Did you know
that slavery is alive
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and well in these
United States and abroad?
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Well, stay tuned
to meet two young men
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who are determined to
fight it with spiritual weapons.
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My name is Yvonne Lewis
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and you're
watching Urban Report.
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Hello and
welcome to Urban Report.
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Today's topic may
be a bit sensitive
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for children to hear,
parental discretion is advised.
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My guests today
are Alex Niculaescu.
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How did I do? Did good.
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And Levi Longoria.
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Two layman with a burden
for intercessory ministry.
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They are the founders of
Crying at the Gates Ministry,
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an organization
of lay intercessors
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fighting sex trafficking.
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Welcome to Urban
Report, my brothers.
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Thank you. It's good to be here.
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Yeah. It's so good to have you.
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I had heard
about you from our head
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of production
here, Greg Morikone
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and he said, "Oh,
these two young men
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had this powerful testimony."
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And I said,
"Man, I missed them,"
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'cause I wish that
you guys were here before.
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Yeah.
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And I just wished I
had you for Urban Report
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'cause I always
like to bring our viewers
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really powerful testimonies
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and show how our
God has changed lives.
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And so I wanted to have you
on and so you were coming back
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and so I'm so glad you're here.
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Thank you for
having us. Yes, yes, yes.
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So tell us about
Crying at the Gates Ministry.
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What is that?
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Start, Alex. So, yeah.
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Crying at the Gates is
based off of Proverbs 1.
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And we look at Proverbs 1
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where the very
first piece of advice
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that Solomon is giving is
that, he knows that his son
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is going to
confront people as it says,
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you know, "If sinners
entice you consent thou not.
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Walk not in the way with them."
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And he basically
goes to description
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of how there's going
to be a group of people
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that are basically going to say,
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"Let us all have one purse,
let us go after the innocent,
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let us swallow
them up as the grave,
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and hold as those
who go down into the pit.
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You know, which will
fill our houses with spoil.
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It's basically profiting,
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you know, from the
oppression of the poor.
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And Solomon says, "Don't
walk in the way with them
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because the nets that
they spread are for themselves
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and the traps that they set,
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they're gonna
fall into themselves.
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And the following thing
that is said right after that
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is that wisdom is
walking through the streets,
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she's walking
through the cities,
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the openings of the gates
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and the chief places of
concourse or of meeting,
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and she's crying,
"How long, you simple ones,
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will you continue
in your simplicity?"
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And if we jump
over a few chapters,
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later in chapter 7, we
see that the simple one
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are those that are
devoid of understanding.
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It's that man that goes
into the house of the prostitute
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and he's enticed
basically not knowing
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that he's going to
basically the end of his life.
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And if she goes into
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and he gives into
those types of sins that
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it's gonna be
very difficult for him
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to escape from.
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So we wanted to be
that voice of wisdom
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that goes and cries out against
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these types of
things in the cities
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and the chief places of meeting.
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And it's
basically a prayer ministry,
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an intercessory
ministry on behalf of the things
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that are going
on in cities mostly.
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How many people are
involved in your ministry?
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Directly just us,
just the two of us.
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Oh, okay, okay.
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We've joined with
lots of other people
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that we've worked
with and they say,
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"Hey, can you come and teach us
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how to intercede for
cities the way that you have?"
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And so there's
lots of groups of people
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that pray with
us now and we have,
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you know, a network that
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whenever we
have prayer requests,
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we know we can count on them
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and we text message
like, all week long.
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We're always
praying and interceding.
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But yeah, as far as
just the direct part,
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it's just the two of us.
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And there are,
yeah, there are people
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who have started
doing the same thing
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basically in other
places and other cities
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and things as well but...
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We're not trying
to copyright anything.
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Right, right, yeah, yeah.
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It sounded to
me, from your website
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that you have
like a network like,
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different groups that have
kind of coalesced to do this.
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Yeah. How did you get into this?
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Let's hear about your story.
Where did you grow up and...
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So I grew up mostly in Atlanta.
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I was born in Chicago
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but I grew up most
of my life in Atlanta.
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And I went to
Arise Mission College
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or mission school back in
2007 that's where I met Levi.
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And since then, I kind of went,
I did some missionary work,
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I was gone for six
months in certain countries.
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And I was in East Africa
and then also South Sudan
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when I encountered my first case
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of human trafficking.
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And I got back to the
States, I started researching.
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I realized, "Oh, man!
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This is not just a
third world problem,
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this is an American problem."
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And so I started, you know,
kind of doing more research,
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watching
documentaries, reading books,
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getting involved in
local organizations,
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going to meetings.
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And I got involved
with a group in Atlanta
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that was called
"Out of Darkness".
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And what they were
doing is they had started
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24 hour call center
to begin rescuing women
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from trafficking
and prostitution.
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But that was
based off of five years
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before hand of a
project called "Princess Night".
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And what Princess Night
did was it basically went
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to the streets in areas
where they knew prostitution
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was happening and
they would minister
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to the
prostitutes on the streets.
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They would take
groups of girls and guys,
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and the guys
would drive the vans,
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and they would
be the ones praying
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and watching out to making sure
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overlooking the
safety of the girls.
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And the girls would go
up and they would hand cards
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and roses, and
write in messages that,
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you know, "You're
beautiful, you've got value.
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If you ever want to, you
know, get off the streets
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you know, we're here for you."
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And so about five
years of doing that
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and praying, the
first person decided
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that they're gonna
come off the streets
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and they're kind of
like "What do we do now?"
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And so... After five years?
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After five
years, it took a while
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but, you know,
obviously they weren't doing it
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every week, they
were doing it every month.
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But, you know, now
that Out of Darkness
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is running the
24 hour call center,
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they have people going
every single Friday night
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to the streets to do that.
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But for the most
part, it was monthly
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or bimonthly for five
years and it took that long
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until the first
person decided to say,
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"Okay, well, I've
seen you enough times here,
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you know, I'd like to get off.
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What you can do about it?"
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And so it was kind of it
was born out of that need,
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but had they not been there,
you know, even caring about it,
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like who knows what
would have happened?
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The organization never
would have happened at all.
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And so what we did
with Out of Darkness is,
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we ran a 24 hour call center,
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and we worked with lots
of organizations in Atlanta
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that did recovery programs.
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And so every
single case is different,
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you know, you have some
girls that have children
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or some that
have drug addictions,
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or you know,
every case is different,
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not every
recovery home handles that.
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So we had to broaden our network
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and work with
more recovery homes,
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some that were even out of state
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so that we could
fill all of the needs.
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But beyond that, it
was actually the numbers
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that were more of a
problem, because the first year,
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you know, we went
from five years zero
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and then one to the
first year of running
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the 24 hour call
center and it was 45.
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And then the second year
of running the call center,
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I think it was about
115 and then almost double
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that the third
year, well over 200.
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And so, you know, you
end up getting almost,
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you know, 400, 500
within the first few years
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and there's not
enough recovery homes.
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Most recovery homes
have just very few beds,
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you know, between 3 and 15.
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And so, you
know, the need is there
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but I think just most people
aren't necessarily aware of it.
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How broad is this
issue of human trafficking?
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Like, you know,
we don't, recently,
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I had a husband
and wife team on that
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wanted to go to
Thailand to get trained
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to help rescue women and
children from trafficking.
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And this is something
that we don't really talk about
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that much in this country
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but it's really
slavery, isn't it?
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It is slavery.
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So go ahead, continue
with how you got into it.
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Yeah, it's slavery.
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And I think that
the problem is that
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when we think of
human trafficking,
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we think of what we've
either seen very briefly,
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maybe on TV or on
some social networking
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where somebody
is, you know, gagged
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and thrown into
the back of a van
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and, you know, but that's
not the reality of it all.
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I mean, that's a very,
very, very small portion of it.
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Majority of the girls that
are ending up in the streets,
00:08:41.22\00:08:43.15
even in kind of like
small time prostitution
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are local girls
from neighborhoods,
00:08:46.42\00:08:48.82
you know, a few
miles away, you know.
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And it's not just the
poor, there's tons of people
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who get involved in it
that are just have issues.
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And so the way that a pimp
would generally do this is,
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he'll go to the mall,
and he'll find girls or boys,
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and they'll see
like an odd number.
00:09:06.47\00:09:08.41
And he'll notice, you know,
what their characteristics are
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and basically categorize
them within three categories.
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"Oh, you know, she
looks like the crazy one.
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She'll be the party girl.
00:09:15.62\00:09:16.95
Or she looks like she's always
looking through the windows,
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that's a materialistic one.
00:09:18.92\00:09:20.32
Or that one, she's kind of like,
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you know, the third wheel.
00:09:21.72\00:09:23.06
And so, maybe that's
the one with daddy issues.
00:09:23.09\00:09:25.33
And so he kind of categorizes
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and he plays
upon those weaknesses
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and he tries to
fill the role, you know,
00:09:28.46\00:09:30.87
and he'll go and manipulate
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whatever that
girl is dealing with
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based on her vulnerabilities.
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And that's just
kind of the basics of it
00:09:37.44\00:09:39.11
but in reality, it's
more than just prostitution.
00:09:39.14\00:09:41.61
I mean, it's an organized crime,
00:09:41.64\00:09:43.61
it's children
doing it to themselves
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within the schools, you
know, they're getting messages
00:09:45.35\00:09:48.95
through music and through media,
00:09:48.98\00:09:50.32
there's no need
for a third party.
00:09:50.35\00:09:52.15
I mean, they're
doing it themselves.
00:09:52.19\00:09:54.39
And then obviously, you
have it within organizations,
00:09:54.42\00:09:56.69
and cults, and even, you
know, high levels of government
00:09:56.73\00:10:00.93
and things like that.
00:10:00.96\00:10:02.30
There's always the
demand for something.
00:10:02.33\00:10:04.13
And you know,
sometimes, the higher you go,
00:10:04.17\00:10:06.03
the more illicit it has to be.
00:10:06.07\00:10:08.74
And so we deal with
kind of the bottom level.
00:10:08.77\00:10:12.64
We rarely deal with
the higher levels of it.
00:10:12.67\00:10:15.08
And that's the hidden
part. So how do you get to that?
00:10:15.11\00:10:18.45
And so we realize
that the way that you can
00:10:18.48\00:10:20.45
only deal with that is
through spiritual means.
00:10:20.48\00:10:22.78
And it took us a
while to do that.
00:10:22.82\00:10:24.15
It took me a while,
you know, to realize that
00:10:24.19\00:10:25.52
because I'd always try to
go through law enforcement,
00:10:25.55\00:10:27.52
and through legislation,
and working with government.
00:10:27.56\00:10:30.16
And, sure, that has its place.
00:10:30.19\00:10:32.83
But there's
places you can't reach
00:10:32.86\00:10:34.20
and things that even
they themselves won't do
00:10:34.23\00:10:36.23
because there's
certain law enforcement,
00:10:36.26\00:10:38.13
and there are certain government
00:10:38.17\00:10:40.04
people and government
that are complicit in it.
00:10:40.07\00:10:41.90
They're actually
protecting those who do it.
00:10:41.94\00:10:44.54
Right, right.
00:10:44.57\00:10:46.04
So we're talking
about corruption.
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Yeah, I'm not speaking
ill of government or cops.
00:10:48.01\00:10:49.98
I'm saying there's
always portions within,
00:10:50.01\00:10:51.65
you know, there's even divisions
00:10:51.68\00:10:53.01
within all of
those institutions.
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Right, right.
00:10:54.42\00:10:56.02
Levi, what have you
found as you've been involved
00:10:56.05\00:10:58.82
in this ministry as far as
human trafficking is concerned
00:10:58.85\00:11:02.29
and how ubiquitous it
is everywhere like how,
00:11:02.32\00:11:06.80
what have you found?
00:11:06.83\00:11:08.16
Really the whole
thing was new to me.
00:11:08.20\00:11:10.07
I was, I mean, taken
back by, I mean, everything.
00:11:10.10\00:11:14.90
I basically
started from scratch.
00:11:14.94\00:11:19.17
When Alex invited
me to go to Brazil,
00:11:19.21\00:11:21.84
and I'm sure we'll get to that,
00:11:21.88\00:11:23.58
but I knew
literally nothing about it.
00:11:23.61\00:11:26.92
I've never even
looked into it before.
00:11:26.95\00:11:29.82
So I mean, it's still to me,
things that I'm still learning
00:11:29.85\00:11:33.82
even just recently the stuff
00:11:33.86\00:11:35.19
we were talking
about is just shocking
00:11:35.22\00:11:38.96
and it's, you know,
it's really sad all of it.
00:11:38.99\00:11:43.87
But like Alex said, you
know, I do know that the way
00:11:43.90\00:11:49.04
that we fight it is
not on our own power,
00:11:49.07\00:11:52.27
we have to fight it spiritually
00:11:52.31\00:11:53.74
because it is a spiritual issue.
00:11:53.78\00:11:55.31
And it's all tied in some way
00:11:55.34\00:12:00.38
to spiritual issues even,
you know, we understand that
00:12:00.42\00:12:04.79
it's kind of obvious
in the very high levels
00:12:04.82\00:12:07.76
of trafficking and prostitution.
