As I prepare to leave my family in the states and return to Brazil next month, there has been a story on my heart from the streets of Recife. Three nights a week, Shores of Grace sends teams to the parks and allies where many people live either alone or in gangs. Because there are an estimated 3 to 7 million homeless children in Brazil, recruitment by pimps into the sex trade can be as easy as picking them up off the streets. To counter this, we focus on building relationship with the street communities and offering a way out. Several of our girls in the safe house came to us this way. We paint nails and draw with the kids as they huff their glue. Sometimes we all play soccer. We pray for the sick, share snacks, and bring instruments to worship. Usually the bongo and guitar end up being passed around as various people from the homeless crowd emerge to lead a song. One night as we were leaving an older gentleman stopped our translator to share, “I want you to know how much it means to us that you come here. When you’re with us, we feel safe, we feel like we have a family. We all look forward to it, because we never had families. I tell you guys things I’ve never been able to tell anyone before. Not only do you show us God’s love for us, but you teach us to love and care for each other.”
This is one of my favorite testimones. Yes we see healings and feed the hungry, but these miracles are simply signs of the character and nature of Christ coming to be known among a population that previously expected only misfortune. I believe that as these communities continue to grow in the understanding of who their Father is, that the culture of the streets will begin to shift. There is currently an overwhelming amount of violence on the streets of Brazil. Many of the children we meet there are seeking refuge from abuse in their own home, many are orphaned or in gangs for protection. For them family and security are little more than dreams and foreign concepts. Their symptoms of prostitution and drug use are results of the injustices that led them there. But this does not have to be the end of their story. Even on the nights when I feel like I have little to give, God is faithful to shower them in His own affection and lay truths in their hearts. I love being present with these beautiful people.
The video below was shot at the park where we hold the outreaches described above.