Document

HeartCryThat His Name be Great among the Nations...

Missionary Society

Volume 42: December 2004 - January 2005

God�s Gifts:Testimoniesof Salvation

TheTestimonies of HeartCryMissionaries around theWorld

Our Purpose &Passion

��For from the rising of the sun evento its setting,MyNamewill be greatamong the nations, and in everyplace incense is going to be offeredto My Name, and a grain offeringthat is pure; for My Name will begreat among the nations,� says theLord of hosts.� - Malachi 1:11

The chief end of all mission work is the Glory ofGod. Our greatest concern is that His Name be greatamong the nations, from the rising to the setting of thesun (Malachi 1:11). We find our great purpose andconstant motivation, not in man or his needs, but inGod, His commitment to His own glory and our God-given desire to see Him glorified in every nation, tribe,people and language.

Although HeartCry recognizes the great impor-tance of sending missionaries from the West to theun-evangelized peoples throughout the world, we be-lieve that we are led of the Lord to support native ornational missionaries so that theymay evangelize theirown peoples. Therefore, we seek to work with godlymen and women of integrity and vision in theunreached world to help them evangelize and plantChurches among their own peoples.

Our Principles* While we recognize that the needs of mankind aremany and his sufferings are diverse, we believe thatthey all spring froma commonorigin - the fall ofmanand the corruption of his own heart. Therefore, webelieve that the greatest benefit to mankind can beaccomplished through the preaching of the Gospelof Jesus Christ and the establishment of churches

that preach the Word of God and minister accordingto its commands, precepts, and wisdom.

* Every need of this ministry will be obtained throughprayer. We may share our missionary vision withothers and even make known to them the specifictasks which the Lord has laid on our heart to do, butwe may not raise support through prodding or ma-nipulating our brothers and sisters in Christ. If thisministry is of the Lord, then He will be our Patron. IfHe is with us, Hewill direct His people to give andwewill prosper. If He is not with us, we will not andshould not succeed.

* We intend to never enlarge our field of labor by con-tracting debts. This is contrary to both the letter andthe spirit of the NewTestament. In secret prayer, Godhelping us, we will carry the needs of this ministry tothe Lord and act according to the direction that Hegives.

* Wewill not competewith other biblical mission agen-cies, but use the resources that God has given to usto work in partnership with them. If the Lord directs,we will sacrifice our own goals and resources thatother mission worksmay be helped and the Kingdomof God increased.

* In meeting any need, those of us who are supportedfinancially by thisministrywill be the first to sacrificeall things necessary for the advancement of His King-dom.

* We will not measure the success of this ministry bythe amount of money given, Bibles distributed or na-tionalmissionaries supported, but by the Lord�s bless-ing on the work.

* Our Goal is not to enlarge ourselves, or to become akey figure in the Great Commission, but to be faithfuland obedient stewards by the grace that is given tous. That men may see our weakness and glorify Godfor His strength; that they may see our inability andglorify God for His faithfulness.

2 HeartCryMissionary Society, December 2004 - January 2005

4 - 5 From ourDesk: In theGreatCommission,we are to trust in the sovereignty of Godandmakeeveryeffort topreach theGospelto every creature.

6 - 9 HolidayGreetings:Seasonsgreetings fromtheHeartCrystaff in theUnitedStatesandtheir families.

10-12 CharoWasher�sTestimony.AbriefaccountofCharo�s recent conversion. It is a testi-mony to the savinggraceofGod.

13-16 IsYourEyeClear?Aholiday reminder tokeep focused on eternity and to live ourlives for what really matters. During theHolidayseason it is soeasy togetwrappedup inall thewrong thingsand forgetabouttheOne forwhomevery season ismade -theLordJesusChrist. It isoursincerehopeandprayer that youwill keepyoureyesontheprize - theGloryofGod, conformity toChrist, and the advancement of theKing-dom through thepreachingof theGospel.

17-35 God�s Gift: It is with great joy that wepresent to you a collection of testimoniesfromHeartCrymissionaries around theglobe.Each testimony is a demonstrationofGod�sgraceandpower.Throughout theyears of this ministry, they have been asource of blessing and encouragement tous. They have also been a constant re-minder of God�s power and our need tokeep focusedon thepriorities - thepreach-ing of the one trueGospel to every crea-ture on the face of the earth.

Hallowed be YHallowed be YHallowed be YHallowed be YHallowed be Your Name!our Name!our Name!our Name!our Name!YYYYYour Kingdom Come!our Kingdom Come!our Kingdom Come!our Kingdom Come!our Kingdom Come!

YYYYYour Wour Wour Wour Wour Will be Done!ill be Done!ill be Done!ill be Done!ill be Done!

