Chapter 7
7.
Saturday ran totally different than the other days. The youth were expected to get up for breakfast at eight. It was then off to Bola Da Neve for morning and afternoon training sessions led by Bill Johnson, these were to be the last. The reason for the early start was that the Brazilians didn't have work or school that day and so more people could come. During the night everyone went to a gigantic stadium for a huge concert with the Brazilian Christian band, Casa de David. Beyond those who had come as part of the Global Awakening Youth Ministry, there were two thousand people in attendance. It was estimated that 500 people were healed and 40 saved!
Sunday afternoon at 2:00, all who were a part of Sao Paulo's Global Awakening trip congregated in the counsel room which had been used for the orientation of the United States youth. The first thing they did was to split everyone up for that night's service. Randy Clark, Bill Johnson, and the interns were to be the speakers at different churches. The youth and leaders then could go with whichever speaker they wanted to. They didn't have to stay with their groups.
Once that was all figured out, Tom Ritolo asked for everyone to find a seat and to quiet down. Once everyone had settled down he started giving the total statistics for that first week of ministry. Physical healings, emotional healings, salvations,...they were all in the thousands! Wild applause filled the room. Young and old alike were ecstatic at the miracles God had done in the past week, and what was more, He had let them be part of it all!
"Christ did the same amount of miracles this one week as He did in the whole two weeks of last year's trip!" Tom Ritolo's brown eyes flashed with excitement. "How many do you think we'll see by the end of this trip?" More wild applause filled the room and it took several minutes before everyone quieted down.
When the clapping had ceased and everyone was ready to listen again, Tom Ritolo introduced Bill Johnson, who was to speak. Bill Johnson was probably in his early sixties, He was a wise and godly man. He gave a rousing sermon on taking Christianity out beyond the four walls of the church. Lydia had to shake out her wrist several times as she took hurried notes.
After he was finished, everyone was broken up into groups of three: a translator, someone who was confident, and a-not-so-sure person, to go out to minister to people on the streets. It took forty-five minutes for them to get all paired up and for instructions to be given. At last, though, Lydia, the translator Julianna, and another girl, Becky, who was probably about fifteen, headed out.
They first headed for the supermarket where they didn't see much happen. "Why don't we go to the mall? Here people are just getting what they need and hurrying on. At the mall more people are just hanging around," Julianna suggested after half an hour of being rejected.
"All right," Becky nodded her head. Her blond, curly ponytail bobbed up and down.
In the mall, they looked for people who didn't look too busy. "What about her?" Lydia questioned nodding toward a girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, and was standing near the escalators.
"Ok, how should I start out?" Julianna asked. The three stopped and huddled together to confer about the matter.
"If we don't go up soon she'll be gone," Lydia remarked, seeing the girl start to walk off in the other direction.
"Ok, ok, how about I ask if she has ever felt a touch from God, and if she'd like to?" Julianna said as the three started off after the girl.
"Sounds good," Lydia and Becky agreed.
"Oi," Julianna greeted the girl. She went on in Portuguese with the girl. Lydia guessed she was introducing them when she heard Julianna give their names and pointed to her and Becky.
"Her name is Emilia, and she would like to be prayed for."
"Great!" Becky gave her brilliant smile to Emilia.
So the three began to pray. They prayed for God to come with His love, power, and anointing. Emilia stared at them as though not quite sure what to think.
"Is she feeling anything?" Becky asked.
Julianna interpreted the question. "She says she feels something good, but she doesn't know what it is."
They started at it again, asking God to continue His work in her. Tears began to glisten in Emilia's brown eyes and slowly trickled down her tan cheeks.
Lydia watched Emilia as they corresponded with God on her behalf. In that huge mall, bustling with people, Heaven had started to come down to earth for one beautiful Brazilian girl. Jesus Christ's love was being revealed to her that day.
As Lydia watched, she got the sense that Emilia had a brother who was sick. Was it a word of knowledge or just a passing thought, Lydia wondered. It didn't seem like the time to share it so Lydia just kept on praying and waited for the right moment.
In the meantime a little girl about four or five came up and took a hold of Emilia's hand. She had jeans and a teal blue shirt on. She stared up at Lydia wonderingly. Lydia smiled down at her and waved.
The little girl tugged on Emilia's hand and prattled something in Portuguese. Emilia answered her and then turned to Julianna and said something. "This is her niece and she has to go now," Julianna explained. Emilia then hugged each of them.
Lydia watched as Emilia walked off with her niece. "Lord, let this be a major turning point for her," Lydia's heart called out. She internally kicked herself for not speaking up about the word or knowledge. Maybe they could have prayed more specifically then.
