Testimony 1: God's wonderful works in Tibar
God is doing great things here in the village of Tibar. A woman
was being afflicted by darkness powers. Some people were using sorcery to make
her get sick and die. She even tried to kill herself. Then one night she
dreamed that someone was trying to kill her, but God saved her. In the next day
she sent someone to ask me to visit her and to pray for healing, and I went.
One day later she appeared in the church, completely healed, surrendered her
life to Jesus and started to attend the services. But the family started to
push her to participate in a cultural ceremony, which includes a kind of prayer
to the dead ancestors. Even being a new believer, she courageously refused.
Then the family took the problem to the village chief, trying to blame the
church, but the chief refused even to mention the word ‘religion’, to avoid
religious problems in his area. Then he
said that it was not a religious problem but a problem of rights. So, since she
is an adult person, she had the right to choose to participate in the cultural ceremony
and to attend this new church, and everyone including her family have to
respect her decision. For me as the local pastor, it is amazing. God is working
not only healing and saving people, but also giving wisdom to the village chief
to take favorable decision, halleluiah! Ps Joaquim, Sept/2013
Testimony 2: Enviroment change for the people of God in Maliana
Once again we have seen that God’s people prayers are never worthless. Maliana was a hostile place for the missionaries, and even for the local believers. Some years ago one of our missionary friends was severely beaten there, and some believers had their houses burnt or destroyed. Because of this strong opposition, we had to stop the building of the wall of our land there. Then we started to use that powerful weapon that God gave us, prayer. The case went to Court, but the delay makes us to feel not very confident. But we never stopped praying. During all this time the hostile environment persisted, though there was no aggression against the believers anymore. Than last week we could witness a complete change of environment. The Court realized a public audience in which all the public authorities of Maliana participated. Our local pastor was there, as well as the believers as victms. A lot of people from the community were there too, including many students, to witness this well known case. After all the procedures finished, which were very favorable to the believers and the church, the very ones who were the leaders of the opposition took the initiative to come to greet and shake hands with the believers, and even firmly hug our local pastor there, saying: ‘you have the right to worship God, we are all brothers’. Since this day, that hostile environment turned to a friendly one. Now, every time they meet a believer or the pastor in the streets or market, they always greet friendly! For us who witnessed those hard times, this is a great miracle. Please pray that the Court can give a favorable decision for the building of the temple.
Testimony 3: The wonderful work of the Holy Spirit
I’m amazed the way the Holy Spirit works inside a person. My wife and I perform children evangelism once a week in an area in the outskirts of Dili. I noticed that a certain man always passed by there and stopped watching us to do the work. Than a day he called me to talk with him. In the beginning I feared. I didn’t know that the Holy Spirit had already started the work inside that man. He told me how impressed he was to see me doing this kind of work, spending time teaching good things for the little ones. Not many young men would want to do such job. Then he asked me what religion and what church I belonged to. After I have informed him my religion and church, I started to speak about Jesus. At that same place, under a three, the man decided to surrender his life to Jesus, and I prayed for him. Next week he appeared once again, saying that he was going to his hometown in Ainaro, would gather all his family and would ask our local pastor in Ainaro to go to preach the Word for all of them. Still he would inform the village chief that he and his family would not follow the old religion and practices anymore, and would ask the chief to allow the pastor to visit the village and preach the Gospel to everyone there. How powerful the Holy Spirit worked without me doing much!! Local worker Orácio
Testimony 5: Consecration of the church in Maliana
God gave us a tremendous victory in Maliana. We have just consecrated the new church building which we started to build more than four years ago. But because of a fierce persecution, we had to stop. Three years later, last year, we restarted after a positive Court decision. The consecration service was marvelous. All the construction workers surrendered their lives to Jesus, as well as two police officers. Many people from the community attended the service, and yet they brought with them rice, soft drink, and other things as their contribution to the party, showing their fully acceptance of the church among them. We were all full of joy for seeing what God was doing. God’s works are wonderful. National President Pastor EAM, Jan2015
Testimony 6: Expeling the spirit of death
