Ronald and Veronica Mason, friends in Belo Horizonte
This is Veronica Batista Mason and her husband Ronald. They are missionaries in Brazil. Ronald is from California and he and Veronica met in YWAM and married a few years ago. I met Veronica several years ago and felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to help her. Subsequently Lamb of God covered her expenses related to training in Costa Rica. I actually met up again with Veronica and her new husband Ronald last summer. They are a wonderful couple with a great heart for ministry. At the moment they are trying to aquire a visa for Veronica so that they can come to the U.S. I have included Ronald’s latest note to give you an idea of what they face as missionaries in the Brazilian Ghetto’s of Belo Horizonte.
I am very happy to have this opportunity to write all of you and tell you all about what has been going on in Veronica and in my life. Since I have talked to you since it has been about the same situation. There has been a constant urban war going on here in this neighborhood between the police and other gangs.
I had a first hand experience of what it’s like to be in the middle of all of this. I had just came home from the gym, and was waiting for Veronica to come home from church, and then I took a shower and started to hear a lot of machine gun fire. I thought alright she’s going to wait for the gun shots to calm down, and then she’ll come home. So I ate dinner and I kept hearing these gun shots, and after a few minutes I couldn’t take it any more. I wanted to go get my wife. I got my keys and went out the house, I then locked the door, and then walked down stairs. As I was leaving my apartment building I didn’t even get three doors down from my own house, and a motorcycle stopped in front of me. There were two men on the bike one was driving and the other had a machine gun. The man with the gun pointed the gun at my head and started to look at me from head to toe. I put my hands in the air and said calmly what do you want. (Inside I was saying to myself “Don’t pee!!!”, cause I was nervous.) He just kept looking gave a head nod, and they left. I have had guns pointed at me before, but looking down the barrel of a machine gun is very different. It will scare the hell out of you, and have you saying nothing but “Lord help me!!!”
After this happened I was worried anymore I was angry. I got to the church and as soon as I got in the gates a gun shot went off very close. They had found the guy that they were looking for and shot him. In this man hunt. The drug dealers had shot 2 innocent people and shot the man that they were looking for. Then then were some warning shots from the police and the drug dealers left.
I know that to some of you this just seems like a movie, but to me this is an on going reality (night mare) that I am hoping will end soon.
Now, with Veronica’s visa process. We are still waiting for some documents that some people need to send us. We are out here growing closer to one another and to God trying to understand more and more each day why we are still here.
Veronica is now working at the church 5 days a week answering phones, and I am trying to gt into the peoples heads that are in charge of evangelism to do something. Most people here in this neighborhood even Christians have accepted this situation as normal and don’t really try to change it.
Please pray for our safety and for Veronica’s visa to be ready as soon as possible. Also pray for the Christians here in this neighborhood. To get a reality check that this is not normal!!! Also pray for our neighbor Carlos. His son of 19 years who was a drug dealer was murdered on Wednesday night. He is taking it very hard, and he is talking to us a lot and even went to church last night to receive prayer. Also pray for our friend Estevan because his cousin was a user and was murdered on Tuesday. Please keep all of these families on your heart and mind this week.
Love all of you and would love to hear back from you, and hear about how you are doing. We would also like to thank you for taking your time to read all of this.
Your friends and missionaries,
Ronald and Veronica Mason