Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Alex Niculaescu, Levi Longoria
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000230A
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00:01 Did you know that slavery is alive
00:03 and well in these United States and abroad? 00:06 Well, stay tuned to meet two young men 00:08 who are determined to fight it with spiritual weapons. 00:11 My name is Yvonne Lewis 00:13 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:37 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:40 Today's topic may be a bit sensitive 00:42 for children to hear, parental discretion is advised. 00:46 My guests today are Alex Niculaescu. 00:50 How did I do? Did good. 00:52 And Levi Longoria. 00:54 Two layman with a burden for intercessory ministry. 00:58 They are the founders of Crying at the Gates Ministry, 01:02 an organization of lay intercessors 01:04 fighting sex trafficking. 01:06 Welcome to Urban Report, my brothers. 01:08 Thank you. It's good to be here. 01:10 Yeah. It's so good to have you. 01:12 I had heard about you from our head 01:16 of production here, Greg Morikone 01:18 and he said, "Oh, these two young men 01:20 had this powerful testimony." 01:22 And I said, "Man, I missed them," 01:25 'cause I wish that you guys were here before. 01:27 Yeah. 01:28 And I just wished I had you for Urban Report 01:31 'cause I always like to bring our viewers 01:33 really powerful testimonies 01:35 and show how our God has changed lives. 01:38 And so I wanted to have you on and so you were coming back 01:42 and so I'm so glad you're here. 01:44 Thank you for having us. Yes, yes, yes. 01:46 So tell us about Crying at the Gates Ministry. 01:49 What is that? 01:50 Start, Alex. So, yeah. 01:51 Crying at the Gates is based off of Proverbs 1. 01:54 And we look at Proverbs 1 01:56 where the very first piece of advice 01:58 that Solomon is giving is that, he knows that his son 02:02 is going to confront people as it says, 02:05 you know, "If sinners entice you consent thou not. 02:08 Walk not in the way with them." 02:10 And he basically goes to description 02:11 of how there's going to be a group of people 02:13 that are basically going to say, 02:14 "Let us all have one purse, let us go after the innocent, 02:17 let us swallow them up as the grave, 02:18 and hold as those who go down into the pit. 02:20 You know, which will fill our houses with spoil. 02:22 It's basically profiting, 02:24 you know, from the oppression of the poor. 02:27 And Solomon says, "Don't walk in the way with them 02:29 because the nets that they spread are for themselves 02:32 and the traps that they set, 02:34 they're gonna fall into themselves. 02:35 And the following thing that is said right after that 02:39 is that wisdom is walking through the streets, 02:41 she's walking through the cities, 02:43 the openings of the gates 02:44 and the chief places of concourse or of meeting, 02:46 and she's crying, "How long, you simple ones, 02:49 will you continue in your simplicity?" 02:51 And if we jump over a few chapters, 02:52 later in chapter 7, we see that the simple one 02:55 are those that are devoid of understanding. 02:57 It's that man that goes into the house of the prostitute 03:00 and he's enticed basically not knowing 03:02 that he's going to basically the end of his life. 03:06 And if she goes into 03:07 and he gives into those types of sins that 03:10 it's gonna be very difficult for him 03:11 to escape from. 03:12 So we wanted to be that voice of wisdom 03:14 that goes and cries out against 03:15 these types of things in the cities 03:17 and the chief places of meeting. 03:20 And it's basically a prayer ministry, 03:23 an intercessory ministry on behalf of the things 03:25 that are going on in cities mostly. 03:27 How many people are involved in your ministry? 03:31 Directly just us, just the two of us. 03:32 Oh, okay, okay. 03:34 We've joined with lots of other people 03:36 that we've worked with and they say, 03:38 "Hey, can you come and teach us 03:39 how to intercede for cities the way that you have?" 03:42 And so there's lots of groups of people 03:44 that pray with us now and we have, 03:45 you know, a network that 03:47 whenever we have prayer requests, 03:48 we know we can count on them 03:49 and we text message like, all week long. 03:53 We're always praying and interceding. 03:56 But yeah, as far as just the direct part, 03:58 it's just the two of us. 03:59 And there are, yeah, there are people 04:01 who have started doing the same thing 04:03 basically in other places and other cities 04:05 and things as well but... 04:07 We're not trying to copyright anything. 04:09 Right, right, yeah, yeah. 04:11 It sounded to me, from your website 04:13 that you have like a network like, 04:15 different groups that have kind of coalesced to do this. 04:20 Yeah. How did you get into this? 04:22 Let's hear about your story. Where did you grow up and... 04:26 So I grew up mostly in Atlanta. 04:28 I was born in Chicago 04:29 but I grew up most of my life in Atlanta. 04:32 And I went to Arise Mission College 04:35 or mission school back in 2007 that's where I met Levi. 04:39 And since then, I kind of went, I did some missionary work, 04:43 I was gone for six months in certain countries. 04:45 And I was in East Africa and then also South Sudan 04:48 when I encountered my first case 04:50 of human trafficking. 04:52 And I got back to the States, I started researching. 04:54 I realized, "Oh, man! 04:55 This is not just a third world problem, 04:57 this is an American problem." 04:58 And so I started, you know, kind of doing more research, 05:01 watching documentaries, reading books, 05:03 getting involved in local organizations, 05:05 going to meetings. 05:07 And I got involved with a group in Atlanta 05:10 that was called "Out of Darkness". 05:11 And what they were doing is they had started 05:13 24 hour call center to begin rescuing women 05:16 from trafficking and prostitution. 05:19 But that was based off of five years 05:21 before hand of a project called "Princess Night". 05:24 And what Princess Night did was it basically went 05:26 to the streets in areas where they knew prostitution 05:28 was happening and they would minister 05:31 to the prostitutes on the streets. 05:32 They would take groups of girls and guys, 05:34 and the guys would drive the vans, 05:35 and they would be the ones praying 05:36 and watching out to making sure 05:38 overlooking the safety of the girls. 05:39 And the girls would go up and they would hand cards 05:41 and roses, and write in messages that, 05:43 you know, "You're beautiful, you've got value. 05:45 If you ever want to, you know, get off the streets 05:47 you know, we're here for you." 05:49 And so about five years of doing that 05:50 and praying, the first person decided 05:52 that they're gonna come off the streets 05:53 and they're kind of like "What do we do now?" 05:56 And so... After five years? 05:58 After five years, it took a while 06:00 but, you know, obviously they weren't doing it 06:01 every week, they were doing it every month. 06:03 But, you know, now that Out of Darkness 06:07 is running the 24 hour call center, 06:09 they have people going every single Friday night 06:11 to the streets to do that. 06:13 But for the most part, it was monthly 06:15 or bimonthly for five years and it took that long 06:18 until the first person decided to say, 06:20 "Okay, well, I've seen you enough times here, 06:23 you know, I'd like to get off. 06:24 What you can do about it?" 06:26 And so it was kind of it was born out of that need, 06:29 but had they not been there, you know, even caring about it, 06:32 like who knows what would have happened? 06:35 The organization never would have happened at all. 06:38 And so what we did with Out of Darkness is, 06:41 we ran a 24 hour call center, 06:43 and we worked with lots of organizations in Atlanta 06:46 that did recovery programs. 06:48 And so every single case is different, 06:50 you know, you have some girls that have children 06:52 or some that have drug addictions, 06:55 or you know, every case is different, 06:56 not every recovery home handles that. 06:58 So we had to broaden our network 06:59 and work with more recovery homes, 07:01 some that were even out of state 07:03 so that we could fill all of the needs. 07:06 But beyond that, it was actually the numbers 07:08 that were more of a problem, because the first year, 07:12 you know, we went from five years zero 07:14 and then one to the first year of running 07:16 the 24 hour call center and it was 45. 07:19 And then the second year of running the call center, 07:20 I think it was about 115 and then almost double 07:23 that the third year, well over 200. 