God�s Gifts: Testimonies of Salvation

HeartCry Magazine

Editor: Paul David WasherArt and Graphics: Jonathan GreenText Editor: Rita Irene Douglas

Web: www.heartcrymissionary.com

Volume42 3

The theme and driving motivation for our entire mis-sion is the glory of God. It is also our great belief andconfidence that God is sovereign over all things - evenmissions. This is clearly stated in two Scriptures found inboth the Old and New Testaments:

�For from the rising of the sun even to its setting,My name will be great among the nations, and inevery place incense is going to be offered to Myname, and a grain offering that is pure; for Myname will be great among the nations,� says theLORD of hosts.

Malachi 1:11

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached inthe whole world as a testimony to all the nations,and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:14

Our God is not a defeated deity. He is not a King inca-pable of carrying out His will. He is the Lord of Glory anddoes whatever He pleases in the heavens, the earth, andunder the earth. He decrees it and it is done. He lays Hishand on the table and noman canmove it. He lifts His handto do awork and no army in hell or humanwill on earth candetain Him. He is the immutable and omnipotent Lord ofglory. This is the belief of historic Christianity and is heldhigh by biblical Christians throughout the world. There isno need to say more.

The purpose of this short letter is not to prove God�ssovereignty or to defend His decrees, but to remind us allthat He often carries out His sovereign decrees throughhuman agents. This is especially true with regard to theGospel. The same Bible that confidently declares, �Thisgospel of the kingdom SHALL be preached in the wholeworld�, also cries forth:

How then will they call on Him in whom theyhave not believed? How will they believe in Himwhom they have not heard? And how will theyhear without a preacher? How will they preachunless they are sent? Just as it is written, �HOWBEAUTIFULARETHEFEETOFTHOSEWHOBRINGGOODNEWSOFGOOD THINGS!� ...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by theword of Christ.

If we truly believe ALL the Scriptures, we are confrontednot only with God�s absolute sovereignty, but our greatresponsibility. AGreat Commission has been given to theChurch and it will not be fulfilled by angels or divine sky-writing in the heavens. Itwill be fulfilled bymen andwomenof God filled with the Holy Spirit, devoted to God�s glory,and moved with compassion towards the lost multitudes

throughout the world.This is the truth that has driven men and women

throughout the history of the Church to give up every-thing and follow Christ into the darkest places of theworld to preach the Gospel to lost souls - the apostlePaul,WilliamCarry,HudsonTaylor,MarySlessor ofCala-bar, Amy Carmichel and countless others. This is thetruth that has moved men to preach so frequently andwith such passion that their vocal cords were raw andbloody and their bodies worn to weakness - GeorgeWhitefield, John Wesley, Howell Harris, CharlesSpurgeon. Like them, we hold the following things to betrue:

Truth #1: God has ordained, elected, and de-creed that men will be saved through thepreaching of the Gospel.

Truth #2:God has commandedHis Church inevery generation to preach the Gospel to EV-ERYcreature.

Truth #3: There are countless places on theface of the earth where the Gospel is not beingpreached.

Conclusion: The Church has been and con-tinues to be disobedient to her Lord whilecountless souls perish without the opportu-nity to hear the Gospel. We must preach theGospel! Woe to us if we do not preach theGospel!

It is not my purpose to condemn, but to remind usof our great task, to encourage us to put past failuresbehind us and to exhort us to preach the Gospel to everycreature. I will end this letter with an excerpt from one ofCharles Spurgeon�s sermons on Romans 10:14-15. Hewas a man of unusual balance in his views of the sover-eignty of God and the responsibility of the Church topreach.Hear himwell....

�Someonemust make the truth known tomen. Theywill not find out about the Savior unless they are told ofHim. The Gospel will not be revealed to men by anysupernatural agency, we must go with it. They cannotlearn it without being taught it. No man will know theGospel unless somebody shall tell it to him, by word ofmouth, or by the gift of a book or a tract, or by a letter, orby the open preaching of the Word. Somebody mustmake it known to theman, for how can he believe in himof whom he has not heard, and how can he hear withouta preacher?

Who ought to preach, then? Everyone who can

From our Deskby Paul David Washer

From our Desk


preach, should do so. The gift of preaching is the re-sponsibility for preaching. I often wonder at someChris-tian men who can fire away so grandly on the hustings[i.e. courtroom], or the platform, but who never speak forChrist; they will have to account for those prostitutedtongues. If a man can speak upon the temperance ques-tion, he can speak upon the salvation question; let himtake care that he does so. I do not wish him to be silenton the one, but I do earnestly entreat him not to be silenton the other. There are a great many persons who oughtto preach the Gospel, but who do not. Every man whoknows the Gospel ought tomake it known. �Let him thatheareth say, Come.�When you hear the Gospel, tell it tosomebody else; you Christian people are all bound, inproportion to your gifts and your opportunity, to makethe Gospel known. �Why!� says one, �I thought thatwork was for priests.� Just so, it is only for priests; butthen all believers are priests. By His mighty grace, ourLord Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests untoGod; and it is our duty, as well as our privilege, to exer-cise this blessed priestly function of telling to the sonsof men the way whereby they may be saved. Each man,then, in this place, who knows Christ, and each womanand each young person, too, are bound to tell of Christin some way or other to all who are round about them.

