Doing Something: Reaching out to the Homeless (2)

There has been a breakthrough recently in regard to reaching out to the homeless. Not something initiated by our own church, sadly, but another church has started a regular soup run on a Friday night. Our church has agreed to work in partnership with them and P. has gone out on a Friday night on several occasions with a team of young men that changes each week. Now that he is familiar with the routine he intends to take other people from our church with him in the future. Not only has P. been able to help with the giving out of soup but he has been able to pass on donations of food for the church to use in preparing the meals and more recently, blankets.

The Salvation Army received a massive donation of brand new blankets to be given out to the homeless, particularly needed in the winter months. Our own church was given 40 blankets to distribute and P. took some of them with him the last time he helped with the soup run. As he had permission from the men to take publicity photos I feel I can share them with you here (see side bar). You will notice from the photos that some of the men have large wooden carts with them. These are used to collect cardboard. P. learnt that they can sell 1kg of cardboard for 30 centavos (that is about 10p). How much cardboard do they need to collect in order to buy a loaf of bread which is about R$ 4,00 (about £1.45)? No wonder I see these men walking up and down the street throughout the day - they seem to be the hardest working men in Sao Miguel.

P. had more success in giving out the blankets than I did. I saw the lady with the blanket (see previous blog) walking along the street opposite our church hall so I quickly grabbed a blanket and crossed the street to give it to her. Her own blanket was grey and dirty and I was holding a brand, new, clean pink blanket. She had stopped to beg food from the bar opposite our church and when I offered her the blanket she refused it. I asked the young girl from the bar to explain to her in portuguese that the blanket was a gift and I wanted her to take it and I left the blanket with her. I don't think she managed to give her the blanket either and of course, she did not return it to the church. In fact, later that evening while I was giving out Rumos ( the Brazilian War Cry) in the street, the owner of the bar came and asked if I had any more blankets. I explained that the blankets were only to be given to the homeless and he said that he would, indeed, be giving them to the homeless! I found it very difficult to believe him and said that The Salvation Army would be distributing the blankets and I could not give any to him. I then took the opportunity to invite him to our meetings but he began to wander across the road back to his bar.

We are so pleased that a neighbouring church has begun this soup run because it gives us a stronger link with the homeless on the street. We have plans to develop this work further but we know we will need to do alot of planning before we can put it into action. In the meantime, we will continue to support the work of the Friday night soup run and pray that God will open more doors of opportunity for us.

An unexpected visitor

A few weeks ago, during the last ten minutes of the Thursday night holiness meeting, a man ran into the church whilst people were praying for each other in pairs. He lent on the back bench and in a breathless voice said, 'Someone help me, please'. I asked the Sergeant Major, G, to speak with him and G took him into another room.

Some of the women stopped praying and became very concerned. The man was obviously running away from someone and we wondered if someone else or a group of people were going to follow him into the hall. I asked C if we should close the doors which are always wide open during every meeting but she said that we should leave them open because we do not know what this man might do.

After the meeting was over, I locked the church and came to the front gate where two of the women were laughing. They told me that the Sergeant Major had taken the frightened man home. I asked them why they were laughing and they said that the man had been running away from his wife!

A tragic event on the Avenida.

It is not very often that you can thank God that you were ill but half way through last week I realised that it was probably good that my family and I were in our apartment at tea-time last Saturday and it was because I was feeling unwell.

We had planned to visit some friends and have a meal together but I had felt very flu-ey since Thursday and by Saturday morning I just couldn't get out of bed. So, reluctantly P phoned and cancelled. I slept until 4:30pm and P and A went to the market. They were back by 5;00pm and I joined them to watch a DVD. I prayed that I would feel well enough on Sunday to go to church because I had lots of people to talk to and the new Bible Study groups were going to have their first session.

When I woke up on Sunday I still felt unwell but all the flu-ey symptoms had disappeared and I felt well enough to go to the hall. During the morning meeting the Sergeant Major spoke to me. He told me that on Saturday evening the father of the man who lives in the house next to the hall had been shot and killed on the Avenida. When I had the time I googled the news story to find out the details and it was true. The 68 year old business man had left his Auto Parts shop at 6:30pm on Saturday and got into his Corsa. As he drove up to the traffic lights a man on a motorbike stopped and shot at him through the glass of the back seat window. The shot killed him. This happened on the Avenida, very close to where we live. If we had visited our friends that day we would probably have been arriving home at that time.

I cannot say if God saved us from witnessing or being involved in this tragedy but I do know that because I was ill we were all safe in our apartment at the time that it happened and for that I can thank God.

How can a person cope with the sudden, traumatic death of a loved one? The man who was killed had lived in Sao Miguel for 38 years and was well known in this area. His son, daughter in law and 7 year old grandson live in the house next to our church. I prayed that God would open the door so that I would have the opportunity to offer some love and support. My first few attempts bore no fruit but on Sunday I asked G to come with me and together we rang the bell. The son came to the gate and opened it to us and we talked together at the entrance to the house. He gladly received the card and plant that I offered to him on behalf of the church members and he said that he would give them to his mother who is 64 years old. As I struggled to speak in Portuguese he told me that he could speak some English and so the door was open for me to bring words of support and comfort to him.

We don't know why this tragedy has happened and why the man on the motorcycle would want to kill a 68 year old businessman but we do know that we do not want it to happen again. So, not only are we praying for the family who are bereaved, but we are also praying that God will bring peace and safety to this neighbourhood.

Brazilian Beggars

Last Wednesday was a cold day in Sao Paulo so when I went to my portuguese class at Mackenzie University I wore the jacket that P gave me for my birthday last year. It made me a target for beggars who tend to ask the more smartly dressed pedestrians for money because they assume that they have more money than the less smartly dressed pedestrians.