I praise the Lord for the recovery of my health. I am back in the work, visiting villages, taking the gospel to the people and praying for them. During my visit to a village I was told that an elderly woman was dying. Her relatives told me that she had chosen a date to die which would be within two days. Two weeks before the chosen day, she started to become very ill. Her health condition was getting worse each day. I decided to visit her. They took me to a quite hidden place, to a small cottage were the lady was laying down waiting for death. No one doubted she would die soon. I said to her that the most important was that she should die in Christ. At the end she decided to surrender her life to Jesus. I prayed for her. In my prayer I said to the Lord that, as a believer for now on, her life was in the hands of God, and that her death day would be chosen by Him and not by herself. A week later I went back to that village. For my big surprise, I found the woman not laying down in her mat at death, but working in her garden completely recovered. I was amazed and praised the Lord! Local pastor Joaquim - February 2015
Testimony 7: Bringing freedom to a man
This month God helped me to bring a man back to His way. After several years far from the Lord, this man’s life started to become very bad. He got ill, and even an evil spirit started to torment him every night. His family was suffering a lot. His wife started to attend our church, and she invited me to visit him and pray for him. I went. In their house I saw the man coming out from his bedroom sweating a lot, the sadness I his face was so evident. I could see clearly the signs of the oppression. After reading the Bible and speaking to him about the true freedom Jesus gives us, I prayed. The man cried a lot. After the prayer, his face was different, much better than before. From this day on his health started to improve and sleep well at nights. Now the man is attending the church, with his life transformed, and his family happy. God is wonderful! Local Pastor Jose O. - February 2015
Testimony 8: God confirms my leadership
I am grateful to God because He has confirmed my leadership. I have been working as a pastor only for two years. Currently I am the leader of the church of Viqueque, where I have been for six months so far. Viqueque is far away from my origin District. I noticed that one of the believers was not happy with my leadership. I went to talk with him to clarify any misunderstanding. He denied. So I proposed we should pray a prayer of mutual faithfulness. He agreed, and we prayed. Later, at 3 am, I got a phone call from him. He was in panic. His son suddenly got very sick that night, and was almost dying. So, he called me to confess that truly he hated me and was not accepting my leadership in the church. He asked me to forgive him and pray for his son. I praise the Lord that right after I prayed, his son got well. I so happy for God have showed clearly that I am pastor not by my own, but because He called me. Local Pastor Alberto, Mar2015
Testimony 9: Surrendering to the Lord after years refusing
Testimony 13: A pastor is healed
Pastor Clementino was feeling sick, for already some months. After performing the blood test and other exams, the doctor said that is was the remaining of a hepatitis, which was not completely healed years ago. He felt very weak physically to do his work as a pastor. As he shared this situation to us in our monthly meeting in July, it was clear the sadness in his face, for not be able to perform his pastoral ministry as he would like. He even cried while speaking. At the end of the meeting, we prayed earnestly for him. During the month of August he felt much better, but decided to go to see the doctor again to know if he needed a treatment. But the result of the tests showed that his blood was clean and there was no sign of hepatitis anymore. He shared his testimony so happy in our last meeting. God answered our prayer.
Testimony 14: Being light and salt in the community
A fellow pastor shared in our monthly meeting a simple testimony, but so touching. He and his family serve in a remote village on the mountains. He usually goes walking to the market to buy vegetables and food, carrying his baby in his arms, while holding his wife’s hand. They do it just as a habit. In the last month a woman from the village came to talk to them. She said she had watched them for a couple of months already and she was so inspired by their example. She said husbands of that village are so rude and never show their love for their family. But the pastor’s family was like a light in the dark in that village. Praise the Lord! We must impact people not only by our preaching but also by being salt and light among them.
Testimony 15: Facing all challenges with joy
(Ev. Orácio, Leurema Village, on the hills). Despite all the difficult we face, I am happy for having the opportunity to work for the Lord. We went to visit a family in another village, Darulete, which is a bit distant, going down the hills. We had a time of prayer and worshiping the Lord in that house, which was a wonderful time. While we were praying, suddenly a man came, along with his daughter, seemed to be very fearful. He had a violent arguing with his wife, she got very angry and was trying to kill him. He came into the house to ask us to pray for him. I said that we would pray for him, but before pray I asked if he just want the protection of God, or he want to surrender all his life to Jesus. I explained to him that he needed Jesus before everything else in his life. He understood and decided to surrender his life to Jesus. Praise the Lord! When we were traveling back to our home, we were caught by a rain. The road became very slippy. It got very difficult to ride the motorbike, especially when we had to go up the ascending roads. I was with my wife and my two years old son. After I pushed up the motorbike through the mud until the top, I came down again to help my wife and my son to go up walking through the mud. We escaped to fall many times. After some hours we arrived home, very dirty and wet, but safe, and happy for having helped a man to encounter the Savior, Jesus Christ. Halleluiah!