For this work, a high degree of gifts is not required.It does not say, �How shall they hear without a doctor ofdivinity?� It does not say, �How shall they hear withouta popular preacher?� Oh, dear! Some of us would havebeen lost if we could not have been saved without hear-ing a man of great abilities. I thank God that I owe myconversion to Christ to an unknown person, who cer-tainly was no minister in the ordinary acceptation of theterm; but who could say this much, �Look unto Christ,and be saved, all ye ends of the earth.� I learned mytheology, fromwhich I have never swerved, from an oldwomanwhowas cook in the house where I was an usher.She could talk about the deep things of God; and as I satand heard what she had to say, as an aged Christian, ofwhat the Lord had done for her, I learned more from herinstruction than from anybody I have evermetwith since.It does not require a college training to enable you to tellabout Christ; some of the best workers in this churchhave little enough of education, but they bring many toChrist. Go on, my dear brothers and sisters, telling ofChrist�s love to you, even if you have very few gifts.

Remember that, when you have told out the story ofthe Cross to men, you are rid of one responsibility. Atany rate, if they perish, it will not be because they didnot know; and if they perish through ignorance, it willnot be that their ignorance was through your neglect inteaching them. Now, tonight, I wish that I could stir up

everyone here to become a preacher, women and all; notthat I caremuch for women preaching, but I want them topreach in the sense in which I have laid thematter down;that is, to make known to somebody the wondrous storyof the Cross. Speak to an individual, if you can. If youcannot do that, write. If you cannot write, send a ser-mon, or give a tract. Only do keep on making Christknown. I suppose that there are two or three thousandbelievers here tonight out of these six thousand people.If every one of you Christians would every day makeChrist known to somebody, what a missionary organiza-tionwe should be!Howcan they hearwithout a preacher?Now, let every one of you become, in the sense in whichthe text means it, a preacher, by telling out in some formor other, and making known in some way or other, thewondrous doctrine of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.It is pitiable that anybody should live and die withoutknowing the Gospel. You can have no idea, unless yougo into the houses in many of our streets, what absoluteignorance there is in this city of London about the simpleelements of the Gospel of Christ. City missionaries haveoften told me stories that have amazed and appalled me.You think, because somany come to some of our housesof prayer, that the people of London go into the house ofGod. There is at least a million people, and perhaps twomillions, who never attend any place of worship at all.There, would be threemillions, I suppose, out of our fivemillion, who only occasionally go to any place of wor-ship at all. Why speak of �heathendom�? We have it atour doors. The more earnest a man is to win souls, themore he is shocked, amazed, and appalled by the neces-sity there is to keep on making known the Gospel ofChrist... Upwith you,men andChristians! Publish Christagain.... Bring out Christ crucified. Cry again, withLuther�s earnestness, �Believe and live!� Cry again, withCalvinistic determination, �Salvation is all of grace, ofgrace alone, through faith in Jesus Christ.� I would toGod that we might all preach thus. If we had but all ourchurch-members resolved to testify the gospel of thegrace of God, then should we see men hearing; thenshould we find men believing; and men believing aremen saved.�

Your brother,

Paul David Washer

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grace continues to abound. God has done a truly magnificentwork in the life of Charo and she is growing in the grace andknowledge of the Lord. She is a tremendous blessing to herchildren and to me. I rely on her faithfulness, strength, andwisdom.

�An excellent wife is the crown of herhusband.�

Proverbs 12:4�House and wealth are aninheritance from fathers, buta prudent wife is from theLORD.

Proverbs 19:14Our oldest son Ian (3 yrs) is a wonderfulblessing. He loves the Veggie Tales andThomas the Train. He loves to wrestlewith dad and to explore in the woods.He loves to draw and �do playdough�with mom. He makes a chore list, andchecks off each task as it is accom-plished. He is beginning to memorizeScripture and understand a few things

about God. The other day I was singing to him a line fromone of his children�s songs, �Here comes Jesus riding on adonkey,� when he stopped me and said, �No, daddy, Jesus isnot riding on a donkey. Jesus is God!�

Our youngest son Evan is now one year old and is up andrunning. He loves his older brother and follows him every-where. I think he is going to be an itinerant preacher like hisdad. He walks around pointing his finger and yelling at every-one. It is a joy to watch his personality develop. He is confidentand independent. Although he is smaller in stature than hisolder brother, he is living proof that it is not the size of the dogin the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Ian has learnedthat dynamite can come in very small packages.

