This was the question one of the four teams of our students, who are on outreach for two months, asked in prayer one morning. As they listened for God’s answer, they received some very different impressions: a cross, love, thankfulness, popsicles and a bus stop…. Well, what do you make of that-- especially the last two items?!?
They ended up deciding to go to a local bus stop to give out free popsicles, with the message that Jesus paid a high price on the cross for our salvation, and that we may receive his love for free, just like this ice cream is free.
How wonderful it is to live for God!
“It was unbelievable what happened then,” Aline told us. “God took away our timidity, gave us the right words and used us! The sentences we said really affected the people deeply; some started to cry when we told them: Jesus loves you! And right there at the bus stop we were able to pray for some and lead them to the Lord, while they were still waiting in the line for the next bus!”
One after the other, the students were able to testify: “It is wonderful to live for the Lord! He wants to use us!”
Johan and I are so happy and thankful for everything the Lord is doing in the students and in us! It is very special to see young people giving their lives radically to God and then witness what God starts doing in and through them.
Students on outreach
While the students have been on outreach during April and May, we’ve had some time to help with the organization of a national YWAM leadership meeting that took place last week. We were also quite busy with one of our international students who became so ill that he had to stay in a hospital for a couple of weeks and finally needed to be repatriated to his home country. But even in those struggles, we could see God´s loving care and provision: a very helpful doctor and great support from his parents and the consulate. It was, of course, very disappointing that he couldn´t finish the training, but we are praying for full restoration and that everything will work together for the good.
While the students and staff are still on outreach, we have the rest of this month of May to finish final preparations for the Children at Risk school in Rio we´ll run during the months of June, July and August.
Besides the lectures in the classroom, we’re also planning some practical classes, where our 40 students will have the opportunity to practice their skills three afternoons a week in 7 different outreach locations in slums and the red light district. Especially with the Olympic Games coming our way in August, it will be so important to have some teams that can work against sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Johan and I went to visit some of these locations to talk with the leaders. It is great to see how the Lord continues to lead us and opens the doors!
“Peace full” favelas or slums?
In Rio de Janeiro there are around 800 slum communities. Some of these are not yet “pacificado” (in peace). This means that the police cannot enter these communities and that the local drug bosses are in charge. Young boys stand guard with big assault rifles on street corners and entrance ways into the communities. Drugs are openly displayed on plastic tables for sale. That business is going well is made obvious by the big bundles of banknotes that lay right next to the drugs.
The word “pacificado” means literally, “where peace has been established.” In “peaceful” slums, the army has taken over the slum community, often with great force using tanks, weapons, and lots of soldiers, starting a war against the ruling drug gangs. When the slum is taken back from the drug dealers, various police posts are put up, with heavily armed police officers. But even in the so-called pacificado slum communities, there is still lots of crime. An example is the Borel community where YWAM for the past 20 years has run a medical clinic, day care center and music school.
Tears
Last month in Borel, the police and local drug dealers engaged in a shooting directly in front of the green door of the community center. Two of our students had just left the house to go to the bus stop when they found themselves in the middle of the shooting! They were able to run back inside, where they joined the rest of the staff who had thrown themselves on the floor for safety. Together they continued their prayer and worship time laying down, all the while hearing the shots that were fired. All had tears in their eyes, and not just from the tear gas that entered the room through the windows. When they finally opened the door after more than an hour, they found the lifeless body of a 17-year-old drug dealer on the doorstep.
Looking at children through God´s eyes
Please pray for safety for us, our students and our staff. But pray also for those families in the slums who often don´t know any other reality than the constant warfare between gangs, or between the police and the gangs. Pray for the boys and girls who grow up in such an environment, that they will know God’s plans, “Plans for welfare and not evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11), and that those plans will become a reality in their lives.
We hope and pray that in August, at the end of the eight-month training program in Rio, the students will have learned to look at children through God´s eyes, and that many of them will continue to reach out to those “children at risk” in the long term… that they will have received enough information and inspiration to trust God more deeply and follow His guidance. We pray they will be open to starting new projects to reach children who need lots of help to reach God’s goals and plans for their lives.
Towards Asia
In October and November, we plan to be home in Belo Horizonte to teach in the Children at Risk (C@R) School there, as well as in Curitiba, a city in the south of Brazil.
