Aug 24, 2004
Marielsa: Overcoming Shyness to Obtain Salvation
It’s not uncommon for new Christians, when worldly cares creep into their lives, to drift away from their walk with the Lord. This is what had happened to Zuni, a young mother of three, who after taking two jobs, stopped coming to our meetings.
I was making my way around the neighborhood that day to visit her and some of the other new believers in our group. But I didn’t find Zuni home that day. Instead, I found her 14-year-old sister-in-law babysitting the kids.
As is the custom in Paraguay, I clapped my hands to announce my presence at the small, ramshackle house that stood only a few feet from the street. This teenaged girl, who was working in the open kitchen area in the front of the house, looked up with a terrified expression. For a moment I wondered if I really looked that scary.
I could only see the left half of the young teen’s small body. The other half, which was concealed behind a wall, just stood there seemingly frozen. I smiled. She didn’t move. I said, “Hola” (hi). She didn’t move. I spoke to the children that played at her feet and they smiled a hello back at me. She still didn’t move. I thought, “I’d better get to the point before this poor girl dies of fear!”
So, I asked if Zuni was home. Finally, she shook her head so slightly I could barely detect it. I introduced myself and asked her to let Zuni know I had come by to visit. Again, she moved her head only slightly, this time in an up and down motion. She had yet to move one inch from where she stood, or utter a single word. I said goodbye, thus concluding my first meeting with Marielsa.
I continued to see Marielsa each time I would visit Zuni. With each visit, she became more vocal and more mobile. After a while she and I would have what could be considered more normal conversations. Sometimes Zuni would be home and I would try to encourage her to continue walking with the Lord. When Zuni wasn’t home, I would spend a few minutes visiting with Marielsa hoping to gain her trust and an opportunity to share the Gospel. By this time, she seemed to appreciate and look forward to my visits.
One Sunday morning, as we prepared for our Believer’s Meeting, I looked up to see Zuni’s children walking through the door. But it was not their mother that led them. It was shy, little Marielsa. I can’t imagine what it had taken for her to brave coming into the North American’s house that day. Something much stronger than her fears had broken through all her timidity and caused her to be willing to come to our house. I believe it was the Holy Spirit. We had, after all, been praying that somehow we would be able to reach this timid, young teen with the Gospel.
Marielsa seemed to enjoy that first meeting and came back week after week. Since we are meeting as a local assembly of called out believer’s, all of our people are saved. As far as we knew Marielsa had never been saved and much of what she was hearing she obviously didn’t understand.
One day after our meeting, I told Marielsa that she was welcome to come by the house any time to talk about what salvation means. She smiled and nodded and then left for home.
Later that afternoon, Marielsa came back to our house. She wanted to know how to be saved from an eternity in Hell! I spent a couple of hours going over Scripture and explaining how we are all lost and in need of a Savior. I explained how God provided our salvation through the death of His own Son.
Understanding the Gospel did not come easy for Marielsa because of the many wrong ideas she had been taught by the Catholic Church. I took each wrong doctrine, one by one, and showed her how the Catholic teaching was contrary to God’s Word. We talked about God’s loving ways and how different it is from the methods used by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition.
Then, we talked about all the consequences that could come about if she got saved. One being, that her Catholic family would probably reject her. Two hours later, I finished by telling Marielsa that the decision was hers. None of us would or could force her to trust Jesus as her Savior.
Her face fell, as she said, “My family will not like it if I get saved.” She paused pensively and said, “But I want to accept Jesus as my Savior.”
Marielsa had counted the cost and knew the consequences. But, she also knew the consequences of remaining lost and made the right choice. She bowed her head and in her own words asked Jesus to become her Savior!
I gave her a Bible and in the front we wrote the day’s date. It would be a date to remember; the day she made the best and most important decision of her entire life. Now, we are excited about teaching Marielsa more about her Heavenly Father and her wonderful life ahead.
Posted by Sherri Pryor in Testimonies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Aug 19, 2004
Miguel: From Maniac to Missionary
Miguel Angel Aquino was an example to everyone in his town. An example of how to totally ruin your life! If there was anything evil or despicable happening, Miguel was sure to be involved in it.
Both of Miguel’s parents were alcoholics. By the age of 12, he began using drugs & alcohol. Miguel grew marijuana so that he could pay for the cocaine, heroin & liquor he became addicted to. He slept on the streets.
Miguel reaped a wretched harvest from his life of sin. He contracted tuberculosis. He was shot while being pursued by the police. Although they shot him twice in the left leg & once in the back, he escaped by diving into the Paraná River.