Both Ian and Evan are a great source of joy for Charo andme. It is our greatest desire to give our sons to the One whogave His Son for us.We hope and pray that the Great Shepherdwill mold them into useful vessels and that they will fear Himand be completely devoted to His person and cause. At night,I often sing this song to them both.

Oh, my sons, I am weak and I am trembling,for the Lord I am always remembering.

What a strong Shepherd holds you in His arms,He will break you and make you His own.

- Keith GreenDuring this holiday season, we pray that God will reveal

more andmore ofHimself to you and that youwill be drawn intoHis majesty like a moth into a flame.As always, we thank youfor standing with us through your prayers and financial sup-port. It has always been, and byGod�s grace, will continue to beour magnificent obsession to make the Name of Christ greatamong the nations.

Your Brother, PaulWasher

From the HeartCry FamilyDearHeartCryFamily,

e bring you Holiday Greetings in the Name of ourLord and Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished deathand brought life and immortality to light through

the Gospel. We hope and pray that you are growing in thegrace and knowledge of God and that you are pressing ontowards the prize.As this year comes to a close, we encourageyou to count all things loss in view of the surpassing value ofknowing Christ, and to count all things but rub-bish so that you may gainChrist. Forget the failuresthat lie behind and reach for-ward to what lies ahead.Press toward the goal for theprize of the upward call ofGod in Christ. Hewho begana good work in you will fin-ish it, for He is able to do farmore abundantly beyond allthat we ask or think, accord-ing to the power that workswithin us.

This has been a mostamazing year. We have en-dured many trials of faith andhave been hard pressed by many tests, but we recognize thatthey were not without God�s purpose for good in our lives.Through them, we have been humbled by our weaknesses andlack of faith, and encouraged by God�s strength and faithful-ness. As the apostle Paul writes in II Corinthians 4:11:

�For we who live are constantly being de-livered over to death for Jesus� sake, so thatthe life of Jesus also may be manifested inour mortal flesh.�

Every trial that we could not bear alone, every problem wecould not solve and every need we could not meet threw usupon themercies of our Godwho never fails. Not once were wedisappointed. He faileth not! As the Scriptures declare in Ro-mans10:11:

�Whoever believes in Himwill not be disap-pointed.�

Regarding the HeartCry Missionary Society, we can tes-tify that the Lord has been gracious to bless us beyond whatwe can comprehend or describe. He has lavished His love andcare upon our families, the mission, and the missionaries withwhomwe are co-laborers.Many souls have come to knowChrist,and many churches have been planted in the sixteen countrieswhere we work. We stand in awe that God has allowed us toparticipate in this work. We are such weak and worthless ser-vants, and yet He is so merciful toward us!

�To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,be blessing and honor and glory and dominionforever and ever.�

Revelation 5:13Regarding our family, we rejoice to share that the Lord�s

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�...I remember in the first days of the ministry when brother Paul wouldphone from Peru and dictate the newsletter to me over the phone...�

DearHeartCryFamily,

s I sat down to write this letter, I began reminiscing on all theyears I have had the privilege of working with HeartCry. I con-sider this ministry to be both an opportunity for service and a

blessing from God. In the beginning, brother Paul was based in Lima. Theministry was then called the Peruvian Ministry. My job was to take care ofthe finances and send reports (newsletters, etc.) to the contributors here intheU.S. I remember in the first days of theministry when brother Paul wouldphone from Peru and dictate the newsletter to me over the phone. I wouldthen type it (we had no computer then) and mail it out. A great deal haschanged since those days, but I will never forget the missionaries, bless-ings, and trials of those first years.

This year was a great blessing to me. It was a special blessing to meetbrother IonGireada fromUkraine. It was amarvel to see howGod hasworkedand is working in this man�s life. Though our meeting was brief - one after-noon in Paul�s office - it was memorable. This year�s HeartCry Conferencewas also a great blessing for me. The teaching and the fellowship that Godgave us during the Conference were uplifting.

God has continued to shower blessings on my family. My youngestson, Timothy, married Angela Trovillion on March 6th. It was a wonderfulday! Angie as well as Crystal �my son Chris�s fiancé� have become soprecious to my husband Britt and me. Our oldest son, Christopher, is stillworking and going to the University in Louisville. Britt and I celebrated our31st wedding anniversary this year. God has blessed us with a love thatgrows stronger and deeper over the years.

