God Circles

By Cindy Boyce

On Good Friday in 2007, a group of volunteers from the Church in the Woods ministry in Apex, North Carolina, began bringing the love of Jesus through a neighborhood claimed with M13 graffiti. We began by handing out bagged lunches, door-to-door. The few people who would answer the door were skeptical and thought we wanted money. We told them we were just giving away what was freely given and asked if they had prayer needs.

Within a few weeks, one group began a children’s bible study near the mailboxes, close to the neighborhood entrance. Pizzas were provided by a local caterer. Mothers came with their children, still skeptical of our motives. The children fell in love with the Bible and trust began to build. Others were still going door-to-door and receiving more prayers requests; someone was sick, someone lost a job, someone was being deported, mothers wanted protection for their children.

One man, Gabin, was injured in a car accident and was paralyzed from the waist down. He needed medical assistance and prayer. A doctor and some nurses volunteered their time, necessary equipment was brought in, and the neighborhood began to bloom. Gabin and his mother asked Jesus into their lives and hearts.� Local churches began combining resources, first to get Gabin a wheelchair and then to build the family a wheelchair ramp. The wheelchair was easy, but volunteers were worried when plans for the ramp kept being delayed. But again, God had a better plan!

A few days before a neighborhood raid by police, Gabin and his mother took an opportunity to return to Mexico. The following Saturday, many of the gang members were deported, leaving nine children, U.S. citizens by birth, ages 2 weeks to 12 years old, abandoned. The community came together to take care of the children and transport them to Mexico to meet their parents. Unbeknownst to us, the Lord had gone before us, clearing the most dangerous people from the neighborhood.

Gabin, still in Mexico, is walking with assistance – we serve a Mighty God!

The children’s Bible study and the door-to-door physical and spiritual food ministry continued. Gabin’s brother accepted Jesus into his life, was reunited with his wife and children, and even gave us a puppy when he gave up dog fighting.

One of the mothers, Maria, also began growing in the Lord. With the assistance of a translator, we prayed she could receive a continued visa. She was about to be deported. The courts granted it, and she began to see the mighty hand of Jesus. She asked Jesus not only into her heart but also to be active in her life. Her husband, Juan, was still skeptical, especially when Maria began hosting the children’s Bible study on her porch in December. At first, we weren’t allowed in the house.

One February day, a rival gang member was riding his bike near Maria’s home and a dog attacked him. With us standing there, the men pulled the dog off the eighth grade boy, Brandon. We called his mother and she came to get him. The group prayed for the boy. A few hours later, while we were still at the Bible study, Brandon and his family came back for his bike. I offered to take it home for them, because it wouldn’t fit in their car with the mother and five children. One of the children, ninth grader Jovana, didn’t trust me with the bike, so she rode with me. What an answer to prayer and an “in” to a neighborhood that spoke English! Jovana wanted to know why I was being so nice. “Jesus” was my answer. I went to their home every week with food and built a relationship with the family. Jovana wasn’t ever home.

In August, an area church hosted “Fiesta Day,” offering food, school supplies, prayer and salvation. That day, 65 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior including Jovana, Brandon, and their brother Jeremiah. Their mother had already done so during the summer. When I asked where Jovana had been the past few months, she told me after the kindness shown to her family, she felt she needed to get out of the gang. To do so, she had to move to Baltimore for six months. She was back and ready to have that love of the Lord in her life.

Maria and her sister Christina also began delivering food to her neighbors from the abundance of donated food and spreading the love of Jesus, until Maria began to have problems with her pregnancy. She had preeclampsia. She asked that I pray for her and her baby, Rosa, during her pregnancy. During “Fiesta Day,” she asked not only for salvation but also salvation for baby Rosa, still in her womb.

I received a phone call from Maria’s son, Jesus on September 12, 2008. Maria’s blood pressure had skyrocketed and she and baby Rosa had died. Maria was scheduled for a C-section the following week. The community raised several thousand dollars to send Maria and baby Rosa to Mexico to be buried. Juan’s heart was softened through this, and he became a believer.

That day, Jovana’s mom gave birth to a son, Ryan. He has sickle cell anemia and severe eczema. One day Juan saw us at Jovana’s home. He stopped by and we were able to reintroduce him to Brandon and meet baby Ryan. The tears flowed just to see how God intertwined our lives.