Participants in the National High School Examination (Enem) at three schools in Espírito Santo, Brazil, were surprised on Sunday morning, Jan. 17, by Adventist young people who came to pray with them. Their goal was to help relieve the tension students may be feeling as a result of the test.
Wearing a mask and armed with hand sanitizer, more than 40 young people safely interacted with the students in an initiative that is part of a series of volunteer actions motivated by the Missão Calebe project.
Passos Santos, who is taking the test this year to join the physiotherapy course, welcomed the initiative of the volunteers.
“It is important, right?” he says. “Because if we have faith, we have to put God first. Only God can calm us down in moments such as this.”
Julia Silva is not sure which course she will take, but she understood that through prayer she can find calm and rest in God.
"Because I am also God-fearing, I know that, because prayer is something that communicates with God, and keeps us close to him, that it calms our hearts when we make this request to him," she emphasizes.
Encouragement, comfort, and relief
The first prayer point was in a university center in Vitória. In addition to praying, the group also distributed 300 packages of cookies and cards with a Bible verse attached. In the municipality of Pinheiros, the volunteers delivered 130 packages of cookies, in addition to carrying a plaque on their chest inviting Enem participants to a prayer. In Serra, in the city of Grande Vitória, the Calebs shared colored cards with motivational phrases.
“We are nervous, anxious, and experiencing innumerable other sensations because it is a moment that has a very important meaning for our life,” expresses Mayanne Loren, a university student who coordinated the event in Vitória. Having taken the Enem test three times, Loren guarantees that words of encouragement and prayer in these circumstances can be very helpful.
Fernada Cruz, leader of the Calebs in Pinheiros, says that the reception of the volunteers was very positive and met the team’s expectations.
“Many times, they came to us asking for prayer,” she comments. “Sometimes they didn't even accept the cookies, they just wanted us to pray for them.”
In one of the locations, Cruz said that a young woman was emotionally upset because she had just received news that a group of friends had been in an accident. "She felt very comforted and grateful after our prayers," Cruz says
The Caleb 2021 Mission project mobilized more than 3,000 volunteers in Espírito Santo alone, and around 10,000 in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo together. This first official event weekend started on Saturday, Jan. 16.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site