"She said she felt something good, and did you see she was crying?" Julianna was beaming with excitement.
They walked around awhile going from floor to floor. They eventually came up to a middle-aged woman who agreed to be prayed for. She said her name was Marcia. She had on jeans and a green shirt, with a low neckline. She had shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and a tan complexion.
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Marcia looked over her shoulder to see three young ladies following her. They were talking to each other in English and looking at her as though they were talking about her. She stopped and turned around to face them.
She needed something to preoccupy her mind, and maybe they would be her ticket to that distraction. The only one of the three who looked at all like a native Brazilian came up to her while the other two hung back a couple steps. Now Marcia's interest was really peaked. She raised her eyebrows.
"Hello, we are with the Global Awakening Mission and we were wondering if we could pray for you. I'm Julianna, this is Lydia, and Becky." The girl told Marcia in Portuguese.
"I guess so," Marcia said uncertainly.
Julianna turned to Lydia and Becky and talked to them in English. The two came up to Marcia and put their hands on her. They smiled reassuringly at her. They began praying and once in awhile one of them would revert to a weird language that wasn't either English or Portuguese.
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"Are either of you getting anything?" Julianna asked after they had prayed several minutes.
Lydia nodded her head. "Has anyone broken her heart?"
"Like who?" Julianna asked before translating the question.
"I'm getting the sense that it is a boyfriend or a husband."
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"May I ask if either a boyfriend or a husband has hurt you emotionally?" Julianna asked.
Marcia's heart tightened in anxiety. How could they know that about her? She fought to mask her surprise and apparently by the girls' reactions, they hadn't seen it.
She and her husband had been fighting constantly for over two years, and just a month ago she had found him with another woman. She had to admit she was as much at fault as he was. Even so, she wasn't being unfaithful! Finally she had had enough of it all and filed for a divorce. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the tears in check. How could they know that?
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Julianna and the lady talked awhile. "She and her husband have just gotten divorced. They have two children, and it has been rough on all of them."
"Oh," Lydia gave a sympathetic look. Then she, Julianna, and Becky began to petition Christ to come down with His love and healing power.
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Marcia fought back the roiling emotions; she hadn't bargained for this. She didn't want to be thinking about her hurts any more. She had come to the mall to get away from her quiet home where her thoughts overwhelmed her. Her son and daughter were with their father for the weekend. If she had known stopping for three innocent looking girls would have stirred up all of these feelings she would have run the other way.
She hated her husband; she hated herself; she hated this woman who had come between her and her husband. She wanted to go back to when she was young and first married, when everything was perfect and good. When and how all this started she didn't know but she wanted to erase it all and be back with the only man who had been able to make her laugh until her sides hurt, and she wanted to be in love with him again.
"Marcia, Jesus wants to take care of you, to love you. You need Him to be the foundation that your family is set upon, for He is the only firm foundation you will ever find." Julianna looked up into Marcia's eyes with such passion and compassion that it amazed Marcia. "Without Jesus, you have lost even before you have begun."
If this Jesus was the one who told them about her being divorced, and if He could still love her enough to send them to her, then she wanted to know Him personally. "Of course I want Him to be all those things for me," she said after thinking about it for a second.
Julianna gave her a brilliant smile, "Then pray this prayer with me: Dear Lord, I want You to care for me and be my Savior. I want You to be the foundation that my family is set upon. Please come and bring Your reconciliation into my family. In Your name I pray, amen."
Marcia finished the prayer, and she felt an overwhelming peace. She couldn't explain it but she could already feel a change happening in her. She opened her eyes and Julianna was giving her the biggest and purest smile she had ever seen.
Julianna gave her some information about some different churches and people she could talk to. "I shall be praying for you Marcia. God bless you and your family. Good-bye." Then Julianna turned around and started walking off with her friends.
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Julianna began talking with the lady. Neither Lydia nor Becky could understand what was going on and so just kept praying. After some time Julianna said good-bye and started walking on. "What was all that about? Lydia asked as she and Becky followed after her.
"Ok," Julianna's face was one gigantic smile. "I told her that she wants Jesus to take care of her, to love her, and to be that firm foundation for her and her family, and she said 'Of course I do.' So I said, 'Pray this prayer with me,' and I led her through a prayer of salvation!"
"Yes!!" Lydia exclaimed, jumping into the air with a victory fist. A huge smile lit up her face. "Thank You Jesus!" Lydia was overjoyed to see someone come to Christ!