Did this make Miguel turn from sin? No. In fact, it just made him worse. He & a friend cut their hands & mingled their blood, trying to make a pact with the Devil in order to get power.
But, Miguel’s addictions were catching up with him. He realized they were killing him & making him go mad. So, he began attending Alcoholics Anonymous. Soon a friend invited him to a church service across the border in Brazil. Miguel was searching for answers, so he went.
At that service he finally found the answer to his problems. He realized that he could never fix himself, let alone please a righteous & just God. During the chorus of “I Found a Friend in Jesus,” Miguel trusted Christ as his personal Savior!
Although he was instantly saved from his sins, Miguel’s body still suffered from the results of sin. Never the less, God was merciful to him. With much prayer & fasting, Miguel overcame his alcoholism. Although Satan tortured his mind, Miguel finally found peace resting in the Lord. God also healed him of tuberculosis. After suffering a stroke that paralyzed his left side, the Lord restored most of his former ability.
Even though Miguel was born-again 29 years ago, he still can’t stop praising his Lord! He goes around full of joy & literally with a song on his lips. Now Miguel is a missionary to the rural people of the Chaco region of northwestern Paraguay. Working with a Brazilian missionary, he has helped plant a church there among those needy people.
Miguel’s testimony beautifully illustrates the love & mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Lord literally raised up Miguel from being a maniac sold out to drugs & alcohol, to being a missionary sold out to His master!
Posted by David Pryor in Religion, Testimonies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Jun 29, 2004
Deoliria: "I will never touch your Bible!"
Deoliria (Deo for short) recently came to Asunción from her home in the country seeking work. The relatives with whom she is staying are new Christians in our group of believers. Over the last year, all 12 members of that family have accepted Christ as their Savior.
Deo, a staunch Catholic, did not like that one bit. She strongly voiced her opinion by warning them that we, “the non-Catholic family”, were leading them astray. She tried to get her family to stop attending the weekly believer’s meeting and Bible studies.
When her newly believing relatives tried to show her the Truth from one of the Bibles we had given them, she turned it away saying, “I will not touch a Bible that is not Catholic”. This is when we first began to hear of Deo, and her speaking out against our outreach efforts in the neighborhood.
Deo was particularly concerned about protecting her niece, Gregoria, from our influence. Gregoria had come from Deo’s household in the country a few years ago to live with the same family in Asuncion. The 13 year old was one of our fastest growing new Christians. (See article on Gregoria)
But Deo did not want her niece around us. Deo soon managed to convince the family back home of the “danger” we were to Gregoria and arranged to take Gregoria back to the country and out of our reach.
Since Deo continued to work here in Asunción and live with her believing relatives from our group, we began to come into contact with Deo often. Each time she was very reserved and cold toward us. But, we didn’t attempt to reach her with the Gospel immediately. Instead, we tried to reflect God’s love through our attitudes and actions.
Deo saw us bring food to the family when they were sick. She was there when we rushed Nicasia, (the matriarch of the family), to the hospital when we suspected she was having a stroke. She overheard our prayers with other family members. Above all, she witnessed the changes in her relatives who now called Jesus their personal Savior. What Deo didn’t know was that we were all praying that God would open her eyes to the Truth and save her.
Before long, Deo told her relatives that the next time they went to our believer’s meeting she was going, too. One of her cousins told her---correctly, if not tactfully--- that the meetings were a gathering of called-out believers coming together to worship and that she, not being saved, was not a part of this group. Deo adamantly responded saying, “If it’s a meeting of Christians, then I can go!” Her motivation to attend our meetings didn’t seem to be from a desire to know the truth, but rather a desire to prove us wrong.
Deo didn’t let a little thing like not being invited keep her from coming. Although somewhat surprised by her presence, we welcomed her as a visitor into our believer’s meeting. One could tell by her demeanor and haughty confidence that she felt she had nothing to learn from us. Regardless, she heard the Truth that first Sunday morning and each Sunday thereafter. And, she continued to come and sit quietly in our meetings.
After a while, Deo began to come to our Ladies Bible Studies on Saturday afternoons. Everyone was friendly to her and we tried to make her feel welcome. But, it was necessary to explain that the group of ladies were all saved and that the course was designed to help believers grow after their new birth. We didn’t want to confirm Deo’s wrong thinking that she could work her way to Heaven. Deo looked skeptical and didn’t say much, but continued to come to class.