May you have the true blessings of this Holiday Season. And may thejoy that can only come from Jesus fill your hearts and lives. Remember - He isour only hope, our only joy, and our only peace.

In His Love,Rita

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Greetings in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

he miracle of HeartCry continues another year with no earthly ex-planation for its existence and work other than the faithfulness ofGod. God continues to do His mighty work of reaching people

around the world through indigenous missionaries, using your continuedprayers and financial support. Although located in a small rural church,HeartCry continues to reach people groups worldwide - a glorious testimonyto what anAlmighty God can do through ordinary people.

I would like to thank you for your continued financial support and prayers,and to thank the staff of HeartCry, the Missionaries and their families aroundthe world for their commitment and faithfulness to the cause ofChrist.

Have a great Christmas in Christ Jesus.

Your Brother in Christ,

Pastor Jack Russell

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Volume42 7

�Every good thing given and every per-fect gift is from above, coming down fromthe Father of lights.�

It was enough for our Father to save a proud, arrogant, wretchlike me, but then He bestows blessing upon blessing. I am sothankful for my Father�s goodness towards me through somany of you. We have a new year coming and so much re-sponsibility. I pray that as we enter 2005, Heather and Imightwalk in the power of the Spirit of Christ as never before. I praythat I might love my wife as Christ loves the Church. I praythat my daughters might be saved by the grace of God. Fi-nally, I pray for each of you that more than ever you might

walk in the presence of our Lord andenjoy Him. I pray that you might:

�Let your light shine beforemen in such a way that theymay see your good works,and glorify your Fatherwho is in heaven.�Matthew 5:16

We are blessed beyond all thepeoples of the earth. I pray that thisreality might be evident to all in thecoming year.

ByChrist�s Grace,

Darian, Heather, Elizabeth and NatalieRottmann

As we pass into 2005, Gabriela and I are justgetting used to our little addition to the family.Therefore, we covet your prayers for wisdom, pa-tience and understanding. We praise the Lord forJazmine and pray that we can be godly parents. It isour desire to show her Christ in the way that welive each day and interact with each other. Wepray to live out I Corinthians 10:31:

�Whether therefore ye eat, ordrink, or whatsoever ye do, doall to the glory of God.�

As this year comes to a close, the Lordhas reminded me to take time out of my busy

�...Many were praying for the healing of our unborn daughter�sheart condition....Natalie is a bouncing ten month old...�

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

s I prepared to write this letter, I gave muchthought to what I should say. So much has hap-pened in this past year that it is difficult to sum-

marize it all in so few words. I praise the Lord for everyblessing He has bestowed upon His unworthy servant.

As I write, I cannot help but think back to this time lastyear. Many were praying for the healing of our unborndaughter�s heart condition. Now, one year later, Natalie is abouncing ten month old whom God is using to sanctify usand teach us patience (she is a SCREAMER).

I also think about our daughter Elizabethwho has grownup so much in the last year. She is now four years old and isa little mother to her sister Natalie.She loves to help whenever shecan and even when she shouldnot. I praise the Lord for my wifeHeather who takes care of all ofus. Not only does she care for ourtwo girls, our home, and manyother duties, but she has to putup with me! I also thank God formy extended family and all thebrothers and sisters in Christ thatGod has allowed me to know inmy home church and through theHeartCry Missionary Society.They are a great blessing toHeather andme.

During this holiday season,one Scripture comes to mindfromJames1:17:

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Dear Family inChrist,

his Christmas is extra special for theGreen household since there will bean extra chair at the table and an extra

stocking on the wall - our baby daughter Jazminewill celebrate her first Christmas.

As an early gift, we had the joy of havingGabriela�s family stay with us during the first fewweeks of November - the four Casado sisters(Gabriela, Charo, Lucy&Pilar) andMumandDad(Carmen and Santiago). They were all togetherfor the first time in many years. Carmen &Santiago met their grandson Evan and grand-daughter Jazmine for the first time.

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�Merry Christmas from ourfamily to yours...�

life and meditate on the good things that He has done.When I thinkof His benefits, I am filled with praise and desire to bless the Lordwith all my soul. We have much to be thankful for and so we praisethe Lord for His grace and kindness to us.

�Bless the LORD,Omy soul: and all that is withinme, [bless] his holy name. Bless the LORD, Omysoul, and forget not all his benefits: Whoforgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth allthy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from de-struction; who crowneth thee withlovingkindness and tender mercies��

Psalms 103:1-4

We hope and pray that all of you might have a blessed time thisChristmas and a joyous NewYear.