07:25 And so, you know, you end up getting almost, 07:27 you know, 400, 500 within the first few years 07:31 and there's not enough recovery homes. 07:32 Most recovery homes have just very few beds, 07:34 you know, between 3 and 15. 07:37 And so, you know, the need is there 07:42 but I think just most people aren't necessarily aware of it. 07:46 How broad is this issue of human trafficking? 07:51 Like, you know, we don't, recently, 07:54 I had a husband and wife team on that 07:59 wanted to go to Thailand to get trained 08:02 to help rescue women and children from trafficking. 08:06 And this is something that we don't really talk about 08:10 that much in this country 08:12 but it's really slavery, isn't it? 08:15 It is slavery. 08:17 So go ahead, continue with how you got into it. 08:20 Yeah, it's slavery. 08:22 And I think that the problem is that 08:24 when we think of human trafficking, 08:25 we think of what we've either seen very briefly, 08:28 maybe on TV or on some social networking 08:32 where somebody is, you know, gagged 08:33 and thrown into the back of a van 08:35 and, you know, but that's not the reality of it all. 08:38 I mean, that's a very, very, very small portion of it. 08:41 Majority of the girls that are ending up in the streets, 08:43 even in kind of like small time prostitution 08:46 are local girls from neighborhoods, 08:48 you know, a few miles away, you know. 08:52 And it's not just the poor, there's tons of people 08:55 who get involved in it that are just have issues. 08:59 And so the way that a pimp would generally do this is, 09:03 he'll go to the mall, and he'll find girls or boys, 09:06 and they'll see like an odd number. 09:08 And he'll notice, you know, what their characteristics are 09:11 and basically categorize them within three categories. 09:14 "Oh, you know, she looks like the crazy one. 09:15 She'll be the party girl. 09:16 Or she looks like she's always looking through the windows, 09:18 that's a materialistic one. 09:20 Or that one, she's kind of like, 09:21 you know, the third wheel. 09:23 And so, maybe that's the one with daddy issues. 09:25 And so he kind of categorizes 09:26 and he plays upon those weaknesses 09:28 and he tries to fill the role, you know, 09:30 and he'll go and manipulate 09:33 whatever that girl is dealing with 09:35 based on her vulnerabilities. 09:37 And that's just kind of the basics of it 09:39 but in reality, it's more than just prostitution. 09:41 I mean, it's an organized crime, 09:43 it's children doing it to themselves 09:45 within the schools, you know, they're getting messages 09:48 through music and through media, 09:50 there's no need for a third party. 09:52 I mean, they're doing it themselves. 09:54 And then obviously, you have it within organizations, 09:56 and cults, and even, you know, high levels of government 10:00 and things like that. 10:02 There's always the demand for something. 10:04 And you know, sometimes, the higher you go, 10:06 the more illicit it has to be. 10:08 And so we deal with kind of the bottom level. 10:12 We rarely deal with the higher levels of it. 10:15 And that's the hidden part. So how do you get to that? 10:18 And so we realize that the way that you can 10:20 only deal with that is through spiritual means. 10:22 And it took us a while to do that. 10:24 It took me a while, you know, to realize that 10:25 because I'd always try to go through law enforcement, 10:27 and through legislation, and working with government. 10:30 And, sure, that has its place. 10:32 But there's places you can't reach 10:34 and things that even they themselves won't do 10:36 because there's certain law enforcement, 10:38 and there are certain government 10:40 people and government that are complicit in it. 10:41 They're actually protecting those who do it. 10:44 Right, right. 10:46 So we're talking about corruption. 10:48 Yeah, I'm not speaking ill of government or cops. 10:50 I'm saying there's always portions within, 10:51 you know, there's even divisions 10:53 within all of those institutions. 10:54 Right, right. 10:56 Levi, what have you found as you've been involved 10:58 in this ministry as far as human trafficking is concerned 11:02 and how ubiquitous it is everywhere like how, 11:06 what have you found? 11:08 Really the whole thing was new to me. 11:10 I was, I mean, taken back by, I mean, everything. 11:14 I basically started from scratch. 11:19 When Alex invited me to go to Brazil, 11:21 and I'm sure we'll get to that, 11:23 but I knew literally nothing about it. 11:26 I've never even looked into it before. 11:29 So I mean, it's still to me, things that I'm still learning 11:33 even just recently the stuff 11:35 we were talking about is just shocking 11:38 and it's, you know, it's really sad all of it. 11:43 But like Alex said, you know, I do know that the way 11:49 that we fight it is not on our own power, 11:52 we have to fight it spiritually 11:53 because it is a spiritual issue. 11:55 And it's all tied in some way 12:00 to spiritual issues even, you know, we understand that 12:04 it's kind of obvious in the very high levels 12:07 of trafficking and prostitution. 12:09 And you know, the secret kind of rings 12:13 that there's obvious spiritual ties 12:16 and cultic things that go on. 12:18 But even in school settings, you know, why are young ladies, 12:25 why do they feel the need to sell themselves. 12:28 It's a spiritual issue, you see. 12:31 And so it doesn't matter 12:32 if it's just on a personal local 12:35 kind of scale or of really deep, 12:38 you know, dark rabbit hole. 12:40 It's all tied to the same things. 12:42 How do you... 12:44 what's your story like, where were you raised 12:46 and how did you get into this? 12:49 So Alex was a missionary and you saw something 12:55 over in Africa and other places. 12:57 What about you, Levi, where were you? 12:59 Yeah, I was raised in Michigan in an Adventist home, 13:04 godly parents, amazing examples, 13:08 you know, that I grew up with. 13:10 And in 2006, well, to back up a little bit before that. 13:17 When I was about 16, 17 years old, 13:20 that was when I kind of gave myself, 13:23 my life to God. 13:24 And I told Him, you know, "Whatever You want to do 13:25 with my life, I know I'm still young. 13:28 I want to find out what Your plan 13:30 is basically for my life." 13:32 Because I know so many young people, 13:34 they just go off and do their own thing. 13:35 And maybe they come back later, maybe they don't. 13:38 And I said, "God, I want You to do 13:40 whatever You made me for." 13:42 That's what I want to find out. 13:44 What led you to that point? 13:46 Did something happened that made you decide, 13:48 this is my day to do this? 13:50 It was a really simple thing basically. 13:54 And I won't go through the story 13:55 but basically, through a very, very simple means 13:58 God showed me that He actually wanted 14:03 to have a relationship with me personally, 14:04 outside of my mom or my dad. 14:08 Because, you know, before growing up, 14:09 you're kind of your father's son to God, 14:12 so to speak, you know. 14:14 And so it was really through simple... 14:16 Tell us, tell us, we have time. Simple means. 14:18 When I was... That was, I think, my last... 14:23 No, like my second to last year in high school. 14:27 And I, at the time was working a job 14:32 that was like five hours a week. 14:35 They gave... 14:36 They weren't giving me anything so I was always broke, 14:39 you know, which is still the case, 14:41 that hasn't ever changed. 14:43 And I had a class once a week that I would go, 14:48 I was home schooled. 14:49 And so I had a class once a week. 14:50 I'd go to outside of home to do some of the higher level, 14:54 and grade level stuff. 14:56 And each week, 15:01 I would go and I had a guitar. 15:05 I play guitar, I'm a musician. 15:06 And so I would basically, I wasn't good enough, 15:09 you know, I wasn't making enough at my job. 15:12 And so I had a guitar student to kind of help me with, 15:15 you know, gas, money or whatever. 15:17 And one day, she called me and that's basically 15:20 how I got to school every week, you know. 15:22 If that's how like, tight it was. 15:24 And one day, she called me and she said, 15:27 you know, "I'm not going to be able to do it. 15:28 I got such and such going on. 15:30 So we're going to have to drop the classes." 15:33 And I said, "What? 15:34 How am I supposed to get to school now?" 15:36 And without like skipping a beat that 15:41 before the next class came, the next week, 15:45 one of the girls from class called me 15:46 and she said, "Hey, I don't have 15:48 a ride anymore to school. 