|
|
Blessings in Africa
September 11 2011 / ShareHim in Cape Verde, Jul. 8 - Jul. 23 '11 #508by António Santos
Personal Testimony of António Santos.
I begin this personal testimony by expressing my special gratitude to ShareHim for allowing me to go to Cape Verde and be an instrument in God’s hands for this country’s evangelization. Its church has in its youth an enormous potential for the advancement of God’s work.
I had the privilege to preach for the community of Achada de São Filipe, in the city of Praia. Although this church is somewhat far from the city centre, many people came every night to the conference which took place in a rented building.
In spite of some technical challenges we faced during the first days (the computer and the projector blocked, the electricity went off, among others), through Jesus Christ’s mercy, His messages were preached every evening and well understood by everyone, which was our main goal.
I could feel God’s hand during the appeals when people got up and decided to accept Jesus, which filled my heart with great joy. In the first appeal there were five people and in the last one about 12-15 people. On the last day of the campaign five of these people were baptized. On the last Saturday afternoon, in a great ceremony that took place in Parque Cinco de Julho, sixty-eight people were baptized and sixty-four other people answered to the last appeal. This was the result of the evangelistic effort that took place in the nine churches/communities where we had the conferences. A good number of people are interested in bible studies and in being baptized.
On Saturday the 16th, during the afternoon, I had the privilege to visit some of the families who went to the conference. Then I could share God’s word more personally according to their specific needs and pray with them, comforting these people in Jesus Christ. Therefore, those moments were also rich blessings for myself.
I especially remember a man, Eliseu, who came to the conference despite having deeply criticized the church in the past. He came every day and answered all the appeals but he missed the two last evenings and the church leaders did not include his name in the list of people to be baptized in the last day (for all the candidates were previously analyzed). During the baptismal ceremony, this huge stout man came to me and to Achada de São Filipe’s first elder crying like a baby. He said: “I need to be baptized today for I may die tomorrow and therefore I’ll miss eternity!”
We did some efforts so that he could be baptized on that day, in spite of not having had a public examination among other things, but it was decided that he would not be baptized on that day. When we had the last appeal, he was the first person (in a total of sixty-four) to come to the platform, deciding to give his heart to Jesus. I had the privilege to encourage him saying I would pray for him and his family and that he would be the first person to have the privilege to be baptized in Achada de São Filipe’s new church (under construction at the moment).
I am very thankful to God for these sixteen days I spent working for Him and helping to evangelize the world preparing Jesus’ second coming. I’ll treasure those moments for the eternity.
I had the privilege to preach for the community of Achada de São Filipe, in the city of Praia. Although this church is somewhat far from the city centre, many people came every night to the conference which took place in a rented building.
In spite of some technical challenges we faced during the first days (the computer and the projector blocked, the electricity went off, among others), through Jesus Christ’s mercy, His messages were preached every evening and well understood by everyone, which was our main goal.
I could feel God’s hand during the appeals when people got up and decided to accept Jesus, which filled my heart with great joy. In the first appeal there were five people and in the last one about 12-15 people. On the last day of the campaign five of these people were baptized. On the last Saturday afternoon, in a great ceremony that took place in Parque Cinco de Julho, sixty-eight people were baptized and sixty-four other people answered to the last appeal. This was the result of the evangelistic effort that took place in the nine churches/communities where we had the conferences. A good number of people are interested in bible studies and in being baptized.
On Saturday the 16th, during the afternoon, I had the privilege to visit some of the families who went to the conference. Then I could share God’s word more personally according to their specific needs and pray with them, comforting these people in Jesus Christ. Therefore, those moments were also rich blessings for myself.
I especially remember a man, Eliseu, who came to the conference despite having deeply criticized the church in the past. He came every day and answered all the appeals but he missed the two last evenings and the church leaders did not include his name in the list of people to be baptized in the last day (for all the candidates were previously analyzed). During the baptismal ceremony, this huge stout man came to me and to Achada de São Filipe’s first elder crying like a baby. He said: “I need to be baptized today for I may die tomorrow and therefore I’ll miss eternity!”
We did some efforts so that he could be baptized on that day, in spite of not having had a public examination among other things, but it was decided that he would not be baptized on that day. When we had the last appeal, he was the first person (in a total of sixty-four) to come to the platform, deciding to give his heart to Jesus. I had the privilege to encourage him saying I would pray for him and his family and that he would be the first person to have the privilege to be baptized in Achada de São Filipe’s new church (under construction at the moment).
I am very thankful to God for these sixteen days I spent working for Him and helping to evangelize the world preparing Jesus’ second coming. I’ll treasure those moments for the eternity.