00:12:07.79\00:12:09.22
And you know, the
secret kind of rings
00:12:09.26\00:12:13.33
that there's
obvious spiritual ties
00:12:13.36\00:12:16.80
and cultic things that go on.
00:12:16.83\00:12:18.30
But even in school settings,
you know, why are young ladies,
00:12:18.33\00:12:25.01
why do they feel the
need to sell themselves.
00:12:25.04\00:12:28.54
It's a spiritual issue, you see.
00:12:28.58\00:12:31.35
And so it doesn't matter
00:12:31.38\00:12:32.71
if it's just on a personal local
00:12:32.75\00:12:35.22
kind of scale or of really deep,
00:12:35.25\00:12:38.62
you know, dark rabbit hole.
00:12:38.65\00:12:40.69
It's all tied
to the same things.
00:12:40.72\00:12:42.76
How do you...
00:12:42.79\00:12:44.26
what's your story
like, where were you raised
00:12:44.29\00:12:46.90
and how did you get into this?
00:12:46.93\00:12:49.03
So Alex was a
missionary and you saw something
00:12:49.06\00:12:55.30
over in Africa and other places.
00:12:55.34\00:12:57.67
What about you,
Levi, where were you?
00:12:57.71\00:12:59.41
Yeah, I was raised in
Michigan in an Adventist home,
00:12:59.44\00:13:04.28
godly parents, amazing examples,
00:13:04.31\00:13:08.68
you know, that I grew up with.
00:13:08.72\00:13:10.62
And in 2006, well, to back
up a little bit before that.
00:13:10.65\00:13:17.43
When I was about
16, 17 years old,
00:13:17.46\00:13:20.80
that was when I
kind of gave myself,
00:13:20.83\00:13:22.96
my life to God.
00:13:23.00\00:13:24.33
And I told Him, you
know, "Whatever You want to do
00:13:24.37\00:13:25.70
with my life, I
know I'm still young.
00:13:25.73\00:13:28.87
I want to find
out what Your plan
00:13:28.90\00:13:30.67
is basically for my life."
00:13:30.71\00:13:32.87
Because I know so
many young people,
00:13:32.91\00:13:34.24
they just go off
and do their own thing.
00:13:34.28\00:13:35.61
And maybe they come
back later, maybe they don't.
00:13:35.64\00:13:38.51
And I said,
"God, I want You to do
00:13:38.55\00:13:40.55
whatever You made me for."
00:13:40.58\00:13:42.15
That's what I want to find out.
00:13:42.18\00:13:44.02
What led you to that point?
00:13:44.05\00:13:46.35
Did something
happened that made you decide,
00:13:46.39\00:13:48.82
this is my day to do this?
00:13:48.86\00:13:50.63
It was a really
simple thing basically.
00:13:50.66\00:13:54.03
And I won't go through the story
00:13:54.06\00:13:55.40
but basically, through
a very, very simple means
00:13:55.43\00:13:58.60
God showed me
that He actually wanted
00:13:58.63\00:14:03.07
to have a
relationship with me personally,
00:14:03.10\00:14:04.77
outside of my mom or my dad.
00:14:04.81\00:14:08.01
Because, you
know, before growing up,
00:14:08.04\00:14:09.81
you're kind of your
father's son to God,
00:14:09.84\00:14:12.71
so to speak, you know.
00:14:12.75\00:14:14.45
And so it was
really through simple...
00:14:14.48\00:14:16.69
Tell us, tell us, we
have time. Simple means.
00:14:16.72\00:14:18.22
When I was... That
was, I think, my last...
00:14:18.25\00:14:23.26
No, like my second to
last year in high school.
00:14:23.29\00:14:27.46
And I, at the
time was working a job
00:14:27.50\00:14:32.93
that was like five hours a week.
00:14:32.97\00:14:35.40
They gave...
00:14:35.44\00:14:36.81
They weren't giving me
anything so I was always broke,
00:14:36.84\00:14:39.27
you know, which
is still the case,
00:14:39.31\00:14:41.48
that hasn't ever changed.
00:14:41.51\00:14:43.58
And I had a class once
a week that I would go,
00:14:43.61\00:14:48.22
I was home schooled.
00:14:48.25\00:14:49.58
And so I had a
class once a week.
00:14:49.62\00:14:50.95
I'd go to outside of home
to do some of the higher level,
00:14:50.99\00:14:54.56
and grade level stuff.
00:14:54.59\00:14:56.42
And each week,
00:14:56.46\00:15:01.46
I would go and I had a guitar.
00:15:01.50\00:15:04.97
I play guitar, I'm a musician.
00:15:05.00\00:15:06.74
And so I would
basically, I wasn't good enough,
00:15:06.77\00:15:09.74
you know, I wasn't
making enough at my job.
00:15:09.77\00:15:12.77
And so I had a guitar
student to kind of help me with,
00:15:12.81\00:15:15.34
you know, gas,
money or whatever.
00:15:15.38\00:15:17.28
And one day, she
called me and that's basically
00:15:17.31\00:15:20.92
how I got to school
every week, you know.
00:15:20.95\00:15:22.58
If that's how
like, tight it was.
00:15:22.62\00:15:24.62
And one day, she
called me and she said,
00:15:24.65\00:15:27.32
you know, "I'm not
going to be able to do it.
00:15:27.36\00:15:28.72
I got such and such going on.
00:15:28.76\00:15:30.86
So we're going to
have to drop the classes."
00:15:30.89\00:15:33.26
And I said, "What?
00:15:33.29\00:15:34.63
How am I supposed
to get to school now?"
00:15:34.66\00:15:36.87
And without like
skipping a beat that
00:15:36.90\00:15:41.10
before the next
class came, the next week,
00:15:41.14\00:15:45.41
one of the girls
from class called me
00:15:45.44\00:15:46.88
and she said, "Hey, I don't have
00:15:46.91\00:15:48.71
a ride anymore to school.
00:15:48.74\00:15:50.08
Can you get me?
00:15:50.11\00:15:51.45
And every week
if you pick me up,
00:15:51.48\00:15:52.81
I'll give you gas
money to go to school.
00:15:52.85\00:15:54.55
And a super like,
simple thing, you know,
00:15:54.58\00:15:58.22
but it was very clear
that God was providing for me.
00:15:58.25\00:16:01.69
And it had nothing
to do with my parents,
00:16:01.72\00:16:03.79
didn't have anything to do with.
00:16:03.83\00:16:05.19
It was just
something that I needed
00:16:05.23\00:16:06.76
between God and
myself, you know.
00:16:06.80\00:16:09.23
And I hadn't
told anybody about it.
00:16:09.26\00:16:12.20
And so through
the simplest thing,
00:16:12.23\00:16:14.87
it really got me
thinking, "Well, God is...
00:16:14.90\00:16:19.37
He's real. He's personal.
00:16:19.41\00:16:20.74
He actually is
thinking about me independent
00:16:20.78\00:16:23.61
from whoever else.
00:16:23.65\00:16:26.38
And that's when I
decided, "I want to find out,
00:16:26.41\00:16:29.28
if that's the case,
00:16:29.32\00:16:31.92
You're going to have
my life from right now.
00:16:31.95\00:16:33.29
And I want to find out
00:16:33.32\00:16:34.66
what do You really
want to do with my life."
00:16:34.69\00:16:36.89
So kind of getting back to
your original question though,
00:16:36.93\00:16:41.96
that was when I was 16.
00:16:42.00\00:16:44.83
And when I was 18,
00:16:44.87\00:16:46.84
my dad actually
passed away, suddenly.
00:16:46.87\00:16:49.37
He had a heart attack.
00:16:49.40\00:16:50.87
And that pushed me even farther,
00:16:50.91\00:16:55.04
actually toward God,
00:16:55.08\00:16:56.41
you know, like I had
told someone earlier today,
00:16:56.44\00:16:59.15
when that kind of
a situation happens
00:16:59.18\00:17:00.68
that basically it
pushes you this way or that...
00:17:00.72\00:17:02.85
That's true.
00:17:02.88\00:17:04.22
And it pushed me
closer, more dependent on God,
00:17:04.25\00:17:08.42
more focused on doing His
work and His will for my life.
00:17:08.46\00:17:12.83
And so the next year
00:17:12.86\00:17:14.30
is when I felt
called to go to Arise.
00:17:14.33\00:17:17.47
And that's how I met Alex.
00:17:17.50\00:17:19.70
And I got, after that,
I basically got involved
00:17:19.73\00:17:21.80
in mission work and, you know,
00:17:21.84\00:17:25.07
lay Bible work and
that kind of thing.
00:17:25.11\00:17:27.38
So, you guys,
both feel really...
00:17:27.41\00:17:29.71
You feel called to
do what you're doing.
00:17:29.74\00:17:31.91
This is not just something
that you have an interest in,
00:17:31.95\00:17:35.42
this is a calling
for you, isn't it?
00:17:35.45\00:17:37.85
Definitely. Definitely, it is.
00:17:37.89\00:17:39.79
So back to you, Alex.
00:17:39.82\00:17:41.56
So after you got involved
00:17:41.59\00:17:45.43
with the Out of
Darkness organization, then,
00:17:45.46\00:17:50.77
when did you decide
00:17:50.80\00:17:52.13
to do Crying at the
Gates, and how did that happen?
00:17:52.17\00:17:54.57
So in 2013, we were
working during the Super Bowl.
00:17:54.60\00:18:01.04
And so during large
events, not just the Super Bowl
00:18:01.08\00:18:03.21
is not exclusive to it,
00:18:03.24\00:18:04.58
it's just whenever you
have large groupings of people,
00:18:04.61\00:18:06.72
large events, people
coming from all over the place,
00:18:06.75\00:18:09.45
you always have a gathering
also of an underground network
00:18:09.48\00:18:12.69
that offers other types
00:18:12.72\00:18:14.06
of
entertainment and distraction.
00:18:14.09\00:18:16.02
And so we had gathered
together a group of people
00:18:16.06\00:18:18.29
from Out of Darkness, and
a few other organizations.
00:18:18.33\00:18:20.50
And we went
about 20 of us to work
00:18:20.53\00:18:23.16
during the Super Bowl to
kind of be on the streets,
00:18:23.20\00:18:25.13
to be presence,
to go into places
00:18:25.17\00:18:27.57
to have some of the
girls that we were working
00:18:27.60\00:18:28.97
with to walk
into some of the clubs
00:18:29.00\00:18:30.64
that we knew were
going to be running
00:18:30.67\00:18:33.68
behind their
front, other things.
00:18:33.71\00:18:36.08
And so we weren't
ignorant of the fact
00:18:36.11\00:18:37.45
and we didn't act like
00:18:37.48\00:18:38.81
as if we were
ignorant to the fact.
00:18:38.85\00:18:40.18
We walked
straight into the clubs
00:18:40.22\00:18:41.55
and we said, "Hey, listen,
we know some of these girls
00:18:41.58\00:18:42.92
during this
weekend are going to be
00:18:42.95\00:18:44.29
going through
tremendous amounts of stress.
00:18:44.32\00:18:45.65
Is there any way
that we can just give them
00:18:45.69\00:18:47.02
some care packages,
00:18:47.06\00:18:48.39
let them know
that we care for them?"
00:18:48.42\00:18:49.76
And you'll be
surprised that a lot of,
00:18:49.79\00:18:51.13
you know, the bouncers
00:18:51.16\00:18:52.49
and some of the
owners were kind of like,
00:18:52.53\00:18:53.86
"Yes, yes. Please
do, help the girls out."
00:18:53.90\00:18:56.90
And so while it is, you know,
00:18:56.93\00:18:58.27
financial
economic at some level,
00:18:58.30\00:18:59.63
there are people
who honestly care
00:18:59.67\00:19:02.34
even within that network.
00:19:02.37\00:19:04.01
Not everybody is, you
know, sometimes you just,
00:19:04.04\00:19:06.51
you get to the point
where people are just trying
00:19:06.54\00:19:08.31
to make ends meet.
00:19:08.34\00:19:09.68
And surely, you have that.
00:19:09.71\00:19:11.75
We also confronted other types
00:19:11.78\00:19:13.15
where it was obviously
more notorious than that,
00:19:13.18\00:19:15.15
more sinister than that.
00:19:15.18\00:19:17.72
You know, we had to
go through back pages
00:19:17.75\00:19:19.45
in Craig's list to kind of
track interstate trafficking.
00:19:19.49\00:19:23.12
We knew what
keywords to look for
00:19:23.16\00:19:24.49
and things like that
00:19:24.53\00:19:25.86
because a lot of
stuff happens on the web.
00:19:25.89\00:19:28.63
You know, it
can't happen visibly
00:19:28.66\00:19:31.93
because it gets tracked
and people don't want trouble.
00:19:31.97\00:19:34.94
And so we did that, you
know, we made some phone calls
00:19:34.97\00:19:36.97
to some of the advertisements
and things like that,
00:19:37.01\00:19:38.94
and we said, "Hey, listen.
00:19:38.97\00:19:40.31
You know, if you
want to get out of this,
00:19:40.34\00:19:41.68
we'll get you out of this."
00:19:41.71\00:19:43.04
And so we were
working during that time.
