Dear Friends,
I apologize for taking so long to share news with you from our ministry. God has been good and has given us a lot to do. The blessings have been numerous but the challenges have also grown.
Today we need your urgent prayers for Stenio, Soraia, and Vitória. Stenio is in his second year at a packing plant and seems to be doing pretty good. He’s had some occasional relapses into substance abuse but for the most part has been fairly steady. Vitória has grown a lot as you’ll see in the photo of her with Soraia.
Soraia and Vitória
Soraia has not been doing so well. She has had numerous relapses into substance abuse. She has been participating on and off in a municipal rehabilitation program. However, there are a lot of flaws in the system, one of which is the contact she has with other substance abusers, which then leads to drug use outside of the center, oftentimes on the road leading from the center to the bus stop.
One thing I ask you prayers for related to Soraia’s situation is for the Lord to empower us to open a women’s Christland center. The current center is only able to accept men and we’re facing challenges of funding and staffing to open a women’s center. Teen Challenge is present here in Brazil through the “Desafio Jovem” organization. They had a women’s center but it is currently closed due to similar difficulties with funding and staff. I have found another evangelical program called “Sara Vida” (Life Healing) we’re trying to get Soraia into but she has to stay clean and attend some group meetings long enough to be accepted into the program. In other words, she has to really want help, and so far she’s not wanting it badly enough.
As Soraia’s dependency has worsened their marriage has suffered to the point that today we don’t see a lot of hope for Stenio and Soraia staying together. Also, with Stenio working and Soraia with too much free time on her hands there is a big risk to Vitória. There was a scary incident today where the police had to intervene and the couple almost lost their guardianship of Vitória.
Brethren from the church in São Lourenço have made a valiant effort to help the family in numerous ways. Vitória has stayed with members of the São Lourenço church on numerous occasions and when possible is attending our sister Gilvanete’s small day care center. Gilvanete gave Soraia a job working at the day care but she was not able to consistently show up for work. The brethren have given counseling, helped with financial needs, and done everything they can to help this couple make it. But the pull of addiction is very strong.
Please pray for a miracle, for Soraia to see the desperate need she has for help, to accept internment in the Sara Vida program, and for us to work things out in such a way Vitória can be well cared for.
Thank you so much for your prayers. As Oswald Chambers said, prayer doesn’t prepare us for the battle it is the battle.
Grace and peace to all,
Dennis