In Christ,Jonathan, Gabriela and JazmineAbigail Green

DearFamily,

od is faithful and has blessed our family abundantly this past year. WepraiseHim andmarvel atHis undeserved favor in our lives. We are humbledto serve such a mighty and sovereign King. It has been an amazing year in

the Kozler household. God continues to bless Dave�s decision to be self-employedand our decision to homeschool our younger children. Our oldest, Kristen, startedhigh-school this year and God has been faithful to protect her. Lexi, our seven yearold, is very artistic and creative like her older sister and loves to read. Keegan, our fiveyear old, is a sensitive boy and has a great memory. Layni, our two year old, loves toread and sing �TheB-I-B-L-E�. We all love towatch her throw her arms in the air at theend and yell �BIBLE�. We pray for the day that all of our children will understand thetrue meaning to the words of that song��I stand alone on theWord of GOD�.We are expecting our fifth child in December and are also moving toa new home before the baby is born. We pray that God will continueto bless all that serve Him and that He will give us the courage andstrength to proclaim His gospel boldly and clearly to all. May Hisword �cut to the quick� and His will be done throughout the lands.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and tomake you stand in the presence of His glory blameless withgreat joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ ourLord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all timeand now and forever. Amen.

Jude 24 & 25

Happy Holidays,The Kozler Family

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Volume42 9

HeartCryCharo�s Testimony

On the 24th of September of this year, my wife Charobecame a child of God. I am sure that the news is a shockto many of you who know her. She professed Christ at ayoung age, graduated from Bible College, and servedas a missionary in Peru for nearly ten years. In spite ofCharo�s impeccable �Christian resume�, she began tosee that something was wrong. The Spirit of God beganto work in her life and she saw her great need of conver-sion. The following is her testimony in her own words.An audio version may also be heard or downloadedfrom our website: www.heartcrymissionary.com.

When I was fourteen years old, my parents enrolledmy sisters and me in a Baptist school led by Americanmissionaries in Lima, Peru. Their motivation had nothingto do with religion. The classes were given in Englishand my parents thought it would be beneficial for us tolearn another language.

My parents were not particularly interested in any-thing �Christian�. The only reason we attended theCatholic Church even sporadically (i.e. Christmas andEaster) was to please my grandparents whowere practic-ing Catholics. The fact that our new school was �Evan-gelical� bothered my grandparents terribly, but my par-ents thought that a little bit of religionwould not be harmfulregardless of what the religion was!

Before attending the Baptist school, I had very littleknowledge of religion.Mymother had been affiliatedwiththe Jehovah Witnesses for a short time. I remember alady who came to our home once a week to study theBible with mymother.Another lady would always comewith her to teach me Bible stories. Any knowledge ofBible stories that I ever had as a child came from thesemeetings.

In the Baptist school, we memorized entire chaptersof the Bible in English and in Spanish, attended chapelonce a week, and heard about the Lord on a regular basis.At the end of each chapel service, an invitation would begiven, but I did not feel any need to �receive Jesus as mySavior�. I thought that since I did not �hate� Jesus, Hemust be in my heart.

Little by little, most of my friends went forward andthe teachers persuaded them to pray with them to besaved. I felt awkward about the whole thing, but one dayduring the invitation I raised my hand to simply get itover with! Many of my friends and teachers were pres-suring me to do it and I did not want to be the odd manout. I prayed with a professor that took me aside afterchapel and felt relieved. I was not relieved of my sin,because I had no conviction of sin. I was simply relievedto be safe from hell and in the same group with the rest ofmy friends.

From that moment on, I was active in church, youth

groups, youth camps, andmost ofmy friendswere Chris-tians or missionary kids. I enjoyed all the �Christian�activities and served in the church, as much as possible.

Having grown up in a home where my parents weredisciplinarians and taught us right from wrong, I had noproblem following the rules and the �do�s and don�ts� ofthe Christian LIFE. I never questioned my salvation be-cause I was just like the other Christian kids aroundme. Ihad always been a �good kid� who did not do drugs,alcohol, attend wild parties or have wild friends. I wasfine when I compared myself to those around me, but Inever compared myself to Christ.

The church I attended was small and there was nosuch thing as discipleship. The young Christians simplylearned what they could from the Sunday services andyouth group. We were not taught to study the Scripturesand I never asked anyone questions because I was tooembarrassed.

When I was sixteen, I felt that Godwas callingme tobe a missionary. I had read aboutMary Slessor, the Scot-tishmissionary toCalabar,Africa andmyheartwas stirred!I was enamored by a singlewoman risking life and limb togo to a forsaken place to tell others about God! I readeverything I could get my hands on that had to do withmissionaries: Hudson Taylor, William Carey, AmyCarmichel, etc, etc. I joined a group of Christians from theChurch of the Savior and began to minister to street chil-dren. We would feed them, bring them clothing, and tellthem about Jesus. I thought that I had found my place in

December 2004 - January 2005 Volume42

CHAROWASHER -TESTIMONY

life and that God wanted me to be a missionary. I havealways liked learning languages and I even thought thatI would become a translator and use my ability to trans-late the many good Christian books that are only avail-able to English speaking Christians. Looking back oneverything, I now realize that I was driven by the roman-tic thought of missions. It was all a work of the flesh andnothing more.