00:19:43.08\00:19:44.41
And I just felt like
this huge spirit of oppression
00:19:44.45\00:19:46.95
the entire time.
00:19:46.98\00:19:48.32
I mean, we were
always up late, we were in,
00:19:48.35\00:19:49.68
like you know, bad situations
00:19:49.72\00:19:51.12
and, you know,
shady parts of town.
00:19:51.15\00:19:53.12
And there were
people that were partying
00:19:53.15\00:19:54.69
and drunk in the
streets and vomiting
00:19:54.72\00:19:56.19
and getting into fights,
and it was kind of like a,
00:19:56.22\00:19:58.06
you know, a pre party and
tons of stuff was going on.
00:19:58.09\00:20:01.26
But it was just,
00:20:01.30\00:20:02.86
the atmosphere
itself was really heavy.
00:20:02.90\00:20:04.57
And I thought to
myself, "Man, this is gonna be
00:20:04.60\00:20:06.33
happening on a larger scale,
00:20:06.37\00:20:07.70
the following
year in 2014 with FIFA.
00:20:07.74\00:20:10.64
I said, you know, "I may
not know anybody in Brazil
00:20:10.67\00:20:13.54
but I've got to do
something, you know.
00:20:13.58\00:20:15.74
I'm tired of this."
00:20:15.78\00:20:17.11
I got to a point
where I was so tired
00:20:17.15\00:20:18.95
of what was going on.
00:20:18.98\00:20:20.58
At that point, I
was still fighting
00:20:20.62\00:20:22.32
in very much with carnally,
00:20:22.35\00:20:24.35
you know, trying to solve
the issues in my own strength,
00:20:24.39\00:20:27.02
you know, with our organization
00:20:27.06\00:20:28.56
and with what we had
planned in our projects,
00:20:28.59\00:20:31.19
I wasn't thinking
much about praying.
00:20:31.23\00:20:32.86
And so I was kind of
being worn down after,
00:20:32.89\00:20:34.63
you know, about
five years of doing this.
00:20:34.66\00:20:37.10
And so I said,
"Well, I know that
00:20:37.13\00:20:39.53
I'm not in the
best spiritual condition
00:20:39.57\00:20:41.70
but this has to be done."
00:20:41.74\00:20:43.07
And if I know that it's
going to be happening to kids
00:20:43.10\00:20:45.07
and I ignore it, you
know, then I'm not going
00:20:45.11\00:20:47.34
to be able to live
with myself as a man.
00:20:47.38\00:20:49.54
So whatever it is, you
know, whatever people tell me,
00:20:49.58\00:20:52.61
I don't care, I just need
to go or figure something out
00:20:52.65\00:20:54.72
when I get there.
00:20:54.75\00:20:56.18
And so I decided,
"Okay. I'll just go."
00:20:56.22\00:20:58.19
And so I ended up doing that.
00:20:58.22\00:20:59.55
I try to make some connections,
they all kind of fell through.
00:20:59.59\00:21:02.06
But I got to Brazil
00:21:02.09\00:21:03.43
and I try to do
things my own way.
00:21:03.46\00:21:04.79
Did you go alone? I went alone.
00:21:04.83\00:21:06.59
I went alone, I
didn't know anybody.
00:21:06.63\00:21:08.96
I just kind of showed up,
you know, I told some people.
00:21:09.00\00:21:12.37
And one person is like,
00:21:12.40\00:21:13.74
"Oh, you can stay
at my cousin's house."
00:21:13.77\00:21:15.10
And so they were very kind
to give me a place to stay.
00:21:15.14\00:21:17.57
You know, I try to go
to the Adventist University
00:21:17.61\00:21:20.14
there to some
different organizations
00:21:20.18\00:21:22.94
but nothing was
just coming together.
00:21:22.98\00:21:25.78
And so I was kind of
like, "Wow, I told everybody
00:21:25.81\00:21:27.72
that I'd be here for at least
six months doing something.
00:21:27.75\00:21:29.88
And here I am,
you know, a month end
00:21:29.92\00:21:31.79
and nothing's happening.
00:21:31.82\00:21:33.46
And so I
figured, "You know what,
00:21:33.49\00:21:35.32
I'm tired of this."
00:21:35.36\00:21:36.69
So I just started
walking through the streets
00:21:36.73\00:21:38.06
and I started praying.
00:21:38.09\00:21:39.66
Well, I didn't start praying.
00:21:39.69\00:21:41.03
I saw somebody that was hurting.
00:21:41.06\00:21:42.73
And, you know, I
didn't speak Portuguese.
00:21:42.76\00:21:44.33
So I said, "Oh,
I'll pray for them."
00:21:44.37\00:21:45.70
And that was like, kind
of like, an odd thought.
00:21:45.73\00:21:47.64
I mean, as a Christian,
you know, you should pray
00:21:47.67\00:21:49.20
but you don't always think like,
00:21:49.24\00:21:51.61
"Oh, I'm going
to pray for people."
00:21:51.64\00:21:52.97
Because we believe in prayer
00:21:53.01\00:21:54.34
but we don't
really believe in prayer.
00:21:54.38\00:21:55.71
So at this point,
I'm just kind of like,
00:21:55.74\00:21:57.08
"Okay, well, I
can't do anything.
00:21:57.11\00:21:58.45
She looks, you know,
depressed just like me."
00:21:58.48\00:21:59.81
So I started praying for her.
00:21:59.85\00:22:01.18
And I ended up doing
that for about five hours.
00:22:01.22\00:22:02.55
I just kept on
seeing people, and places,
00:22:02.58\00:22:04.32
and things like that, you know.
00:22:04.35\00:22:05.69
And my eye had
already been trained
00:22:05.72\00:22:07.06
through the years to
kind of notice things.
00:22:07.09\00:22:08.89
And so I was just
walking and praying,
00:22:08.92\00:22:10.99
and walking and praying.
00:22:11.03\00:22:12.36
And five hours had
passed and all of a sudden,
00:22:12.39\00:22:13.76
I come back and I'm energized.
00:22:13.80\00:22:15.13
And I feel like, "Oh.
00:22:15.16\00:22:17.83
Maybe this is what
God wants me to do.
00:22:17.87\00:22:19.40
He wants to strip away
all of my dependence upon,
00:22:19.43\00:22:22.27
you know, the arm of
man to accomplish things.
00:22:22.30\00:22:24.91
And He wants to show me
that it's the arm of God
00:22:24.94\00:22:27.08
that accomplishes things.
00:22:27.11\00:22:28.44
So I said, "You know
what, I'll make a deal with You.
00:22:28.48\00:22:29.81
You take me to all of
the cities, all 12 of them,"
00:22:29.84\00:22:31.81
and I don't have
money at the time.
00:22:31.85\00:22:33.38
I said, "But you
take me to all 12 of them
00:22:33.42\00:22:34.75
and we'll do something.
00:22:34.78\00:22:36.75
You know, you do it.
00:22:36.79\00:22:38.12
I'll show up
and I'm going to see
00:22:38.15\00:22:39.49
what it is that You
have prepared for me
00:22:39.52\00:22:40.86
but You got to
send me somebody."
00:22:40.89\00:22:42.22
And so I just
randomly called him and yeah.
00:22:42.26\00:22:44.49
Wow, now these 12 cities,
how had they been determined?
00:22:44.53\00:22:47.80
What made you choose these 12?
00:22:47.83\00:22:49.56
Well, these were host cities
for the FIFA World Cup game.
00:22:49.60\00:22:52.13
Yeah, so each of
them had a stadium
00:22:52.17\00:22:53.80
that was going to
host some of the games.
00:22:53.84\00:22:56.14
Yeah. Got you.
00:22:56.17\00:22:57.51
So that's when you called Levi.
00:22:57.54\00:22:59.44
And I don't even know why
00:22:59.47\00:23:00.81
'cause I hadn't talked
to him in like six years.
00:23:00.84\00:23:02.58
Wow.
00:23:02.61\00:23:03.95
Since Arise, basically maybe,
we had like messaged online,
00:23:03.98\00:23:08.82
like once or something
but we were never in touch.
00:23:08.85\00:23:12.75
And so I had actually
just gotten back at that time,
00:23:12.79\00:23:18.09
probably a couple months before
that I got back from Mexico.
00:23:18.13\00:23:20.26
I had been in Mexico for
about four months in 2013.
00:23:20.30\00:23:26.37
And I got back, I ended up
coming back early unexpectedly.
00:23:26.40\00:23:32.41
And I knew, God had
brought me back for some reason
00:23:32.44\00:23:35.08
but I didn't know why.
00:23:35.11\00:23:37.35
And 'cause I was
planning to be till,
00:23:37.38\00:23:39.58
you know, at least 2014
through the end of the year.
00:23:39.61\00:23:44.09
And so I got back
00:23:44.12\00:23:46.59
and I'm just
kind of there at home,
00:23:46.62\00:23:47.96
like you know, I don't
know why God brought me back
00:23:47.99\00:23:49.96
but I got this
message from Alex.
00:23:49.99\00:23:53.80
And he said, "Hey, do you
want to come to Brazil with me
00:23:53.83\00:23:56.46
for like four months."
00:23:56.50\00:23:58.13
Like, totally out
of the blue, you know.
00:23:58.17\00:24:01.47
And I said, "Well,
what are you doing there?"
00:24:01.50\00:24:04.84
And he told me,
"Well, we're gonna walk
00:24:04.87\00:24:06.68
through the cities
and pray for the stadiums
00:24:06.71\00:24:09.74
and pray for the cities."
00:24:09.78\00:24:11.71
And I'm like, "Are
you there with someone?"
00:24:11.75\00:24:15.02
He was like, "No."
00:24:15.05\00:24:17.65
So you're not with an
organization or something.
00:24:17.69\00:24:19.55
"No."
00:24:19.59\00:24:21.12
"Do you have sponsors?"
00:24:21.16\00:24:23.43
"No."
00:24:23.46\00:24:24.83
"Do you have any money?" "No."
00:24:24.86\00:24:27.20
I'm like... "Do you
know anybody there?"
00:24:27.23\00:24:28.56
"And do you know anybody?
Do you speak the language?"
00:24:28.60\00:24:30.03
"No, no, no." There is all no.
00:24:30.07\00:24:32.00
There is all no.
00:24:32.03\00:24:33.60
And I'm like, "Well, that
sounds pretty interesting."
00:24:33.64\00:24:38.01
Oh, sure, I will go.
00:24:38.04\00:24:39.87
So I prayed for a
couple days about it
00:24:39.91\00:24:41.68
and God impressed me,
00:24:41.71\00:24:43.14
"Yeah, this is why
I brought you back.
00:24:43.18\00:24:45.61
And this is, you know,
what I want you to do."
00:24:45.65\00:24:48.05
So I thought I was
gonna have some money,
00:24:48.08\00:24:52.22
so I had some work
lined up for a little bit
00:24:52.25\00:24:54.92
before that and I ended
up, you know, how life goes.
00:24:54.96\00:24:59.26
And I didn't end up making
00:24:59.29\00:25:00.66
as much as I
thought I was going to.
00:25:00.70\00:25:02.20
And so I left for Brazil
with about $800 for four months
00:25:02.23\00:25:06.23
of food, hotel, planes, buses,
whatever I didn't know what.
00:25:06.27\00:25:11.04
And I figured,
"Well, Alex invited me.
00:25:11.07\00:25:14.28
Surely, he has some money."
00:25:14.31\00:25:15.64
So I got there.
00:25:15.68\00:25:17.01
I'm like, "Hey, Alex,
you got some money, right?"
00:25:17.05\00:25:18.95
"Well, I have $800."
00:25:18.98\00:25:20.38
So we both had
$800 to begin with
00:25:20.42\00:25:23.02
which was like a fraction
00:25:23.05\00:25:25.19
of what we
needed then turns out,
00:25:25.22\00:25:26.55
this is just kind of a
freebie, I'll throw in there.
00:25:26.59\00:25:32.16
By the end of the four months,
00:25:33.70\00:25:36.06
we had received
$8,000 in donations.
00:25:36.10\00:25:40.30
We never asked for
anything, we never told anybody
00:25:40.34\00:25:43.71
what our needs
were, we just prayed.
00:25:43.74\00:25:45.57
We had received $8,000
without talking to anyone.
00:25:45.61\00:25:49.38
And we use every penny, in fact,
00:25:49.41\00:25:51.41
I had to sell a camera lens
to buy my plane ticket back.
00:25:51.45\00:25:55.12
And so we started
out with $800 each
00:25:55.15\00:25:59.45
and God provided $8,000 so
we basically paid the tithe
00:25:59.49\00:26:02.56
and God provided
the rest, you know.
00:26:02.59\00:26:05.39
We're just kind of
a neat sort of example
00:26:05.43\00:26:07.36
of the tithing principle.
00:26:07.40\00:26:09.36
Yeah, for sure.
00:26:09.40\00:26:11.00
So that was how I
basically got involved.
00:26:11.03\00:26:13.77
So how did you eat
and where did you...
00:26:13.80\00:26:17.17
You stayed at the
person's, the family members...
00:26:17.21\00:26:19.47
Yeah, but that was just in
when I started in Sao Paulo.
