Street ministry in Heliopolis

On Thursday, we had a good time of corporate prayer in the morning. In the afternoon, our SEALS groups split up to cover the two sides of the favella. One group headed back toward the soup kitchen and spent more time visiting from house to house. We ran into many old friends, including one woman who told Rachel that after she had prayed last year for her two-year old girl to be healed of pneumonia, she was healed and is fine!
The other group took to the streets, prayer walking the areas surrounding the church where we reside, and, as the Lord led, praying for people. On one particular occasion, we climbed a steep stairway four stories above the ground to minister to an elderly woman who welcomed us into her house. She told us she had been serving Jesus for 16 years, but she was the only Christian in her family. Tiana, Amy, Theresa and Michelle all joined her in praying for the salvation of her other family members. She was very encouraged after the prayer time and urged us to return soon.

In the evening, Nikki led the team in a time of communion. Desiring to go back out into the community to minister the love of Jesus, we prayed, asking the Lord for guidance about what kind of ministry to engage in that night. We felt led to go back to the area surrounding the soup kitchen and share a dance with the people, and then pray for people for healing. Theresa, Tiana, Rachel and Peter even did the dance a second time, inviting the children to join them in the dance. This was a hit with the people, and drew a bigger crowd. After the dance, Deanne, Andy and Michelle did the heart skit and Andy delivered the Gospel message. (Troy was our translator and did a wonderful job in Portuguese!) A number of people raised their hands at the salvation call to pray to receive Jesus into their hearts.

Dylan preached a message about God’s power to heal and then invited the community to bring anyone who was sick to the team for prayer. A woman came forward to testify to the crowd about how we had prayed for her son´s eyes last year, and he was healed. She is still very excited that Jesus healed him! (See picture from last year’s trip HERE) A good number of adults and children came forward to receive prayer for various injuries and illnesses. One teenager named Alex came forward for prayer. We have come to know him well the past three years, as he has spent a lot of time hanging around our team. When asked why he needed prayer, he explained that one of the veins going from his heart is too small, and because of this he couldn´t do some physical activities like playing soccer (a big deal here in Brazil!) Troy and Dylan prayed for him, and as Holy Spirit touched him he experienced God´s power and ended up laying on the ground for several minutes receiving from the Lord. We are believing that Jesus was healing his heart, and we look forward to hearing a good report! Everyone on the team had a great time loving on the children and praying for them.