June 9, 2008

I received a prayer request from Pastor Magioli today about some young girls who attend the church in the community of Vila Nova.  I thought I would post it so that you can pray for their situations.

The first girl is Daniela who has not attended the church in over a year.  Pastor Magioli still visits her periodically and he said she seemingly has no desire to have anything to do with the Lord.  She made a profession of faith and went through the new believers class a few years ago.  She was faithful in the church for about two years and then suddenly stopped attending church. 

The other girl is Franciele and her family.  Their mother got involved in Macumba (a spiritualist religion) and abandoned the 9 children.  She left them with her drug addicted live in boyfriend.  He slipped further into his addiction when the mom left and began selling the few possessions the family had to buy drugs.  The oldest sister was taking care of the family, but could not get along with the live in boyfriend so she left home.  This left the remaining 8 children to be cared for by Franciele who is 13 and her 15 y/o sister.

The church has been helping them by providing food and many of the ladies from the church have been cooking for them and doing laundry.  Sadly, last week one of the little boys burned his face and Pastor had to take further actions.  The Dept. of Social Services has ordered the mom to live at home with the small children while Franciele and her 15 y/o sister have been sent to live with their biological father.  The church does not know where he lives and has been unable to make contact with the girls.  Even having been abandoned by their mother and facing much difficulty these girls along with all their siblings were in church regularly, walking about 3 miles round trip to get there. 

Please pray for these needs.  Sadly, this is everyday life for many families in the communities we are focused on.  They need Jesus and we are eager to be a part of bringing the Gospel to these dark places throughout Latin America.