With the passing weeks Deo had the opportunity to hear the truth of God’s Word many times. She experienced the evidence of changed lives. She heard us talk to our Heavenly Father in prayer. She witnessed the camaraderie of sisters in the Lord as we shared burdens, confessed faults and gathered around God’s Word. In the hymns we sang she heard the touching words penned by Christian writers hundreds of years ago, of the Savior they knew personally.
Deo’s confidence in her false religion started to crumble as the Holy Spirit convicted and the two edged sword of God’s Word began to pierce through her wrong philosophies and traditions of men.
Although Deo wasn’t very vocal about it, you could tell that her heart was softening to the Gospel. She seemed to be drawn to the Truth. Without anyone trying to convince her of anything, the light of God’s Word was slowly dawning on her mind.
One night after class, I told Deo that our home was always open to her if she ever wanted to come and talk more about Jesus and how He could save her. She just nodded slightly as she left, without committing to anything. Weeks went by and Deo, although coming to our various meetings, never came to talk to me about salvation. We continued to pray.
Then, last Saturday night after class, Deo stayed behind after the other ladies left. She finally wanted to know how to accept Christ as her personal Savior. I eagerly opened God’s Word and we began to read Scripture together.
Since she had been indoctrinated into the false religion of the Catholic Church, we went over the Biblical truth of the Gospel until she understood clearly. Once she understood that salvation was by grace and through faith alone in Jesus’ substitutionary death to pay for her sin, she was ready to trust in Him alone. She prayed and began to cry as she asked Jesus to forgive her sins and become her Lord and Savior.
Deo had been so opposed to what we believed that we couldn’t have known where to begin in order to reach her. But that didn’t matter. God knew. He knew exactly what it would take to soften her hard and prideful heart. Because of His love and through His Holy Spirit he drew Deo to himself, even when she was resistant to it.
God’s Word is so powerful and convicting that we need do nothing but be faithful in presenting it for others to be convinced. Deo now realizes that no religion or life of good works will save anyone. She knows that although all her goodness is as filthy rags, God now sees her white as snow because of what Jesus did for her. Deo finally knows how much God loves her.
Before Deo left Saturday night, I told her that we would like to give her a Bible if she wanted one. She eagerly said, “Yes, I want a Bible!” As she walked away from the our house with the true Word of God in her hands, I couldn’t help but remember how only a few months earlier the same woman vowed to never touch our Bibles!
I was in awe of the transformation God had brought about in this one life. God truly cares about each of us and continues to call us to salvation even when we are busy going our own way. I’m thankful God was not willing to give up on Deo.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9
Please pray for Deo as we begin the discipleship process of grounding her in her faith. Also, pray that if it is God’s will, Deo might be instrumental in bringing Gregoria back to Asunción where she can continue to be discipled through our Bible studies and believer’s meetings.
* This article may be freely reprinted provided it is used in its entirety without modification and includes the following sentence:
Article reprinted from Pryors of Paraguay [http://pryors.net/] - Gods Work in Gods Way! The Pryors are missionaries to Paraguay, South America who are purposed to pursue the Biblical plan for missions and prove that New Testament principles still work today.
Posted by Sherri Pryor in Testimonies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mar 31, 2004
Betania: A Young Girl Finally Comes to Jesus
When our family first started making plans to move to Paraguay, our daughter Bethany was only 5 years old. She was concerned about leaving her best friend behind and whether or not she would have a friend in this new country.
So, we began praying that once we arrived God would provide her with a friend. Soon after moving and finding a place to live, we heard the sounds of children coming from the house next door. Bethany, with the assurance of a child, hoped that one of those voices would become her friend.
So, we began praying that once we arrived God would provide her with a friend. Soon after moving and finding a place to live, we heard the sounds of children coming from the house next door. Bethany, with the assurance of a child, hoped that one of those voices would become her friend.
With time, we met the children and there WAS a little girl. Her name was Betania (or Bethany in English) and she was almost 4 years old. The two Bethanys became playmates. God had answered our prayers.
Betania’s mother, Norma, and I became friends too. She was actually the live-in maid from next door and she and Betania occupied the maid’s quarters at the rear of the property.
Norma’s days were filled with housework and cooking and so I found that I had more in common with her than I did with the lady of their house. Norma and Betania would come and visit whenever she had a break.
While the girls played, we would visit and swap recipes but more importantly these times gave me opportunities to share about the Lord. As we got to know Norma and Betania, we began to pray that they would be saved.
The Lord started working in Norma’s heart first. One day while she was visiting she was convicted of her lost state and need for a Savior. She prayed and accepted Jesus as her personal Savior. We kept praying for Betania, who was only four years old, that the Lord would bring her to salvation one day.