15:50 Can you get me? 15:51 And every week if you pick me up, 15:52 I'll give you gas money to go to school. 15:54 And a super like, simple thing, you know, 15:58 but it was very clear that God was providing for me. 16:01 And it had nothing to do with my parents, 16:03 didn't have anything to do with. 16:05 It was just something that I needed 16:06 between God and myself, you know. 16:09 And I hadn't told anybody about it. 16:12 And so through the simplest thing, 16:14 it really got me thinking, "Well, God is... 16:19 He's real. He's personal. 16:20 He actually is thinking about me independent 16:23 from whoever else. 16:26 And that's when I decided, "I want to find out, 16:29 if that's the case, 16:31 You're going to have my life from right now. 16:33 And I want to find out 16:34 what do You really want to do with my life." 16:36 So kind of getting back to your original question though, 16:42 that was when I was 16. 16:44 And when I was 18, 16:46 my dad actually passed away, suddenly. 16:49 He had a heart attack. 16:50 And that pushed me even farther, 16:55 actually toward God, 16:56 you know, like I had told someone earlier today, 16:59 when that kind of a situation happens 17:00 that basically it pushes you this way or that... 17:02 That's true. 17:04 And it pushed me closer, more dependent on God, 17:08 more focused on doing His work and His will for my life. 17:12 And so the next year 17:14 is when I felt called to go to Arise. 17:17 And that's how I met Alex. 17:19 And I got, after that, I basically got involved 17:21 in mission work and, you know, 17:25 lay Bible work and that kind of thing. 17:27 So, you guys, both feel really... 17:29 You feel called to do what you're doing. 17:31 This is not just something that you have an interest in, 17:35 this is a calling for you, isn't it? 17:37 Definitely. Definitely, it is. 17:39 So back to you, Alex. 17:41 So after you got involved 17:45 with the Out of Darkness organization, then, 17:50 when did you decide 17:52 to do Crying at the Gates, and how did that happen? 17:54 So in 2013, we were working during the Super Bowl. 18:01 And so during large events, not just the Super Bowl 18:03 is not exclusive to it, 18:04 it's just whenever you have large groupings of people, 18:06 large events, people coming from all over the place, 18:09 you always have a gathering also of an underground network 18:12 that offers other types 18:14 of entertainment and distraction. 18:16 And so we had gathered together a group of people 18:18 from Out of Darkness, and a few other organizations. 18:20 And we went about 20 of us to work 18:23 during the Super Bowl to kind of be on the streets, 18:25 to be presence, to go into places 18:27 to have some of the girls that we were working 18:29 with to walk into some of the clubs 18:30 that we knew were going to be running 18:33 behind their front, other things. 18:36 And so we weren't ignorant of the fact 18:37 and we didn't act like 18:38 as if we were ignorant to the fact. 18:40 We walked straight into the clubs 18:41 and we said, "Hey, listen, we know some of these girls 18:42 during this weekend are going to be 18:44 going through tremendous amounts of stress. 18:45 Is there any way that we can just give them 18:47 some care packages, 18:48 let them know that we care for them?" 18:49 And you'll be surprised that a lot of, 18:51 you know, the bouncers 18:52 and some of the owners were kind of like, 18:53 "Yes, yes. Please do, help the girls out." 18:56 And so while it is, you know, 18:58 financial economic at some level, 18:59 there are people who honestly care 19:02 even within that network. 19:04 Not everybody is, you know, sometimes you just, 19:06 you get to the point where people are just trying 19:08 to make ends meet. 19:09 And surely, you have that. 19:11 We also confronted other types 19:13 where it was obviously more notorious than that, 19:15 more sinister than that. 19:17 You know, we had to go through back pages 19:19 in Craig's list to kind of track interstate trafficking. 19:23 We knew what keywords to look for 19:24 and things like that 19:25 because a lot of stuff happens on the web. 19:28 You know, it can't happen visibly 19:31 because it gets tracked and people don't want trouble. 19:34 And so we did that, you know, we made some phone calls 19:37 to some of the advertisements and things like that, 19:38 and we said, "Hey, listen. 19:40 You know, if you want to get out of this, 19:41 we'll get you out of this." 19:43 And so we were working during that time. 19:44 And I just felt like this huge spirit of oppression 19:46 the entire time. 19:48 I mean, we were always up late, we were in, 19:49 like you know, bad situations 19:51 and, you know, shady parts of town. 19:53 And there were people that were partying 19:54 and drunk in the streets and vomiting 19:56 and getting into fights, and it was kind of like a, 19:58 you know, a pre party and tons of stuff was going on. 20:01 But it was just, 20:02 the atmosphere itself was really heavy. 20:04 And I thought to myself, "Man, this is gonna be 20:06 happening on a larger scale, 20:07 the following year in 2014 with FIFA. 20:10 I said, you know, "I may not know anybody in Brazil 20:13 but I've got to do something, you know. 20:15 I'm tired of this." 20:17 I got to a point where I was so tired 20:18 of what was going on. 20:20 At that point, I was still fighting 20:22 in very much with carnally, 20:24 you know, trying to solve the issues in my own strength, 20:27 you know, with our organization 20:28 and with what we had planned in our projects, 20:31 I wasn't thinking much about praying. 20:32 And so I was kind of being worn down after, 20:34 you know, about five years of doing this. 20:37 And so I said, "Well, I know that 20:39 I'm not in the best spiritual condition 20:41 but this has to be done." 20:43 And if I know that it's going to be happening to kids 20:45 and I ignore it, you know, then I'm not going 20:47 to be able to live with myself as a man. 20:49 So whatever it is, you know, whatever people tell me, 20:52 I don't care, I just need to go or figure something out 20:54 when I get there. 20:56 And so I decided, "Okay. I'll just go." 20:58 And so I ended up doing that. 20:59 I try to make some connections, they all kind of fell through. 21:02 But I got to Brazil 21:03 and I try to do things my own way. 21:04 Did you go alone? I went alone. 21:06 I went alone, I didn't know anybody. 21:09 I just kind of showed up, you know, I told some people. 21:12 And one person is like, 21:13 "Oh, you can stay at my cousin's house." 21:15 And so they were very kind to give me a place to stay. 21:17 You know, I try to go to the Adventist University 21:20 there to some different organizations 21:22 but nothing was just coming together. 21:25 And so I was kind of like, "Wow, I told everybody 21:27 that I'd be here for at least six months doing something. 21:29 And here I am, you know, a month end 21:31 and nothing's happening. 21:33 And so I figured, "You know what, 21:35 I'm tired of this." 21:36 So I just started walking through the streets 21:38 and I started praying. 21:39 Well, I didn't start praying. 21:41 I saw somebody that was hurting. 21:42 And, you know, I didn't speak Portuguese. 21:44 So I said, "Oh, I'll pray for them." 21:45 And that was like, kind of like, an odd thought. 21:47 I mean, as a Christian, you know, you should pray 21:49 but you don't always think like, 21:51 "Oh, I'm going to pray for people." 21:53 Because we believe in prayer 21:54 but we don't really believe in prayer. 21:55 So at this point, I'm just kind of like, 21:57 "Okay, well, I can't do anything. 21:58 She looks, you know, depressed just like me." 21:59 So I started praying for her. 22:01 And I ended up doing that for about five hours. 22:02 I just kept on seeing people, and places, 22:04 and things like that, you know. 22:05 And my eye had already been trained 22:07 through the years to kind of notice things. 22:08 And so I was just walking and praying, 22:11 and walking and praying. 22:12 And five hours had passed and all of a sudden, 22:13 I come back and I'm energized. 22:15 And I feel like, "Oh. 22:17 Maybe this is what God wants me to do. 22:19 He wants to strip away all of my dependence upon, 22:22 you know, the arm of man to accomplish things. 22:24 And He wants to show me that it's the arm of God 22:27 that accomplishes things. 22:28 So I said, "You know what, I'll make a deal with You. 22:29 You take me to all of the cities, all 12 of them," 22:31 and I don't have money at the time. 22:33 I said, "But you take me to all 12 of them 22:34 and we'll do something. 22:36 You know, you do it. 22:38 I'll show up and I'm going to see 22:39 what it is that You have prepared for me 22:40 but You got to send me somebody." 