In 2017 we have been invited to give the C@R seminar in China. Our goal is to train local workers, using the experience we have accumulated in the dozens of projects addressing the needs of children we have started and been involved in over the years.
In between: to Holland on a furlough!
But between the schools in Brazil and the ones in Asia in 2017, we plan to go to Holland for the months of December, January and February. We have 3 children and 3 grandchildren living there, as well as our big extended family of brothers and sisters. We will also be sharing with various churches and groups that are interested in missions.
We want to thank all of you who have been involved in our lives through your prayers, help and encouragement.
May the Lord bless you richly,
Love,
Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Prayer points
Johan and I went to visit some of these locations to talk with the leaders. It is great to see how the Lord continues to lead us and opens the doors!
“Peace full” favelas or slums?
In Rio de Janeiro there are around 800 slum communities. Some of these are not yet “pacificado” (in peace). This means that the police cannot enter these communities and that the local drug bosses are in charge. Young boys stand guard with big assault rifles on street corners and entrance ways into the communities. Drugs are openly displayed on plastic tables for sale. That business is going well is made obvious by the big bundles of banknotes that lay right next to the drugs.
The word “pacificado” means literally, “where peace has been established.” In “peaceful” slums, the army has taken over the slum community, often with great force using tanks, weapons, and lots of soldiers, starting a war against the ruling drug gangs. When the slum is taken back from the drug dealers, various police posts are put up, with heavily armed police officers. But even in the so-called pacificado slum communities, there is still lots of crime. An example is the Borel community where YWAM for the past 20 years has run a medical clinic, day care center and music school.
Tears
Last month in Borel, the police and local drug dealers engaged in a shooting directly in front of the green door of the community center. Two of our students had just left the house to go to the bus stop when they found themselves in the middle of the shooting! They were able to run back inside, where they joined the rest of the staff who had thrown themselves on the floor for safety. Together they continued their prayer and worship time laying down, all the while hearing the shots that were fired. All had tears in their eyes, and not just from the tear gas that entered the room through the windows. When they finally opened the door after more than an hour, they found the lifeless body of a 17-year-old drug dealer on the doorstep.
Looking at children through God´s eyes
Please pray for safety for us, our students and our staff. But pray also for those families in the slums who often don´t know any other reality than the constant warfare between gangs, or between the police and the gangs. Pray for the boys and girls who grow up in such an environment, that they will know God’s plans, “Plans for welfare and not evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11), and that those plans will become a reality in their lives.
We hope and pray that in August, at the end of the eight-month training program in Rio, the students will have learned to look at children through God´s eyes, and that many of them will continue to reach out to those “children at risk” in the long term… that they will have received enough information and inspiration to trust God more deeply and follow His guidance. We pray they will be open to starting new projects to reach children who need lots of help to reach God’s goals and plans for their lives.
Towards Asia
In October and November, we plan to be home in Belo Horizonte to teach in the Children at Risk (C@R) School there, as well as in Curitiba, a city in the south of Brazil.
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| In 2015 we gave a seminar in Thailand, teaching about reaching out to children at risk. |
In 2017 we have been invited to give the C@R seminar in China. Our goal is to train local workers, using the experience we have accumulated in the dozens of projects addressing the needs of children we have started and been involved in over the years.
In between: to Holland on a furlough!
But between the schools in Brazil and the ones in Asia in 2017, we plan to go to Holland for the months of December, January and February. We have 3 children and 3 grandchildren living there, as well as our big extended family of brothers and sisters. We will also be sharing with various churches and groups that are interested in missions.
We want to thank all of you who have been involved in our lives through your prayers, help and encouragement.
May the Lord bless you richly,
Love,
Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Prayer points
- Please pray for the students and staff that are still on their outreach.
- Thank the Lord for the children, young people and adults that have given their lives to the Lord over these last few weeks.
- Pray for the C@R school in Rio de Janeiro, that God will use the lectures and practical outreaches for His glory in the lives of the students and the children they will reach out to.
- Thank God for this wonderful group of staff and students, not just in Rio, but also in Belo Horizonte and Curitiba and other places where a C@R school is given.
- Pray for protection for us, students, staff and the kids and families in the slums.
- Thank God for the opportunity to be able to partner with churches and other organizations.
- Pray for the plans for China and Thailand next year.
- Give thanks for the opportunity we have to spend some time in Holland with family, friend and churches.
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