Testimony 16: Offering a help opened the door for evangelization
My family and I recently moved to another village, Faulata, to look after a Prayer-house. But for the first gatherings, only one person from the village came to attend the meetings along with my family. We got a bit discouraged, but started to pray. One day I was sat on the bank of a river just behind the Prayer-house, and I was praying. Then I saw an old man crossing the river carrying a big trunk which seems to be very heavy. I remembered what one of my fellow pastors told me that one very effective way of approaching people to open the door for evangelization is through offering help when they need. I offered my help to that man, but he refused, calling me “pastor”. I insisted and helped him to carry the wood until his house which was quite far away. Two days later the man came to my house to ask me to pray for him, because he was sick. Then I started to visit his house and pray for the family. He got healed and started to attend the meetings. Not only that he also started to tell others his testimony of the healing, and bring people to me to pray for them. All his immediate family is now attending the prayer-house and also being discipled to be baptized. Praise the Lord, it all started with a simple offering of help.
Testimony 17: The conversion of a trouble-maker
I never accepted that an evangelical church should settle down in our village. So I was one of the young men who stoned the church and disrupted the services. But, I do not understand how, I started attending Bible studies for young people every night at the pastor's house at the backyards of the church. The Word of God was entering my heart. On one occasion, the pastor asked who would like to receive the prayer, giving his life to Jesus. I was shaking inside. The pastor asked again. The restlessness increased even more within me. The third time, I could no longer resist, I raised my hands. It was a Saturday night. On returning home, I could not sleep. I longed for the day to dawn so I could go to church. The next morning I got ready to go to church. When I started to walk my friends found me on the street and asked where I was going. I lied saying that I was going to Dili (the neighboring town, the capital). So, not to be caught by my friends, I decided to go to the church through the bush, crossing the bush area behind the houses. The next Sunday, I did it again. The third Sunday, I bravely decided to face my friends. They mocked me, but I did not let myself be intimidated. Today, I am baptized and I am participating in the Bible training to, if it is the will of the Lord, serve my Savior as a worker in His field. (Melky - Tibar)
Testimony 2: Enviroment change for the people of God in Maliana
Once again we have seen that God’s people prayers are never worthless. Maliana was a hostile place for the missionaries, and even for the local believers. Some years ago one of our missionary friends was severely beaten there, and some believers had their houses burnt or destroyed. Because of this strong opposition, we had to stop the building of the wall of our land there. Then we started to use that powerful weapon that God gave us, prayer. The case went to Court, but the delay makes us to feel not very confident. But we never stopped praying. During all this time the hostile environment persisted, though there was no aggression against the believers anymore. Than last week we could witness a complete change of environment. The Court realized a public audience in which all the public authorities of Maliana participated. Our local pastor was there, as well as the believers as victms. A lot of people from the community were there too, including many students, to witness this well known case. After all the procedures finished, which were very favorable to the believers and the church, the very ones who were the leaders of the opposition took the initiative to come to greet and shake hands with the believers, and even firmly hug our local pastor there, saying: ‘you have the right to worship God, we are all brothers’. Since this day, that hostile environment turned to a friendly one. Now, every time they meet a believer or the pastor in the streets or market, they always greet friendly! For us who witnessed those hard times, this is a great miracle. Please pray that the Court can give a favorable decision for the building of the temple.