00:26:19.51\00:26:23.18
And so after I left Sao
Paulo, I went to Salvador.
00:26:23.21\00:26:26.01
And in Salvador is
where he joined me.
00:26:26.05\00:26:28.45
And then we started the
whole tour from Salvador.
00:26:28.48\00:26:31.15
So we passed
back through Sao Paulo
00:26:31.19\00:26:32.52
but basically, all 12 cities,
there was nothing lined up.
00:26:32.55\00:26:37.33
So I arrive in
Salvador before he does.
00:26:37.36\00:26:39.73
And, you know, I'm
praying for something
00:26:39.76\00:26:41.40
and, you know, I
rent a little place first.
00:26:41.43\00:26:44.43
And I go to church.
00:26:44.47\00:26:45.80
And a family hears about
what it is that I'm doing.
00:26:45.83\00:26:47.47
They invite me to
go stay at their house,
00:26:47.50\00:26:48.84
so when he arrives,
we stay at their house.
00:26:48.87\00:26:50.94
And it just so happens that,
00:26:50.97\00:26:52.47
you know, every single
person that we had stayed at,
00:26:52.51\00:26:55.58
called somebody
in the next city.
00:26:55.61\00:26:58.11
And so we didn't know
who it was but we basically,
00:26:58.15\00:27:00.78
we went on the bus or whatever,
00:27:00.82\00:27:02.78
and we would show
up at the bus station,
00:27:02.82\00:27:04.92
and somebody would be there
00:27:04.95\00:27:06.29
and says, "Hey,
are you Alex and Levi?
00:27:06.32\00:27:08.02
We heard about you,
come stay at our house."
00:27:08.06\00:27:10.03
And this happened 12 times.
00:27:10.06\00:27:12.19
Well, 11 times
because the first time, yeah.
00:27:12.23\00:27:14.76
So every single
city, we got used to it.
00:27:14.80\00:27:17.90
Show up at the airport,
show up at the bus stop,
00:27:17.93\00:27:19.87
and somebody will be there.
00:27:19.90\00:27:21.27
And say, "Hey,
are you Alex and Levi?
00:27:21.30\00:27:23.41
You're coming to our home."
00:27:23.44\00:27:24.77
It was something
because literally,
00:27:24.81\00:27:26.14
you're going to a place,
you don't know anyone there.
00:27:26.17\00:27:30.18
And it's a brand new
city of different people,
00:27:30.21\00:27:32.41
they're pretty far,
it's a huge country.
00:27:32.45\00:27:34.62
So it's not like,
they're next door neighbors.
00:27:34.65\00:27:37.15
The cities are
across the country,
00:27:37.19\00:27:39.89
some of them and
you just show up.
00:27:39.92\00:27:43.99
And every single time
someone would come up to us.
00:27:44.03\00:27:46.26
They'd be like, "Hey,
are you such and such?
00:27:46.29\00:27:48.13
Come to our house
and we'll feed you
00:27:48.16\00:27:49.50
and we'll take you places."
00:27:49.53\00:27:50.87
We would, I mean,
00:27:50.90\00:27:52.73
we'll get to some of the stories
00:27:52.77\00:27:54.10
but everywhere we
went, there were all,
00:27:54.14\00:27:58.21
not just like a place to stay
00:27:58.24\00:28:00.58
and food and
that waiting for us,
00:28:00.61\00:28:03.55
but there was
also opportunities,
00:28:03.58\00:28:05.71
there were
sometimes whole churches
00:28:05.75\00:28:07.48
that were three days
00:28:07.52\00:28:09.12
after we got
there and knew no one.
00:28:09.15\00:28:11.99
For example, one time,
00:28:12.02\00:28:14.12
we had that
Sabbath after we arrived,
00:28:14.16\00:28:19.83
we ended up speaking
to the entire leadership
00:28:19.86\00:28:24.23
of the youth
conference for that state.
00:28:24.27\00:28:27.87
Wow.
00:28:27.90\00:28:29.30
As like the
keynote speakers. Speakers.
00:28:29.34\00:28:32.81
And don't ask me how,
we didn't know anybody.
00:28:32.84\00:28:36.11
We never met...
00:28:36.14\00:28:37.88
You're just not there and
you were keynote speakers.
00:28:37.91\00:28:41.02
We were getting
dragged places, like,
00:28:41.05\00:28:44.49
I have no idea.
00:28:44.52\00:28:46.29
You know, we'd get
to somebody he says,
00:28:46.32\00:28:47.66
"Oh, you're going to be
speaking in front of like,
00:28:47.69\00:28:49.22
200 like, youth leaders."
00:28:49.26\00:28:50.66
We ended up going to
the general conference.
00:28:50.69\00:28:52.79
In Portuguese,
mind you. In Brazil.
00:28:52.83\00:28:54.20
Good. You know,
and so you know...
00:28:54.23\00:28:57.00
So we also needed
the gift of tongues.
00:28:57.03\00:28:58.70
Well, it did
happened, it did happened.
00:28:58.73\00:29:00.24
And this is two months in...
00:29:00.27\00:29:02.27
This is two months
in and they're having us
00:29:02.30\00:29:03.81
basically present to,
00:29:03.84\00:29:05.81
you know, groups of
leadership in Portuguese.
00:29:05.84\00:29:10.15
And, you know,
we're kind of like,
00:29:10.18\00:29:13.72
well, we don't
really speak Portuguese,
00:29:13.75\00:29:15.32
we're learning it.
00:29:15.35\00:29:16.72
But you know,
stuff would come out,
00:29:16.75\00:29:18.09
like it would be
Portuguese, Spanish,
00:29:18.12\00:29:19.45
a little bit of English
00:29:19.49\00:29:20.82
and then as soon as you
get used to it all of a sudden,
00:29:20.86\00:29:22.49
like by the end of
the time we were there,
00:29:22.52\00:29:24.59
we were fluent, we were
going to the associations,
00:29:24.63\00:29:27.43
like the Adventist associations.
00:29:27.46\00:29:28.96
We were doing the
devotionals for all the pastors,
00:29:29.00\00:29:32.47
for the conference leaders,
for these kinds of things,
00:29:32.50\00:29:34.80
like they were
putting us to young people
00:29:34.84\00:29:37.71
to basically pray
with and do devotionals
00:29:37.74\00:29:41.68
and leadership
trainings for people,
00:29:41.71\00:29:44.25
you know, more
experienced and twice our age.
00:29:44.28\00:29:46.31
Yeah.
00:29:46.35\00:29:47.68
And in positions that, you know,
00:29:47.72\00:29:49.05
there were actual positions,
00:29:49.08\00:29:50.42
not like ours where we
were just kind of like..
00:29:50.45\00:29:51.79
Yeah, we were nobody.
00:29:51.82\00:29:53.15
Walking around,
we're not even recognized.
00:29:53.19\00:29:55.09
And the thing really
to think about though
00:29:55.12\00:29:57.03
with all of this isn't
'cause obviously nothing,
00:29:57.06\00:30:00.30
none of it had to do with
us and who we are and how...
00:30:00.33\00:30:03.70
Whatever we are.
00:30:03.73\00:30:05.70
All had to do with the fact that
00:30:05.73\00:30:08.24
God was going in front of
us, He was the one doing it.
00:30:08.27\00:30:10.84
Literally we were, we were
running to keep up with Him.
00:30:10.87\00:30:14.08
And to both of us this is really
00:30:14.11\00:30:18.45
what got our attention
to say, when a ministry
00:30:18.48\00:30:22.38
or a work is based on prayer
00:30:22.42\00:30:24.69
as the first thing this
is the way that it goes.
00:30:24.72\00:30:28.12
This is the way it works
00:30:28.16\00:30:29.49
because then God
is the one doing it
00:30:29.52\00:30:31.66
and you're
following what He's doing
00:30:31.69\00:30:33.93
instead of trying to make
it work the other way around.
00:30:33.96\00:30:36.63
Absolutely. And
the thing was is that
00:30:36.67\00:30:38.43
it wasn't just
Adventist churches
00:30:38.47\00:30:40.54
that were doing this,
00:30:40.57\00:30:41.90
it was the
secular powers as well.
00:30:41.94\00:30:43.81
So there was one time
where we showed up to a stadium
00:30:43.84\00:30:46.11
and we invited a group of
people to come pray with us
00:30:46.14\00:30:48.44
over the stadium, the
church, you know, they said,
00:30:48.48\00:30:50.05
"Okay, we'll
come and we'll pray."
00:30:50.08\00:30:51.41
So we started
walking around the stadium
00:30:51.45\00:30:52.78
and it was
still on construction,
00:30:52.81\00:30:54.15
hadn't been open
to the public yet.
00:30:54.18\00:30:55.52
And some lady
walks out and she says,
00:30:55.55\00:30:58.09
"What are you doing?"
00:30:58.12\00:30:59.89
And she's like,
"Oh, these two guys here
00:30:59.92\00:31:01.32
they brought us here to pray."
00:31:01.36\00:31:02.86
So they come to us and
ask, "Well, what are you doing?"
00:31:02.89\00:31:04.23
"So, we're praying.
00:31:04.26\00:31:05.59
We're
interceding for the stadium.
00:31:05.63\00:31:06.96
We're asking for God
to, you know, protect,
00:31:07.00\00:31:08.86
you know, all of
the workers here,
00:31:08.90\00:31:10.47
you know, the staff, all
those that are coming here,
00:31:10.50\00:31:12.97
you know, the players.
00:31:13.00\00:31:14.34
We're just asking
because we know stuff happens
00:31:14.37\00:31:15.70
during these kinds of
events, we just want to pray
00:31:15.74\00:31:17.57
God's protection over here
00:31:17.61\00:31:18.94
and dedicate
this stadium to Him."
00:31:18.97\00:31:21.04
And it so happened
that she was actually
00:31:21.08\00:31:22.61
the head of security
for a FIFA for that stadium.
00:31:22.64\00:31:25.25
And she says, "Do
you guys want to come in
00:31:25.28\00:31:26.61
and pray on the field?"
00:31:26.65\00:31:28.25
And so she opens the door,
00:31:28.28\00:31:29.62
she takes us in
through the construction
00:31:29.65\00:31:30.99
and she says,
"Here's the field..."
00:31:31.02\00:31:33.12
completely empty
stadium, it's not even open
00:31:33.15\00:31:35.72
to the public yet
00:31:35.76\00:31:37.09
and here we are
walking on the field,
00:31:37.13\00:31:39.09
you know, by request
of the head of security,
00:31:39.13\00:31:42.00
you know, for that stadium
praying and dedicating...
00:31:42.03\00:31:45.30
Was she a Christian? I
would imagine so, you know.
00:31:45.33\00:31:47.14
And so it was... it was amazing.
00:31:47.17\00:31:50.01
And it doesn't happen just once,
00:31:50.04\00:31:52.04
you know, we were allowed
00:31:52.07\00:31:53.41
into two
stadiums prior to the...
00:31:53.44\00:31:54.78
Prior to the day they were open.
00:31:54.81\00:31:57.08
But it was just even...
00:31:57.11\00:31:58.45
Even schools and
even governments that,
00:31:58.48\00:31:59.91
you know, that were
not Christian related,
00:31:59.95\00:32:01.92
they had us come over there
00:32:01.95\00:32:03.28
and speak to them
and work with them.
00:32:03.32\00:32:05.09
It was a lot of doors were open
00:32:05.12\00:32:07.06
and we didn't even
open them ourselves,
00:32:07.09\00:32:08.79
none of them we
opened ourselves.
00:32:08.82\00:32:10.26
God is amazing
because He had something
00:32:10.29\00:32:14.10
in mind for you to do
00:32:14.13\00:32:16.16
and you guys responded to
it and that's all He needs.
00:32:16.20\00:32:20.10
It's somebody that's going
00:32:20.14\00:32:21.47
to be available to do what He...
00:32:21.50\00:32:23.67
He's going to do it.
00:32:23.71\00:32:25.04
He's going to open the
doors, He's going to provide,
00:32:25.07\00:32:27.01
He's going to do all of that.
00:32:27.04\00:32:28.54
He just needs somebody
who is going to who says,
00:32:28.58\00:32:30.41
"Here I am Lord, send me."
00:32:30.45\00:32:32.18
Yeah. That's all He need.
00:32:32.21\00:32:33.65
So tell us some
of the experiences
00:32:33.68\00:32:35.32
that you had over there?
00:32:35.35\00:32:36.72
Oh, well, all right,
we'll see how much time we have.
00:32:36.75\00:32:40.09
You better talk fast. All right.
00:32:40.12\00:32:41.86
So, three missions
that we had, we said,
00:32:41.89\00:32:44.93
"We're going there
to pray, we know that,
00:32:44.96\00:32:47.03
but what are the three things
that we need to pray for?"
00:32:47.06\00:32:48.86
I said, "I'm coming
here for human trafficking,"
00:32:48.90\00:32:50.87
obviously we
can't start with that,
00:32:50.90\00:32:52.23
Levi doesn't really
know much about that.
00:32:52.27\00:32:54.00
We don't know what the
whole situation is like,
00:32:54.04\00:32:55.87
so let's start with this.
00:32:55.90\00:32:57.51
We'll pray for
the stadiums first.