It has been 4 years since Norma got saved. We eventually moved from that neighborhood into the one we are at now.
However, we have stayed in contact with Norma and Betania. The girls are still friends and Betania comes over to play and spend the night. Norma and Betania also come to the house every Saturday for Kid’s Club and the Ladies Bible study.
As Norma began to grow under the teaching of God’s Word, she realized she should be praying for Betania’s salvation too. She started including Betania in her personal Bible study time at home. Betania was learning how Jesus died to save her from hell.
Recently, and after 5 years of prayer, Btania reached a point where she uderstood that she needed to be saved. After a recent Kids Club, she prayed and asked Jesus to
save her!
Then on Sunday, March 28th, 2004, after our first believers meetingint the neighborhood, Norma and Betania were baptized together.
It was a moving experience for us to see the mother and daughter that we met all those years ago come to know the Lord and be baptized. Bethany’s friend had become her sister in Christ!
Please pray for Norma and Betania because their life is not easy. Norma struggles to raise Betania without the help of a husband. In addition, She works as a cook for a Catholic family that doesn’t want her to attend our Bible studies or believer’s meetings.
Norma comes to them anyway, taking a chance on loosing her job, which is no small thing in this country where jobs are very hard to find. Her employer takes advantage of that fact and requires ridiculously long hours for a small amount of pay.
Even with all of this, Norma says that she is happy and encouraged because her eternity is settled. She also knows that the Christian life is full of blessings and she is excited to see what God is going to do in her & Betania's lives.
* This article may be freely reprinted provided it is used in its entirety without modification and includes the following sentence:
Article reprinted from Pryors of Paraguay [http://pryors.net/] - Gods Work in Gods Way! The Pryors are missionaries to Paraguay, South America who are purposed to pursue the Biblical plan for missions and prove that New Testament principles still work today.
Posted by Sherri Pryor in Testimonies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mar 30, 2004
Nanci: Needing a Drink, She Found the Living Water
Several of us had gone to visit Lálo & encourage him in his new walk with Christ. Lálo had only been saved a week & we were concerned that his past history with alcohol might be a struggle for him.
A Paraguayan preacher who had traveled 20 miles by bus went with us to share his testimony of being saved out of a life of alcoholism.
Unfortunately, Lálo was not home that day. Needless to say, we were disappointed. But, trusting that God always has a purpose in even our disappointments, we decided to stay & encourage Lálo’s mother, Nicasia.
Since her salvation almost a year ago, Nicasia had seen 8 other family members come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. She has much for which to be thankful and loves any opportunity to talk about what God has done in her life.
We were praising God with her for just how powerful He is, when we heard someone running along the sidewalk outside the patio area where we sat. As we looked in the direction of the commotion, a young lady ran past the doorway.
Seeing the open door, the young lady stopped running & returned to stick her head inside. Barely able to speak for lack of breath, she asked if she could have a drink of water.
As Nicasia quickly brought her some water, the young lady told us how someone had been chasing her for blocks. Unable to find anyone on the street or a house in which to run for help, she was trying to reach her home. Just when she was about to give up hope, she saw the refuge of our open door.
The young lady was visibly shaken and it took her awhile to calm down. As this stranger sat there, I couldn’t help but think of how she was no stranger to God. He knew her when she was in her mother’s womb. He’s known everything that has occurred in her life, including her present situation. He’s concerned for her trials on this earth & her future in eternity.
I couldn’t help but wonder, did the Lord have a purpose in our being in this place at the very moment she needed help? Was that purpose only to quench her physical thirst in sharing a cup of water, or did He also want us to share the Living Water with her, too?
As I was thinking on this, the preacher who had come so far must have been thinking the same thing. He began to tell her that we had been talking about God’s power just as she ran up to our door. He then began to witness to her of salvation through Jesus Christ. He told the beautiful story of how God so loved the world that he gave his only son to die for each of us.
The young lady sat attentively. Her eyes were wide with anticipation of what he would say next. He told her of mankind’s need for a Savior and of God’s great love in providing one through Jesus. He quoted scripture that made it clear that salvation is by faith alone.
After he had fully explained the free gift of salvation, he asked her if she wanted to accept Jesus as her Savior. To our joy, she said she did! We all bowed our heads as she prayed and asked Jesus to save her. Afterwards we told her that she could learn more about the Christian life by coming to our believers’ meeting next Sunday.
We gave her a New Testament and wanted to write her name inside the cover, but realized we still didn’t know her name! It was Nanci. Beside her name we wrote the date, which would now be the most important date of her life. She thanked us and said goodbye, walking back out into the world as a new creature in Christ!
