work with them in the next couple of years.
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This month, we also had our yearly staff retreat to reconnect, rest and focus on this new year. We are extremely blessed with this family. Our team works together, lives and hangs out almost 24/7. Therefore, it is important to be aligned and learn how to support one another. Through times of worship, games, teachings, and fun we learned a little bit more about ourselves and the One that sent us all to the same place!
Meanwhile, at our base in Philadelphia, we are building a caring and compassionate community with every project we do. Whether it is at our Thursday night dinners or our garden project. We are working hard on the piece of land behind a church in our neighborhood. Throughout this project, we have been able to connect with more and more local people and initiatives. Many of our neighbors have told us how great it is to see the transformation of this land as they all have memories of playing there when they were children. With this project we hope to recreate places in our neighborhood for people to connect and dream. 75% of the locals are living under the poverty line. With our garden project we are building small community gardens to help people get organic foods. Without means of transportation or money to pay for the bus, many people rely on small neighborhood stores for their food. These stores do not supply them with a healthy diet. This is why we are excited to get as many people involved as we can and have them be responsible for their own vegetables. We will keep you updated as this project continues.
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As you all know, we are going through a lot of changes with Vila Betania. The new house is officially in our name now and as of last week, Vila Betania has existed 4 years already! There is one thing we would like to ask all of you, and that is to really join us in prayer for all the girls, babies, staff and Nic and Rachael during this time. While dreams are coming true and our ministry is moving forward, the spiritual attacks are growing. Let's stand strong as a body of Christ and join us in prayer to sanctify everyone at Vila Betania:
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In the name of Jesus,
through the power of His blood,
I cut off all assignments of the enemy, all attachments.
Through the power of the Blood I also cut off burdens, curses, defilement, and anything of the dark realm/demonic.
In the name of Jesus the power of His Blood and Your Holy Spirit, Father, I ask you to release anointing, blessing, courage over the girls and to fill Vila Betania afresh with your Holy Spirit.
Fill everyone with the fullness of your love,
in the name of Jesus,
AMEN!
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