above Nicolas and Olivia and church lunch selfie.
Street Project Update
We continue to be committed to our street work on a weekly basis. We go out with coffee and spend time chatting, praying and singing with those we meet. Through this work we have met around 50 people on regular basis and 8 of whom have been sent to rehab, 3 remain in treatment.
Recently though, we have caught the attention of the local drug dealers who have sent people to monitor what we do. They have now stopped attending which, we hope, means they must be happy we are not a threat. Recently, we helped a young girl who had been kicked out from home by her mother. She is 15. When we were talking to her and taking her to the police station a drug dealer, Ron (not his real name), came up to Levi and offered to help by shooting the family. Levi, unsurprisingly, declined the offer. Ron then said we can count on him and that when he leaves the life of crime he will go to church.
We have formed a growing team that is really passionate about our work. This has really excited us and in a way confirms God is in this, not that we had any doubts. There will be larger event on 22nd June when we hope to provide showers, underwear, food and haircuts to around 150 people. This event will have a team of nearly 50 people from 3 different churches.
Chaplaincy at Credeq
We have been asked to be Christian Chaplain at CREDEQ (Reference Centre for Addiction) – it is a state hospital which specialises in the treatment of addiction. We will form a team to run Alpha there and build relationships with patients and staff. We are excited about this as it will ground us within the established provision here.
We hope to run the Cherish Course there as well. The course, created by Erika Biscoe, is bring translated into Portuguese and will be a tool to minister to women about their worth and beauty through a study of the book of Esther. We will also run pilot courses in August/September in two rehabilitation centres. |