00:32:57.54\00:32:58.87
Mission number one,
00:32:58.91\00:33:00.24
we dedicate the
stadiums as venues
00:33:00.28\00:33:01.64
and those entire areas
00:33:01.68\00:33:03.11
and communities
around the stadium to God
00:33:03.14\00:33:05.05
because those are the places
00:33:05.08\00:33:06.41
that are going to be
the center of attention.
00:33:06.45\00:33:08.12
Number two, if you
want us to add this,
00:33:08.15\00:33:10.42
"Lord, you have
to show us exactly,
00:33:10.45\00:33:11.99
we want to go into the
slums the favelas," okay?
00:33:12.02\00:33:14.59
There are some of
the most dangerous slums,
00:33:14.62\00:33:16.46
some of them,
some of them are okay
00:33:16.49\00:33:17.83
but the majority are
very dangerous places,
00:33:17.86\00:33:19.79
you don't walk
in, we've been warned,
00:33:19.83\00:33:21.53
"Do not go into these places."
00:33:21.56\00:33:22.96
"So, Lord, if you want
us to go into these places,
00:33:23.00\00:33:25.20
you have to show us."
00:33:25.23\00:33:26.57
Mission number three,
"If you want us to work
00:33:26.60\00:33:29.17
with prostitutes directly,"
00:33:29.20\00:33:30.84
because that's what
we're technically here
00:33:30.87\00:33:32.37
for is to pray for them
00:33:32.41\00:33:34.04
but not only for them with them.
00:33:34.08\00:33:35.64
"Help us to establish a ministry
00:33:35.68\00:33:37.75
where we can
work with the locals
00:33:37.78\00:33:39.11
to continue
outreach to prostitutes
00:33:39.15\00:33:43.05
and praying for their city
for that case after we leave."
00:33:43.08\00:33:47.02
So those are the three things.
00:33:47.06\00:33:48.39
Number one, we
already had been established.
00:33:48.42\00:33:49.76
God had already told us
we had to be there and pray.
00:33:49.79\00:33:51.63
"So you have to show us
now, Lord, if you want us to do
00:33:51.66\00:33:53.93
number two and number three."
00:33:53.96\00:33:56.93
And that's basically
what we're going to tell you
00:33:56.97\00:33:58.40
is how number two and
number three were answered.
00:33:58.43\00:34:01.44
So if you want to
go with number two,
00:34:01.47\00:34:03.37
or do you want me
to go with number two?
00:34:03.41\00:34:05.51
Well, I want to tell
number one really quick.
00:34:05.54\00:34:07.58
Go for it, okay.
00:34:07.61\00:34:08.94
With the stadiums?
00:34:08.98\00:34:10.55
Actually just
praying, praying for people,
00:34:10.58\00:34:14.85
for the
prostitutes on the streets.
00:34:14.88\00:34:18.05
What city was that?
00:34:18.09\00:34:20.09
The girl that we
met under the bridge.
00:34:20.12\00:34:22.32
Recife. Recife.
00:34:22.36\00:34:23.69
Yeah.
00:34:23.73\00:34:25.06
So the first
like direct encounter
00:34:25.09\00:34:30.67
that we had with a
person on the streets was
00:34:30.70\00:34:34.14
when we were with
a man from that city.
00:34:34.17\00:34:37.44
He was kind of,
taking us around,
00:34:37.47\00:34:38.81
showing us different
places around the city
00:34:38.84\00:34:40.51
and he was one of
the guys from the church,
00:34:40.54\00:34:43.45
good, good guy, Christian guy.
00:34:43.48\00:34:45.98
And basically he would go
00:34:46.01\00:34:49.85
and he would
pick one person a day
00:34:49.88\00:34:52.05
he tried to pick to pray
with them or for them through,
00:34:52.09\00:34:56.96
throughout the day.
00:34:56.99\00:34:59.26
And so we were driving
along on the highway there
00:34:59.29\00:35:02.10
and we saw on the
side of the highway
00:35:02.13\00:35:04.67
under a bridge there
was a lady walking on,
00:35:04.70\00:35:08.04
you know, back and forth
on the side of the road there.
00:35:08.07\00:35:10.84
And he said, "There's one
of the prostitutes from this,
00:35:10.87\00:35:13.88
you know, area and
you guys want to stop
00:35:13.91\00:35:17.11
and pray for her."
00:35:17.15\00:35:18.48
And it's the day, you know,
it's the middle of the day,
00:35:18.51\00:35:20.12
we're not like,
normally you wouldn't do that
00:35:20.15\00:35:23.65
especially at night, you know,
00:35:23.69\00:35:25.45
just because it
doesn't look right
00:35:25.49\00:35:26.96
if you don't have at least
00:35:26.99\00:35:28.32
some ladies with you or whatnot.
00:35:28.36\00:35:30.13
But it was middle of
the day like, you know.
00:35:30.16\00:35:34.46
We said, "Sure, let's do that.
00:35:34.50\00:35:35.83
We can at least get
her name and pray for her
00:35:35.86\00:35:37.67
and see what her
needs are and that."
00:35:37.70\00:35:40.67
So we stopped and
the lady comes up,
00:35:40.70\00:35:43.67
she comes around, you
know, to the driver side,
00:35:43.71\00:35:46.17
the Brazilian guy,
he was the one driving.
00:35:46.21\00:35:49.24
And he rolls up down
the window, she says,
00:35:49.28\00:35:51.51
"Do you guys want to program?"
00:35:51.55\00:35:52.98
Which is their way
of saying, you know...
00:35:53.01\00:35:55.32
Do you want a session, yeah.
00:35:55.35\00:35:56.69
Right, okay. Session.
00:35:56.72\00:35:58.05
And he says, "No, no, no
that's not why we're here.
00:35:58.09\00:36:01.56
Actually the two guys
with me are missionaries,
00:36:01.59\00:36:04.46
they're from the States
00:36:04.49\00:36:05.83
and they just
want to pray with you
00:36:05.86\00:36:08.00
or pray for you
and we want to know,
00:36:08.03\00:36:10.53
you know, if there's
anything we can pray for."
00:36:10.57\00:36:13.17
And she went from
being a strictly business,
00:36:13.20\00:36:17.07
you know, like lady
on the street to being,
00:36:17.11\00:36:20.18
she was a totally
different person in an instant.
00:36:20.21\00:36:24.18
In what way?
00:36:24.21\00:36:25.55
Her whole countenance
changed, her face changed,
00:36:25.58\00:36:27.78
she became friendly and
warm and she got excited,
00:36:27.82\00:36:31.99
you know, and she
said, "Wow, you guys really,
00:36:32.02\00:36:33.99
you just want to pray for me?"
00:36:34.02\00:36:36.46
And he said, "Yeah,
what's your, you know,
00:36:36.49\00:36:39.53
what do you need?
00:36:39.56\00:36:41.10
What can we pray for?"
00:36:41.13\00:36:42.83
And she started
to tell us her story
00:36:42.86\00:36:44.47
and she said, "You
know, I study the Bible
00:36:44.50\00:36:47.74
and I love God and
I want to be baptized
00:36:47.77\00:36:51.57
and I've been studying the Bible
00:36:51.61\00:36:52.94
with a church for a while
00:36:52.97\00:36:58.15
but I don't have a job.
00:36:58.18\00:36:59.51
I don't have a
husband, I have two kids,
00:36:59.55\00:37:01.42
I don't know what
to do to support them
00:37:01.45\00:37:02.78
and I feel stuck
in the situation.
00:37:02.82\00:37:04.85
I don't know what else to do."
00:37:04.89\00:37:06.42
And she said, "But
the church that I go to,
00:37:06.45\00:37:09.86
I've been doing Bible studies
00:37:09.89\00:37:12.16
and it's the
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
00:37:12.19\00:37:14.26
we don't, do you
guys know what that is?"
00:37:14.30\00:37:16.87
And we said, "No kidding." What?
00:37:16.90\00:37:18.53
Really. God sent
you directly to her.
00:37:18.57\00:37:20.94
The first person
that we met was studying
00:37:20.97\00:37:25.14
to become a
Seventh-day Adventist.
00:37:25.17\00:37:26.57
And she was
worried, she was worried
00:37:26.61\00:37:27.94
that the church
wouldn't accept her
00:37:27.98\00:37:29.31
if they knew what it
was that she was doing.
00:37:29.34\00:37:31.38
And so in essence, you know,
she was an answer to our prayer
00:37:31.41\00:37:34.42
and that we knew
that God was like saying,
00:37:34.45\00:37:36.32
"Yes, I want you to pray
for prostitutes and with them.
00:37:36.35\00:37:40.39
And so go ahead
and start, you know,
00:37:40.42\00:37:42.42
going towards
project number three."
00:37:42.46\00:37:46.33
But the other thing was that
it was an answer to her prayer
00:37:46.36\00:37:49.26
because now she knew
that there were people
00:37:49.30\00:37:51.10
within the church
that were looking for her.
00:37:51.13\00:37:53.54
She wasn't going to
be discriminated against,
00:37:53.57\00:37:55.24
she was going to
be cast out or judged.
00:37:55.27\00:37:56.94
Obviously, there's
always people who do that,
00:37:56.97\00:37:58.87
but there's also people
who are looking for her.
00:37:58.91\00:38:00.94
And as long as she has
00:38:00.98\00:38:02.31
that confidence
that are people saying,
00:38:02.34\00:38:03.68
"Hey, listen,
there's people in this church
00:38:03.71\00:38:05.05
that are actually
searching for me,"
00:38:05.08\00:38:06.41
and that's kind of, you
know, that gave her a comfort.
00:38:06.45\00:38:08.28
And our friend, his
wife was a social worker
00:38:08.32\00:38:10.95
and so they connected
her and they found her work
00:38:10.99\00:38:13.36
and it wasn't a city
that was too far away.
00:38:13.39\00:38:15.59
And so it was, it
was, it was a real answer
00:38:15.62\00:38:17.69
to prayer on all sides.
00:38:17.73\00:38:19.06
Yeah.
00:38:19.09\00:38:20.43
It was basically
like, "How much more
00:38:20.46\00:38:21.80
of a
confirmation do you need..."
00:38:21.83\00:38:23.16
Exactly.
00:38:23.20\00:38:24.53
"That this is what
you're supposed to be doing."
00:38:24.57\00:38:25.90
You know. Exactly.
00:38:25.93\00:38:27.27
The first person you
talk to is a prostitute
00:38:27.30\00:38:28.64
that is studying with, you
know, the Adventist Church.
00:38:28.67\00:38:30.67
That is incredible. Yeah.
00:38:30.71\00:38:32.41
You just want to say,
"Look at God, look at God,"
00:38:32.44\00:38:34.98
because He cares
so much about us,
00:38:35.01\00:38:37.88
about each individual
that He was answering.
00:38:37.91\00:38:40.98
And He does a lot,
He accomplishes a lot
00:38:41.02\00:38:44.02
with one move, so
one move confirmed
00:38:44.05\00:38:47.59
your situation and hers too.
00:38:47.62\00:38:50.09
Yeah. Boom.
00:38:50.13\00:38:51.46
So all we needed now was
a group of people to train,
00:38:51.49\00:38:55.36
to minister in
like manner. Right.
00:38:55.40\00:38:57.70
And so we put off
project number three,
00:38:57.73\00:39:00.40
we knew there was to go forward
00:39:00.44\00:39:01.77
but we just kind of put it
on hold for the time being.
00:39:01.80\00:39:04.31
Now we need to
find out number two,
00:39:04.34\00:39:05.67
do we go into the favelas?
00:39:05.71\00:39:07.04
Do we go into these places?
00:39:07.08\00:39:08.41
The family that
we were staying with,
00:39:08.44\00:39:09.78
you know, they were
kind of basically adopted us
00:39:09.81\00:39:11.21
and they were
very wonderful to us
00:39:11.25\00:39:12.78
and the woman, you
know, who we called Mom
00:39:12.81\00:39:15.88
was basically
terribly worried for us.
00:39:15.92\00:39:17.89
She's like, "Don't do it.
00:39:17.92\00:39:19.25
Don't go into these
places, you're going to die."
00:39:19.29\00:39:20.96
Yeah.
00:39:20.99\00:39:22.32
You know, you
guys are Americans,
00:39:22.36\00:39:23.69
you don't know how the
whole culture thing works
00:39:23.73\00:39:25.06
and whatever... Which is true.
00:39:25.09\00:39:26.43
Yeah, it's true. She was right.
00:39:26.46\00:39:29.10
But we decided that,
00:39:29.13\00:39:30.47
"Hey, God had
called us to do this,
00:39:30.50\00:39:31.83
we need to do it."
00:39:31.87\00:39:33.20
And so we were with another
Brazilian friend of ours,
00:39:33.23\00:39:34.57
who are speaking
Spanish, he understood Spanish,
00:39:34.60\00:39:36.24
so they were
speaking Portuguese.
00:39:36.27\00:39:37.61
It's still very early,
00:39:37.64\00:39:38.97
you know, in
our, in our journey.
00:39:39.01\00:39:40.48
And so, you know,
we're communicating
00:39:40.51\00:39:41.88
through Spanish and a
little bit of English.
