Existing in a life without hope- the mothers of the next generation.
The community of Oitão Preto has always had a large number of pregnant girls and women. Due to the harsh reality of the community, their reality is far from simple. These women are very much on God’s heart!
Melanie, who works with pregnant girls in Aquiraz, also as part of YWAM Fortaleza, came to see the reality of Oitão Preto. Her aim being to get to see for herself the desperate reality there, and see how God wants to use her experience to reach the girls who live (if you can call it living) in this community, be it working directly with them, or helping give valuable information to the staff who faithfully go into the community week after week.
Here she shares a bit of what she experienced:
“Last week I went along with the team from YWAM that visits a big favela [Oitão Preto] every week. I had been asked to come along to see how I could help them with the pregnant teens they see there. The favela is close to the tourist area, and so there are many prostitutes and street children/ teens that live in this favela. The situation here is really difficult. In the short time I was there I met at least 3 pregnant girls, often still doing their ´programs´ (prostitution) in spite of their big bellies; they’re still on drugs (glue, solvents/crack), and they’re not doing any prenatal care (which is for free). The girl I spoke to was already 23, and pregnant with her 4th child. She was obviously on some kind of substance and didn’t care a bit about her pregnant belly and what was inside it (her own words). She has no idea how long she had been pregnant, but she already decided to simply leave her child at the maternity of the hospital. It is obvious that there is a lot of work to be done here, and I am thinking and praying about how I can help the team that works in this area almost daily. Unfortunately we had to leave early as they started fighting (physically). This is a totally different world, and you can’t imagine it if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes. The situation here is very different from that of the community in Aquiraz where I am used to working, so it is a really big challenge.”
Pray for the work with these girls. They are giving birth to the next generation and we are able to impact how these children will grow up!
Pray for Melanie as she seeks God for the way forward with regards to this.
And pray that God would raise up a strong team of people to minister to these girls who don’t really live, they just exist, trapped in a life that is so dark they have lost all hope!
Marcadores:
Lost girls.
One good development is that Nadia has opened her home for us to come in and do a group with girls involved in prostitution. Many of these girls live with her, and so it’s a great opportunity to reach them where they’re at. It’s not really a formal discipleship group, as it’s more a matter of coming in and praying and chatting, but then that is discipleship in a nutshell really. The girls and women here have a lot of hurt and are very weary, and it takes a long time to win their trust. We need real discernment and strategy to know how to make a difference in their lives and get beyond the many barriers they have put up to protect themselves.
One of the girls we have known for a long time, Lisa who is 19, lives with Nadia at the moment. She comes from a very difficult background and has been involved in prostitution since she was a teenager. She is now pregnant and close to giving birth. When we met her again last week she told us she’d been at home for a long time, which brought joy to our hearts, yet sadness in seeing her back. However, her explanation was that being in Oitão Preto she is closer to a project run by Catholic nuns which works with pregnant girls, and can easier get help when the time comes. She has shown a genuine desire to change her life many times, and we really hope that maybe becoming a mother might be the thing that really gives her the strength to fight.
Pray for:
* for the discipleship group with the boys
* to know how to get the girls involved in the discipleship group
* for the times at Nadia’s house, that we can win the trust of the women
* for Lisa as she becomes a mother and for a change in her life
“I know if He didn’t change my life I would be dead now!”
On Friday we took Nadia, the mother of a boy who also lives at Davis Lar, to visit her son. They are also from Oitão Preto, and when Camilla saw her she came over. To those of us who have worked with Camilla over the years the transformation in her life is amazing. She’s gone from being a very violent and angry girl, to becoming a girl who loves Jesus and is passionate about Him. And so for Nadia, who remembers her as that violent and angry little girl, the change must seem almost unreal. It was with great authority that Camilla looked Nadia in the eyes and said: ”Woman, you need to get out of this life! This isn’t a life for you to be living and it will just lead you to death. Let Jesus free you like He did to me. I know if He didn’t change my life I would be dead now!” As Nadia’s eyes filled with tears she could see a miracle of God in Camilla, and also a glimmer of hope for her own life. Pray that this hope would grow in Nadia's life and that she would dare to believe that Jesus loves her and wants to forgive her
Be praying for Camilla and Nadia and their families.
Pray for the work in the community Oitão Preto.
Pray for Andrew and Claudia leading the work of SHINE, and their faithful volunteers.
And pray for more and more of God's light to SHINE!
Transfomation/Transformação
Shine Team
Discipulado/Discipleship
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- YWAM Urban Missions Fortaleza My Father's House
- Youth With a Mission(YWAM) in Fortaleza has an Urban face! get to know our ministries and dreams for the big urban centres! Jovens Com uma Missão (JOCUM) tem uma cara urbana! Conheça os nosso ministérios e nossos sonhos para as grande centros urbanas.