22:42 And so I just randomly called him and yeah. 22:44 Wow, now these 12 cities, how had they been determined? 22:47 What made you choose these 12? 22:49 Well, these were host cities for the FIFA World Cup game. 22:52 Yeah, so each of them had a stadium 22:53 that was going to host some of the games. 22:56 Yeah. Got you. 22:57 So that's when you called Levi. 22:59 And I don't even know why 23:00 'cause I hadn't talked to him in like six years. 23:02 Wow. 23:03 Since Arise, basically maybe, we had like messaged online, 23:08 like once or something but we were never in touch. 23:12 And so I had actually just gotten back at that time, 23:18 probably a couple months before that I got back from Mexico. 23:20 I had been in Mexico for about four months in 2013. 23:26 And I got back, I ended up coming back early unexpectedly. 23:32 And I knew, God had brought me back for some reason 23:35 but I didn't know why. 23:37 And 'cause I was planning to be till, 23:39 you know, at least 2014 through the end of the year. 23:44 And so I got back 23:46 and I'm just kind of there at home, 23:47 like you know, I don't know why God brought me back 23:49 but I got this message from Alex. 23:53 And he said, "Hey, do you want to come to Brazil with me 23:56 for like four months." 23:58 Like, totally out of the blue, you know. 24:01 And I said, "Well, what are you doing there?" 24:04 And he told me, "Well, we're gonna walk 24:06 through the cities and pray for the stadiums 24:09 and pray for the cities." 24:11 And I'm like, "Are you there with someone?" 24:15 He was like, "No." 24:17 So you're not with an organization or something. 24:19 "No." 24:21 "Do you have sponsors?" 24:23 "No." 24:24 "Do you have any money?" "No." 24:27 I'm like... "Do you know anybody there?" 24:28 "And do you know anybody? Do you speak the language?" 24:30 "No, no, no." There is all no. 24:32 There is all no. 24:33 And I'm like, "Well, that sounds pretty interesting." 24:38 Oh, sure, I will go. 24:39 So I prayed for a couple days about it 24:41 and God impressed me, 24:43 "Yeah, this is why I brought you back. 24:45 And this is, you know, what I want you to do." 24:48 So I thought I was gonna have some money, 24:52 so I had some work lined up for a little bit 24:54 before that and I ended up, you know, how life goes. 24:59 And I didn't end up making 25:00 as much as I thought I was going to. 25:02 And so I left for Brazil with about $800 for four months 25:06 of food, hotel, planes, buses, whatever I didn't know what. 25:11 And I figured, "Well, Alex invited me. 25:14 Surely, he has some money." 25:15 So I got there. 25:17 I'm like, "Hey, Alex, you got some money, right?" 25:18 "Well, I have $800." 25:20 So we both had $800 to begin with 25:23 which was like a fraction 25:25 of what we needed then turns out, 25:26 this is just kind of a freebie, I'll throw in there. 25:33 By the end of the four months, 25:36 we had received $8,000 in donations. 25:40 We never asked for anything, we never told anybody 25:43 what our needs were, we just prayed. 25:45 We had received $8,000 without talking to anyone. 25:49 And we use every penny, in fact, 25:51 I had to sell a camera lens to buy my plane ticket back. 25:55 And so we started out with $800 each 25:59 and God provided $8,000 so we basically paid the tithe 26:02 and God provided the rest, you know. 26:05 We're just kind of a neat sort of example 26:07 of the tithing principle. 26:09 Yeah, for sure. 26:11 So that was how I basically got involved. 26:13 So how did you eat and where did you... 26:17 You stayed at the person's, the family members... 26:19 Yeah, but that was just in when I started in Sao Paulo. 26:23 And so after I left Sao Paulo, I went to Salvador. 26:26 And in Salvador is where he joined me. 26:28 And then we started the whole tour from Salvador. 26:31 So we passed back through Sao Paulo 26:32 but basically, all 12 cities, there was nothing lined up. 26:37 So I arrive in Salvador before he does. 26:39 And, you know, I'm praying for something 26:41 and, you know, I rent a little place first. 26:44 And I go to church. 26:45 And a family hears about what it is that I'm doing. 26:47 They invite me to go stay at their house, 26:48 so when he arrives, we stay at their house. 26:50 And it just so happens that, 26:52 you know, every single person that we had stayed at, 26:55 called somebody in the next city. 26:58 And so we didn't know who it was but we basically, 27:00 we went on the bus or whatever, 27:02 and we would show up at the bus station, 27:04 and somebody would be there 27:06 and says, "Hey, are you Alex and Levi? 27:08 We heard about you, come stay at our house." 27:10 And this happened 12 times. 27:12 Well, 11 times because the first time, yeah. 27:14 So every single city, we got used to it. 27:17 Show up at the airport, show up at the bus stop, 27:19 and somebody will be there. 27:21 And say, "Hey, are you Alex and Levi? 27:23 You're coming to our home." 27:24 It was something because literally, 27:26 you're going to a place, you don't know anyone there. 27:30 And it's a brand new city of different people, 27:32 they're pretty far, it's a huge country. 27:34 So it's not like, they're next door neighbors. 27:37 The cities are across the country, 27:39 some of them and you just show up. 27:44 And every single time someone would come up to us. 27:46 They'd be like, "Hey, are you such and such? 27:48 Come to our house and we'll feed you 27:49 and we'll take you places." 27:50 We would, I mean, 27:52 we'll get to some of the stories 27:54 but everywhere we went, there were all, 27:58 not just like a place to stay 28:00 and food and that waiting for us, 28:03 but there was also opportunities, 28:05 there were sometimes whole churches 28:07 that were three days 28:09 after we got there and knew no one. 28:12 For example, one time, 28:14 we had that Sabbath after we arrived, 28:19 we ended up speaking to the entire leadership 28:24 of the youth conference for that state. 28:27 Wow. 28:29 As like the keynote speakers. Speakers. 28:32 And don't ask me how, we didn't know anybody. 28:36 We never met... 28:37 You're just not there and you were keynote speakers. 28:41 We were getting dragged places, like, 28:44 I have no idea. 28:46 You know, we'd get to somebody he says, 28:47 "Oh, you're going to be speaking in front of like, 28:49 200 like, youth leaders." 28:50 We ended up going to the general conference. 28:52 In Portuguese, mind you. In Brazil. 28:54 Good. You know, and so you know... 28:57 So we also needed the gift of tongues. 28:58 Well, it did happened, it did happened. 29:00 And this is two months in... 29:02 This is two months in and they're having us 29:03 basically present to, 29:05 you know, groups of leadership in Portuguese. 29:10 And, you know, we're kind of like, 29:13 well, we don't really speak Portuguese, 29:15 we're learning it. 29:16 But you know, stuff would come out, 29:18 like it would be Portuguese, Spanish, 29:19 a little bit of English 29:20 and then as soon as you get used to it all of a sudden, 29:22 like by the end of the time we were there, 29:24 we were fluent, we were going to the associations, 29:27 like the Adventist associations. 29:29 We were doing the devotionals for all the pastors, 29:32 for the conference leaders, for these kinds of things, 29:34 like they were putting us to young people 29:37 to basically pray with and do devotionals 29:41 and leadership trainings for people, 29:44 you know, more experienced and twice our age. 29:46 Yeah. 29:47 And in positions that, you know, 29:49 there were actual positions, 29:50 not like ours where we were just kind of like.. 29:51 Yeah, we were nobody. 29:53 Walking around, we're not even recognized. 29:55 And the thing really to think about though 29:57 with all of this isn't 'cause obviously nothing, 30:00 none of it had to do with us and who we are and how... 30:03 Whatever we are. 30:05 All had to do with the fact that 30:08 God was going in front of us, He was the one doing it. 30:10 Literally we were, we were running to keep up with Him. 30:14 And to both of us this is really 30:18 what got our attention to say, when a ministry 30:22 or a work is based on prayer 30:24 as the first thing this is the way that it goes. 30:28 This is the way it works 30:29 because then God is the one doing it 30:31 and you're following what He's doing 30:33 instead of trying to make it work the other way around. 