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

My husband Welligton is a state employee and was transferred to Porto Alegre.  We moved from the city of Canoas where I attended Canoas Baptist Church.  After we arrived in Vila Nova I contacted Pastor Magioli, who was recommended by my pastor, and told him a little about mine and Wellington’s life. I attended the following Wednesday night service.  I talked with Pastor Magioli some more and began attending the services there. 

                                            

Later Pr. Magioli spoke with us about our need to be legally married.  I talked with Welligton and it was something he had been wanting to do for a while as we needed to straighten out our situation before God, the church and society.  We turned in our paper at City Hall and we were married on Feb. 29th, 2008. 

Wellington accepted very well the need for marriage as he wanted for a while to do what was right by me, our children and be able to, in the future, transfer his employee benefits to our family.  I was later baptized on April 27th, 2008 by Pr. Magioli.  My husband has not yet received Christ, but I have been praying that this will happen.  I would like to add that we are very happy and that God has been blessing us in many ways.

I love these testimonies because they illustrate how the Gospel changes lives and reforms social problems.  The church is proclaiming the Gospel, people are being saved, and their lives are changing to honor the Lord.  Not because the church imposed marriage, but because they are new creations, with new hearts surrendered to the lordship of Christ.  Praise Jesus!