Chapter 8

8.

"All right, everyone, we're going to separate you into your attack forces for this second week. First I want all who are going to teach faith to go over to one of the attack force leaders," Tom Ritollo started on Monday morning once everyone was congregated in the council room. "All you leaders, the number of chairs you have are the number of spaces you will have in the vans. You also need to keep in mind that you'll also need to keep a space open for your translator and Brazilian teacher or preacher."

"All right the rest of you may find who you want to go with," Tom Ritollo announced once all the team leaders had their teachers and preachers.

Lydia got up and looked around wondering who to go with. She wanted to be in a team with a couple of familiar faces but not too many that she would only talk to them. She wanted to stretch out and make new friends. It wasn't long before she was one of a handful still walking about. "We need to get going so the rest of you need to find a team," Tom Ritollo said. Lydia bit her lip and looked around the edges of the room where the different teams were set up.

"Ok, ok," Lydia mumbled walking over to Allie Nopp's team. When she had first met Allie she hadn't liked her real well. She had thought Allie eccentric and...she wasn't sure what else but the first impression Lydia had gotten of her she hadn't liked. Ahh well, she didn't really want to go with any of the others and at least Pastor Rod, Mrs. Olsen, and Terelle were on her team. That was enough for Lydia's comfort zone, and yet she would also be stretched to step out and make new friends.

She sat down next to Mrs. Olsen. "Should I come with you or go with another team?" a girl with long brown hair asked the boy sitting in front of Lydia. Lydia recognized both of them from the first week. They had often been on the same bus as Lydia. She watched them curiously as the girl gave the boy a hug. "Are they brother and sister or boyfriend and girlfriend," Lydia wondered. They looked a lot a like but Lydia had never seen a teenage sibling group hug before.

"I don't care," the boy answered.

"Well, maybe if those girls stay with this team, I'll go to the other one," the girl said nodding to two girls sitting behind Lydia who had been wavering between Allie Nopp's team and Erik's. Those two girls eventually went over to Erik's team and so the other girl sat down by Lydia setting her purple backpack down by her feet.

"Hi, I'm Lydia." Lydia extended her hand to the girl.

"I'm Natalia." The girl accepted Lydia's hand with a smile.

"All right I need everyone to sign their names on these lines," Allie Nopp instructed holding up a piece of paper for all to see. Toward the bottom of the page were two columns of lines. She then handed it to the first person.

"All right, everyone, it is time to head up for lunch. I want everyone to eat with their attack force today. Start to get to know each other. I will dismiss you by teams. Catherine, you and your group can go," Tom Ritollo announced once everything had been put in order.

It was fifteen minutes before Allie Nopp's team was told they could go. Once they got their food they sat down at two tables that were close to each other. Allie and Natalia sat at Lydia's table, along with several boys.

Lydia found out that she really like both Allie and Natalia. They were both a lot of fun and easy to talk to. "How old are you, Allie?" Natalia asked.

"I turned eighteen on April fourth," Allie answered taking a drink of her coke.

"Really, that's my mom's birthday," Lydia spoke up.

"Cool!" Allie's face lit up in a smile.

"How old are you Natalia?" Lydia asked looking over at Natalia.

"Eighteen, and you?"

"I turned seventeen last Wednesday."

"Well happy birthday," Allie and Natalia said together.

"Thank-you." Lydia nodded her appreciation.

The conversation went on pleasantly between the three girls. At one point Lydia tried to include the boys sitting with them, but they weren't very talkative. So Lydia just continued to talk to Allie and Natalia.

Allie was beautiful with straight black hair that reached to her chin and a kind of olive complexion. She was about Lydia's height, skinny, and she had eyes that flashed with an inner light. Yet the thing that Lydia thought topped Allie's beauty was her brilliant smile. As the conversation went on Lydia realized that what she had thought annoying about Allie on Saturday was actually an exuberant love for her Savior. When Lydia recognized what it was, it attracted her instead of annoyed her.

"When do we have to be at the van?" Lydia asked as they started to get up to go their separate ways.

"Six-thirty is when the van is supposed to leave," Allie replied looking at her schedule.

"Good, I will see you all then," Lydia said smiling.

She headed down the stairs and out of the main building. She would have time to read her Bible and get freshened up. She got her Bible, markers and pens and then headed back down. She didn't want to be cooped up in her room on this gorgeous day.

She settled herself on the steps situated between two of the buildings of the hotel. She turned to Psalms 135.

Praise the Lord...

praise Him, you servants of the Lord,

you who minister in the house of the Lord,

in the courts...of our God...

for the Lord is good;

sing praise to His name, for that is pleasant.

For the Lord has chosen Jacob...

Israel to be His treasured possession.

I know that the Lord is great,

...our Lord is greater than all gods.

The Lord does whatever pleases Him,

in the heavens and on the earth,

in the sea and all their depths.

