Raquel

Saturday night Áudrey called me from Ubaúna. Here’s his report on Raquel:

Raquel went into cardiac failure on Thursday and the doctors worked on her for an hour, keeping her heart beating through CPR. After the beat was finally restored, they inserted an oxygen tube and put her on a breathing machine. They told the parents that it was only a matter of time, hours, before Raquel would die.

When the doctors came in of Friday morning, they were astonished to find her fully responsive. They removed her from the machine and she responded as though she’d never been sick! Unsure what was happening, they kept her in the ICU the rest of the day, knowing that she was going to take a turn for the worst.

Today [Saturday], they told the parents that they cannot explain what happened and they cannot justify keeping her in ICU any longer than tonight. They will put her in a regular room tomorrow [Sunday] and discharge her on Monday.

The doctors really are confused!

My, my, my… now isn’t that something.

Áudrey wanted every to know how appreciative he was for your prayers!

When Thanksgiving makes me cry

[This is a post from my blog on Friday for those who are following the activities in Ubaúna]

Yesterday was great! The perfect holiday: family, food and festivities.

Today, my heart hurts.

My friend and co-worker in Ubaúna, Áudrey, had emailed me on the eve of Thanksgiving with an urgent request. A 3-month old girl by the name of Raquel was dying of a severe infection. Áudrey had emailed, appealing to me to mobilize prayer warriors to pray in her behalf. It wasn’t just little Raquel dangling between life and death in the ICU. Her parents are brand new Christians. People believe they were cursed because they elected to follow Jesus and abandon the spirits they once worshipped. Little Raquel is proof that they are being punished.

Her illness is a battle between mighty powers.

Áudrey said he was choosing to believe in the miraculous and wanted us to participate in this battle with him.

Last night he sent me the following:

Elaine, the mother of Raquel, gave the baby water to drink from the [contaminated] reservoir. According to the doctors, this caused the infection. This led to pneumonia and strong seizures. Yesterday her breathing stopped and the doctors struggled for more than an hour to revive her. They were successful, but, she is now breathing only because she is hooked to a machine. Only God can cure her.

As bad as that is, let me tell you the rest of the story.

Rafael and Elaine, the parents, don’t have two pennies to rub together. If they are fortunate, they will manage a single “meal” each day (their “meal” would not meet our qualifications for the use of that word). The treated running water that used to come into their shanty neighborhood was cut off months ago by local politicians who didn’t like the way the neighborhood had voted in the last election. There are no wells. Elaine has to walk two miles to the local reservoir, which is highly contaminated, to get water.

She would normally boil it, but she can’t afford matches. So they drank the water.

What’s wrong with this picture?

We, blessed beyond our needs, Raquel dying because her parents can’t even afford matches.

People, this doesn’t have to happen. We can make a difference through simple things like this. But, are we so thankful for what we have that we turn our eyes from what makes us uncomfortable? Our pets receive better treatment than this Christian family.

As I said, my heart hurts…

An inconceivable ballet

Three years ago the idea of kids living in a inhumane conditions putting together a dramatic ballet/dance about a new life in Jesus was about as inconceivable as a pig flying. Six months ago it had improved somewhat to that of an elephant bobsledding.

Today, the impossible is happening! 

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Painted faces

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Expansion!

Sometimes things that you can’t even imagine happen. Things beyond your wildest dreams. Things that make your mouth drop open.

So it is today in Brasil and Gospel for Brazil.

Today, GFB is now operating in two different states, Ceará (Ubaúna) and Acre (pronounced Ak-kre). There is one church functioning in Ceará and two churches functioning in Acre. The churches in Acre have over 100 members and two full-time pastors. They will be officially recognized as part of Gospel for Brazil by the government after the first of the year, but are functionally cooperating with us for the common cause of the growth of the church.

Plans are being made for a meeting with the pastors in Ubaúna in January. The desire is to coordinate efforts and begin a leadership training process to benefit all the churches.

In the very near future we will be sharing more details and photos.

Is God good or what?!