30:36 Absolutely. And the thing was is that 30:38 it wasn't just Adventist churches 30:40 that were doing this, 30:41 it was the secular powers as well. 30:43 So there was one time where we showed up to a stadium 30:46 and we invited a group of people to come pray with us 30:48 over the stadium, the church, you know, they said, 30:50 "Okay, we'll come and we'll pray." 30:51 So we started walking around the stadium 30:52 and it was still on construction, 30:54 hadn't been open to the public yet. 30:55 And some lady walks out and she says, 30:58 "What are you doing?" 30:59 And she's like, "Oh, these two guys here 31:01 they brought us here to pray." 31:02 So they come to us and ask, "Well, what are you doing?" 31:04 "So, we're praying. 31:05 We're interceding for the stadium. 31:07 We're asking for God to, you know, protect, 31:08 you know, all of the workers here, 31:10 you know, the staff, all those that are coming here, 31:13 you know, the players. 31:14 We're just asking because we know stuff happens 31:15 during these kinds of events, we just want to pray 31:17 God's protection over here 31:18 and dedicate this stadium to Him." 31:21 And it so happened that she was actually 31:22 the head of security for a FIFA for that stadium. 31:25 And she says, "Do you guys want to come in 31:26 and pray on the field?" 31:28 And so she opens the door, 31:29 she takes us in through the construction 31:31 and she says, "Here's the field..." 31:33 completely empty stadium, it's not even open 31:35 to the public yet 31:37 and here we are walking on the field, 31:39 you know, by request of the head of security, 31:42 you know, for that stadium praying and dedicating... 31:45 Was she a Christian? I would imagine so, you know. 31:47 And so it was... it was amazing. 31:50 And it doesn't happen just once, 31:52 you know, we were allowed 31:53 into two stadiums prior to the... 31:54 Prior to the day they were open. 31:57 But it was just even... 31:58 Even schools and even governments that, 31:59 you know, that were not Christian related, 32:01 they had us come over there 32:03 and speak to them and work with them. 32:05 It was a lot of doors were open 32:07 and we didn't even open them ourselves, 32:08 none of them we opened ourselves. 32:10 God is amazing because He had something 32:14 in mind for you to do 32:16 and you guys responded to it and that's all He needs. 32:20 It's somebody that's going 32:21 to be available to do what He... 32:23 He's going to do it. 32:25 He's going to open the doors, He's going to provide, 32:27 He's going to do all of that. 32:28 He just needs somebody who is going to who says, 32:30 "Here I am Lord, send me." 32:32 Yeah. That's all He need. 32:33 So tell us some of the experiences 32:35 that you had over there? 32:36 Oh, well, all right, we'll see how much time we have. 32:40 You better talk fast. All right. 32:41 So, three missions that we had, we said, 32:44 "We're going there to pray, we know that, 32:47 but what are the three things that we need to pray for?" 32:48 I said, "I'm coming here for human trafficking," 32:50 obviously we can't start with that, 32:52 Levi doesn't really know much about that. 32:54 We don't know what the whole situation is like, 32:55 so let's start with this. 32:57 We'll pray for the stadiums first. 32:58 Mission number one, 33:00 we dedicate the stadiums as venues 33:01 and those entire areas 33:03 and communities around the stadium to God 33:05 because those are the places 33:06 that are going to be the center of attention. 33:08 Number two, if you want us to add this, 33:10 "Lord, you have to show us exactly, 33:12 we want to go into the slums the favelas," okay? 33:14 There are some of the most dangerous slums, 33:16 some of them, some of them are okay 33:17 but the majority are very dangerous places, 33:19 you don't walk in, we've been warned, 33:21 "Do not go into these places." 33:23 "So, Lord, if you want us to go into these places, 33:25 you have to show us." 33:26 Mission number three, "If you want us to work 33:29 with prostitutes directly," 33:30 because that's what we're technically here 33:32 for is to pray for them 33:34 but not only for them with them. 33:35 "Help us to establish a ministry 33:37 where we can work with the locals 33:39 to continue outreach to prostitutes 33:43 and praying for their city for that case after we leave." 33:47 So those are the three things. 33:48 Number one, we already had been established. 33:49 God had already told us we had to be there and pray. 33:51 "So you have to show us now, Lord, if you want us to do 33:53 number two and number three." 33:56 And that's basically what we're going to tell you 33:58 is how number two and number three were answered. 34:01 So if you want to go with number two, 34:03 or do you want me to go with number two? 34:05 Well, I want to tell number one really quick. 34:07 Go for it, okay. 34:08 With the stadiums? 34:10 Actually just praying, praying for people, 34:14 for the prostitutes on the streets. 34:18 What city was that? 34:20 The girl that we met under the bridge. 34:22 Recife. Recife. 34:23 Yeah. 34:25 So the first like direct encounter 34:30 that we had with a person on the streets was 34:34 when we were with a man from that city. 34:37 He was kind of, taking us around, 34:38 showing us different places around the city 34:40 and he was one of the guys from the church, 34:43 good, good guy, Christian guy. 34:46 And basically he would go 34:49 and he would pick one person a day 34:52 he tried to pick to pray with them or for them through, 34:56 throughout the day. 34:59 And so we were driving along on the highway there 35:02 and we saw on the side of the highway 35:04 under a bridge there was a lady walking on, 35:08 you know, back and forth on the side of the road there. 35:10 And he said, "There's one of the prostitutes from this, 35:13 you know, area and you guys want to stop 35:17 and pray for her." 35:18 And it's the day, you know, it's the middle of the day, 35:20 we're not like, normally you wouldn't do that 35:23 especially at night, you know, 35:25 just because it doesn't look right 35:26 if you don't have at least 35:28 some ladies with you or whatnot. 35:30 But it was middle of the day like, you know. 35:34 We said, "Sure, let's do that. 35:35 We can at least get her name and pray for her 35:37 and see what her needs are and that." 35:40 So we stopped and the lady comes up, 35:43 she comes around, you know, to the driver side, 35:46 the Brazilian guy, he was the one driving. 35:49 And he rolls up down the window, she says, 35:51 "Do you guys want to program?" 35:53 Which is their way of saying, you know... 35:55 Do you want a session, yeah. 35:56 Right, okay. Session. 35:58 And he says, "No, no, no that's not why we're here. 36:01 Actually the two guys with me are missionaries, 36:04 they're from the States 36:05 and they just want to pray with you 36:08 or pray for you and we want to know, 36:10 you know, if there's anything we can pray for." 36:13 And she went from being a strictly business, 36:17 you know, like lady on the street to being, 36:20 she was a totally different person in an instant. 36:24 In what way? 36:25 Her whole countenance changed, her face changed, 36:27 she became friendly and warm and she got excited, 36:32 you know, and she said, "Wow, you guys really, 36:34 you just want to pray for me?" 36:36 And he said, "Yeah, what's your, you know, 36:39 what do you need? 36:41 What can we pray for?" 36:42 And she started to tell us her story 36:44 and she said, "You know, I study the Bible 36:47 and I love God and I want to be baptized 36:51 and I've been studying the Bible 36:52 with a church for a while 36:58 but I don't have a job. 36:59 I don't have a husband, I have two kids, 37:01 I don't know what to do to support them 37:02 and I feel stuck in the situation. 37:04 I don't know what else to do." 37:06 And she said, "But the church that I go to, 37:09 I've been doing Bible studies 37:12 and it's the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 37:14 we don't, do you guys know what that is?" 37:16 And we said, "No kidding." What? 37:18 Really. God sent you directly to her. 37:20 The first person that we met was studying 37:25 to become a Seventh-day Adventist. 37:26 And she was worried, she was worried 37:27 that the church wouldn't accept her 37:29 if they knew what it was that she was doing. 37:31 And so in essence, you know, she was an answer to our prayer 37:34 and that we knew that God was like saying, 37:36 "Yes, I want you to pray for prostitutes and with them. 37:40 And so go ahead and start, you know, 37:42 going towards project number three." 37:46 But the other thing was that it was an answer to her prayer 37:49 because now she knew that there were people 37:51 within the church that were looking for her. 37:53 She wasn't going to be discriminated against, 37:55 she was going to be cast out or judged. 