They prayed for a couple more people before realizing they had better be getting back to the hotel to get ready for the night services. "Good-bye, Becky. Good-bye, Julianna," Lydia hollered over her shoulder as the three broke up at the hotel. She rushed to her room to get dressed in nicer clothes. She was just sure she was going to be late. She threw on a lilac flowered skirt and a pink blouse. She ran a brush through her hair and hastily braided it. She then grabbed her book bag and rushed down to the restaurant for a quick bite to eat.
Lydia ended up being one of the first to the van. After awhile everyone was congregated and they started out. It took a good hour for them to find the church.
It was a good night with many healings. During the ministry time the front was crowded with people wanting to be prayed for. Lydia prayed for probably ten or so people and they all were touched by God.
When she finally got back to her hotel room it was twelve o' clock. She stuck her card key into the little pocket to turn the lights on. With a sigh she threw her book bag on the suitcase stand and kick her shoes off. She then started getting ready for bed.
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"Santo, Santo, Santo, Senhor!" Everyone sang along with the worship band, "Filhos de Homem". Everyone was up in the front of the church and going wild. The Spirit of the Lord was heavy in that sanctuary. It was an awesome worship time! Manasah jumped along with everyone else, singing his heart out.
Then, after Randy Clark spoke, they had ministry time. There weren't many people who came up for prayer. That meant that many of the ministry team had to group up in threes and fours to pray for people. Jordan came up to a man who was sitting on a chair with some of the team standing around him. The man's left knee was two or three times bigger then the other one. "Kind of looks like the difference between a softball and a baseball." Manasah thought out loud.
"Qual e seu nome?" a girl named Amy asked. She had blond curls and hazel green eyes.
"Diego," the man replied.
"Diego right?" Amy asked.
The man nodded his head. Amy nodded her own head and started praying. "Vem, Espirito Santo. Vem, Espirito Santo. Vem com seu poder. Vem."
Manasah and the others prayed with her. Manasah held his eyes wide open. He wanted to see what would happen.
For five minutes nothing happened. Then all of a sudden Manasah saw Diego's big knee shrink considerably. Manasah's jaw dropped in amazement! "Am I seeing things?" Manasah wondered. It kept on shrinking until it was almost the same size as the right one.
"Wow!!! Look, look, did you see that!" Amy screamed ecstatically, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She kept pointing and clapping.
"I guess not." Manasah thought to himself with a smile.
After a few more minutes both knees were the exact same size! Before the night ended, Diego received several other healings. One of those healings was of a spinal injury.
Manasah rejoiced that night as he headed to his hotel room. It was really neat to see God work His healing power! Manasah loved seeing Him work.
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Peter got up when Estevam, one of Randy Clark's interns who was speaking at Bola Da Neve, gave the call for ministry time. It was good to stand again. The church was so packed that many had to sit on the floor between the stage and the first row of chairs. "Like a can of sardines we are, on this warm July evening," Peter thought with a grin as he stretched his cramped legs.
For as crowded as it was, Peter had trouble finding anyone to pray for. There were more Americans who were praying then there were Brazilians who wanted to be prayed for. Peter wandered around for several minutes before he came upon a translator. "Hello, do you need help?"
"Sure, that would be great! My name is Peter." Peter held out his hand.
"Ricardo." Ricardo took Peter's hand. His handshake was strong, but was filled with a godly love, and his eyes were filled with a passionate fire.
Together they found a young lady who had fallen away from her faith. As Peter prayed he realized that Ricardo was repeating after him word for word. Peter felt the pressure that urges one on to go a step higher. "Jesus, will You give me a word for her other than Mais Fogo, Mais Fogo?" Peter silently prayed.
In answer, the parable of the lost sheep came to Peter's mind. "In the Bible Jesus was talking to some of the Pharisees..." Peter began. The girl had started to cry and bob up and down.
"He told them that God rejoices over those who come back to Him and He told them a parable about a sheep that had gotten lost..." Peter racked his brain to remember it, but the rest of the story eluded him. "Ricardo, do you know the parable I'm thinking about?"
Ricard nodded his head. "Will you explain it to her then?" Ricardo turned to the woman and began to explain it to her. She started sobbing and bobbing under God's power even more. It became so uncontrollable that Peter and Ricardo led her to a chair and then went to find someone else to pray for.
They prayed for several other people who all were touched in some way or another. "Start bringing things to a close, guys," Estevam said a half hour later. Peter straightened watching the boy he had just prayed for run off to play with his comrades. He smiled after the boy and then turned to Ricardo. "Thank-you, Ricardo, and it was nice to meet you." The two shook hands before Peter turned to head for the van. "Oh how good You are Jesus!" Peter rejoiced in his heart as he sat down.