Testimony 3: The wonderful work of the Holy Spirit
I’m amazed the way the Holy Spirit works inside a person. My wife and I perform children evangelism once a week in an area in the outskirts of Dili. I noticed that a certain man always passed by there and stopped watching us to do the work. Than a day he called me to talk with him. In the beginning I feared. I didn’t know that the Holy Spirit had already started the work inside that man. He told me how impressed he was to see me doing this kind of work, spending time teaching good things for the little ones. Not many young men would want to do such job. Then he asked me what religion and what church I belonged to. After I have informed him my religion and church, I started to speak about Jesus. At that same place, under a three, the man decided to surrender his life to Jesus, and I prayed for him. Next week he appeared once again, saying that he was going to his hometown in Ainaro, would gather all his family and would ask our local pastor in Ainaro to go to preach the Word for all of them. Still he would inform the village chief that he and his family would not follow the old religion and practices anymore, and would ask the chief to allow the pastor to visit the village and preach the Gospel to everyone there. How powerful the Holy Spirit worked without me doing much!! Local worker Orácio
Testimony 4: Bringing a family to the light of the Gospel
God helped me to bring a family from the darkness of the
animism to the light of the Gospel. After suffering many troubles, they called
me to pray for them. They offered me some money as payment for the prayer. I
rejected it saying that the blessings from the Lord are all free, we cannot buy
God’s favor and we are saved by his love and grace. Then I presented the Gospel
and the hope that only the believers have. All the family believed and
surrendered their lives to Jesus. Then we took from inside their house all that
sacred-considered stuff, such as stones and branches, and the animism altar, and
threw into the sea. Their names are Angelo, Getrudis, and their children.
Please pray for them. Pastor Julio C.
Testimony 5: Consecration of the church in Maliana
God gave us a tremendous victory in Maliana. We have just consecrated the new church building which we started to build more than four years ago. But because of a fierce persecution, we had to stop. Three years later, last year, we restarted after a positive Court decision. The consecration service was marvelous. All the construction workers surrendered their lives to Jesus, as well as two police officers. Many people from the community attended the service, and yet they brought with them rice, soft drink, and other things as their contribution to the party, showing their fully acceptance of the church among them. We were all full of joy for seeing what God was doing. God’s works are wonderful. National President Pastor EAM, Jan2015
Testimony 6: Expeling the spirit of death
I praise the Lord for the recovery of my health. I am back in the work, visiting villages, taking the gospel to the people and praying for them. During my visit to a village I was told that an elderly woman was dying. Her relatives told me that she had chosen a date to die which would be within two days. Two weeks before the chosen day, she started to become very ill. Her health condition was getting worse each day. I decided to visit her. They took me to a quite hidden place, to a small cottage were the lady was laying down waiting for death. No one doubted she would die soon. I said to her that the most important was that she should die in Christ. At the end she decided to surrender her life to Jesus. I prayed for her. In my prayer I said to the Lord that, as a believer for now on, her life was in the hands of God, and that her death day would be chosen by Him and not by herself. A week later I went back to that village. For my big surprise, I found the woman not laying down in her mat at death, but working in her garden completely recovered. I was amazed and praised the Lord! Local pastor Joaquim - February 2015
Testimony 7: Bringing freedom to a man
This month God helped me to bring a man back to His way. After several years far from the Lord, this man’s life started to become very bad. He got ill, and even an evil spirit started to torment him every night. His family was suffering a lot. His wife started to attend our church, and she invited me to visit him and pray for him. I went. In their house I saw the man coming out from his bedroom sweating a lot, the sadness I his face was so evident. I could see clearly the signs of the oppression. After reading the Bible and speaking to him about the true freedom Jesus gives us, I prayed. The man cried a lot. After the prayer, his face was different, much better than before. From this day on his health started to improve and sleep well at nights. Now the man is attending the church, with his life transformed, and his family happy. God is wonderful! Local Pastor Jose O. - February 2015
Testimony 8: God confirms my leadership
I am grateful to God because He has confirmed my leadership. I have been working as a pastor only for two years. Currently I am the leader of the church of Viqueque, where I have been for six months so far. Viqueque is far away from my origin District. I noticed that one of the believers was not happy with my leadership. I went to talk with him to clarify any misunderstanding. He denied. So I proposed we should pray a prayer of mutual faithfulness. He agreed, and we prayed. Later, at 3 am, I got a phone call from him. He was in panic. His son suddenly got very sick that night, and was almost dying. So, he called me to confess that truly he hated me and was not accepting my leadership in the church. He asked me to forgive him and pray for his son. I praise the Lord that right after I prayed, his son got well. I so happy for God have showed clearly that I am pastor not by my own, but because He called me. Local Pastor Alberto, Mar2015