He makes clouds rise...

He sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from His storehouses.

He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

the firstborn of men and animals.

He sent his signs and wonders into your

midst, O Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

He struck down many nations

and killed mighty kings-

...

and He gave their land as an inheritance,

an inheritance to His people Israel.

Your name, O Lord, endures forever,

Your renown, O Lord, through all generations.

For the Lord will vindicate His people

and have compassion on His servants.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

...

They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes but they cannot see;

they have ears, but cannot hear,

...

Those who make them will be like them,

and so will all who trust in them.

O house of Israel, praise the Lord;

...

you who fear Him, praise the Lord.

Praise be to the Lord from Zion,

to Him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

As she read, Lydia basked in the cool Brazilan spring. The sun shone brilliantly and kept her warm even though a crisp breeze had picked up. It was a great day to be outside!

"Hello Lydia." Dana came up and sat a step beneath Lydia.

"Hello, how did your night go?" Lydia asked. She had been asleep by the time Dana had come in the night before.

"Interesting to say the least. We got to our church early and so our translator took us to see this one monument. It was this huge image of the Virgin Mary that had a stair case winding up it. It was nasty." Dana cringed at the very memory of it. "Its face was angry looking and you could feel the evil emanating from it. There were rooms on different levels of it and our translator, who is very discerning, said he saw demons in one of them. I asked him why they didn't try to attack us and he said we had angels all around us.

That was the most horrible thing that I've ever seen. It...it was just evil," Dana finished having no other words to describe it. She shuddered once more.

Lydia shook her head in disbelief. Before she had come on this trip she had heard of such darkness but from the safety of her home, it had never fully registered. Now she was right in the middle of a deep pool of that darkness, and it astonished Lydia. "That's interesting, I've heard one of the other kids say they went to a Catholic church where the Holy Spirit was really moving and the people were truly hungry for God." Lydia stated looking thoughtful. "It must not be Catholicism as much as where the people set their loyalty: with God or with the saints and Mary." It made her even more grateful that she knew the one, true God. She looked down at her Bible which was still opened at Psalm 135 and smiled as her heart swelled with thankfulness.

"Well, I better go. That's probably my team that's getting loaded up," Dana said squinting across the hotel grounds to where a group of teens and leaders were filing into a white van.

"See ya later. God bless," Lydia called to Dana, as she jogged off.

"You too," Dana hollered over her shoulder.

Lydia went back to her reading. Once she had finished Psalms 135 she wrote her thoughts on it in the margins of her Bible.

People who make idols and believe false gods are missing out on so much!! They believe in inanimate objects and imaginary beings. How it must break God's heart-the people He wants to love and comfort turning away from Him. Then they turned to inanimate things that can't even hear, understand or care about them.

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"You a...pastor?" A young lady came up to Pastor Rod dragging another lady behind her.

"Yes." Pastor Rod nodded, noting the desperate look on the face of the young lady who had asked him the question and the hopeless look of the other one. "Pray for...friend." The first lady pushed her friend toward Pastor Rod. Her English was extremely broken and heavily accented.

"We are going to be leaving soon," he informed her, "Can you come back tomorrow?"

"No, you...pray...her now. She...going to commit sui...cide...tonight...you don't pray...her!" The young lady's voice was urgent and fearful.

Pastor Rod looked at her uncertainly for a moment. "Wait right here. Ok?" He looked at her wanting to make sure she understood. She nodded indicating that she did. He hurried off to find Mary. This was a job for her, not him.

"Mary, I have a job for you. Come," he told her when he came up to his wife. "There is this young lady who is going to kill herself if God doesn't touch her tonight," he explained as they headed back toward to the two women.

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Clara didn't want to be here. Life wasn't worth living any more. She wished that her friend would just let her get on with her plan! Irene insisted on bringing her to this meeting. She told Clara it would change her mind. It hadn't! It had just made her uncomfortable! She wished all the more to be at home, locked in her bedroom with the knife poised at her heart. Her heart was in a million pieces-irreparable!

She had lost her three, beautiful children to the burning inferno of the car crash! Then her husband was told by the government if they couldn't pay their taxes they would lose the house. Yesterday her mom was diagnosed with cancer, and her sister had started drugs. To top all of that, she lost her husband's love! He was beating her. She couldn't handle any more pain! She would rather be dead than hear another piece of bad news.

She saw the man who Irene had accosted about praying for her coming back with a woman. She tried to tug free from Irene's grasp to get away from here. Irene just tightened her hold. Irene had amazing strength for being so small!

Irene, with her broken English, reexplained the situation to the American woman. Clara who knew nothing of the language had no way of telling what the woman's response was. Not knowing what to do, she just stared at the woman. The woman was in a type of business suit and had very nice jewelry on. She looked to be in her fifties. What would this lady know about her problems? She had everything in the world. Clara tried even harder to get away. This time the woman took the hand that Irene didn't have and looked into her eyes with deep hazel eyes. Those eyes were overflowing with a caring love that stopped Clara. It was like the woman could almost understand what she was going through.

