HERE in Bahia we have as our motto, "Every pastor an evangelist." This has been one of the reasons why this epidemic has spread to all corners of the two states that comprise the mission territory.
As departmental secretary of this mission the evangelism fever took hold of me also. There was nothing I could do to become immune except rent a hall and proceed! This is what my co-workers and I did!
It was November, 1965, when we moved into Ibicarai, which is in the southern part of the state of Bahia. Providence was leading all the way, for the first day we found a businessmen's club house that we were able to have free of charge, except for the lights.
We ran this series for fourteen nights and made an appeal the last two nights. From the 750 who attended on the last night, sixty took their stand. On March 19 I had the wonderful privilege of baptizing the first nineteen persons, among them the 1964 Carnival Queen. She has refused to run again this year and is telling her friends that she has found a much better way of life. "Carnival will no longer offer satisfaction to me," she said. She is now studying to be a Bible instructor. Two young men from this group of nineteen plan to take theology. It is wonderful to see these changes take place in these people. Truly there is no greater work on earth than evangelism.
When the priest saw what was happening he got quite angry and prohibited his people from coming to our meetings. This only increased our attendances. To thank him for this I sent him a letter with a package containing a copy of The Great Controversy set in Portuguese. This he did not acknowledge, but someday we trust the truths found in this book will come to life and speak to his heart.
One of our ministers has thirty-five churches in his district, but he finds time for evangelism. Last year he baptized more than one hundred new believers.
This year I plan to hold seven series of meetings, and have set a goal of two hundred souls for Christ. Pray for this mission so that this wonderful epidemic will spread rapidly.