Testimony 9: Surrendering to the Lord after years refusing
I went to Manatuto recently to participate in the
Celebration of the 8th Anniversary of the church. I was impressed by
the joyful and enthusiastic way the man who was leading the worship did this. I
did not know him yet. So after the service I went to talk to him. I heard a
wonderful testimony. For several years he refused to surrender his life to
Jesus. His wife became a believer, but he refused even to talk with the
missionaries and local pastors, and spoke very aggressively against them. Actually,
the village elders’ plan was to make him the future traditional village leader,
the keeper and spokesman of the village oral tradition, which include some animist rituals. But God had other plans to him. Eventually, Pastor Jacob, the church’s
actual leader of the church of Manatuto, met him, and the seed of God found a
good soil, a thirsty soul that could not say no to the Lord anymore. It’s been less than a year, but he has
already been useful in the work of God. Praise the Lord. National President Pastor EAM
Testimony 10: God also use ordinary believers
I have been a believer for some years already. However, I
have never brought anybody to Jesus. I have been very fearful and even shy to
testify about the Lord. This month I attended a women seminar in our church in
Dili and the Word of God confronted me. I realized my fault and decided to
change. I asked God to give me courage and strength to share the Good News to
my family and to my neighbors. After the seminar I continued in prayer for the
next two days. In the third day at night some people came to my house to ask me
to pray for a woman who was very sick. I got worried but I saw it as the answer
of my prayer. I decided to go. When I arrived at the house, there were a lot of
people surrounding the bed where the sick woman was laid. I got very fearful. I
asked where the toilet was. I spent almost ten minutes in the toilet asking
God’s help. Then I came back to the room determined to pray. I asked the people
“please give me room, I will pray now”. I closed my eyes very tight and started
to pray, casting out in the Name of Jesus the evil spirits who have brought
sickness to that woman. When I opened my eyes there was nobody in the room,
except the sick woman. She said that they got afraid when I started to cast out
the evil spirits. Then I shared the Good News with her. When I asked if she
wanted to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior, she said ‘yes’. Suddenly her
husband came out from a room beside saying that he also wanted to accept Jesus.
I prayed for both, very happy for the opportunity God was giving me to bring
two people at once to Him, the first fruits of my work. Two days later I met
the woman already back in her normal life, completely healed. God is marvelous!
Luiza, a believer from the church of
Tibar
Testimony 11: Battle in prayer, God does the hard work
Ermera is the only District of Timor Leste where we don’t
have a community of believers yet. Even though its proximity to the capital
town, this district has been a challenge to the missionaries. As the pastor of
the church of Tibar, the closest church to Ermera, I decided to pray for this
District. I visited Ermera many times, for almost a year, going to almost all
its villages, only to pray for the land. I choose strategic places such as the
highest areas, from where I could see the villages down, and pray for them.
After almost a year, I started to lose the enthusiasm, mainly because I got
sick. But God showed me that my prayers were not in vain. Even though I did not
preach or even talk to many people, suddenly my church in Tibar started to
receive many visitors from Ermera, mainly youth. They have to travel for almost
two hours to reach the church. Seven of them have already decided to surrender
their lives to Jesus and are very hungry for the Word of God. They are already
being disciplined to be baptized. Now we
are praying for God to give us a place in Ermera where we can build a church,
as they have insistently requested. The field is already ready for the harvest.
Local Pastor Joaquim
Testimony 12: Obey the Lord, and He operates
I am the new pastor of the church of Oecussi. This church
faced a problem, and I was oriented to always visit the believers to be very
close to them. I did that and I praise the Lord that no one of His sheep got
lost. But God putted in my heart that I should also visit the unbelievers. Of
course it is more difficult. But I obeyed the Lord. I started to talk to people
on the streets. When I introduced myself as a pastor, they asked me to come to
visit their house to pray for them, or for someone who was sick. As result,
fifteen people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. God taught me a
wonderful lesson: when we courageously give the step obeying what He asked us
to do, God operates. I am so happy! Local
Evangelist Januario
Testimony 13: A pastor is healed
Pastor Clementino was feeling sick, for already some months. After performing the blood test and other exams, the doctor said that is was the remaining of a hepatitis, which was not completely healed years ago. He felt very weak physically to do his work as a pastor. As he shared this situation to us in our monthly meeting in July, it was clear the sadness in his face, for not be able to perform his pastoral ministry as he would like. He even cried while speaking. At the end of the meeting, we prayed earnestly for him. During the month of August he felt much better, but decided to go to see the doctor again to know if he needed a treatment. But the result of the tests showed that his blood was clean and there was no sign of hepatitis anymore. He shared his testimony so happy in our last meeting. God answered our prayer.
