We are home! We got home last Friday after a long flight from Rio De Janeiro. Our time in Brazil has been incredible! People here keep asking us how Brazil was and that is one of the only responses we can give. The whole DTS did so well there and it was very rewarding for us to be leading a group like that. Ministry was like cutting through butter because of God, and we tangibly felt the prayers that people poured into our time in Brazil. Really, it made such a huge difference to have a lot of people praying for us, and for that we are thankful.
We have been waiting to share a story with you guys until we got back to keep it as a surprise....so here it is!! I know it is a little long, but I promise if you read the whole thing you'll be glad you did :). It takes time to tell from the heart a small piece of what God did on our outreach. Again, we are so grateful for your prayers. We feel like this was a total divine appointment of which you are a part, also.
This is a picture of a lady named Rosana (pronounced Hozana), and her husband. We met her in Curitiba, Brazil, in the south. We did a soccer ministry in the mornings there, and then visited the parents of the boys that came to play in the afternoons. So one day, we were walking around the poor community with our ministry contact, and felt like God was leading us to go Rosana's house. We found out quickly that she was very upset with something that was going on in her life: she had recently been told she would die of cancer within the year. She told us that she was going to the hospital at the end of the week to sign a document refusing further treatment, as the doctors gave her little hope of it making any difference. So we prayed for her there and then invited her to a weekly worship service that the YWAM base was having. She showed up with two of her sons, and we all prayed for her at the end of the service. She seemed to appreciate it, but left without saying anything. The next Monday we visited her to see how she was doing, and she was very excited to see us. Through the translator we found out that her doctor had run tests and scans again and came back completely dumbfounded. He was confused at the fact that there was NO CANCER IN HER BODY!!! Rosana told him that she had been prayed for the night before and that it felt like fire had gone through her body as we were praying. She told us that she slept through the night after we prayed for the first time in forever, without pain, because God healed her of cancer. Needless to say the doctor was stunned, we were stunned, and she was incredibly grateful that God gave her life again where death was coming to take it away. It was so exciting and wonderful to celebrate what God had done with her and her family that day!
There were many more things that happened on this outreach, but this is definitely a taste of what it was like in Brazil. We love this country and would go back again any day! Feel free to call us or email us if you want to hear more about the trip. There will be a ton more pictures to come. Check out our Facebook pages as well for pictures.
Love,
Jason and Erika