00:39:41.91\00:39:44.31
And we're walking at night
00:39:44.35\00:39:47.95
and I'm kind of
like stopping in,
00:39:47.98\00:39:49.35
like, "You know what, I
think we should go in here."
00:39:49.38\00:39:52.25
And he's like, "No,
that's not such a good idea."
00:39:52.29\00:39:55.22
So I kind of like
skip over what he says.
00:39:55.26\00:39:57.09
I turn to Levi, I said,
"Levi, are you okay with that?"
00:39:57.13\00:39:59.13
And he's like,
"Yeah, sure, why not."
00:39:59.16\00:40:02.76
He's like, "I'm not
scared," and he's okay.
00:40:02.80\00:40:04.63
Still Americans. You
know, they don't know...
00:40:04.67\00:40:08.50
Strong in faith. So
he's kind of like...
00:40:08.54\00:40:11.01
That's right.
00:40:11.04\00:40:12.37
He's kind of like, "All
right, there's a guy standing
00:40:12.41\00:40:13.74
at the corner, maybe if we walk,
00:40:13.78\00:40:15.38
he'll tell us to get
out of here or something,"
00:40:15.41\00:40:17.05
so we walk a little
closer and he's hoping
00:40:17.08\00:40:18.98
that this guy's
going to confront us
00:40:19.01\00:40:20.35
and tell us to, you
know, "Get out of here."
00:40:20.38\00:40:22.88
So we get closer
and this guy's like,
00:40:22.92\00:40:24.25
you know, at
one of the walkways,
00:40:24.29\00:40:26.12
one of the streets that
will go into this favela,
00:40:26.15\00:40:28.12
into the slum.
00:40:28.16\00:40:29.49
And he stops us
and he sees, you know,
00:40:29.52\00:40:30.86
I've got a camera in my
hand and things like that
00:40:30.89\00:40:32.29
so it's nighttime
and you've got a camera,
00:40:32.33\00:40:33.86
he was like, "Okay,
that's not questionable."
00:40:33.90\00:40:36.56
So he comes and he's
like, "What are you guys doing?"
00:40:36.60\00:40:38.57
And you know, our
friend's kind of, like,
00:40:38.60\00:40:40.17
you know, a little sheepishly,
00:40:40.20\00:40:41.54
"Oh, these guys, just
kind of, pray for you.
00:40:41.57\00:40:43.20
They want to see if
there's anything you wanted,
00:40:43.24\00:40:44.61
you know, and they're just here
00:40:44.64\00:40:46.88
just to pray for you guys
00:40:46.91\00:40:48.24
and see if just to get
to know you, you know."
00:40:48.28\00:40:51.21
And he's kind of
like, "Oh really?"
00:40:51.25\00:40:52.58
He's like, "Wow, that's amazing.
00:40:52.61\00:40:53.95
Yeah, we would love to have you.
00:40:53.98\00:40:55.32
Come on in."
00:40:55.35\00:40:57.12
And he's like, "Oh, for real?"
00:40:57.15\00:40:58.49
He's like, "Yeah,
yeah, yeah. Come on in."
00:40:58.52\00:40:59.85
So the first place
he actually takes us
00:40:59.89\00:41:01.22
is to the high priest
of black magic, Candomble,
00:41:01.26\00:41:04.59
which is like a
voodoo type religion.
00:41:04.63\00:41:06.70
It's a mixture
of like, Catholicism
00:41:06.73\00:41:08.53
and like African animism.
00:41:08.56\00:41:10.47
Like Yoruba? Shamanism.
00:41:10.50\00:41:11.83
Kind of like Yoruba?
00:41:11.87\00:41:13.20
I'm not too
familiar but yeah, possibly.
00:41:13.23\00:41:14.57
Okay.
00:41:14.60\00:41:15.94
So they basically,
they take us to his house
00:41:15.97\00:41:17.67
and his house is like
full of paintings of saints
00:41:17.71\00:41:19.57
and they have like an
idol, they sacrifice alcohol too
00:41:19.61\00:41:22.08
and they also do
chicken sacrifices
00:41:22.11\00:41:23.45
in cross streets
and things like that.
00:41:23.48\00:41:25.35
But this is the guy
that he runs the favela.
00:41:25.38\00:41:27.95
Now he doesn't take us
to the drug trafficker,
00:41:27.98\00:41:29.35
he doesn't take us
to the human trafficker,
00:41:29.38\00:41:30.75
he takes us to
the religious guy.
00:41:30.79\00:41:33.05
He's the head guy,
he's the head honcho.
00:41:33.09\00:41:34.72
And so he's got
to bring us to him
00:41:34.76\00:41:36.69
to get us permission to enter.
00:41:36.73\00:41:38.43
And the guy
says, "You know what,
00:41:38.46\00:41:40.30
nobody walks in here."
00:41:40.33\00:41:41.66
He say, "We see
darkness from this side
00:41:41.70\00:41:44.00
but that's because
that's all we've ever seen.
00:41:44.03\00:41:46.40
There's some of us who don't
want to be in this situation
00:41:46.43\00:41:48.27
but nobody ever comes
from the other side to tell us
00:41:48.30\00:41:50.47
what it's like or to
even give us a chance.
00:41:50.51\00:41:52.01
They all, you know,
they all pushes aside saying
00:41:52.04\00:41:54.51
we're dangerous, we're
going to kill them or whatever.
00:41:54.54\00:41:56.48
So that's not the case at all.
00:41:56.51\00:41:58.25
And so thank you for coming here
00:41:58.28\00:42:00.12
and for not looking at us in,
00:42:00.15\00:42:02.12
you know, something like,
we're some crazies or whatever
00:42:02.15\00:42:04.89
and for actually caring for us."
00:42:04.92\00:42:06.49
And we actually prayed with him.
00:42:06.52\00:42:07.99
Wow.
00:42:08.02\00:42:09.36
He allowed us to enter his home,
00:42:09.39\00:42:10.73
I mean, he allowed me
to film inside his home,
00:42:10.76\00:42:12.39
the idols and all of, you know.
00:42:12.43\00:42:14.30
At some point
maybe we can show you
00:42:14.33\00:42:15.76
some of the stuff that we,
00:42:15.80\00:42:17.37
we've taken
pictures of and documented.
00:42:17.40\00:42:20.80
But he's like,
"Yeah, come on in."
00:42:20.84\00:42:22.57
And we just met tons
of people and people,
00:42:22.60\00:42:25.21
kids were coming around
00:42:25.24\00:42:26.57
and people
stopped doing marijuana,
00:42:26.61\00:42:28.84
people stopped, they have
like glue and plastic bottles
00:42:28.88\00:42:31.71
that they would
sniff to get high off of,
00:42:31.75\00:42:33.15
everybody put that down.
00:42:33.18\00:42:34.52
Everybody stopped
doing all the things
00:42:34.55\00:42:35.88
that that they
thought were wrong,
00:42:35.92\00:42:37.75
you know, their
consciousness like came alive
00:42:37.79\00:42:39.32
and they came like, "Oh,
here's these missionaries,
00:42:39.35\00:42:40.92
you know, let's,
let's act accordingly."
00:42:40.96\00:42:43.96
But it was
amazing, you know, we just,
00:42:43.99\00:42:45.49
we hugged
everybody, we talked with them,
00:42:45.53\00:42:47.66
they took pictures with them
00:42:47.70\00:42:49.03
and it was just a
really, really beautiful moment.
00:42:49.06\00:42:52.10
And, you know, a
lot of stuff happened
00:42:52.13\00:42:54.54
even within that favela,
00:42:54.57\00:42:55.90
we don't have
time to get through it
00:42:55.94\00:42:57.27
because I want to get
to some of the other things
00:42:57.31\00:42:58.64
'cause our time is
running a little short.
00:42:58.67\00:43:00.01
But people were
crying when we were leaving
00:43:00.04\00:43:01.94
and they said, "You
know, thank you, like just,
00:43:01.98\00:43:04.01
just thank you for doing this
00:43:04.05\00:43:06.48
and just for at least showing us
00:43:06.51\00:43:07.85
that there's people who care."
00:43:07.88\00:43:09.95
And it opened the door
for the church to be like,
00:43:09.98\00:43:12.25
"Oh, man, we should probably go,
00:43:12.29\00:43:14.06
start going to this favelas,
00:43:14.09\00:43:15.42
it's not what
we thought it was."
00:43:15.46\00:43:17.16
And if anything, you
know, we know we can't stay
00:43:17.19\00:43:19.49
in those places forever
but if we could at least
00:43:19.53\00:43:21.53
change the mind
of the local churches
00:43:21.56\00:43:23.33
about certain things,
00:43:23.37\00:43:24.93
then we can break
down those barriers
00:43:24.97\00:43:26.30
and they can begin
ministering in that regard.
00:43:26.33\00:43:28.30
Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:28.34\00:43:29.74
And something just
an interesting point
00:43:29.77\00:43:31.94
on that story is like,
00:43:31.97\00:43:33.31
when we were actually leaving,
00:43:33.34\00:43:35.51
Alex was behind and of course,
he had that camera, you know.
00:43:35.54\00:43:39.05
And these two young
guys came up behind him
00:43:39.08\00:43:43.39
and the guy we went
with and the older gentleman
00:43:43.42\00:43:47.56
who had kind of let
us in, they were upfront,
00:43:47.59\00:43:51.43
I was behind them,
Alex was way in the back.
00:43:51.46\00:43:54.53
And these two young
guys came up behind Alex
00:43:54.56\00:43:57.73
and I mean, don't ask
how, I mean, we know how
00:43:57.77\00:44:01.24
but the man who had let us in,
00:44:01.27\00:44:05.97
it was like he had eyes
in the back of his head,
00:44:06.01\00:44:07.88
he turned around
at that exact moment
00:44:07.91\00:44:10.31
and he told them in Portuguese,
00:44:10.35\00:44:12.61
he said, "They're
with me, get out of here,"
00:44:12.65\00:44:14.72
and the guys took off
like they saw a ghost.
00:44:14.75\00:44:16.89
They want to rob
you. So they were...
00:44:16.92\00:44:18.32
So I was by myself
00:44:18.35\00:44:19.69
because I was
trying to film, you know.
00:44:19.72\00:44:21.06
And it was kind
of like an old camera
00:44:21.09\00:44:22.42
and so I had to
hold it really steady
00:44:22.46\00:44:23.79
because it was
dark, it was night time,
00:44:23.83\00:44:25.16
you know, we had
very little lighting
00:44:25.19\00:44:26.53
and so they were kind of walking
00:44:26.56\00:44:27.90
and they got very far away
00:44:27.93\00:44:29.26
and I felt these two
guys coming behind me.
00:44:29.30\00:44:30.63
And you know, I've,
I've been on the streets
00:44:30.67\00:44:32.10
and you know, I'm not
like a crazy tough guy
00:44:32.13\00:44:34.04
but I've trained,
I've done martial arts.
00:44:34.07\00:44:35.40
I'm like, "I
can, I'm pretty sure
00:44:35.44\00:44:36.77
I can take
these guys," you know.
00:44:36.81\00:44:38.14
And so I'm waiting
for them to come upon me
00:44:38.17\00:44:39.61
and then I'm
gonna like, "All right,
00:44:39.64\00:44:40.98
let's see what we got."
00:44:41.01\00:44:42.34
But, you know,
it's kind of, like,
00:44:42.38\00:44:43.71
I'm trying to get
in God's way again.
00:44:43.75\00:44:45.15
And, you know,
the impossible shout,
00:44:45.18\00:44:48.08
like from a distance,
like how does he even notice,
00:44:48.12\00:44:50.25
like there's no, he's
engrossed in conversation,
00:44:50.29\00:44:52.25
he's far away, he turns around,
00:44:52.29\00:44:53.66
he puts out his and
says, "No, he's with me."
00:44:53.69\00:44:55.62
And these guys are
like, they've seen a ghost
00:44:55.66\00:44:56.99
or the devil himself that
is basically like just run,
00:44:57.03\00:45:00.56
I mean just like in fear.
00:45:00.60\00:45:01.93
And I'm kind of wondering,
00:45:01.96\00:45:03.83
"Okay, I get it,"
00:45:03.87\00:45:05.20
you know, it's
kind of, like, "Alex..."
00:45:05.23\00:45:06.57
Yeah.
00:45:06.60\00:45:07.94
"I got this," you know, like...
00:45:07.97\00:45:09.30
Yeah. Just don't worry about it.
00:45:09.34\00:45:10.67
Yeah.
00:45:10.71\00:45:12.04
And it was like that
the entire time through.
00:45:12.07\00:45:13.41
He was trying
00:45:13.44\00:45:14.78
to just basically
beat it into my head
00:45:14.81\00:45:16.14
that He's, He's got this.
00:45:16.18\00:45:17.51
There were
actually multiple stories,
00:45:17.55\00:45:18.88
I wish we had,
00:45:18.91\00:45:20.25
you know, more time
where we could tell all of them
00:45:20.28\00:45:21.62
but there were multiple stories,
00:45:21.65\00:45:22.98
very similar to that.
00:45:23.02\00:45:24.35
Yeah, people who try to
rob us who ended up, you know.
