Thirty Days of Prayer

Before the new year began, John posed a challenge to the congregation here. He asked each member to find a partner to pray with every day in January. Throughout the month we have heard stories of what God has been doing in people's lives. Perhaps the most obvious result of all this prayer has been the four baptisms we were blessed with.  But it didn't stop there. Heloisa was just baptized on the first day in February.She has been coming to the church for several years and has studied the Bible for most of that time with Marta, Osmildo's wife.  (Osmildo is baptizing Heloisa.)  She has wanted to be baptized before but her mother, who is a spiritist, has not allowed it.  Her mother demanded that she not be baptized until she turned eighteen so that she would have plenty of time to decide between Christianity and spiritism.  Heloisa's grandmother is Catholic and her aunt belongs to the Universal Church, known here for taking advantage of the poor.  They all live together.

Heloisa just turned fifteen and insisted she knows what she wants.  She promised her family that she wouldn't preach to them but said she was ready to become a part of the church with or without her family's blessing.  They actually did come to her baptism but asked to not be introduced.  Luke 14:26 says "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters-yes even his own life-he cannot be my disciple." Heloisa's story is a great illustration of this difficult passage.