As I walked back to the metro from the university I was stopped by a small, middle aged woman who told me a long story about her daughter who was sick. I explained that I couldn't understand everything she was saying because I only speak portuguese a little. She summed everything up for me in one English word, 'Money'.

In these circumstances I always follow the example of Peter in the New Testament and I said, 'I can't give you any money but I do have Jesus. Can I say a prayer for your daughter?' The woman walked away as soon as she realised that I wasn't going to give her any money but her son and daughter looked surprised and a little interested. The teenage girl was wearing a face mask and her brother explained that she had a problem with her stomach. I don't know if that was true but I said I would pray for them in the street if they were willing. So, as I was praying for the young girl her mother continued to beg from other passers by and her brother stood beside her in support. The young girl closed her eyes and I prayed a very simple prayer in my simple portuguese that God would heal her and that she would know the power of the Holy Spirit in her life. I left her with a hug and a promise to continue to pray for her which I did as I continued to walk down to the metro.

As I was praying I asked God if I had done the right thing and I received a challenge. I have prayed with alot of beggars in the past two years who, I suspect, humour me while I am praying in the hope that they will receive something at the end of the prayer. I felt God saying it is good to pray for people but instead of just witnessing to Jesus why not ask them to put their own faith in Jesus? What really brings life changing power into a person's life? It's when they themselves put their trust in Jesus, repent of their sin and accept His forgivenes and love. When they are fully given over to Him then He is able to work in their life in an amazing and powerful way. I can be absolutely sure of that because that is what Jesus has done for me.

Metro Rage! Part Two

In recent years I have come to realise that I need God to help me with the issue of anger.

It became even clearer to me on the day that a mob of Brazilians pushed their way into the train at Brás as I was attempting to get out of the train with a suitcase in one hand and the hand of my little boy in the other threatening to lose contact with him. I shouted, ´Stop!´several times in English before I realised that I would be more effective if I was shouting in portuguese! So, I began to shout, ´Pare´and eventually we were able to leave the train. But I had completely lost it and I felt a mascara smudge of emotion afterwards.

I think the Holy Spirit may have been doing some work in me because today I was back at Brás and I could see that there was a crowd ready to push their way onto the train as we slowed to a halt at the station platform. As the doors opened and the crowd surged forward with no consideration to the people in front of them trying to leave the train, I found myself saying, `Com Licença´(Excuse me). This lasted a few seconds until someone banged hard into my shoulder and I said, ´Come on, let´s show some manners people!´in my best English accent, not caring whether they understood or not.

I am not sure how close to holiness that is, but I did feel a little calmer and I only held the grudge against the person who banged into me until I reached the top of the escalator!

Reaching out to the homeless

Every day we see homeless people on the streets of Sao Miguel and every day I remember that we are The Salvation Army so shouldn't we be doing something about it?

In the UK The Salvation Army has Lifehouse Centres which provide professional help and support for people who, through different life circumstances, find themselves homeless or suffering with an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Whilst working in the UK whenever I met someone with a need in this area it was a fairly easy task to link them up with the nearest Salvation Army Centre. It is different here.

In Brazil The Salvation Army has many social projects but they tend to work mainly with children and adolescents. This is also a great area of need in this country where the population has become accustomed to the fact that hundreds of children live on the streets and thousands upon thousands of them live in favelas (shanty towns). The Salvation Army here is doing a valiant work through education and child care to help improve the circumstances of these children. However, there is so much more that needs to be done and there are very few other organisations doing it.

So, when I meet a person who is homeless in Sao Miguel my first problem is that my portuguese is not good enough to have a conversation with them and my second problem is that I have nothing to offer them in terms of a solution. Having said that I cannot do nothing so I have been trying to reach out to the person under the blanket (see earlier blog) who seems to live on the streets around my own apartment block. My first attempt was useless. It was a hot, sunny day and I thought I would give her a drink. As I came closer I could see that the person is, in fact, a woman who may not be as old as she looks. I spoke what I hoped were words of kindness in portuguese and put a carton of juice into her hand. Her eyes were crusted over and when I saw that she couldn't see I tried to open the carton for her but this startled her and she ran away. I began to walk after her but as she settled down near a crowded bus stop I decided that I would not like to create a scene so I walked on. There have been two more occasions when I have been able to simply place a carton of juice or a bag of fruit in her hand saying, 'Hello, this is for you', and walked away. I hope that she will grow to recognise my voice and maybe one day we will be able to offer her more help.

We have a few people who come once a month to pick up a food parcel from the church building. They just want to take the food and go. We suspect they sell it, certainly J is using it to buy drugs, but if I can maintain this monthly contact with them maybe one day we will be able to offer them more help. At the very least we pray for them by name and I believe all prayer is powerful and effective.

For the past two weeks we have had some meals left over from Alpha and so P. along with Cadet G. has taken a bag of about 10 meals out onto the streets on a Sunday afternoon. It hasn't been difficult for them to find people who are hungry and living on the streets.

We have also started a Sunday Breakfast Club for children who come to Sunday School. A couple of months ago the Sunday School leaders told me that some of the new children were complaining of being hungry half way through Sunday School and they discovered that they had not yet eaten anything that day. So, they now provide bread and hot chocolate at 10am on a Sunday. Interestingly, the Sunday School has increased in number since we began doing this!!

So this is it so far. Compared to the organised and professional work that The Salvation Army is doing in the UK it is not really very much. However, we need to start somewhere and we are praying that God will guide us into a clear understanding of how we are to focus our mission in this area.