Salvation Testimonies of Three Families Confronted With the Gospel

Two years after we began our first church in São Paulo, we began a bus ministry without a church bus.  We walked the children back and forth to church.  We ended up having 3 routes and they were worked just like a bus ministry, the only difference was that we had no bus.  We averaged anywhere from 30 to 50 kids a week.  I want tell you about just three of them and share with you what they are now doing. 

Antonio and His Little Sister Michelle

Antonio and Michelle began coming during VBS.  Thereafter, they began walking with us and attending regularly. His father was a drunk.  His mother was usually depressed because her husband spent most of their money, and they lived in match box house. I witnessed to them on several occasions, but always to no avail.  Antonio kept coming and kept growing.  His mother was eventually committed to an institution due to her habitual drunkenness. Antonio is now one of our soul winners and he and his sister still attend.

Vinicius and His Family

Vinicius began coming with a friend.  His mother made a profession of faith, but I saw little or no fruit.  She would come every so often. His dad openly ran around with other women [the accepted Brazilian thing to do].  Vinicius kept coming, even though his home life was a wreck.  Then one night 5 years later, a strange event occurred.  After the Brazilian Super Bowl of Soccer, Vinicius' dad was all up set because of the game.  At Vinicius' request and at 12:30 AM, my co-worker Marv Fray went to his house.  His dad was drunk, was holding a butcher knife, had blood all down his shirt, & his wife had blood on her as well.  [Evidently he cut himself while trying to cut a lemon for his drink; his wife then tried to bandage it up and got blood on her.] Things settled down that night, and during the next few days, his dad got saved and his mother rededicated  her life.  Today Vinicius plays in the church's musical ensemble and his mom dad attended regularly. 

Maria

The last person "to ride" our little bus was Maria.  Her dad was a jail warden, her mom stayed at home (especially on Sunday Mornings).  Maria attended off and on for two years, then quit.  Five years later Maria's mother called the church and asked for me.  In desperation she said that a few years before, Maria began using drugs and running away from home. For the last year her daughter had been living on the streets of São Paulo, was a crack addict, stole whatever she could get her hands on, and sold herself to buy even more drugs.  She had come home [to steal from her mom] and now her mom wanted us to come, capture her daughter, and do something with her.  I regretfully informed her mom that we were not able to do that. 

David & Geri Smith: Missionaries to Brazil

These people are just several of the 1000+ people that have made salvation decisions at the Esperança [Hope] Baptist Church in down town São Paulo, Brazil.  David and Geri Smith -Missionaries with Baptist Mid-Missions- helped to start this work and ministered in São Paulo for 7 years.  This same work recently had 341 in Sunday School.  In 1995, the Smiths moved to Curitiba, Brazil and assumed the leadership of a small struggling work.  In less than nine months, that church grew from 12 to have a high of 84.  It is now averaging 60 people.  The Smiths returned to Brazil in April of 1997 to resume their church planting ministry at their second work.  Let's remember to pray for the Smith family as they minister there in Curitiba, Brazil.

S. David & Geri Smith - Londrina, Brazil

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