The following testimony was written by Grace, a member of Igreja Batista Viva, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

    I began to attend Igreja Batista Viva in May of 2006 and soon I accepted Jesus as my Savior.  I felt in my heart the desire to be baptized and join the church.  I approached my pastor, but I was taken aback when he told me that I needed to make some changes in my life.  He told me that I had to let go of the anger in my heart.  I must forgive and live in peace with those I was angry with.  He also said that I had to be officially married, or no longer live with my boyfriend Márcio.  The first issue seemed difficult, but the second issue seemed nearly impossible to correct.

                                    

    Márcio is a non-believer and during the previous year he had asked me several times to marry him.  Each time I had answered him "No".  How would I tell him that now I wanted to get married?  When I think back on this day I think it was kind of funny.  We were talking and I just asked him “Márcio, will you marry me?” and he immediately said “Yes”. 

    After a few seconds he asked me “Why?”  I told him that I now wanted to marry him and I wanted to get baptized.  “Oh!  Just because of the church?” he said.  I told him no, that it was also because I loved him.  He agreed to marry me.  I was baptized on Dec. 23rd, 2006, and we were married on Jan. 5th, 2007.  On this day I cannot say which one of us was happiest.  My husband Márcio has not yet accepted Christ, but I pray this day will come!

We have featured Grace and Márcio's story in our newsletter before.  I am sharing their story again in order to update it.  I am very happy to say that in the couple weeks since Pastor Magioli sent me this testimony Márcio has accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord.  This couple and their 4 daughters are faithfully serving the Lord.  A few months ago their oldest daughter was baptized as well.  Praise Jesus!

For more testimonies and information on our work in Brazil and Paraguay please click here to see our current newsletter and here for additional information.