As I'm processing the five-week trip I took with Exodus Cry, I will post about each city. I present to you the blossoming city of Fortaleza:
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| Me, Liz, Luke, Meagan, Blaire, Stephanie and Tim |
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| Fortaleza from the plane |
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| Walking through Oitao Preto |
In Fortaleza our team connected with Iris Ministries:
Herbert and Lorelei Barbutti. Herbert is Brazilian but grew up in the US and
moved to Brazil two years ago with his wife. Lorelei leads the outreaches to
the Beta Mar, a sex tourism hotspot where children, women and men sell their
bodies for sex. With their team, Iris has planted a house of prayer (HOP) in
the favela, or slum, Oitao Preto. This particular favela is known as the
factory that produces prostitutes to walk up and down the Beta Mar strip, and
this contending HOP is in the dead center, a former drug den with a 360 degree
lookout.
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| The view from the house of prayer |
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| Day of prayer and fasting for Fortaleza |
While in Fortaleza we hosted two Safety Fairs, designed for
children at risk of sexual abuse, teaching them about how to protect their
bodies, confide in a trusted adult and the purity that is theirs despite any
sort of defamation of their frame.
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| Girls from the Safety Fair |
There were many days that we went to the (HOP) to pray for
hours, but we decided to take an entire day to pray and fast for the city of
Fortaleza. On this day, a drug war was taking place and it only fueled our
intercession. As homes were being torn to mere brick and bits of concrete, we
cried out to the Lord for the restoration of Oitao Preto.
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| One of the destroyed homes |
I also went on a house visit with the Iris team to a family
living in the favela. I met Marta, a 60-something year old woman who had taken
in six children under the age of 12, no relation whatsoever, whose mother had
died of cancer. All seven of them were living in a one-room 12x12 shack with a
twin-sized bed and sink. Taindra, Alfredo, Vitoria, Jose, Joao Paulo and
Marcele were all obviously traumatized because 4 out of the 6 never spoke to
anyone. I couldn’t believe how much integrity Marta had, truly a woman who
trusted in Jesus for everything. In fact, she told me that she gave away food
all the time to the cripples and bed-ridden in that community. Amazing! Pray
for this family and the restoration of these children.
Youth With a Mission (YWAM) has a fairly large reach in
Brazil. We met up with YWAM Fortaleza, for a three-night conference: screening
the film Nefarious: Merchant of Souls,
equipping and training them to minister to the prostituted on their streets and
the last night taking them with us.
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| Blaire screening Nefarious at YWAM |
By the third time on the Beta Mar, different women that I
had spoken to before recognized me coming and would run up to say hello. It was
so beautiful! Women that in the first contact had been so hardened and hesitant
to enter into simple conversation were excited to talk and pray by the second
meeting. One of the girls, Camilla, especially captured my heart. She lived in
Amsterdam for four years, working behind the windows. Camilla told me that
every night when she finally went home, she would talk to Jesus. She elaborated
that His presence would come into her room and when she felt His peace she
could finally fall asleep. I love how Jesus is continuing to draw Camilla near
Himself, though she is still entangled in sin, He gives her peace instead of
shame. It’s a reminder of the gentle process of the Lord to save and sanctify
the human soul, and the testimony that will come forth.
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| Praying on the Beta Mar, that's me in the middle |
The Iris Team has such a spirit of humility and integrity. There were many more people and stories from this beloved city. Truly the Lord is turning the hearts of Fortaleza to Himself. The incense of pure worship and adoration is rising from one of the hardest and darkest places in that city.
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| The Iris and Exodus Cry Teams |
