What could one woman, bedridden, nearly blind, and well over 100 years old, do with her life? I found out: she could change the world for many.

We were in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, holding a pastors’ conference, when I asked a bishop to lead us to the infamous ghettos known as the favelas. The area is notorious for poverty and mindless violence, particularly among its very young people. Thousands of street kids in the favelas have been gunned down by rival gangs or killed by secret “security squads.”