Eye On Europe

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We met him a couple of years ago. But now…he’s gone. On a recent Wednesday night during our Bible study in our home, he had shared his heart with us. He had struggled with the news that he had AIDS (he also had hepatitis and a small tumor on his brain) and wasn’t feeling good. He had been losing weight from an already thin frame. We had laid our hands on him and prayed for him. Friday night, two days later, he died. It was a shock to our group. He was in his early fifties.

We don’t know his whole story, but here is what he had shared with us over the couple years that we knew him. He had moved from our island of São Miguel to Canada at about ten or eleven years of age with his parents. At twenty-five years old he became enraged at his step-dad who was abusing his mom – and killed him. So from the age of twenty-five to forty-two he was in prison. When he was released, he was not allowed to stay in Canada since he had never applied for Canadian citizenship and was deported back to his country of origin – The Azores Islands, Portugal.

Like the majority of the approximately one thousand deportees who have been sent back to the islands from the USA and Canada after prison terms for various criminal offenses, he came back alone. No family. No job. No driver’s license (and in their situation it is nearly impossible to get one). And worst of all – no hope and no future. He relied heavily on drugs and alcohol to cope with his new life. Finding a job where he could earn more than minimum wage was impossible, so he could not afford to have his own apartment – regardless of how small. There is simply not enough money to pay rent, utilities and food on a salary of less than 500 Euros per month. Like so many others, he lived in an apartment with several other men, sharing expenses.

When we met him he was angry and bitter. He felt like it didn’t matter what he did, his life would not get any better. A few months after our initial contact with him he began to attend our church. He came to understand that God loved him, had forgiven him and that his acceptance was not based on his abilities or merits. He had been raised with religion. He had even gone on a pilgrimage as a boy of ten before moving to Canada. But he knew religion was not the answer and could not deal with his guilt and sin.

The change that began in his life was not dramatic. But over time we began to see that things were changing in his life. One of the huge changes that he had recently told us about, of which he was proud, was that he had gone the whole year without alcohol or cocaine. He also began to think differently and that began to affect his behavior. Like the time he told us that he had gotten distracted in a small café and accidently walked out without paying, and hadn’t been caught. He felt convicted and told his roommate that he was going to have to go back and make it right. As he relayed the story to us he said, “In my old life I wouldn’t have done that.” He told us that he had talked with friends going through empty religious exercises, telling them they could not earn their way to heaven but that Jesus had paid the price for us. And even though he had made a private commitment, this past Easter Sunday he responded to the invitation to receive Christ as his only Lord and Savior.

But now…he’s gone. We know we will see our friend again one day when we are all united with our Lord in heaven.

From John and Beccy Rodli
AGWM Personnel in the Azores, Portugal