This post comes late as it relates to what Nico experienced during carnival in Ouro Preto from the 25th til the 28th of February. Every year for over 20 years now, missionaries from YWAM and churches gather together to evangelise during this very popular event in Brazil.
Carnival was first celebrated in Brazil in Ouro Preto (2 hours from Belo) and it started because the slaves were given this one day off per year! All the slaves working in different farms of the town would spend the day together calling the spirits for freedom and because it was the only day free they had, they indulged in everything and anything. That is why today carnival is a party of debauchery where "sin" is accepted. Today the party lasts 4 days before Ash Wednesday when people then ask forgiveness for what they did.
We were about 400 in our evangelism group during these 4 days:
- worshipping in the morning, we had services to pray for the town and the people, to receive for ourselves and be renewed.
- training for our parade called "Jesus é bom a beça" (Jesus is very good) and actually participating in the parade in the streets of the town with our music band!
- doing street evangelism at night. We had a church lending us their building so a team would be in the streets and another team inside the church for deeper chats and counselling away from the craziness of the streets.
- Interceding in a 24H prayer room during the 4 days.
I (Nico) really enjoyed the music band as I always had this dream to play percussion and even more.... samba music! At night I was staying mostly in the church and saw a lot of people spiritually empty looking for what could fill them, a lot of people were prisoners held in a spiritual war because they had experienced "macumba" or "condomblé" (brazilian religions descendant of the African slaves).
In the parade we were playing christian samba music and every 200m we would stop and kneel down in the street to pray for the people around and the city. That had such a big impact that we were on the news on TV and the leader of the Impact was invited on radio and on many stages around the town to share! A great opportunity to preach...
The news report... in portuguese! http://g1.globo.com/mg/sul-de-minas/jornal-da-eptv/videos/v/blocos-de-carnaval-desfilam-pelas-ladeiras-de-ouro-preto-mg/5685891/
I had a crazy experience helping in translation for an american pastor (Shawn) with a man willing to give his life to Christ. A demon started to manifest through him and he began kicking the wooden benches in the church... I jumped on him but he needed the help of 4 other guys to "control" him on the ground. As Shawn was trying to talk to the guy, his eyes were red and white and the responses were from the "old black spirit" itself (Spirt of the macumba). He was saying "there is no place here for your Jesus Christ, I am the only one here, this body is the house of the old black...." After a while trying to talk to the guy and not the spirit, we could see that every time we would pronounce the name of Jesus, the voice of the demon was weaker. At some point, Shawn asked the guy to invite Jesus in "his house" and that the old black wasn't welcome anymore. When the guy did this prayer himself, everything was over, he became conscious again and didn't remember anything! He wasn't believing us that the church was such a mess because of him kicking benches and punching walls! Glory to God for this miracle and for this man rescued by Christ in an amazing way!
We had the opportunity to meet this team from Boston, USA. I really bonded with Shawn and Hudson. Our friendship was formed quickly but went to a deep level in a few days. After the Impact they came to know the Rock House and prayed for us and the community. It was such a blessing to have them here for a few hours! Rachel and I would love to visit them in Boston or receive them at the Rock House again!