Thank you for the prayers on behalf of the campaign in Campina Grande. Thank you for your dedication and participation in building up the church in this city. The campaign was a success! 94 people signed up to study the Bible, we read scripture and prayed with numerous others, and 60 from João Pessoa, Campina Grande, and Recife had their faith strengthened.
34 people arrived Friday. After lunch, a welcoming period, devotional, and campaign instructions, we set out to spread the "Good News". Michael, an American here from the AIM program, and I asked for permission to advertise the next School of the Bible class, "Let the Bible Speak," at business establishments. Others handed out invitations on a busy sidewalk. The next day 10 more people arrived, and after an encouraging message from God's Word, we set out again. This time we went downtown to the busiest city park. The biggest problem we faced was not people's resistance to study or talk with us but it was parking. I drove around for almost an hour before I found a parking place and was able to go help in the campaign.
Campina Grande is surrounded by 40 smaller cities. Many of the business owners come to Campina Grande on Saturday to buy products to sell in their towns. Needless to say, it was busy. There was a singer from a denomination in the square singing his songs and selling his CD's. One of the members from our group asked him to announce our presence in the city. He did so and very well, he went on for about 3 minutes talking about the church of Christ and the campaign we were doing and asked people to talk to us. I was impressed. Later, he asked Ricardo Sobral, who now lives in Recife but worked with us for 9 years, to say a few words about the campaign. Ricardo also asked permission for our group of Americans to sing. This same singer then called Ricardo to lead a prayer before we left. During our time in this square we handed out 50 correspondence courses to people who will be accompanied in this study and signed up 4 more. That's 54 people wanting to study the Bible.
In the afternoon, we went house-to-house having on-the-spot Bible studies, praying for those we met. I met Antônia who has a son with autism. He is 24 years old and did not make a sound the entire time we talked, about 10 minutes. I asked if I could read a passage and pray for her and her son. After reading the Bible and explaining the passage I prayed. When I started to pray, her son, who had not made a sound with his mouth began laughing, not mockingly but happily. He laughed all the way through the pray. When I said amen, he stopped and made no more sounds. My partner and I went on but the memory of Allison remains.
Sunday morning a group went to another park and signed 38 more people up for Bible studies. Another group stayed behind and invited people to the church meeting that night.
We had two visitors at the meeting. Not a great response for the effort and work put into the campaign, right? This is only the beginning. There are now 94 people with whom the team will be studying the Bible and many more contacts that had a seed planted in their hearts. God is at work in Campina Grande, would you like to be a part of what He is doing? Pray! Pray! Pray!
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