00:45:24.39\00:45:25.99
Witnessing?
00:45:26.02\00:45:27.36
Witnessing and
then praying for them.
00:45:27.39\00:45:28.72
Tell us one? Tell us one?
00:45:28.76\00:45:30.96
I'll tell that, yeah. Okay.
00:45:30.99\00:45:33.80
One of the stadiums
00:45:33.83\00:45:35.16
that we're walking
around with a friend.
00:45:35.20\00:45:38.73
Excuse me, I got a
frog stuck in there.
00:45:38.77\00:45:42.57
One of the stadiums
we were walking around,
00:45:42.60\00:45:44.21
praying around
with a friend there.
00:45:44.24\00:45:47.64
One lap around this guy came
00:45:47.68\00:45:51.35
with the way they do
it in Brazil if they,
00:45:51.38\00:45:55.22
sometimes they have a
gun, sometimes they don't
00:45:55.25\00:45:57.12
but they'll put
their hand in their shirt
00:45:57.15\00:45:58.89
as if they have one and
you don't know so that's.
00:45:58.92\00:46:00.76
Right.
00:46:00.79\00:46:02.12
They'll come up to you
that way basically to say,
00:46:02.16\00:46:03.89
"Give me what you got,
00:46:03.93\00:46:05.73
you know,
otherwise you'll find out
00:46:05.76\00:46:07.63
if I have a gun or not."
00:46:07.66\00:46:09.00
Right.
00:46:09.03\00:46:10.37
And so a guy came up to us
00:46:10.40\00:46:12.67
with his hand in
his shirt and of course,
00:46:12.70\00:46:14.50
we didn't really understand,
you know, that aspect.
00:46:14.54\00:46:16.94
Well, he wasn't facing,
I was facing that direction
00:46:16.97\00:46:19.44
but our friend me
and our friend Andre,
00:46:19.47\00:46:21.61
he was facing that direction.
00:46:21.64\00:46:22.98
and of I kind of like was
like, "Ah, well, whatever."
00:46:23.01\00:46:25.31
So Andre, he's from there
and so he knew what was up,
00:46:25.35\00:46:28.95
you know, and
before the guy had a chance
00:46:28.98\00:46:32.45
to say anything to us,
Andre said, "Hey, we're..."
00:46:32.49\00:46:36.26
He knew what the
guy was trying to do
00:46:36.29\00:46:37.63
but he jumped on it first,
00:46:37.66\00:46:38.99
he said, "Hey, you know,
these guys are missionaries.
00:46:39.03\00:46:40.86
We're here to
pray for this area,
00:46:40.90\00:46:42.23
do you want us to pray
for you, for something?"
00:46:42.26\00:46:44.87
And the guy,
00:46:44.90\00:46:46.23
you know, he was
like he was ashamed
00:46:46.27\00:46:47.64
of what he was about do.
00:46:47.67\00:46:49.00
Completely
disarmed, completely disarmed.
00:46:49.04\00:46:50.87
He's kind of like,
00:46:50.91\00:46:52.24
you know, he pulls his
hand out like scratching
00:46:52.27\00:46:54.54
and he tries to
pull up his shirt,
00:46:54.58\00:46:55.91
and he was like,
00:46:55.94\00:46:57.28
"I was just
holding my hand there
00:46:57.31\00:46:58.65
because I got
hurt," and you know,
00:46:58.68\00:47:00.02
and then he
begins breaking down.
00:47:00.05\00:47:01.38
and he's He says,
"Listen, I was in prison,
00:47:01.42\00:47:02.75
you know, I just
got out of prison."
00:47:02.78\00:47:04.12
And he says, "I, you
know, I just saw you guys."
00:47:04.15\00:47:05.49
And he said he
had been in prison
00:47:05.52\00:47:06.86
for eight years, right?
00:47:06.89\00:47:08.22
Something like that, yeah.
00:47:08.26\00:47:09.59
And he had gotten out,
00:47:09.62\00:47:10.96
he told us he
had memorized like,
00:47:10.99\00:47:12.33
parts of the Bible in there
00:47:12.36\00:47:13.70
and quoted some
scriptures to us and...
00:47:13.73\00:47:15.10
A little broken
but it was working.
00:47:15.13\00:47:16.46
Yeah.
00:47:16.50\00:47:17.83
And so we got to pray with him,
00:47:17.87\00:47:19.63
we got to talk to him
and get to know him some.
00:47:19.67\00:47:22.54
We even invited him to
lunch, he didn't come for.
00:47:22.57\00:47:24.74
Yeah, well, I mean,
00:47:24.77\00:47:26.11
we offered him some
clothes and some things
00:47:26.14\00:47:28.01
and we asked him to
come to lunch with us
00:47:28.04\00:47:29.54
and he said, "No,
I'll just, you know,
00:47:29.58\00:47:30.91
if you just mind getting
me a taxi, I'll go back."
00:47:30.95\00:47:33.15
And I think, I
think he was just ashamed
00:47:33.18\00:47:35.58
like he felt that
that he was going to do
00:47:35.62\00:47:37.89
something wrong
and he got caught.
00:47:37.92\00:47:39.25
Right.
00:47:39.29\00:47:40.62
And, you know, it
just put him to thought.
00:47:40.66\00:47:42.26
And you heap coals
of fire on his head
00:47:42.29\00:47:44.79
by being kind to
him and loving him
00:47:44.83\00:47:47.56
and saying you
would pray for him
00:47:47.60\00:47:49.23
and I'm sure he just
felt very embarrassed.
00:47:49.26\00:47:50.93
But his name's
actually in this book
00:47:50.97\00:47:52.30
and I don't know, I
need to find out what page.
00:47:52.33\00:47:53.67
Tell us about this book.
00:47:53.70\00:47:55.04
So this book I
actually, I actually decided
00:47:55.07\00:47:57.24
to just to do this
on my way to Brazil.
00:47:57.27\00:48:00.18
And I said, "You know what..."
00:48:00.21\00:48:02.64
Because I went to Brazil,
00:48:02.68\00:48:04.01
I found out
things aren't working,
00:48:04.05\00:48:05.38
I decided to do
a prayer ministry,
00:48:05.41\00:48:06.75
I came back for
about a week or two
00:48:06.78\00:48:08.12
and then I went back to Brazil.
00:48:08.15\00:48:09.48
And so when I came back,
I got this book and I said,
00:48:09.52\00:48:10.85
"Now that I know
00:48:10.89\00:48:12.22
that God wants me
to do prayer ministry,
00:48:12.25\00:48:13.59
I want to make sure
00:48:13.62\00:48:14.96
that I write
everybody's name down
00:48:14.99\00:48:16.32
that I meet,"
because I don't know
00:48:16.36\00:48:18.39
if I'm going to
get to minister to them
00:48:18.43\00:48:19.96
for the long term
00:48:20.00\00:48:21.33
but at the very
least if I have their name,
00:48:21.36\00:48:22.76
I can remember them in prayer
00:48:22.80\00:48:24.13
even if I don't
remember what they look like
00:48:24.17\00:48:25.50
or what their
situation is, God knows.
00:48:25.53\00:48:27.34
And so that
guy's name is in here,
00:48:27.37\00:48:29.34
some witches names are in
here, some drug traffickers,
00:48:29.37\00:48:31.81
human traffickers, prostitutes,
00:48:31.84\00:48:34.14
probably around 400
names of people from Brazil,
00:48:34.18\00:48:37.18
more than 200 from people
00:48:37.21\00:48:38.55
who are on the
streets of Brazil.
00:48:38.58\00:48:40.35
And so it's just kind of a way,
00:48:40.38\00:48:42.45
it reminds me daily,
00:48:42.48\00:48:43.82
you know, because you don't
always share your testimony
00:48:43.85\00:48:45.59
but when you open this book,
00:48:45.62\00:48:46.96
this book and you kind of
look at all the names of people,
00:48:46.99\00:48:48.82
yeah, you see your friends,
00:48:48.86\00:48:50.19
your family but
then you see names like,
00:48:50.23\00:48:51.66
"Wow, I don't
remember who that was
00:48:51.69\00:48:53.70
but that's
probably one of the person
00:48:53.73\00:48:55.06
that was struggling
on, somebody that was in,
00:48:55.10\00:48:58.87
you know, the depths
of hell," so to speak.
00:48:58.90\00:49:01.54
And the prayer that
Levi and I have for him
00:49:01.57\00:49:05.04
are probably the
only rays of light
00:49:05.07\00:49:07.74
that he's getting where he's at.
00:49:07.78\00:49:10.35
And so we do this
because we want people,
00:49:10.38\00:49:14.15
you know, we want Satan's
hold to be loosened on people.
00:49:14.18\00:49:16.99
We want them to
have access, we want...
00:49:17.02\00:49:19.45
So, do you pray
over this book every day,
00:49:19.49\00:49:21.49
is that...
00:49:21.52\00:49:22.86
So there's times
where I go through the pages
00:49:22.89\00:49:24.56
and I read the names individual
and all of the messages
00:49:24.59\00:49:26.76
and there's times
where I kind of like,
00:49:26.80\00:49:28.60
just read the names quickly
then I'll pray in general
00:49:28.63\00:49:30.77
and there's times
where I make excuses,
00:49:30.80\00:49:33.37
I'm so tired, "Lord,
just pray for the book..."
00:49:33.40\00:49:34.74
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:49:34.77\00:49:36.10
Put my hand on the book
and get everybody in there.
00:49:36.14\00:49:37.47
Yeah.
00:49:37.51\00:49:38.84
So I've gone through it,
00:49:38.87\00:49:40.21
I've gone through it a few times
00:49:40.24\00:49:41.58
but yeah, it's something
that I'm learning to do
00:49:41.61\00:49:44.51
on a more consistent basis.
00:49:44.55\00:49:46.11
It was at the
very least getting me
00:49:46.15\00:49:47.55
to try to focus more
on praying for people
00:49:47.58\00:49:50.55
because I knew
that God wanted me
00:49:50.59\00:49:51.92
to be an intercessor.
00:49:51.95\00:49:53.29
Did I always
intercede for it? No, I didn't.
00:49:53.32\00:49:54.96
Do I wish that
I did? Absolutely.
00:49:54.99\00:49:56.99
And I'm still learning
to be more consistent in it
00:49:57.03\00:49:59.79
and the more names I write,
00:49:59.83\00:50:01.16
the more guilty I
feel if I ignore it so.
00:50:01.20\00:50:02.53
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:50:02.56\00:50:03.90
What would you say
00:50:03.93\00:50:05.27
'cause we have
about seven minutes left,
00:50:05.30\00:50:07.27
what would you say
00:50:07.30\00:50:09.20
was your most
profound experience together
00:50:09.24\00:50:12.94
over there?
00:50:12.97\00:50:15.24
Wow.
00:50:15.28\00:50:16.61
That's really hard to
pick I think one, I think...
00:50:16.64\00:50:21.12
I would say Fortaleza though.
00:50:21.15\00:50:22.58
Everything that happened there.
00:50:22.62\00:50:23.95
Yeah, I was going to say that,
00:50:23.99\00:50:25.49
that's probably the one
story I'd want to share.
00:50:25.52\00:50:28.49
Tell us?
00:50:28.52\00:50:31.36
There was the fourth city
00:50:31.39\00:50:32.73
that we went to was a
different kind of deal
00:50:32.76\00:50:37.37
than the rest of them.
00:50:37.40\00:50:39.80
As soon as we arrived there,
00:50:39.83\00:50:41.37
as soon as we stepped
off the bus we both felt it,
00:50:41.40\00:50:44.27
we even said it like...
00:50:44.31\00:50:45.64
There was like heavy,
heavy, heavy oppressive
00:50:45.67\00:50:50.08
spiritual atmosphere there.
00:50:50.11\00:50:52.11
And which, that city is actually
00:50:52.15\00:50:55.52
I think the worst for a child.
00:50:55.55\00:50:56.99
It's the worst
for child sex tourism
00:50:57.02\00:50:59.22
in South America
00:50:59.25\00:51:00.59
and the second
in the world, yeah.
00:51:00.62\00:51:03.02
You want to say, would...
00:51:03.06\00:51:04.39
Fortaleza.
00:51:04.43\00:51:05.76
Oh, Fortaleza.
00:51:05.79\00:51:07.13
Yeah. Okay.
00:51:07.16\00:51:08.50
So it was just
weird, it was different,
00:51:08.53\00:51:09.86
you know, when we got there
00:51:09.90\00:51:11.23
and so we were
staying with a family,
00:51:11.27\00:51:14.50
a pastor and his
wife while we were there.
00:51:14.54\00:51:17.34
And they were great
people, really great people,
00:51:17.37\00:51:22.24
they helped us a lot, they did,
00:51:22.28\00:51:24.25
you know, they
gave us a place to stay
00:51:24.28\00:51:25.98
and food and just good people.
00:51:26.01\00:51:28.88
But it was different with them
00:51:28.92\00:51:30.79
than with some
of the other people
00:51:30.82\00:51:32.45
we had kind of
stayed with and met
00:51:32.49\00:51:34.89
where they were
doing good things
00:51:34.92\00:51:36.52
in the church, great things,
you know, God was using them.
