"I like Jesus & He sees everything."

Today we went to our church building in Sitio - City of God for our normal Wednesday gathering. Recently we decided to switch Wednesday mornings from a mid-week church service to an outreach day, similar to Fridays, so we're able to connect more with the community and pray with them. But today when we arrived we found a rude awakening.
While we were with the mission team in Niteroi, the wood scrap dividing wall (pictured) fell once again, but this time for good, leaving the church exposed. Aurora, the missionary that has been working in the area for four years, went as soon as possible with her sons to lock away the chairs and tables in our storage closet where we keep donations, music and art equipment, etc.
However, this morning we found out that children had climbed over the storage closet wall and stolen some recently-donated art supplies, among other things, and made a total mess. One girl returned later to apologize and return some stolen white paper and balloons after word got out that we found out what happened. It was really frustrating for the team to see, but was a firm reminder that we are working in the slum where the need for physical items is great, but the need for Christ's redemption is even greater.

During our discussion about what immediate solutions we have, a sweet little boy named Lucas rushed in, frightened. Between stutters he said how he didn't steal anything and he didn't break anything, he was just playing with his ball over there in the corner when he saw the other kids come in. He was obviously scared of the perceived repercussions of being one of the accused, especially the assault that would come from his mother. "I, I, I like Jesus. And I know that He sees everything!" -he cried as he pointed to the sky. Lord, please protect Lucas in this dark neighborhood as he learns how to seek your beautiful face.

Pray with us for this neighborhood and a quick solution to improving our building.

-Christy