Marcelo and Holly Vieira
God is transforming lives in Bairro Das Flores, Brazil
Projeto Mãos Que Criam (Project Creative Hands) began in 2006 with the purpose of sharing the gospel and improving the daily lives of people in Bairro das Flores (Flowers Estate). Bairro das Flores is a community built around a garbage dump, and the people are largely marginalised by their town, Benevides.
Espaço Emanuel church was established in 2012 to offer Bible teaching, study and discipleship to anyone wanting to know more about Jesus Christ. We pray that the Lord will use us to create a safe and welcoming haven for anyone seeking him.
Longing for hope
Since we first became involved in the work, we’ve been struck by people’s desperate search for hope. This is a challenge because Satan capitalises upon people’s despair and is quick to offer counterfeit hope in the form of false idols, doctrines, and beliefs. False beliefs that people have include: purchasing and using a soap sold by a certain denomination who claim it will wash away your sins, or rubbing garlic on your doorframe will keep evil spirits out, or offering popcorn or fruit to the spirits will gain favour and protection.
The deep-felt longing for hope is also a great opportunity for us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have.” (1 Peter 3:15) We praise the Lord for the work he is doing in Espaço Emanuel church and the opportunities we have to share true hope with people who have none.
The congregation is small, but by God’s grace, some people have already come to know the Lord. These Christians want to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and to love others in the community through both service and the sharing of the Gospel. We rejoice to see lives being transformed by Jesus!
We praise the Lord for the work he is doing in Espaço Emanuel church and the opportunities we have to share true hope with people who have none.
Elinice’s story
Elinice began participating in the soccer training 18 months ago. She showed immediate interest in hearing more about the Lord by joining the Bible study held after training. She had the opportunity to ask questions. One of her first questions was if we could teach her how to find certain books of the Bible. She’d been to a church before, but always felt embarrassed to ask how everyone seemingly knew where to turn when the pastor gave a reference. She said she read the Bible at home, but struggled to understand what it meant.
A short time later, Elinice started attending Espaço Emanuel and as she got to know us, she shared with us her battle with depression after the death of her infant son several years before. In May she told us that she knew the time was coming when she needed to make a decision about what she was hearing about Jesus. In June we rejoiced when in one of the church services Elinice publically professed her faith in Jesus as her Saviour. She immediately began asking that we all pray for the salvation of her long-time boyfriend and their family. She was once desperate for hope; now she desperately wants others to know the hope she has in Jesus.
Dona Zefa’s story
Dona Zefa and her family practiced witchcraft and, after contracting an eye disease that was never treated, she became blind. Dona Zefa struggled so much with the loss of her sight, she became interested in the God of the Bible who had the power to heal the blind. She started attending Espaço Emanuel church and gave her life to Jesus. She says this is more important than her physical sight because God has opened her spiritual eyes to see the truth of who he is. She came to us and said she wanted to be baptized so she could publically acknowledge to her friends and family that she now belongs to the Lord. She was baptized in the Amazon River in May 2014.
Nako’s story
Nako is a young man who started coming to the men’s group because of his interest in soccer. Since childhood Nako has worked on the garbage dump. He would arrive home with skin burnt and sometimes blistered by the sun, and with cuts and bruises from jumping on and off the trucks. He shared that when he was on the streets looking through trash during the hottest time of the day, no one ever offered him a drink of water, even when he, with shame, asked for some. Nako says he was so humiliated he never wanted to go into town because everyone knew he went through their trash.
Nako was struck by the fact that when we have devotions with people who work on the garbage dump: we bring water, juice, and soda to give to the workers. The Lord used this simple offering to impact Nako. He felt like the message about a saving God was important because he was shown the dignity of being given something cold to drink when he was thirsty.
Nako decided he wanted to learn about this God who was powerful enough to change hearts and who loves all people – even those who live in humiliation. He began attending the church, proclaiming that he wanted a better life for his son and his girlfriend. In June, after almost two years of consistently hearing the Gospel and asking questions, he took Marcelo aside after one of the services and said, “Everywhere I go, I hear God telling to me to accept Jesus. He is telling me to do that right now.” Marcelo had the privilege of being with him when Nako prayed to ask the Lord to be his Saviour.
