“Good
afternoon sir. May I present you with a
red card?”
A little hesitant, the man with his
yellow soccer jersey stops and looks at us. “Hmm… What did I do to deserve a
red card?”
“Hopefully nothing…” comes the answer,
“but we are alerting people about the fact that during big events like the World
Cup thousands of children, teens and women are trafficked and forced to fulfill
the demand for prostitution. We want to stop this…”
 |
| Johan explaining the red card |
With a large group of young people, we distributed
red cards to many of the fifty thousand supporters who came to see one of the
soccer games during the Confederations Cup. Add to this the tens of thousands
of people who went to the streets, the exact same week, for protesting against
political issues. We had an enormous
crowd to reach. What had started as a protest against prices of public
transportation soon became a platform for protesting against corruption, for
better education, healthcare, etc.
The protests and manifestations
continued in our city, Belo Horizonte, and all through Brazil for more than two
weeks. Especially in the beginning, people were very open to receiving the red
cards, discussing the issue, and also reading the gospel messages we handed out
to them.
Praying
and Evangelizing
During the Confederations Cup (which is
really a test drive for the World Cup next year) the city arranged for big
screens to be placed in various strategic city squares to show the games to
thousands of people. This idea did not work
out. The people didn’t come to watch, as
most went to participate in the protests!
We also had planned to target one of
those squares, close to a prostitution area, for evangelism and distribution of
red cards, but we saw we had to change strategies. We decided to join the
manifestation, while they were still peaceful, to be on the streets among the
people, praying and evangelizing. The team from our DTS (Discipleship Training
School) decided to spend every evening worshiping and praying in public at the
central city square. Several evenings we went out with the whole base. It
reminded me of many years ago, when we established the base, and would go out
at night together with our staff to reach out to street kids living in those same
downtown city squares.
Expecting
Hundreds of Teams
Overall, we had an effective practice
run for the World Cup next year. We are expecting hundreds of international and
national evangelism and compassion teams to come to all of the 12 host cities of
the World Cup Brazil. We look forward to showing the love of God expressed in
proclamation, compassion and justice.
Korean
in São Paulo and
French in Switzerland
Straight after these very intense weeks,
Johan and I had to travel to do a series of teachings. Johan went to teach in a
Korean DTS (Discipleship Training School) in the city of São Paulo,
and I went to Switzerland to teach in a combined school about Children at Risk.
Part of the students came from French speaking countries in Africa, so my
classes had French translation, while Johan’s teachings were translated into Korean!
We enjoy these opportunities so much. It
is wonderful to be able to pass on some of the things we have learned over the
years to young people from other cultures. Especially if we can encourage them to stay
close to God, trust Him with their lives and ministries, and walk in the
perfect plans He has for them.
 |
| Jeannette with the leaders of the school in Switserland |
Vacation
in Holland with Davi and Dilma
A nice detail about my trip to
Switzerland was the fact that I could pass through Holland and stay there for
two weeks, exactly during the time that Davi and Dilma had their summer
holidays as well. Holland experienced a rare tropical, Brazilian summer, and we
had a great time together.
It was wonderful to see how much Davi’s
health has improved. His kidney function was only 15-20% at the beginning of
this year, but now has improved to 50%. God has really worked a miracle. Davi was much less tired, didn’t tremble
anymore, and enjoyed little pleasures again like a nice cup of coffee or a sweet
desert. While at home, with my iPod playing soft worship music most of the day
in the background, I heard him softly singing or humming along with the music a
number of times. We are so thankful to God and for all who prayed for Davi!
 |
| Dilma and Davi |
Dilma’s
Cultural Adaptation
Dilma is still very much in the process
of adapting to the Dutch culture. She moved to Holland in November of last
year, but still needs to learn many things that are typical Dutch. Although she
grew up with us, a Dutch family, living in Holland is quite different.
Both Dilma and Davi have intellectual
limitations, however, Dilma is picking up Dutch sign language pretty fast. The staff
of the therapeutic community where Dilma lives has really invested in teaching
her to communicate in sign. A couple of days a week Dilma works on a chicken
farm where the focus is on creating activities for deaf people. She also enjoys
going to church and conferences where there is always translation into sign. When
compared with Davi, we can see how much more he has adjusted to living in
Holland. Of course Davi has already been in Holland for 5 years and Dilma not
yet for one year. Please pray for her adaptation.
Second
Book
I recently started to write our second
book. This one will focus on the classes we give at the Children at Risk Schools.
This is going to be a big project. With all the evangelism and compassion teams
we expect during the World Cup and all the traveling and teaching we have lined
up, it may take a while before the book is finished. Right now the goal is to publish it by 2015.
A
Teaching Marathon
During the next few months we have a
very intense schedule of traveling and teaching. A true marathon! Firstly we go
to Mexico City to visit a ministry that works with girls who are rescued from
sexual exploitation and human trafficking. From there on we will go to a
conference of the University of the Nations. The Children at Risk School, which
we started 24 years ago, is also registered at this University.
Then we plan to teach at the Children at
Risk School here in Belo Horizonte and in October at another Children at Risk
School in Curitiba in the South of Brazil. On our 35th wedding
anniversary, the 10th of October, we will be giving a seminar of Human
Trafficking and sexual exploitation.
In November we will go on to India to
speak in a Compassion & Justice Conference in Mumbai, and stay there for
the rest of the month to teach in the Children at Risk school there. On the
trip back we have a short stopover in Holland again to hopefully see our eighth
grandchild, who is expected to be born around that time into the family of
Pieter and Melissa.
We feel so blessed with all our children
and grandchildren. We thoroughly enjoy
them! We will then return to Brazil where we will participate
in a national staff conference. Just a
few days before Christmas we expect to be home to celebrate the holiday season
with our two daughters, son-in-laws and five grandchildren who live in Brazil,
together with Dilma who will come for a month holiday to Brazil too.
Please pray for sustained health during
all this travelling. Also pray for wisdom and anointing as we speak and teach.
Thanks for standing with us in missions.
We pray God’s rich blessing on all of
you.
Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Prayer
points:
- · Please thank God with us for the great time of evangelism we had during the Confederations Cup. Pray for the preparations of the reception of hundreds of evangelism and compassion teams during the World Cup in 2014.
- · We thank God for the improved health of Davi. Pray for the further adaptation of Dilma in Holland.
- · We give thanks to God for the various Children at Risk schools in Brazil and around the world. Pray for the students in those schools and for us as we travel and teach.
