It’s been more than 3 months since the pandemic of Coronavirus hit us here in Brazil, and those affected and dying from this virus is still on the rise. From very early we declared lockdown here in YWAM Belo Horizonte. Brazil is a big country with one president but each state and each city have separate governors, so although the president says one thing, “it’s basically a little flu, continue as normal,” our state and city governors didn’t agree and said, “stay inside as much as possible.” They closed the schools, shopping centres, cinemas, restaurants, parks, the lake etc. There was no law made that we had to stay inside but a law was soon made that enter in shops you need to wear a mask! Everyone wears masks, even Lorenzo!
Life got very different for us very quickly!! Here at the Rock House we are used to a busy schedule with the community centre full of people all week long. Our door bell never stops ringing and we freely walked outside in the community visiting the families. But since the 18th of March we stopped everything.
As mentioned in the previous blog, the beginning of confinement, we spent every morning
together with the team praying and seeking God. And we dedicated the afternoons to “team time” to spend time focused on unity in our team. These times were so good and we really heard God speak in many ways. One thing that was clear was that this wasn’t going to be just 2 weeks off that it would probably last a while! Also that this time “stopped” was actually not for us to stop but was time to really invest in getting to know God!!! Without a busy schedule we could take more time to study His Word, pray, read books, watch sermons and do studies online. God spoke very specifically through this verse;
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
God taught us that he doesn’t need “us to do” for “him to work”!!
We continued praying together as a team but changed this to the afternoons as we figured it would be more productive as the 2 toddlers in the house sleep so the mums (and everyone else) would find it easier to be focused. The rest of the time was to be assessed individually as to how to spend your time.
For us, with a toddler at home we couldn’t spend all our time reading the bible!! But we were able to dedicate a lot more time to this and by sharing the responsibility of taking care of Lorenzo and household chores we could have more time to seek Him. But we also dedicated a lot of time to being as a family. Before with a schedule full and constantly full of responsibilities we favourably looked upon this time as “family time without guilt.” We can sit and play with Lorenzo without feeling guilty that we should be doing something else in the ministry. We accepted the challenge to potty train Lorenzo also! Successfully! He still has many accidents but he is doing really well for his age!
Last week, Nico received a phone call from his family telling us that his grand-father had passed! It is very hard in these moments to be far away. We didn't even try to get flights for him (paid for by the insurance) as he would have had to be in quarantine for 2 weeks by himself far from us. His grand-father who Nico called "Pipaul" was a good and humble man. He has left a lot of good memories to Nico and we are very happy Lorenzo got to meet him last time we were in Europe.
But what about the slum during this coronavirus crisis? Even though there has been a constant rise in the number of Covid cases in Brazil we see it as God’s favour that we haven’t heard of one person that we know who has been affected. In the community they haven’t abided by the same rules of confinement as us, for them it just isn’t the same - many live in small houses with too many people. So when you go into the community they are continuing as normal, and not even wearing masks.
We understood some reasons for this;
- for them, going to the streets of the slum is like you going into your garden!
- Coronavirus has not yet affected anyone in the slum, so it is something invisible. So not something they can see to worry about.
- A teenager explained to us that there are many other bigger worries that they can see that they need to fight against - like drugs, violence etc
- Many continued to work or if were sent home from their original work they sought other work - because they need money to pay bills and buy food!
Those affected probably the most are the kids as they have no school. Of course most of them are loving it but they are now without school since last year. Here in Brazil the school year starts in February for a few weeks, then stops for Carnival. This year school started with the teachers on strike for a month and when the kids were about to start school the government closed the schools against the spread of coronavirus. So most kids haven’t had a day of school this year!!
A few schools have now started giving out a little work, and there are classes on TV but only 20 minutes a day. The feedback from the kids is that many don’t even watch the class and those that do don’t understand it. There is talk that the schools won’t start back until the beginning of the next school year - next February. An entire year of education lost. Please pray as we seek God as how we can help reach the kids in the area of education.
One way we felt we could reach out and help the community was by providing food parcels -there is a specific food parcel that you can buy ready and it includes all the basic food for a family for a month or so, such as rice, beans, coffee, salt, oil... We have distributed 90 food packages and we also put together some hygiene packs with toilet roll, soap, toothpaste and brushes, bleach, detergent etc. We delivered 40 of these. The families have been so grateful to receive this, many gave testimonies that it arrived at the right moment and some had tears in their eyes as they received it! What a blessing to be a blessing during this time of crisis - and this is thanks to all who gave financially, individuals and churches!
A number of weeks ago our city’s government decided to start to lift the confinement - more shops were allowed to open, taking precautions and parks are open weekdays etc. So we talked with our team and decided it was time for us to start going back into the community - we can’t stay hidden away afraid forever! We go three afternoons a week and take all precautions - wearing a mask, showering on return and washing our clothes. We try not to go inside the houses and to not be in big groups of people. This has been productive and we have received a lot of feedback about how we have been missed!
Please continue to pray for us during this time. Here are a few points;
- To know how much ‘to do’ and not to do during this time.
- Pray for the families of the community and us to be protected against COVID-19
- Pray that we can continue to impact the community even with our continued restrictions
- For our future, we are very unsure of what our work here at the Rock House will look like and what the necessities of the community will be.
- For our family, especially Lorenzo as he grows and learns.
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