I (Dave) went out last night with 6 other people, including Josiah our 14yr old son. We spent some time playing football on the street with some boys (I watched) and then climbed the hills to the top of the favela (slum) where a lot of the trouble had been over this last week. The aim of our presence was to do some evangelism amongst the people that frequent the bars. Traditionally, Christians do not go into bars here and keep themselves very separate from the bar culture but there are so many people in these places that we thought it would be a good place to build relationships and minister to the people that the churches normally don't reach.
We spent the majority of our time in one particular bar which we had been in before, played a few games of pool and table football and chatted to some of the locals. There was a group of ladies who were particularly interested in us foreign guys and they started off by trying to chat us up but we ended up in a small circle praying for them in the middle of the bar. Excellent.
Another guy approached me asking to talk with me about Jesus and we arranged a time for him to visit Luzeiro (The lighthouse) for this to happen. It was a good night.
The police presence was fairly high with a bus full of armed police patrolling the bus route and police stationed at various places along the street. The atmosphere was a little tense but generally ok.

Well, it's Friday evening. The week has continued fairly calm, but with a heavy police presence and regular helicopter flyovers. One police officer was arrested for the murders of 2 innocent people (the deaths occurred last Saturday in the early hours), people said that he was also being accused of other murders in similar circumstances. This officer committed suicide in prison today. Who knows how this affects the community feeling of justice. I imagine the police will be on extra alert over the weekend, as this is the preferred time to create upheaval / make a protest.
Tonight, Dave is taking out a small group of people to evangelise in the streets and bars (or maybe just pray if that is how they are led). Josiah is also going with him, we were surprised when he asked if he could go. I know that some of you reading this will be afraid to think of what they might encounter. Honestly, I don't know what they will experience. However, the area near us is generally safer and quieter, getting less so as you go further up the hill. I know that Dave will be watchful as to whether it's OK to continue. I also know that my heavenly father keeps good watch of us.

Firstly, thank you to all of you who have been praying for the situation in the favela.

At the moment, things seem to be more peaceful, no night-time protests or bus burning the last 2 nights. It's hard to say if it's a peace that will last, or if the rumours of drug dealer planning something "big" are true. We keep praying and asking God to shake up and expose what goes on here, whilst protecting those who live here.

The situation is continuing to worsen in the favela. Last night there were more confrontations between the residents and the police. At 9.30pm another bus was torched (the little yellow one that serves the community), plus 2 cars and another car thrown into a ravine.

There had been reports that everything was peaceful after the police had arrested someone for the bus burning, but buses are continuing to be burnt and the police presence is causing chaos. There are protests and people crying out for justice. The police have come in, trying to disperse groups with rubber bullets, but the residents are stoning the police cars. People are being wounded, many people are very angry or afraid.
It is crazy,even in the news they are reporting that a witness disagrees with the police testimony of how the 2 guys were killed, and now this witness is being protected.

As a result, we have no buses here now (taxi's will also refuse to come here), people are unable to get to work, at least one crèche is unable to open because the electricity is off (due to things being burned), police presence is high and everyone has to carry ID and be prepared to be searched. I have just heard that we won't have any fruit or vegetables delivered (11am) as the police are blocking anyone from coming up into the slum.
How does this improve things for those who live here? Is this just a big power struggle between the police and the drug lords? Are both sides expecting that they will win?

Please pray

There is tension in the favela. This is not new, but it's very clear now. The police entered with force on Friday evening, and there was a shooting battle. 2 people were killed, some are saying they are innocent, others are disagreeing with this. People were arrested, but much more is going on. Helicopters have been hovering over the slum for a lot of the weekend, particularly early hours of Saturday morning, most of Saturday and now again Sunday evening.
Yesterday, as a mark of outrage against the police 2 buses were set on fire, nobody was in them, but it caused a complete strike of buses to this area.
It's hard to know who is most at fault in all this, it seems like the police are trying to assert their authority, but also that the drug traffickers are trying to tell them to keep out. We hear slightly different things all of the time, which isn't helped by the slum 'rules' of keep silent. I can understand when so many people from the community end up saying things like"God knows" as a way of avoiding responsibilty in it all.

What do you think of when you hear someone is a missionary? I used to think of people living in mud huts and trying to start churches, especially in places that had never heard of Jesus. Now, I can see that there are many ways of spreading the gospel.
We have a team with us at the moment, for an outreach part of their training, their desire is to really reach the lost. This is great, it means that along with some of the more usual day to day work of the community centre, we're going out with a sole purpose to tell people about Jesus and pray for them. Many times though, this isn't exactly going according to plan. We've had great times, with over 170 children one afternoon, but then we've also spent a whole morning inviting a town to a street drama (bearing in mind it seemed like nothing was happening in this town), only to wait and not one person came. We pray before, and we wait and sometimes it seems strange that if the fields are ready for harvest, why can't we find them?
We've also had the pleasure of working alongside nearby churches, who are so thrilled to have us that they bless us with amazing hospitality. Yesterday, was one of those days. We were ready for a full-on ministry day, but at times we couldn't find anybody. In the evening though, I really sensed that the dramas and talks by the team encouraged the church members. One man shared that God really stirred his heart when Matt was talking about God's calling and the roles we have to play in the body of Christ. So, we really need to just listen and obey and make sure we're fulfilling the role that God has called us to, whether it seems big or small.

This week is team week. We are planning lots of our work and continuing to build relationships. We have quite a large team doing many diverse things, so it's really good for us to be united in our vision and support for one another. Today, in our family everyone is busy. Dave is leading a team building exercise (planning and making a protection packet for an egg, which will protect it when the egg is dropped from a height)


(this poor unfortunate egg didn't survive)
Meanwhile, Gideon has been using every free moment from school to help a builder here, he has really enjoyed learning how to do new things. (He has almost enjoyed it too much, as he really doesn't want to do any school)
And finally, Josiah is busy doing experiements that count towards his GCSE science. As for me I'm trying to plan my timetable for my group this year, as the groups will be starting soon. This January has been very busy though, doing lots of extra programs for the community and evangelising with the team.