Progress of Samaritan Strategy projects among high school students

CLEITON & ELLY OLIVEIRA – January Ministry Update

Thank you – Your prayers, friendship, and support encourage us to move forward with new strength in 2017.  Thank you for sharing this calling and for walking with us in obedience to God.

Brazil – Deeply touched by a tragedy in the city of Campinas, we invite you to pray for Brazil.  On New Year’s Eve, a father killed his whole family and committed suicide, leaving a letter saying that his reasons were the situation in the country and his own circumstances.  He wrote, “The name of all this is ‘injustice’”.  May the Lord multiply opportunities where the light of Jesus will shine strong, bringing consolation, hope, and instruction to many people.
PROGRESS OF SAMARITAN STRATEGY PROJECTS
Harvest Brazil equips churches to demonstrate God’s will in every area of life.

Progress of Samaritan Strategy projects among high school students

  • Balneário Camboriú

Rosali is a PE teacher who, in her classes, comments about the blessings of having good health.  In the public school where she works, Rosali leads a prayer group with her students.  They talk about challenging situations, like having fathers in jail, unemployed, and family conflicts.  She shares: “A student came to me, gave me a hug, and said, ‘My grandpa came for a visit”.  This statement was full of meaning, because, after failing a suicide attempt, his grandfather went to a clinic to treat deep depression.  They prayed and God answered, healing the grandfather and making the visit possible.  When Rosali’s prayer group started, there were few prayer requests, now they fill out a blackboard, half with requests and half with thanksgivings.
Cefas and Rosali with family 
Gabriela mobilized 94 students in the private school where she works as an arts teacher.  They did 28 seed projects:

  • 10 with children: in orphanages and day-care centers, they donated diapers, food, hygiene items, toys, and spent quality time talking and playing with the children.
  • 6 with elderly people: in nursing homes they played chess, did manicure, sang, donated dolls, socks, a wheel chair and shared refreshments with the elderly.
  • 3 with abandoned pets: in shelters they donated pet food, medicines, cleaning supplies, and cleaned-up the area with dogs.
  • Beach clean-up: they walked in the central area of Balneário Camboriú collecting garbage.
  • Fund raising for children with autism in collaboration with the Association of Parents and Friends of Children with Autism.
  • Awareness campaigns: they created, showed and distributed banners and pamphlets with educational messages about two topics, the dangers of using cell phone while driving and the importance of donating blood.
  • Collecting cooking oil to be recycled into soap and detergent.
  • With the topic “compassion”, one student did three seed projects.  She donated part of her hair to the Association for Cancer Patients to make wicks, had a conversation and donated a meal to a homeless man, and donated clothes and shoes to needy children.
Cleiton, Gabi & Diógenes
  • Londrina

Edina, Nilza and Steve trained theology students of a Presbyterian University.  After studying the topic “The Irreducible Minimum of God’s Law”, they decided to help a 15-year-old boy.  He lived in a very violent district, suffering from social anxiety disorder, keeping himself locked in his room, with no contact with his family nor friends. Jorge visited and fixed a meal for him, shared the good news of Jesus and prayed for his restoration. In the following week, he repeated the visit and brought Edina and Nilza with him.  Together, they fixed another meal for the boy. Edina brought a kite and invited him to play with it. Nilza brought a cake especially made for him and his family. In that weekend, the boy accepted Jesus in his heart and left home to play with the kite! Jorge is discipling the boy and his parents.
Steve’s training
  • Bahia

Lêda, a pedagogic coordinator of a public school, had students that complained of stomach pain due to hungry.  With the help of her church, they gave food and bought a pair of crutches for a boy (the victim of an accident with a drunken motorcyclist).  In the same school, a group from the church did an event with music, drama, Bible teaching, and a talk about the dangers of child abuse.  The lyrics of their song was a cry to God in the middle of hardships.  The children responded in positive ways and a girl — abandoned by her mother and raised by neighbors– gave her life to Jesus.  The group prayed for her and manifested the grace of God in her life.  Some parents participated and expressed their joy to see such an event for the first time in that town.

Diogo, a missionary in Bahia, said, “Something that has always been our concern is the challenge to migrate from a theoretical basis of biblical truths to a more practical and active basis in the real context of day-to-day life. With this in mind, we intensified our prayers for the church and saw the Harvest training as an answer from God to which we should respond. Since then, we’ve practiced these truths with wonderful results.”
School event in Bahia, Diogo speaking

Prayer Requests

We pray for the multiplication of churches that are able to bring the healing presence of Jesus to all social sectors of their communities.  We thank the Lord for our Harvest Brazil workers serving in schools, may the Lord protect and keep the doors open to spread the gospel among students and educators.  We pray for families facing hardships, especially the relatives of those who died in Campinas, including our team member, Pastor Sergio Kaoru.  With him, may the Lord give wisdom to pastors, helping them to share God’s consolation and direction to many who are desperate. Aware of this great need, may the churches continue to participate in supportive and collaborative ways.

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