We went to that house expecting only to encourage a new believer. Nanci came to the same house for safety and a drink of water. We all left getting more than what we expected. God has a purpose in all things that come our way, and it is always for our good.
I am sure that God’s hand was in Nanci finding our door of safety from the man pursuing her. But more importantly, God wanted her to find yet another door that leads to eternal safety and the Living Water that would satisfy her soul. She did!
* This article may be freely reprinted provided it is used in its entirety without modification and includes the following sentence:
Article reprinted from Pryors of Paraguay [http://pryors.net/] - Gods Work in Gods Way! The Pryors are missionaries to Paraguay, South America who are purposed to pursue the Biblical plan for missions and prove that New Testament principles still work today.
Posted by Sherri Pryor in Testimonies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Dec 03, 2003
Elena: A Giving Heart Receives the Gift of Salvation
The doorbell rang at the worst possible time. It was the afternoon of our Graduation Ceremony night and we were all very busy getting things ready. I remember thinking, "Oh no, I’m too busy for whoever that is!" I opened the door and there was Elena with a small bouquet of flowers. God had not been too busy for Elena. He had been working on Elenas heart and drawing her to himself. She came in, sat down and spoke the words that I never thought I would hear her say, "I am ready to accept Jesus as my Savior."
It had taken Elena nine months to come to the point where she realized she needed a Savior, and all that time God had never given up on her. I believe Elenas heart was searching for the truth and even though she had many obstacles in her path, God drew her to the classes and to Himself.
Elena is a Paraguayan woman in her mid-forties with a quiet, unassuming nature. She has a busy life with her five children ranging in ages from 5 to 22. She helps her husband in his auto mechanic shop and is also a part-time reflexologist. I met her when a friend invited her to one of my Bible studies.
Elena is a very appreciative and giving person. Almost every time she came to class she would bring a little something to show her appreciation. First it was some passion fruit from her trees. Another time it was some mango relish she had made herself. Once she even picked some wildflowers, on her way to class, and presented them to me.
Because of her busy schedule, Elena was not able to make all the classes needed to complete the 12-week course. She didnt let that discourage her from coming to the graduation ceremony, even if she wasnt going to receive her certificate.
I thought I had lost my chance with Elena when she didnt show up for the start of the next 12-week class. But, midway through the course, on about week 6, she arrived with one of her gifts. Each time she was in class she seemed genuinely interested, but her attendance was still sporadic. When it came time to graduate another group of ladies, Elena once again lacked too many classes to finish the course. I was concerned that her understanding of the Gospel would be hindered by her hit and miss attendance.
I offered to meet with her whenever she had time and go over the classes she had missed. She eagerly accepted. In doing this, we had many opportunities to talk about the Lord and the salvation He brings. At the end on one of our visits, she told me that she wanted to get saved, but needed to get some things in order first. I tried to explain that nothing needed to be in order and that all she needed was to accept the free gift of salvation. I told her that we all have to come to God as sinners and undone before him, but that he accepts us the way we are. She apparently lacked the faith to trust Jesus that day. She left saying that one day she would come back to talk to me more about it.
Elena received her certificate after finally completing the course, but still not having made a decision for Christ. I didnt think I would see her again. I added her name to the list of those who were still lost and we began to pray, as a family, for her salvation.
Since all the other ladies in my group were now saved I designed the next set of lessons to begin discipling them. To my surprise, Elena was at the first class. I made it clear that the things I was teaching only applied to those who were saved. Each lesson that Elena attended I made sure to include the plan of salvation. Elena knew she was without Christ, but continued to come to class. Once again, her studies were so incomplete that she was not able to graduate with the others. Again, I felt I would not see Elena once the course ended.
But on the day of our Graduation Ceremony, she showed up at our door. As Elena prepared to leave after accepting Christ that afternoon, I told her I was sorry that she would not be receiving a certificate of completion at that nights ceremony. Elena reached her arms out, took me by the shoulders and smiling said, "A piece of paper doesnt mean anything.” We talked about how she had just received something even better – salvation. And there is no certificate for that. Our reward is coming in the form of an eternity with our Lord!
* This article may be freely reprinted provided it is used in its entirety without modification and includes the following sentence:
Article reprinted from Pryors of Paraguay [http://pryors.net/] - Gods Work in Gods Way! The Pryors are missionaries to Paraguay, South America who are purposed to pursue the Biblical plan for missions and prove that New Testament principles still work today.
Posted by Sherri Pryor in Testimonies | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