"Vem, Senhor... Vem com...seu poder... Mais." The woman prayed in broken and mispronounced Portuguese yet there was a conviction and power in her voice. Clara looked down at Irene wondering what she was thinking about all this. Irene looked back up at her with a small smile. She put her free hand on the small of Clara's back. Clara shifted from one foot to the other, uncertain of what to make of this.

For several minutes the woman prayed with the same conviction, power, and authority. As she prayed, Clara started to feel a heavy presence. Not an oppressive heaviness, just a pressure that pressed down on her. Next thing she knew, forbidden tears were slipping down her cheeks. What was this? Why was she crying in front of everyone? She hadn't wanted to do this! Now she was balling in front of complete strangers! "Just let it out sweetheart," Irene translated for the woman. The woman was rubbing her arm.

Next, something she never believed could happen came about. She started to feel the pain ease ever so slightly. It didn't all go away but it did lessen. She was beginning to distinguish what that heavy presence was. It was like loving arms surrounding her, arms of someone who cared truly about her pain and had the power to overcome it all. It was almost like if she looked hard enough she would be able to find the solution to her problems in those arms.

The woman said something else. This time Irene looked confused. The woman tried a different way of explaining, but Irene looked even more confused. Irene finally turned around and called for a woman named Elana, who strode over. Irene asked Elana to explain what the woman was trying to say. Elana and the woman conferred a minute before Elana turned to Clara. "She wants to know if you want to accept Christ as your Savior. There will always be problems. He can help you through them," Elana explained.

Clara heard herself say yes. She startled, surprised at herself. Yet, all of a sudden, a feeling of joy she had never felt before poured into her heart and started to overflow. Irene, Elana, and the woman all beamed at her response. The woman led Clara through a simple prayer and by the end of it, Clara was laughing for joy. She felt so much better. No, her problems hadn't left but now she could feel loving arms wrapped around her giving her hope. She knew she could always stay in those arms!

-----------------------

Mary smile at Clara who had undergone a major transformation. Mary was glad the girl had come to Christ. It was wonderful to watch people walk out of the darkness and into God's light!

Allie called for everyone to head for the vans. Mary shook Clara's hand with a smile. "Chow." She nodded and then turned away.

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"Was it just me or was that hard tonight?" Lydia asked as they all started filing into the two van's later that night after ministering at the church they had been assigned to.

"It was difficult," Natalia agreed sitting down beside Lydia.

"It feels to me like there is some kind of barrier blocking the direct access to the Heavenlies." Allie held her hand palm down to illustrate her point. "I think it's going to take a lot of praying on our part and God's faithfulness on His part to break through it."

Allie turned around in her seat. "I need everyone to settle down so we can do stats." The statistics weren't quite as impressive as the ones they had been getting before but they were still fairly good.

After that everyone started talking in their own little groups. Lydia, Allie, and Natalia settled into a pleasant chat. They didn't talk about much in particular, just general things about themselves. It was quite interesting.

It took forty-five minutes to get back to the hotel. When they got back Lydia said good-night and headed for her room. She stuck her key into the slot next to the door and the lights came on. She shut the door and began to get pajamas on. The door began to open as Lydia was half dressed. "Aahh..." Lydia screeched, running the few feet to the bathroom.

"Sorry," Dana's muffled voice came under the door.

Lydia pulled her t-shirt on and exited the bathroom. "That's all right. How was your night?" Lydia asked hanging up her dress and getting a cookie from her stash of snacks.

"Good. How was yours?"

"Fine. Do you want a cookie? They're kind of stale but you can have one." Lydia held up the plastic wrapped cookie.

"Thanks, but no thank-you." Dana set her Bible and note book on the bottom shelf of the nightstand.

Dana went into the bathroom with her pj's in hand. A minute later she came out pulling her long brown curls into a pony tail. She plopped down on the end of her bed.

"Anything interesting happen with your team?" Lydia asked dangling her arm over the chair she was sitting in.

"It was too wild! I was just talking to one of the translators at the end. You should of heard her testimony! A few weeks ago she didn't know any English. God started teaching her a few English words. Tonight God brought it all together for her, and she was able to translate for us!" Dana told Lydia, settling into her own bed.

"Wow!" Lydia exclaimed amazed.

"Did you see many healings?" Dana asked

"No. What about you?"

"Several." Dana then proceeded to tell Lydia about her night. Lydia listened with interest. She really liked Dana, because she was easy to talk to, and fun.

"Praise the Lord!" Lydia said with sincerity once Dana had finished. She was overjoyed at the ways God was moving in their midst. Even if her team hadn't see many healings, at least Dana's team had seen success. God was faithful; He would answer their prayers.