Jaime was sent by his father away from São Luis at the age of 15. He had dropped out of school at 13 and was running from the police as he was caught up in drugs. He had been living with his father who sent Jaime to live with his mother in São Paulo. Of course, life in São Paulo was not much different - in fact it was worse. Jaime worked, drank, partied and got into trouble trafficking drugs.
After 15 years in São Paulo, Jaime was living with a woman, Albertina, who was carrying his baby. Albertina decided to return home to be closer to her parents for when the baby arrived, and Jaime followed her north to the interior of Ceara. But life there was difficult, and eventually he decided to leave and return to Sao Luis to live closer to his family, leaving his four month old son behind. However, when Jaime arrived in Sao Luis, the lifestyle he was accustomed to continued.
“When I think about this” says Jaime; “it feels like I lost this part of my life – my childhood, teenage years, my youth, I lost it all. Now I am living all those years I lost”.
One day Jaime was drunkenly walking down the road when he spotted a lady that he knew. She was outside a church, and one of the last people he wanted to see, so he walked slower and slower, but she waited. When they met, she invited him to church that evening, as an ex-drug addict, Batolomeu, was going to tell his story. Jaime took the invitation, returned to a friend’s house and drank the afternoon away. However, he could not get the invitation out of his head. He told his friends he was planning to go to church, and they all laughed. But, sure enough, at 6.30pm he left the house as he was and walked to church.
Reeking of alcohol, he sat on a pew in church and heard all that Batolomeu had to say. Inside him there was a stirring to accept the message spoken. After a great battle within him he managed to stand up and went to the front of the church to accept Jesus.
Jaime was a changed man. Since that day he has never touched alcohol or drugs again. He started contributing to his family’s needs rather than wasting all his money. He worked and returned to school to try and finish his education.
Rute, the teacher from the new disciples class, recalls that “he was a dedicated student, but he did not know how to read, write or even speak well.” Rute, now Regional Co-ordinator of PEPE, the pre-school education programme, and Jaime started a relationship and were married in January 2004. Jaime is a fantastic match for Rute, who travels extensively with her work; he happily cooks, cleans and washes his clothes – quite contrary to local custom for men.
After three years Jaime became leader of the young adults group and he felt a call to ministry. He is just completing his third year of a four-year seminary program and has been co-ordinating evangelism in the church for five years. When he graduates he hopes to move to the interior of Maranhão where there is a great need for pastors, he dreams of helping an existing church or planting a new one. Jaime asks that we remember him and his family in our prayers as he finishes seminary and prepares for his ministry as a Pastor.