Beautiful Testimonies!

He Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills
Last night Georgia took me to CBO's mission church for a small group meeting. About 16 of us sat in a circle in plastic chairs and worshipped God with singing and then scripture reading, discussion and testimony. Two years ago Patti and Georgia found this community with no church what-so-ever and surveyed the residents to evaluate interest in Bible study. There was a good amount of interest so they began meeting in someone's home...with 4. Members invited unsaved friends who then accepted Christ and invited a friend or spouse to begin learning as well. Eventually they began praying for a church building and found a house that was being rented out for parties. Such a house should have cost $3000-$4000 Reais per month and they knew they could not afford it under normal circumstances. The mother and daughter church members prayed for one week and then called the owner about renting the home for church services. Miraculously she offered it to them for $600 R per month!

Manuel
Manuel was a quiet, handsome faced man of about 55 sitting across the circle from me in blue pants last night. After the 2 hour meeting he was eager to tell me about how God has redeemed his life. Only 6 months ago Manuel was an addict living on the street. Church members noticed this drunk sloppy man and took him to the hospital and then rehab. He told me that he was so thankful to be in rehab and didn't wish to leave for one single day while there. When he graduated, the church offered him a room in the church to live in and take care of the building/yard. He was careful to make sure I knew that it was Jesus who deserved all the praise! Grinning from ear to ear he told me that he would pray for me daily and then asked how Patti's Dad from the US was doing (he has prayed for him daily since his visit several years ago). With a hug we said goodbye and my heart sang all the way to the car.

A peaceful faced man...
...sitting 4 people to my left stroked his wife's hair as the small group came to a close. Georgia shared with me that when they first reached out to this man he literally tore the gifted Bible in two and also tore the missionaries pictures in half with anger. Over time he began attending church and Christ transformed his life. Now he is a regular at church and his wife leads worship there.

Maria & Joao
Next to this man was a couple in their 60's I'd say. They lived together for 20 years and he regularly beat her in his constant drukenness. She harped on him for his behavior every single night and he hated it. I'm not clear on how she started being discipled by Patti (missionary) but she stopped treating him badly and he took notice. She also moved out since he would not marry her, but God began working on his heart too! Through this woman's obedience to Christ he eventually followed suit and then married her. Now they are both active in evangelism in their tiny community! The wife repeated again and again, with a glowing face, "it was all Jesus"!

Pizza with the Pastor
Georgia and I invited the pastor and family (Robson, Naruby, and Luan) to pizza with us. Boy were they sweet! I asked for their testimonies and was deeply touched by how the Lord humbled this previously proud couple, gripped their hearts, extended forgiveness, and is faithfully maturing their faith. Patti and Georgia had prayed for local leadership of the mission church since it was growing and they had responsibilities at their own young church 2.5 hours away, and this couple answered the call. She was honest with me about how she wrestled with the Lord so hard because she was so afraid of such a huge spiritual and physical responsibility. God confirmed the call to both of them and assured them that His power was more than enough to produce eternal fruit through them. They boldly challenged me with some very direct words to not ever give up.

"If God had not sent missionaries...
...all of us may have never heard from Jesus" the pastor told me. They love and support missions for this very personal reason! They assured me that the work was hard (in addition to both of their fulltime jobs and child rearing) but a joy!

My testimony
Patti and Georgia have asked me to sing and give my testimony in every group we have joined for study. Patti told me to make sure that I told them that I have walked with Christ since childhood. Coming from the Bible belt I find myself amazed that this is a "powerful and rare" testimony for their church members. Many Americans feel as though their testimony is boring, but this is SO untrue! I told them how my parents very real faith and godly instruction had set us on the right path while young, but that we came to crossroads for ourselves where we either surrendered our own hearts or not. Each of us went through a short time of doubt and rediscovery of the truth of Christ, but my heart could never stray long or far. They were encouraged and hopeful for their children who will be now be raised in Christian homes also! My story has been one of God's faithfulness to a often unfaithful gal that does truely yet love Him. His grace is amazing!