Penedo is a small town in the State of Alagoas, Brazil. In Penedo of which the population is less than seventy thousand, people spend time at home because it is difficult to get a job. Maybe because they have time, when we say that we are delivering God’s word, they willingly listen but don’t accept it easily. Despite the truth, they feel a sense of burden to change their church which they have attended for a long time.
When we were about to be exhausted without leading anyone to Zion for a few months, we heard about the New Jerusalem Preaching Festival. Although my husband and me were the only members, we decided to enjoy the festival and started to preach with a new resolution.
One day, we met a man who didn’t like churches. He poured out all complaints he had had inside. After listening to him for a while, we asked, “May we tell you the truth? If you are not interested, we will go.” After some hesitance, he allowed us to tell him the word of God. We opened the Bible right away and testified about God the Mother. His mother, who was looking at us, raised her thumbs up behind the door. She seemed satisfied that her son who hated church listened to God’s word.
Actually, he had many complaints about the church which his mother attended. His mind was twisted because his mother put all her efforts into the church. It seemed difficult for him to change his mind, and it also seemed hard for his old mother to accept the truth since she went to the church for a long time. So, we closed the Bible.
After a few days, I knocked on the door of a house that was opposite to the house of the man we had met. To our surprise, his mother opened the door. We didn’t know that the house had two gates. She welcomed us whom she had met before. We thought this was God’s providence, and told her about God the Mother.
“If there is Father, there must be Mother, too!”
She responded and studied the Bible seriously. She had so many questions. She seemed to have been looking for the water of life for a long time.
She said she walked to the church which is far from her house for twenty years. Recently, she couldn’t go to church because her legs hurt, but meanwhile, no one visited her or asked how she was doing. She prayed to God to send some angels to her house. Then, she met us and heard the news of salvation.
After a week, she became a heavenly family member. She was so happy to become a true child of God that she couldn’t even sleep the day before. Saying, “I’m really happy. It is all by the grace of Father and Mother,” she didn’t stop smiling. Now she says that her legs don’t hurt anymore, and comes to Zion early on the service day to prepare for the worship.
She introduced her acquaintances to us, saying, “Just as Heavenly Father and Mother opened my eyes, They will open others’ eyes, too.” Thanks to that, we became busy to visit them. Though her friends in her age didn’t accept the truth right away, they say the Church of God is good, and introduce us to their family members.
Helping a striker make a goal is called assist in sports. Since an assist is decisive in making goals, the player who assists is highly appreciated than the player who actually makes the goal. Since the old sister and other spiritual assists help the gospel work, which is led by God, the gospel is rapidly being preached throughout Penedo.
I give thanks to Heavenly Father and Mother for allowing us to have a new mind and bear precious fruit as gifts through the New Jerusalem Preaching Festival. We will fervently preach the gospel by God’s power and help. We hope that we will fulfill the mission that God has entrusted us with in Penedo.