January 5, 2009

A neighborhood that needs Jesus

Saturday we returned to the same area of the high city. We made a number of visits, and I was able to tell stories in two of them.

One interesting visit. A father was having trouble controlling his six-year old son so he picked him up and held him. It looked like they were playing for a minute, until the father screamed and dropped his son on the ground and swatted him in the face twice making his nose bleed. He then lifted up his own shirt to reveal a pretty serious looking bite mark.
Wow. We stood there for a minute, not sure exactly what to say.

In another home there was a woman who takes care of her children, her sister's children, and her neighbor's children. All together there are 9 or 10 of them. They live in extremely humble conditions.

In another visit, I was able to tell the story of Christ's death and resurrection. I'd been telling through a number of stories at this house. As always, more first time visitors came. The most interesting was a man in his 50's, drunk on cachaça (a brazilian moon-shine). He interrupted the story 3 times asking us to pray for Jesus, so he wouldn't get too hurt in the crucifixion.

In all of these families (broken families and blended families) there is poverty, there is illiteracy, there are relatives in jail, there are addictions to drugs and alcohol, there is violence, and there is sexual sin. There is also a yearning to escape and an attraction to Jesus.

Pray for us as we continue to bring the message of Jesus into the homes of these families.

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