When I was seventeen, my family and I moved toParaguay and I remained strong in my desire to serveGod. I attended several Christian camps and helped outas a counselor. I was discipled by a godly women andgrew in my knowledge of the �do�s and don�ts� of theChristian life. I was active in church and in my youthgroup. I now realize that I was motivated to continue onthe Christian life by the love of the group I was in. It wasa great place to be with good people and good friends.

As my desire to be a missionary grew, so did theturmoil in my home. My parents were antagonistic to-ward the idea, but I prayed that God would open thedoors for me to study at the Word of Life Institute inArgentina. By God�s providence, when I was eighteenyears old, I was granted a scholarship to a Bible CollegeinMayfield, Kentucky. I was excited to finally be able totrain as a missionary!

When I came to the United States, I had the foolishnotion that every citizenwas a super-Christian.Mywrongthinking came from the fact that most of the godly mis-sionaries I had known in South America came from theUnited States. Much to my surprise, I soon discoveredthat attending aChristian Collegewas not what I expectedit to be. I was shocked at the way some of the studentslived. I was very disappointed and simply looked for-ward to finishing school and returning to Peru as a mis-sionary.

When I was twenty years old, Paul and I were mar-ried and we went back to Peru as missionaries. Thingscould not have been any better! We were working to-gether in the place I loved, but after a year or so theromanticism of themissionary life began towear off. I feltout of place, awkward, and ineffective, but I could notput my finger on what was wrong. I thought that it wassimply the struggle and toil of missionary life. I thoughtthat I was being immature and needed to grow up.

After a few years, Paul needed a total hip replace-ment and the doors opened for me to finish college. Ithought to myself: �That is it! If I finish my studies I willbe a more effective missionary and all will be well.� Ifinished school in the allotted time, but the struggle con-tinued. I saw that I had no ability tominister like the otherChristians around me. I saw that deep down in my heartthere was little desire for the things of God, no true joy orpeace, and no ability to overcome sin. The things that arepresent in the life of every true Christian, were not presentin mine. The only way I can describe my life at that timewas complete frustration to fit into the mold of a trueChristian�but I was still blind to my true need - conver-sion! I read my Bible out of duty, but not because I felt adeep need or longing for God�sWord. I prayed for othersto knowChrist, for the work in Peru, and for the needs of

others, but I was unable to commune with God.I was greatly botheredwhen I heard other share about

their communionwithGod. I would ask, �Why can�t I feelthis way?� I would excuse the lack of reality in my life bysaying that other people were just emotional and I wassimply not that type of person. I had enough excuses toquiet my doubt, and yet I longed to have what otherChristians seem to have - a special relationship with Godand not just a neat list of do�s and don�ts.

After several years on the field in Peru, Paul and Imoved to the States. This only added to my frustration. Iloved our church and friends in Peru and I did not want tolive in the United States. I knew it was God�s will for usand I never opposed Paul about it, but he knew it mademe sad.As time passed, I withdrewmore andmore. I hidaway in the Heartcry office and had as little contact withpeople as possible. I blamed it all on the fact that I did notwant to live in the United States. I thought that thingswould be different if I was in Peru again. It quieted mymind to think this way, but it was only an excuse.

Paul and others would ask me to minister or teach,but I would always avoid the opportunity. I would evenuse excuses that sounded very pious such as, �I am justnot worthy!� or �I struggle so much, I should not beteaching anyone!�

Little by little, I began to be weary of other peoplewho I knewwere godly Christians. They simplymademefeel uncomfortable because I knew that if they spentenough timewithme, they would be able to see that I wasvoid; that there was something wrong with me! Some-thing I could not put my finger on!

Finally, about three years ago, I began to questionmy salvation. Doubts would enter into my head when-ever I heard Paul preaching on the assurance of salvationfrom the book of I John. At first, I was able to quicklydismiss any doubt, but in time, the doubts began to over-whelm me. I would sit in the pew and desperately try to�convince God� that I was truly a Christian. I had nopeace about eternity, and yet I was not struck with fear asI should have been. I was blind. I was blind to the factthat I had become a critical and angry person who had anexcuse for everything that was wrong in my life.

