So our friend got permission for us to come ask the Godfather some questions. Weeks before arriving, we had to send in photos of ourselves so the Godfather’s guards could recognize us. Then we had to write out the questions to get them approved ahead of time. As the writer, that was up to me. So I wrote out:
1. What is it like to be a powerful man in this community?
2. What are some of the hardships you have overcome in your life?
3. Why do you allow our friend share the Word with you?
4. What are your thoughts on God?
Then the night came to go meet the Godfather. Late, in the dark of night, we filled a car and headed out. Our friend, usually very loud and laughing and talkative, was dead silent on the way up into the Godfather’s favela. The tension was thick in the car where I sat with him, our photographer and 2 videographers.
Then our friend told us that part of the arrangement with the Godfather was that we wouldn’t know where the meeting place was, so we’d have to close our eyes. We did so. And as we felt the car pull us into the meeting place and stop, we heard our friend murmur, “Oh my God!”
When he finally told us to open our eyes, we saw a man with a ski mask covering his face standing by the window. He was shuffling through the pictures of our faces that we had sent in. Our friend and the man talked back and forth in strained voices about one of our videographers who was in the passenger seat. Finally, our friend told us to get out of the car.
We were in a shadowy, walled-in courtyard with a gate locked behind us. A group of men in ski masks surrounded us. They made us put our hands against the car so they could frisk us and make sure none of us were secretly armed. Our friend warned us that all around, in the darkness just beyond the light, were men with AK-47’s pointed at us. Quickly, we set up our equipment.
We had been told that the Godfather would stand in front of us about 15 yards away, and we would have to hang back and ask our questions from that distance. Just as we had expected, a man took his place directly in front of us, about 15 yards away. We got the lights and cameras set up and pointed at the man, and I stood next to our friend, who was going to interpret.
I spoke loudly to project my question toward the man standing before us. But the answer came from right next to my ear! The man in front of us was a decoy, and the Godfather was only a foot away from me. Our cameramen panicked to adjust as I kept up the interview. We had only been given 10 minutes.
One of the answers the Godfather gave hit an emotional nerve for our friend, and he got joked up as he tried to translate. The Godfather had expressing his appreciation for our friend and the work he does. In that moment God was showing the results of all the risk our friend had taken. The man who had wanted him dead was now talking about seeing God in him.
Then, for our last question, I went off script and asked the Godfather how we could pray for him. This time he was the one who got choked up. There was a long pause and then he finally said, “That’s easy. Ask this man.” He pointed to our friend, “This man knows.”
At that, we were told to grab our things and get in the car because the interview was over. We had to close our eyes again for the drive back.
Once out of the favela, our friend told us why he had murmured, “Oh my God” when we arrived. He had been the only one with his eyes open as we pulled in, so he was the only one who was able to see that, just four inches outside the passenger window, the barrel of an AK-47 had been pointed directly at our videographer’s head. If any of us had broken the rules and had our eyes open, we would have seen it. But since none of us reacted, they knew we were obeying and could be trusted.
I’ve never felt so alive as after that interview. It was incredible. But the coolest thing was that our friend has that kind of access for ministry! I don’t know ANY other missionaries who have won an audience with a drug lord. But God has been using him in huge ways.
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