Are you ready for the spiritual battles? Every year in the northeast of Brazil we have a special event called Mega Encontro de Jovens (Great Youth Gathering). While we have several youth gatherings throughout the year, there is something special that makes this one unique: Most youth events are hosted by some of our older and bigger churches in the downtown area of Recife. The Mega event is hosted by smaller churches in the countryside of our state. They get together months in advance to plan this big event. It is encouraging to see these humble Christians user their creativity and limited resources to edify Christ’s body who come from all around.

The theme of this years event was “Soldiers of Christ.” Several speakers presented the different aspects of spiritual warfare that are found throughout the Bible and how teens and young adults are to be prepared. We have over 120 present from more than 15 churches.

The event was hosted in the city of Belo Jardim, which is about a three and a half hour drive from Recife. The city’s climate is very cold – not what I am used to with the hot and humid weather of Recife. I ended up catching a cold with a bad cough during one of the cold nights. And although my body had a hard time fighting against that cold, my spirit was stronger from spending these few days with our brothers and sisters from far away.