Baptisms...

In a previous post I told you about Marcelo, a young man at the chácara who recently completed the first phase of the program and had his jail sentence exonerated. Now there is more good news in his family: Marcelo's mom Diva decided to be baptized last Sunday! God is moving in powerful ways!

What can be better than seeing the generations come together, unified through faith in Christ?!
Pray for Diva and her new walk with Jesus, and that all five of her children will one day decide to follow Jesus!

....and More Baptisms!

The following sequence of pictures portrays the baptism of Vilacyr, a man in his late 30s who came to the chácara several weeks ago and last Sunday decided to dedicate his life to Jesus!

As you can see, there really is no greater joy than being born again, just like Jesus told Nicodemus!

This is Vilacyr with his wife and children. He is rewriting his life story as we speak, turning it into a story of redemption and reconciliation with his family! Pray that he will continue firm in his commitment to recovery and for his family to be supportive!

Graduation Ceremony!

Where there's cake, there's a party, and that means celebration for something good that God has done! Last Sunday, we had a worship and commemorative ceremony at the chácara to thank God for seven young men who have successfully completed the first phase of the treatment program. Five of them finished this first phase within the past few weeks, and two of them finished the first phase last year but at that time we did not have this tradition of honoring the victorious. Now we do!

From left to right: Marcelo, Alexandre, Eduardo, Jefferson, Anderson, Rodrigo and Christian. All of these young men were baptized at the chácara, successfully completed a discipleship course, and have now successfully concluded the first phase of the treatment, which involves nine months of on-site rehabilitation. Now we move to the next phase, resocialization: helping these guys finish their schooling, finding jobs, reconciling with their families, and becoming active in a local church. For the time being, all seven guys will continue living at the chácara until they can establish their own living conditions while they seek employment and complete high school equivalency. CONGRATULATIONS to these guys and praise God for this accomplishment!

Time Served & Time Redeemed

This is Marcelo. He is 19 years old and is one happy guy, and he has every reason to be! He came to the chácara in June of last year. Like all the guys who come here, he arrived in bad shape physically, mentally and spiritually. But I could tell from the first time I talked with him that he was determined to take a new path in life. He began following Jesus and was baptized, and right away met a big challenge: juvenile detention for 4 months! Marcelo used to be part of a gang that practiced assault, robbery, and did drugs; one of their armed assaults landed him in juvenile court. As part of his sentence, he had to spend 4 months in juvenile prison. Marcelo did his time - and not only did it, he redeemed it! This is what Marcelo learned to make in juvenile detention. He is a natural artist, and the classes he took in jd only honed and refined his talent for drawing, sculpture, and confection. It takes a tremendous amount of patience and vision to make these paper sculptures, yet Marcelo does it with pride and pleasure!

At the beginning of 2008, Marcelo returned to the chácara to finish his spiritual recovery. Three weeks ago, Marcelo had his final hearing in court to determine if his sentence would be extended or no. He brought one of these paper sculptures as a present for the judge, who ended up weeping as she heard testimonies of how Marcelo has turned his life around. Marcelo's sentence was archived and he is now a totally free man!

This is Marcelo's family - his mother Diva in the center, his aunt Olga in the background, and his sisters and cousins. His mother will be baptized very soon! Thank God for Marcelo and for how this entire family is being transformed because of the Good News of Jesus Christ!