37:56 Obviously, there's always people who do that, 37:58 but there's also people who are looking for her. 38:00 And as long as she has 38:02 that confidence that are people saying, 38:03 "Hey, listen, there's people in this church 38:05 that are actually searching for me," 38:06 and that's kind of, you know, that gave her a comfort. 38:08 And our friend, his wife was a social worker 38:10 and so they connected her and they found her work 38:13 and it wasn't a city that was too far away. 38:15 And so it was, it was, it was a real answer 38:17 to prayer on all sides. 38:19 Yeah. 38:20 It was basically like, "How much more 38:21 of a confirmation do you need..." 38:23 Exactly. 38:24 "That this is what you're supposed to be doing." 38:25 You know. Exactly. 38:27 The first person you talk to is a prostitute 38:28 that is studying with, you know, the Adventist Church. 38:30 That is incredible. Yeah. 38:32 You just want to say, "Look at God, look at God," 38:35 because He cares so much about us, 38:37 about each individual that He was answering. 38:41 And He does a lot, He accomplishes a lot 38:44 with one move, so one move confirmed 38:47 your situation and hers too. 38:50 Yeah. Boom. 38:51 So all we needed now was a group of people to train, 38:55 to minister in like manner. Right. 38:57 And so we put off project number three, 39:00 we knew there was to go forward 39:01 but we just kind of put it on hold for the time being. 39:04 Now we need to find out number two, 39:05 do we go into the favelas? 39:07 Do we go into these places? 39:08 The family that we were staying with, 39:09 you know, they were kind of basically adopted us 39:11 and they were very wonderful to us 39:12 and the woman, you know, who we called Mom 39:15 was basically terribly worried for us. 39:17 She's like, "Don't do it. 39:19 Don't go into these places, you're going to die." 39:20 Yeah. 39:22 You know, you guys are Americans, 39:23 you don't know how the whole culture thing works 39:25 and whatever... Which is true. 39:26 Yeah, it's true. She was right. 39:29 But we decided that, 39:30 "Hey, God had called us to do this, 39:31 we need to do it." 39:33 And so we were with another Brazilian friend of ours, 39:34 who are speaking Spanish, he understood Spanish, 39:36 so they were speaking Portuguese. 39:37 It's still very early, 39:39 you know, in our, in our journey. 39:40 And so, you know, we're communicating 39:41 through Spanish and a little bit of English. 39:44 And we're walking at night 39:47 and I'm kind of like stopping in, 39:49 like, "You know what, I think we should go in here." 39:52 And he's like, "No, that's not such a good idea." 39:55 So I kind of like skip over what he says. 39:57 I turn to Levi, I said, "Levi, are you okay with that?" 39:59 And he's like, "Yeah, sure, why not." 40:02 He's like, "I'm not scared," and he's okay. 40:04 Still Americans. You know, they don't know... 40:08 Strong in faith. So he's kind of like... 40:11 That's right. 40:12 He's kind of like, "All right, there's a guy standing 40:13 at the corner, maybe if we walk, 40:15 he'll tell us to get out of here or something," 40:17 so we walk a little closer and he's hoping 40:19 that this guy's going to confront us 40:20 and tell us to, you know, "Get out of here." 40:22 So we get closer and this guy's like, 40:24 you know, at one of the walkways, 40:26 one of the streets that will go into this favela, 40:28 into the slum. 40:29 And he stops us and he sees, you know, 40:30 I've got a camera in my hand and things like that 40:32 so it's nighttime and you've got a camera, 40:33 he was like, "Okay, that's not questionable." 40:36 So he comes and he's like, "What are you guys doing?" 40:38 And you know, our friend's kind of, like, 40:40 you know, a little sheepishly, 40:41 "Oh, these guys, just kind of, pray for you. 40:43 They want to see if there's anything you wanted, 40:44 you know, and they're just here 40:46 just to pray for you guys 40:48 and see if just to get to know you, you know." 40:51 And he's kind of like, "Oh really?" 40:52 He's like, "Wow, that's amazing. 40:53 Yeah, we would love to have you. 40:55 Come on in." 40:57 And he's like, "Oh, for real?" 40:58 He's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on in." 40:59 So the first place he actually takes us 41:01 is to the high priest of black magic, Candomble, 41:04 which is like a voodoo type religion. 41:06 It's a mixture of like, Catholicism 41:08 and like African animism. 41:10 Like Yoruba? Shamanism. 41:11 Kind of like Yoruba? 41:13 I'm not too familiar but yeah, possibly. 41:14 Okay. 41:15 So they basically, they take us to his house 41:17 and his house is like full of paintings of saints 41:19 and they have like an idol, they sacrifice alcohol too 41:22 and they also do chicken sacrifices 41:23 in cross streets and things like that. 41:25 But this is the guy that he runs the favela. 41:27 Now he doesn't take us to the drug trafficker, 41:29 he doesn't take us to the human trafficker, 41:30 he takes us to the religious guy. 41:33 He's the head guy, he's the head honcho. 41:34 And so he's got to bring us to him 41:36 to get us permission to enter. 41:38 And the guy says, "You know what, 41:40 nobody walks in here." 41:41 He say, "We see darkness from this side 41:44 but that's because that's all we've ever seen. 41:46 There's some of us who don't want to be in this situation 41:48 but nobody ever comes from the other side to tell us 41:50 what it's like or to even give us a chance. 41:52 They all, you know, they all pushes aside saying 41:54 we're dangerous, we're going to kill them or whatever. 41:56 So that's not the case at all. 41:58 And so thank you for coming here 42:00 and for not looking at us in, 42:02 you know, something like, we're some crazies or whatever 42:04 and for actually caring for us." 42:06 And we actually prayed with him. 42:08 Wow. 42:09 He allowed us to enter his home, 42:10 I mean, he allowed me to film inside his home, 42:12 the idols and all of, you know. 42:14 At some point maybe we can show you 42:15 some of the stuff that we, 42:17 we've taken pictures of and documented. 42:20 But he's like, "Yeah, come on in." 42:22 And we just met tons of people and people, 42:25 kids were coming around 42:26 and people stopped doing marijuana, 42:28 people stopped, they have like glue and plastic bottles 42:31 that they would sniff to get high off of, 42:33 everybody put that down. 42:34 Everybody stopped doing all the things 42:35 that that they thought were wrong, 42:37 you know, their consciousness like came alive 42:39 and they came like, "Oh, here's these missionaries, 42:40 you know, let's, let's act accordingly." 42:43 But it was amazing, you know, we just, 42:45 we hugged everybody, we talked with them, 42:47 they took pictures with them 42:49 and it was just a really, really beautiful moment. 42:52 And, you know, a lot of stuff happened 42:54 even within that favela, 42:55 we don't have time to get through it 42:57 because I want to get to some of the other things 42:58 'cause our time is running a little short. 43:00 But people were crying when we were leaving 43:01 and they said, "You know, thank you, like just, 43:04 just thank you for doing this 43:06 and just for at least showing us 43:07 that there's people who care." 43:09 And it opened the door for the church to be like, 43:12 "Oh, man, we should probably go, 43:14 start going to this favelas, 43:15 it's not what we thought it was." 43:17 And if anything, you know, we know we can't stay 43:19 in those places forever but if we could at least 43:21 change the mind of the local churches 43:23 about certain things, 43:24 then we can break down those barriers 43:26 and they can begin ministering in that regard. 43:28 Yeah. Yeah. 43:29 And something just an interesting point 43:31 on that story is like, 43:33 when we were actually leaving, 43:35 Alex was behind and of course, he had that camera, you know. 43:39 And these two young guys came up behind him 43:43 and the guy we went with and the older gentleman 43:47 who had kind of let us in, they were upfront, 43:51 I was behind them, Alex was way in the back. 43:54 And these two young guys came up behind Alex 43:57 and I mean, don't ask how, I mean, we know how 44:01 but the man who had let us in, 44:06 it was like he had eyes in the back of his head, 44:07 he turned around at that exact moment 44:10 and he told them in Portuguese, 44:12 he said, "They're with me, get out of here," 44:14 and the guys took off like they saw a ghost. 