00:51:36.56\00:51:40.26
But somehow
00:51:40.30\00:51:41.63
they just didn't see necessarily
00:51:41.66\00:51:43.97
what we were doing,
00:51:44.00\00:51:45.63
what the point was of
reaching out to prostitutes,
00:51:45.67\00:51:49.27
going in and
praying around the city
00:51:49.30\00:51:50.71
and that and they said,
00:51:50.74\00:51:52.07
"You know,
those things are good,
00:51:52.11\00:51:53.44
but what are you
going to do if someone says,
00:51:53.48\00:51:55.04
"Yes, you know, I wan
to come off the street,"
00:51:55.08\00:51:57.25
you don't have
infrastructure for that,"
00:51:57.28\00:51:59.41
and so on and so forth.
00:51:59.45\00:52:00.95
And we said,
00:52:00.98\00:52:02.32
"Well, the first
thing you have to do is,
00:52:02.35\00:52:05.09
is you have to make
relationships before.
00:52:05.12\00:52:07.42
You can't set something
up if there's no need, right?
00:52:07.46\00:52:10.73
So you make the relationships
00:52:10.76\00:52:12.23
and you create the
need and then God can..."
00:52:12.26\00:52:14.96
That's the way it
worked in Atlanta.
00:52:15.00\00:52:16.90
God brought other things later.
00:52:16.93\00:52:20.74
So, but it was
just kind of like that.
00:52:20.77\00:52:22.17
We just, we
didn't really feel like
00:52:22.20\00:52:24.27
with God anywhere there
except the very last night
00:52:24.31\00:52:27.68
that we were there.
00:52:27.71\00:52:29.34
We were going to leave
early the next morning,
00:52:29.38\00:52:31.61
we ended up stopping by
some like birthday party
00:52:31.65\00:52:34.58
and meeting this
random person there
00:52:34.62\00:52:37.92
who was kind of
one of the leaders
00:52:37.95\00:52:39.82
for the youth in that area
00:52:39.85\00:52:42.02
and he seemed kind of interested
00:52:42.06\00:52:44.09
in the project and
we explained it to him,
00:52:44.13\00:52:48.33
Alex did and we
left the next day.
00:52:48.36\00:52:52.70
And we had gone
while we were there we,
00:52:52.73\00:52:54.77
both of us had
walked around the city
00:52:54.80\00:52:58.07
with a group of young people
00:52:58.11\00:52:59.47
from a previous
city that came to join us
00:52:59.51\00:53:01.38
because there was no one there
00:53:01.41\00:53:02.74
basically joining
except for one girl there
00:53:02.78\00:53:06.65
had joined us
00:53:06.68\00:53:08.02
going around the
stadium and praying
00:53:08.05\00:53:09.65
and that and we
had talked that one guy
00:53:09.68\00:53:11.59
the night before we
left and then we left
00:53:11.62\00:53:13.69
and that was kind of it.
00:53:13.72\00:53:15.32
A couple weeks later,
00:53:15.36\00:53:17.63
Alex got a phone
call from the girl
00:53:17.66\00:53:21.06
who had walked
around the stadium
00:53:21.10\00:53:22.53
in that city
with us and she said,
00:53:22.56\00:53:27.17
"We went out
after you guys left.
00:53:27.20\00:53:29.90
We actually went
out and did the project
00:53:29.94\00:53:32.31
where we basically
wrote little handwritten notes
00:53:32.34\00:53:35.24
and took a card and a flower out
00:53:35.28\00:53:37.85
to the ladies on the street
00:53:37.88\00:53:39.48
and we prayed with
them and asked them
00:53:39.51\00:53:40.85
what their needs were
and gave them a phone to call
00:53:40.88\00:53:43.22
if they needed some
help with something,"
00:53:43.25\00:53:46.15
and she said,
00:53:46.19\00:53:47.52
"We got a phone
call today from a lady
00:53:47.56\00:53:50.86
that we met that night we
went out a few weeks ago,"
00:53:50.89\00:53:54.73
said, "The lady said,
00:53:54.76\00:53:56.43
"I'm calling because
00:53:56.46\00:53:57.90
I met you on the
street a couple weeks ago,
00:53:57.93\00:53:59.40
I don't know if you remember me
00:53:59.43\00:54:00.77
but I was one of
the ladies on the street
00:54:00.80\00:54:02.14
that you came and you prayed
00:54:02.17\00:54:03.64
with that night a
couple weeks ago,"
00:54:03.67\00:54:05.41
and she said,
00:54:05.44\00:54:06.78
"That was my first
night in prostitution,
00:54:06.81\00:54:09.78
my first night in prostitution,"
00:54:09.81\00:54:11.15
ever in her life, and she said,
00:54:11.18\00:54:14.12
"Before my first
customer came you guys came.
00:54:14.15\00:54:18.52
And I knew when you left
00:54:18.55\00:54:20.06
I knew that God
didn't want me in this life
00:54:20.09\00:54:22.32
and I left too
before my first customer."
00:54:22.36\00:54:24.89
Wow.
00:54:24.93\00:54:26.26
And she said, "But I have kids,"
00:54:26.29\00:54:27.63
just like the other
story we talked about earlier,
00:54:27.66\00:54:29.96
she said, "I have
kids, I don't have a husband,
00:54:30.00\00:54:31.60
I don't know
how to support them.
00:54:31.63\00:54:32.97
This is all I know how
to do because I'm desperate,
00:54:33.00\00:54:35.17
can you guys help me?"
00:54:35.20\00:54:37.14
And they gave her work
00:54:37.17\00:54:38.51
actually working for the members
00:54:38.54\00:54:40.31
of the church
that didn't understand
00:54:40.34\00:54:42.88
why we would even
do a project like this.
00:54:42.91\00:54:44.58
That church...
00:54:44.61\00:54:45.95
That's her recovery program
00:54:45.98\00:54:47.32
and here they are
preventing somebody from that...
00:54:47.35\00:54:48.82
And now that, that very church
00:54:48.85\00:54:50.35
became the recovery
program for this lady
00:54:50.39\00:54:53.36
who left the street the first...
00:54:53.39\00:54:54.82
Remember Alex said, they
had prayed for five years
00:54:54.86\00:54:58.09
in Atlanta before
the first one left.
00:54:58.13\00:55:00.03
This is the first night
00:55:00.06\00:55:02.06
that they went
out and the lady left
00:55:02.10\00:55:03.93
and now she's
working for the people
00:55:03.97\00:55:05.53
of that church,
cleaning their homes.
00:55:05.57\00:55:07.34
So this city was
a real battleground,
00:55:07.37\00:55:09.67
I mean, this is
the last story there.
00:55:09.70\00:55:12.11
But while we were
there we basically,
00:55:12.14\00:55:14.54
I mean, there was a
Satanist that came in,
00:55:14.58\00:55:16.81
he was part of really
high level secret societies,
00:55:16.85\00:55:18.98
his whole family were
part of secret societies,
00:55:19.01\00:55:21.08
they were all
part of Satanic church.
00:55:21.12\00:55:23.08
And he came and somehow
he was miraculously converted
00:55:23.12\00:55:25.95
in a very short
amount of time in this church
00:55:25.99\00:55:28.09
that we were working at.
00:55:28.12\00:55:30.49
He came and talked to you?
00:55:30.53\00:55:31.86
He came and he came
00:55:31.89\00:55:33.23
because there were
some situations in his life,
00:55:33.26\00:55:35.16
he was trying to get
back to a certain town.
00:55:35.20\00:55:37.87
That he came into that church
00:55:37.90\00:55:39.70
I guess he thought randomly
but God had a plan for him.
00:55:39.73\00:55:42.20
Right.
00:55:42.24\00:55:43.57
He listens to what the pastor
00:55:43.61\00:55:44.94
and the Bible
worker were talking about.
00:55:44.97\00:55:47.81
He realized that, "Oh
man, this is a message
00:55:47.84\00:55:49.44
that I've heard
from a Christian before."
00:55:49.48\00:55:53.21
He was impressed, he
said, "You know what,
00:55:53.25\00:55:54.58
I need to get
baptized right now."
00:55:54.62\00:55:55.95
The pastor comes
quickly back to us saying,
00:55:55.98\00:55:57.32
"I told you, we're
doing great things.
00:55:57.35\00:55:58.75
This guy just came in three days
00:55:58.79\00:56:00.12
wants to get baptized
00:56:00.16\00:56:01.49
but he said he
wants to meet with you."
00:56:01.52\00:56:02.86
And so we go
and we meet with him
00:56:02.89\00:56:04.23
and he tells, he tells us that,
00:56:04.26\00:56:05.73
"Hey listen, I've
got a message for you.
00:56:05.76\00:56:07.10
I know why you're here,
00:56:07.13\00:56:08.46
they don't know why you're here.
00:56:08.50\00:56:09.83
They talk about
great controversy,
00:56:09.86\00:56:11.20
they seem to
understand it theoretically
00:56:11.23\00:56:12.57
but they don't understand it
00:56:12.60\00:56:13.94
the way that I
believe that you do."
00:56:13.97\00:56:15.30
And I'm like, "Who is this guy?
00:56:15.34\00:56:16.67
He never met us before."
00:56:16.71\00:56:18.04
And, you know, he says,
"I can't tell you everything
00:56:18.07\00:56:19.44
that I want to
tell you right now
00:56:19.47\00:56:20.91
but just I have to
wait until Sabbath,
00:56:20.94\00:56:23.01
I want to get baptized
and then I can tell you."
00:56:23.04\00:56:25.48
So Sabbath
comes, he gets baptized,
00:56:25.51\00:56:26.85
he gives us this entire
like ridiculously long dialogue
00:56:26.88\00:56:29.68
on spiritual warfare,
00:56:29.72\00:56:31.05
on the ways that Satan is trying
00:56:31.09\00:56:32.42
to destroy us.
00:56:32.45\00:56:33.79
We start taking it seriously,
00:56:33.82\00:56:35.16
we get together
and we start praying,
00:56:35.19\00:56:36.79
you know, I pray, Levi
prays, our friend Andre prays.
00:56:36.83\00:56:40.10
While she's praying,
00:56:40.13\00:56:41.46
I begin to see a tree
and there's like these,
00:56:41.50\00:56:43.97
you know, I can't see the sky,
it's completely blacked out,
00:56:44.00\00:56:47.10
I mean, very little
light trickling down
00:56:47.14\00:56:48.67
and there's these
chains hanging down
00:56:48.70\00:56:50.04
from the branches
with dolls and mannequins
00:56:50.07\00:56:51.84
tied about the neck
00:56:51.87\00:56:53.21
and they've got no
faces and they're dangling.
00:56:53.24\00:56:54.58
I'm like,
00:56:54.61\00:56:55.94
"Why in the world am I thinking
about this during prayer?"
00:56:55.98\00:56:57.31
And so, you know,
00:56:57.35\00:56:58.68
I try to shake the thought away,
00:56:58.71\00:57:00.05
nothing happens.
00:57:00.08\00:57:01.42
So I start jumping up,
00:57:01.45\00:57:02.78
pulling the
chains from the branches
00:57:02.82\00:57:04.15
and I'm kind of like,
"Okay, this is not working."
00:57:04.19\00:57:05.79
So I cry out for help.
00:57:05.82\00:57:07.16
The moment I cry out for
help I see the base of a tree
00:57:07.19\00:57:09.26
and a man standing with an axe,
00:57:09.29\00:57:10.63
I'm like, "Oh,
yes, do something."
00:57:10.66\00:57:12.06
So he picks up,
he starts nailing,
00:57:12.09\00:57:14.93
I mean, hitting at
the base of the tree,
00:57:14.96\00:57:16.50
the tree is shaking violently,
00:57:16.53\00:57:17.87
it finally falls down
and the first thing I do
00:57:17.90\00:57:20.94
is I look up at
heaven and I see the sky,
00:57:20.97\00:57:23.54
I thank God,
00:57:23.57\00:57:24.91
I pull the chains
and they're set free.
00:57:24.94\00:57:27.18
Wow, and that's
your mission. Exactly.
00:57:27.21\00:57:29.71
I cannot believe our time is up.
00:57:29.74\00:57:32.05
I can't believe
it and I hate this
00:57:32.08\00:57:34.12
'cause I know
there's so much more.
00:57:34.15\00:57:35.48
Yeah.
00:57:35.52\00:57:36.85
That you have
00:57:36.89\00:57:38.22
so I'm going to
have to ask you guys,
00:57:38.25\00:57:39.59
will you come back again?
00:57:39.62\00:57:41.09
Will you come back another time
00:57:41.12\00:57:42.62
and give us some
more of your experiences
00:57:42.66\00:57:45.76
because I just think
that this is so valuable.
00:57:45.79\00:57:50.10
I thank you so
much for being with us
00:57:50.13\00:57:52.27
and we will put your
website up on the screen,
00:57:52.30\00:57:54.44
so people can take a look.
00:57:54.47\00:57:56.10
And thank you so
much for being with us.
00:57:56.14\00:57:59.07
Join us next time
because you know what,
00:57:59.11\00:58:00.94
it just wouldn't be
the same without you.
00:58:00.98\00:58:03.38