Rocinha

Hey everyone! I hope this email finds you all full of joy in the grace of our Lord Jesus.

I wanted to give you a few updates with the Charlotte Eagles youth tour. We have spent the past couple days serving a baptist church in Rocinha, a favela on the west side of Rio. Rocinha is the largest slum in Latin America...estimates are between one hundred and two hundred thousand people. Worse, the numbers are vague and under-estimated as the government hopes to deal with it by not dealing with it; not admitting its severity. We are staying at a baptist church which lies just inside the slum...which rises up the entire face of a mountain. People stacked upon people; shacks stacked upon shacks. It is surreal.

I have never worked with such an amazing group of young people. I simply stand in awe of them. These guys and girls have a maturity far beyond their teenage years and wisdom that can only come from the Holy Spirit living inside them. They are committed to prayer, tireless in their witness to everyone they meet, responsible, kind, loving and full of joy for the Lord. The clinics and games have been successful and both teams are playing and working; united in Christ.

Prayer requests for the kids:

...that God continues to renew their strength everyday and gives them rest at night (we are sleeping on the church floor...it is pretty cold at night...and there is no hot water for showers!)

...that God continues to break their hearts for Him and for His call on their lives!

...that they continue to shine with the light of Jesus to this very oppressed, strickened part Rio.

...that God keeps them healthy, rested and safe.

Prayer requests for the leaders:

...that God keeps us at the foot of the cross; enabling us to teach, guide and lead His children and His people.

...that God restores our strength everyday, keeps us healthy and fills us with His Holy Spirit.

Prayer requests for the people of Rocinha:

...that lives are changed and hearts broken in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

...that God provides for the basic needs of the people in this slum.

...that God breaks hearts and opens eyes among the leaders of Rio and the surrounding areas so that lives can be radically changed here in Rocinha.

...for the baptist church here in Rocinha, Pastor Geraldo and the other church leaders to continue in patient perseverance, the work that God has bestowed upon them.

Romans 8:37-39

God bless you all! In His Love, Jess