One thing that Maarten and I (dave) concluded about our work at the end of last year was that, although we prayed with people and shared some of the Bible with them, we wanted to bring Jesus even more to the forefront of what we do. We aim to be more practical in our assistance in this way too.
Yesterday was our first afternoon back in the favela. We started by visiting a dear elderly lady who lives in the most apalling conditions - wooden, single-roomed house (no bathroom), borrowed electricity from a neighbour and it is located near a stream which doubles up as a sewer. Her son was also in the house at the time recovering from being beaten up over a dispute with a woman. He had a swollen jaw but did not look too bad. We were able to encourage them to think bigger than their circumstances dictated, during which her son read Psalm 23 to us and we prayed for them. She has bad health and is unable to do much for herself and her son does not help much either. It is another one of those situations where we find ourselves in need of a solution bigger than ourselves...and there is only one - Jesus.
After this we visited our crippled friend and he was glad to see us after 2 months absence. He seemed quite low and not much had changed for him although there were promises of him learning to read from his mother. He also has not left the area here in our time away so we plan on taking him out in the car some time soon so he can see another part of the city.
Life is so difficult for some people here and it is very easy for them to live defeatist-type lives, unable to look out from where circumstances or choices have left them. Giving hope to these people is so important.
We got given some money to buy a new camera over the Christmas period which we spent in England and it is really good at taking night-time shots. Here´s one of part of the favela at night:
(Click on image for bigger version)