Just a few days ago, Fr. Terry Gensemer traveled to Vitória de Santo Antão in Brazil at the invitation of Bishop Frederico Bastos and the 2012 Attitude Youth Conference. Fr. Terry was to speak at the Conference as the American representative of the pro-life movement. As soon as he boarded the plane, the obstacles began to surface.
First, the weather. In Florida, the airline announced that Hurricane Sandy stood between their plane and their destination…but they were going to take off anyway. With his phone and his Facebook, Fr. Terry quickly asked friends and family for prayers of safety and good travel, which God was faithful to answer. The plane landed safely in Brazil. But, of course, the battle was not over.
Upon arrival in Recife, Fr. Terry was immediately (and very unexpectedly) detained by Brazilian federal agents due to problems with his visa. The officers did not speak English, so Fr. Terry was uncertain of the actual problem and even more uncertain of how to respond. Thankfully, one of the Brazilian priests had emailed him a cell phone number, literally just hours before landing, just in case Fr. Terry ran into any problems. Fr. Terry called the number and his friend, Ricardo Tomas, was able to come and help.
The federal agents finally released Fr. Terry with a 12-day temporary visa. He traveled to his hotel and began preparations for the Conference, including several meetings with the young organizers of the event. God’s grace was very present in these meetings. Fr. Terry was impressed and encouraged by the team’s zeal and kindness, and extremely excited at the chance to return the encouragement by speaking at their Conference.
However, the enemy still wasn’t done with his meddling, and not even one day later, Fr. Terry was met in the hotel lobby by federal agents.
The agents informed Fr. Terry that his visa was absolutely unacceptable. He would have to leave. In fact, he would have to leave first thing in the morning or be deported. No exceptions.
Fr. Terry was, of course, very discouraged by all of this, but not because he would have to leave the country. He wanted a chance to speak to the youth! And he could see very plainly that the enemy was doing all he could to stop it. So, immediately after the federal agents left, Fr. Terry contacted his assistant back in the States and told her send out a request for prayer, specifically for prayer that he would be able to speak at the Conference before he had to leave in the morning.
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