Testimony 14: Being light and salt in the community
A fellow pastor shared in our monthly meeting a simple testimony, but so touching. He and his family serve in a remote village on the mountains. He usually goes walking to the market to buy vegetables and food, carrying his baby in his arms, while holding his wife’s hand. They do it just as a habit. In the last month a woman from the village came to talk to them. She said she had watched them for a couple of months already and she was so inspired by their example. She said husbands of that village are so rude and never show their love for their family. But the pastor’s family was like a light in the dark in that village. Praise the Lord! We must impact people not only by our preaching but also by being salt and light among them.
Testimony 15: Facing all challenges with joy
(Ev. Orácio, Leurema Village, on the hills). Despite all the difficult we face, I am happy for having the opportunity to work for the Lord. We went to visit a family in another village, Darulete, which is a bit distant, going down the hills. We had a time of prayer and worshiping the Lord in that house, which was a wonderful time. While we were praying, suddenly a man came, along with his daughter, seemed to be very fearful. He had a violent arguing with his wife, she got very angry and was trying to kill him. He came into the house to ask us to pray for him. I said that we would pray for him, but before pray I asked if he just want the protection of God, or he want to surrender all his life to Jesus. I explained to him that he needed Jesus before everything else in his life. He understood and decided to surrender his life to Jesus. Praise the Lord! When we were traveling back to our home, we were caught by a rain. The road became very slippy. It got very difficult to ride the motorbike, especially when we had to go up the ascending roads. I was with my wife and my two years old son. After I pushed up the motorbike through the mud until the top, I came down again to help my wife and my son to go up walking through the mud. We escaped to fall many times. After some hours we arrived home, very dirty and wet, but safe, and happy for having helped a man to encounter the Savior, Jesus Christ. Halleluiah!
Testimony 16: Offering a help opened the door for evangelization
My family and I recently moved to another village, Faulata, to look after a Prayer-house. But for the first gatherings, only one person from the village came to attend the meetings along with my family. We got a bit discouraged, but started to pray. One day I was sat on the bank of a river just behind the Prayer-house, and I was praying. Then I saw an old man crossing the river carrying a big trunk which seems to be very heavy. I remembered what one of my fellow pastors told me that one very effective way of approaching people to open the door for evangelization is through offering help when they need. I offered my help to that man, but he refused, calling me “pastor”. I insisted and helped him to carry the wood until his house which was quite far away. Two days later the man came to my house to ask me to pray for him, because he was sick. Then I started to visit his house and pray for the family. He got healed and started to attend the meetings. Not only that he also started to tell others his testimony of the healing, and bring people to me to pray for them. All his immediate family is now attending the prayer-house and also being discipled to be baptized. Praise the Lord, it all started with a simple offering of help.
Testimony 17: The conversion of a trouble-maker
I never accepted that an evangelical church should settle down in our village. So I was one of the young men who stoned the church and disrupted the services. But, I do not understand how, I started attending Bible studies for young people every night at the pastor's house at the backyards of the church. The Word of God was entering my heart. On one occasion, the pastor asked who would like to receive the prayer, giving his life to Jesus. I was shaking inside. The pastor asked again. The restlessness increased even more within me. The third time, I could no longer resist, I raised my hands. It was a Saturday night. On returning home, I could not sleep. I longed for the day to dawn so I could go to church. The next morning I got ready to go to church. When I started to walk my friends found me on the street and asked where I was going. I lied saying that I was going to Dili (the neighboring town, the capital). So, not to be caught by my friends, I decided to go to the church through the bush, crossing the bush area behind the houses. The next Sunday, I did it again. The third Sunday, I bravely decided to face my friends. They mocked me, but I did not let myself be intimidated. Today, I am baptized and I am participating in the Bible training to, if it is the will of the Lord, serve my Savior as a worker in His field. (Melky - Tibar)
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