44:16 They want to rob you. So they were... 44:18 So I was by myself 44:19 because I was trying to film, you know. 44:21 And it was kind of like an old camera 44:22 and so I had to hold it really steady 44:23 because it was dark, it was night time, 44:25 you know, we had very little lighting 44:26 and so they were kind of walking 44:27 and they got very far away 44:29 and I felt these two guys coming behind me. 44:30 And you know, I've, I've been on the streets 44:32 and you know, I'm not like a crazy tough guy 44:34 but I've trained, I've done martial arts. 44:35 I'm like, "I can, I'm pretty sure 44:36 I can take these guys," you know. 44:38 And so I'm waiting for them to come upon me 44:39 and then I'm gonna like, "All right, 44:41 let's see what we got." 44:42 But, you know, it's kind of, like, 44:43 I'm trying to get in God's way again. 44:45 And, you know, the impossible shout, 44:48 like from a distance, like how does he even notice, 44:50 like there's no, he's engrossed in conversation, 44:52 he's far away, he turns around, 44:53 he puts out his and says, "No, he's with me." 44:55 And these guys are like, they've seen a ghost 44:57 or the devil himself that is basically like just run, 45:00 I mean just like in fear. 45:01 And I'm kind of wondering, 45:03 "Okay, I get it," 45:05 you know, it's kind of, like, "Alex..." 45:06 Yeah. 45:07 "I got this," you know, like... 45:09 Yeah. Just don't worry about it. 45:10 Yeah. 45:12 And it was like that the entire time through. 45:13 He was trying 45:14 to just basically beat it into my head 45:16 that He's, He's got this. 45:17 There were actually multiple stories, 45:18 I wish we had, 45:20 you know, more time where we could tell all of them 45:21 but there were multiple stories, 45:23 very similar to that. 45:24 Yeah, people who try to rob us who ended up, you know. 45:26 Witnessing? 45:27 Witnessing and then praying for them. 45:28 Tell us one? Tell us one? 45:30 I'll tell that, yeah. Okay. 45:33 One of the stadiums 45:35 that we're walking around with a friend. 45:38 Excuse me, I got a frog stuck in there. 45:42 One of the stadiums we were walking around, 45:44 praying around with a friend there. 45:47 One lap around this guy came 45:51 with the way they do it in Brazil if they, 45:55 sometimes they have a gun, sometimes they don't 45:57 but they'll put their hand in their shirt 45:58 as if they have one and you don't know so that's. 46:00 Right. 46:02 They'll come up to you that way basically to say, 46:03 "Give me what you got, 46:05 you know, otherwise you'll find out 46:07 if I have a gun or not." 46:09 Right. 46:10 And so a guy came up to us 46:12 with his hand in his shirt and of course, 46:14 we didn't really understand, you know, that aspect. 46:16 Well, he wasn't facing, I was facing that direction 46:19 but our friend me and our friend Andre, 46:21 he was facing that direction. 46:23 and of I kind of like was like, "Ah, well, whatever." 46:25 So Andre, he's from there and so he knew what was up, 46:28 you know, and before the guy had a chance 46:32 to say anything to us, Andre said, "Hey, we're..." 46:36 He knew what the guy was trying to do 46:37 but he jumped on it first, 46:39 he said, "Hey, you know, these guys are missionaries. 46:40 We're here to pray for this area, 46:42 do you want us to pray for you, for something?" 46:44 And the guy, 46:46 you know, he was like he was ashamed 46:47 of what he was about do. 46:49 Completely disarmed, completely disarmed. 46:50 He's kind of like, 46:52 you know, he pulls his hand out like scratching 46:54 and he tries to pull up his shirt, 46:55 and he was like, 46:57 "I was just holding my hand there 46:58 because I got hurt," and you know, 47:00 and then he begins breaking down. 47:01 and he's He says, "Listen, I was in prison, 47:02 you know, I just got out of prison." 47:04 And he says, "I, you know, I just saw you guys." 47:05 And he said he had been in prison 47:06 for eight years, right? 47:08 Something like that, yeah. 47:09 And he had gotten out, 47:10 he told us he had memorized like, 47:12 parts of the Bible in there 47:13 and quoted some scriptures to us and... 47:15 A little broken but it was working. 47:16 Yeah. 47:17 And so we got to pray with him, 47:19 we got to talk to him and get to know him some. 47:22 We even invited him to lunch, he didn't come for. 47:24 Yeah, well, I mean, 47:26 we offered him some clothes and some things 47:28 and we asked him to come to lunch with us 47:29 and he said, "No, I'll just, you know, 47:30 if you just mind getting me a taxi, I'll go back." 47:33 And I think, I think he was just ashamed 47:35 like he felt that that he was going to do 47:37 something wrong and he got caught. 47:39 Right. 47:40 And, you know, it just put him to thought. 47:42 And you heap coals of fire on his head 47:44 by being kind to him and loving him 47:47 and saying you would pray for him 47:49 and I'm sure he just felt very embarrassed. 47:50 But his name's actually in this book 47:52 and I don't know, I need to find out what page. 47:53 Tell us about this book. 47:55 So this book I actually, I actually decided 47:57 to just to do this on my way to Brazil. 48:00 And I said, "You know what..." 48:02 Because I went to Brazil, 48:04 I found out things aren't working, 48:05 I decided to do a prayer ministry, 48:06 I came back for about a week or two 48:08 and then I went back to Brazil. 48:09 And so when I came back, I got this book and I said, 48:10 "Now that I know 48:12 that God wants me to do prayer ministry, 48:13 I want to make sure 48:14 that I write everybody's name down 48:16 that I meet," because I don't know 48:18 if I'm going to get to minister to them 48:20 for the long term 48:21 but at the very least if I have their name, 48:22 I can remember them in prayer 48:24 even if I don't remember what they look like 48:25 or what their situation is, God knows. 48:27 And so that guy's name is in here, 48:29 some witches names are in here, some drug traffickers, 48:31 human traffickers, prostitutes, 48:34 probably around 400 names of people from Brazil, 48:37 more than 200 from people 48:38 who are on the streets of Brazil. 48:40 And so it's just kind of a way, 48:42 it reminds me daily, 48:43 you know, because you don't always share your testimony 48:45 but when you open this book, 48:46 this book and you kind of look at all the names of people, 48:48 yeah, you see your friends, 48:50 your family but then you see names like, 48:51 "Wow, I don't remember who that was 48:53 but that's probably one of the person 48:55 that was struggling on, somebody that was in, 48:58 you know, the depths of hell," so to speak. 49:01 And the prayer that Levi and I have for him 49:05 are probably the only rays of light 49:07 that he's getting where he's at. 49:10 And so we do this because we want people, 49:14 you know, we want Satan's hold to be loosened on people. 49:17 We want them to have access, we want... 49:19 So, do you pray over this book every day, 49:21 is that... 49:22 So there's times where I go through the pages 49:24 and I read the names individual and all of the messages 49:26 and there's times where I kind of like, 49:28 just read the names quickly then I'll pray in general 49:30 and there's times where I make excuses, 49:33 I'm so tired, "Lord, just pray for the book..." 49:34 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 49:36 Put my hand on the book and get everybody in there. 49:37 Yeah. 49:38 So I've gone through it, 49:40 I've gone through it a few times 49:41 but yeah, it's something that I'm learning to do 49:44 on a more consistent basis. 49:46 It was at the very least getting me 49:47 to try to focus more on praying for people 49:50 because I knew that God wanted me 49:51 to be an intercessor. 49:53 Did I always intercede for it? No, I didn't. 49:54 Do I wish that I did? Absolutely. 49:57 And I'm still learning to be more consistent in it 49:59 and the more names I write, 50:01 the more guilty I feel if I ignore it so. 50:02 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 50:03 What would you say 50:05 'cause we have about seven minutes left, 50:07 what would you say 50:09 was your most profound experience together 50:12 over there? 50:15 Wow. 50:16 That's really hard to pick I think one, I think... 50:21 I would say Fortaleza though. 50:22 Everything that happened there. 50:23 Yeah, I was going to say that, 50:25 that's probably the one story I'd want to share. 50:28 Tell us? 50:31 There was the fourth city 50:32 that we went to was a different kind of deal 50:37 than the rest of them. 50:39 As soon as we arrived there, 50:41 as soon as we stepped off the bus we both felt it, 50:44 we even said it like... 50:45 There was like heavy, heavy, heavy oppressive 50:50 spiritual atmosphere there. 50:52 And which, that city is actually 50:55 I think the worst for a child. 50:57 It's the worst for child sex tourism 50:59 in South America 51:00 and the second in the world, yeah. 51:03 You want to say, would... 51:04 Fortaleza. 51:05 Oh, Fortaleza. 51:07 Yeah. Okay. 51:08 So it was just weird, it was different, 51:09 you know, when we got there 51:11 and so we were staying with a family, 51:14 a pastor and his wife while we were there. 51:17 And they were great people, really great people, 51:22 they helped us a lot, they did, 51:24 you know, they gave us a place to stay 51:26 and food and just good people. 51:28 But it was different with them 51:30 than with some of the other people 51:32 we had kind of stayed with and met 51:34 where they were doing good things 51:36 in the church, great things, you know, God was using them. 51:40 But somehow 51:41 they just didn't see necessarily 51:44 what we were doing, 51:45 what the point was of reaching out to prostitutes, 51:49 going in and praying around the city 51:50 and that and they said, 51:52 "You know, those things are good, 51:53 but what are you going to do if someone says, 51:55 "Yes, you know, I wan to come off the street," 51:57 you don't have infrastructure for that," 51:59 and so on and so forth. 52:00 And we said, 52:02 "Well, the first thing you have to do is, 52:05 is you have to make relationships before. 52:07 You can't set something up if there's no need, right? 52:10 So you make the relationships 52:12 and you create the need and then God can..." 52:15 That's the way it worked in Atlanta. 52:16 God brought other things later. 52:20 So, but it was just kind of like that. 52:22 We just, we didn't really feel like 52:24 with God anywhere there except the very last night 52:27 that we were there. 52:29 We were going to leave early the next morning, 52:31 we ended up stopping by some like birthday party 52:34 and meeting this random person there 52:37 who was kind of one of the leaders 52:39 for the youth in that area 52:42 and he seemed kind of interested 52:44 in the project and we explained it to him, 52:48 Alex did and we left the next day. 52:52 And we had gone while we were there we, 52:54 both of us had walked around the city 52:58 with a group of young people 52:59 from a previous city that came to join us 53:01 because there was no one there 53:02 basically joining except for one girl there 53:06 had joined us 53:08 going around the stadium and praying 53:09 and that and we had talked that one guy 53:11 the night before we left and then we left 53:13 and that was kind of it. 53:15 A couple weeks later, 53:17 Alex got a phone call from the girl 53:21 who had walked around the stadium 53:22 in that city with us and she said, 53:27 "We went out after you guys left. 53:29 We actually went out and did the project 53:32 where we basically wrote little handwritten notes 53:35 and took a card and a flower out 53:37 to the ladies on the street 53:39 and we prayed with them and asked them 53:40 what their needs were and gave them a phone to call 53:43 if they needed some help with something," 53:46 and she said, 53:47 "We got a phone call today from a lady 53:50 that we met that night we went out a few weeks ago," 53:54 said, "The lady said, 53:56 "I'm calling because 53:57 I met you on the street a couple weeks ago, 53:59 I don't know if you remember me 54:00 but I was one of the ladies on the street 54:02 that you came and you prayed 54:03 with that night a couple weeks ago," 54:05 and she said, 54:06 "That was my first night in prostitution, 54:09 my first night in prostitution," 54:11 ever in her life, and she said, 54:14 "Before my first customer came you guys came. 54:18 And I knew when you left 54:20 I knew that God didn't want me in this life 54:22 and I left too before my first customer." 54:24 Wow. 54:26 And she said, "But I have kids," 54:27 just like the other story we talked about earlier, 54:30 she said, "I have kids, I don't have a husband, 54:31 I don't know how to support them. 54:33 This is all I know how to do because I'm desperate, 54:35 can you guys help me?" 54:37 And they gave her work 54:38 actually working for the members 54:40 of the church that didn't understand 54:42 why we would even do a project like this. 54:44 That church... 54:45 That's her recovery program 54:47 and here they are preventing somebody from that... 54:48 And now that, that very church 54:50 became the recovery program for this lady 54:53 who left the street the first... 54:54 Remember Alex said, they had prayed for five years 54:58 in Atlanta before the first one left. 55:00 This is the first night 55:02 that they went out and the lady left 55:03 and now she's working for the people 55:05 of that church, cleaning their homes. 55:07 So this city was a real battleground, 55:09 I mean, this is the last story there. 55:12 But while we were there we basically, 55:14 I mean, there was a Satanist that came in, 55:16 he was part of really high level secret societies, 55:19 his whole family were part of secret societies, 55:21 they were all part of Satanic church. 55:23 And he came and somehow he was miraculously converted 55:25 in a very short amount of time in this church 55:28 that we were working at. 55:30 He came and talked to you? 55:31 He came and he came 55:33 because there were some situations in his life, 55:35 he was trying to get back to a certain town. 55:37 That he came into that church 55:39 I guess he thought randomly but God had a plan for him. 55:42 Right. 55:43 He listens to what the pastor 55:44 and the Bible worker were talking about. 55:47 He realized that, "Oh man, this is a message 55:49 that I've heard from a Christian before." 55:53 He was impressed, he said, "You know what, 55:54 I need to get baptized right now." 55:55 The pastor comes quickly back to us saying, 55:57 "I told you, we're doing great things. 55:58 This guy just came in three days 56:00 wants to get baptized 56:01 but he said he wants to meet with you." 56:02 And so we go and we meet with him 56:04 and he tells, he tells us that, 56:05 "Hey listen, I've got a message for you. 56:07 I know why you're here, 56:08 they don't know why you're here. 56:09 They talk about great controversy, 56:11 they seem to understand it theoretically 56:12 but they don't understand it 56:13 the way that I believe that you do." 56:15 And I'm like, "Who is this guy? 56:16 He never met us before." 56:18 And, you know, he says, "I can't tell you everything 56:19 that I want to tell you right now 56:20 but just I have to wait until Sabbath, 56:23 I want to get baptized and then I can tell you." 56:25 So Sabbath comes, he gets baptized, 56:26 he gives us this entire like ridiculously long dialogue 56:29 on spiritual warfare, 56:31 on the ways that Satan is trying 56:32 to destroy us. 56:33 We start taking it seriously, 56:35 we get together and we start praying, 56:36 you know, I pray, Levi prays, our friend Andre prays. 56:40 While she's praying, 56:41 I begin to see a tree and there's like these, 56:44 you know, I can't see the sky, it's completely blacked out, 56:47 I mean, very little light trickling down 56:48 and there's these chains hanging down 56:50 from the branches with dolls and mannequins 56:51 tied about the neck 56:53 and they've got no faces and they're dangling. 56:54 I'm like, 56:55 "Why in the world am I thinking about this during prayer?" 56:57 And so, you know, 56:58 I try to shake the thought away, 57:00 nothing happens. 57:01 So I start jumping up, 57:02 pulling the chains from the branches 57:04 and I'm kind of like, "Okay, this is not working." 57:05 So I cry out for help. 57:07 The moment I cry out for help I see the base of a tree 57:09 and a man standing with an axe, 57:10 I'm like, "Oh, yes, do something." 57:12 So he picks up, he starts nailing, 57:14 I mean, hitting at the base of the tree, 57:16 the tree is shaking violently, 57:17 it finally falls down and the first thing I do 57:20 is I look up at heaven and I see the sky, 57:23 I thank God, 57:24 I pull the chains and they're set free. 57:27 Wow, and that's your mission. Exactly. 57:29 I cannot believe our time is up. 57:32 I can't believe it and I hate this 57:34 'cause I know there's so much more. 57:35 Yeah. 57:36 That you have 57:38 so I'm going to have to ask you guys, 57:39 will you come back again? 57:41 Will you come back another time 57:42 and give us some more of your experiences 57:45 because I just think that this is so valuable. 57:50 I thank you so much for being with us 57:52 and we will put your website up on the screen, 57:54 so people can take a look. 57:56 And thank you so much for being with us. 57:59 Join us next time because you know what, 58:00 it just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2017-08-14