Eventually a small light turned on inmyhead: WHATIF I was not really a Christian? What if I had been de-ceived all of these years? What if I had been trying to fitinto a Christian mold and had finally run out of strengthor even desire to conform?Whywas I struggling somuch?A true Christian grows and changes, but I was gettingworse. A true Christian can repent of sin and overcome,but even though I hated myself and cried for deliverance,I had no strength or power to overcome! What if I wasnot really a Christian?

Toward the end of September, Paul was invited topreach at an inner city mission in SanAntonio, Texas.Ashe does in many places, Paul taught on biblical assuranceof salvation from the book of I John. I began to do myusual squirming in my seat and wondered why he wouldnot preach something else!Again, the same question cameup in my heart. What if I am not a Christian?AChristianwould not feel this way! AChristianwould not be squirm-



ing on her seat about such things! Once and for all, I had toknow. I sat there each night and applied each and every testfrom I John to my life without excuses. Halfway throughthe preaching, I knew that I was lost.

The church was small so we were meeting outside un-der a tent. It was nighttime and on the other side of thestreet a prostitute was walking up and down the sidewalk. Ilooked at her and I looked at myself and I knew that beforeGod there was no difference between her and me. Here Iwas, the missionary�s wife, dressed like a godly women,sitting in church, having served on the field, having taught,counseled, witnessed, worked, given, prayed, and even criedfor the work�And yet I was as far fromGod and as needyas the prostitute across the street.

I wanted to run out the tent screaming. I wanted to beby myself, I wanted to run and hide, but the service wassoon over. I was like a zombie. I walked around and spokewith people, but I only wanted to go home. That night I hadto ride home with the pastor�s wife and all of the kids be-cause the men stayed behind to minister after the service.Whenwe got in the car, she askedme to share with her howI was converted! I wanted to jump out of the car! I knew Iwas lost that very night, but I shared with her the story ofmy conversion when I was fourteen.

Even after that night in San Antonio, I still wantedanother confirmation that I had really heard from God. Istruggled with my pride and the consequences of tellingothers that I was unconverted: �What a bad testimony itwill be before everyone who has known us and the work.People will think that I was deceitful and I will ruin thework.�

A few days later, Paul began to share with me aboutHis joy of simply being in the middle of God�s will.At thatmoment, I could not bear the burden any longer. I told himeverything that I had in my heart and everything I felt.After I was finished, the only thing he said was: � On thebasis of what you have told me, I cannot tell you that youare a Christian.� That was exactly what I needed to hear! Ineeded someone to confirmwhat I felt inmy heart. I neededanother confirmation from God. I was not a Christian andfor the first time I sawmy sin like I had never seen it before.I was truly repentant. I had a desperate need for Christ andthe life that only He can give.

That night I sat up until 12:30AM and prayerfully readthrough the book of I John. I asked God to showmemy lifewith greater clarity than I had ever seen it before. In onemoment, I sawmy life as never before. I came under a greatconviction of sin and experienced a repentance for sin thatI had never known before. Many times before I had �feltbad� and wanted to �do better next time�, but I had neverexperienced true repentance like that night. I cried out toGod to save me and change me. I acknowledged that I wasunable to live the Christian life because I did not have thelife of Christ. As I cried out to God, something wonderfulhappened - God shed abroad His love in my heart andgranted me peace. I was converted by the power of Godand given the strong assurance of salvation in my heart.

I shudder with fear as I look back onmy life. How easyit is to be deceived and on the road to hell! Morality andreligious activity alone, even missionary activity are not

enough to prove the validity of our salvation if there is norecognition of depravity, genuine repentance, faith in Christ,victory over sin, and a sincere desire to know and be known byGod. I shudder to think of how many pastors, pastor�s wives,and dedicated Christian workers are holding on to false hopeand are yet to be converted. My only admonition is that whichcomes from the Scriptures:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examineyourselves! Or do you not recognize this about your-selves, that Jesus Christ is in you -- unless indeed youfail the test?

II Corinthians 13:5

Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to makecertain about His calling and choosing you;

II Peter 1:10

A few weeks after my conversion, I came across the followingwords from Charles Spurgeon�s Morning and Evening DailyReadings (November 4). It clearly communicates what I nowknow to be true:

�In Thy light shall we see light - Psalm 36:9 - No lipscan tell the love of Christ to the heart till Jesus Him-self shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat andtame unless the Holy Ghost fills them with life andpower; till our Immanuel reveals Himself within, thesoul sees Him not. If you would see the Son, wouldyou gather together the common means of illumina-tion, and seek in that way to behold the orb of day?No, the wise man knoweth that sun must reveal itself,and only by its own blaze can that might lamp beseen. It is so with Christ. �Blessed art thou, SimonBar-jona,� said He to Peter, �For flesh and bloodhas not revealed this unto thee.� Purify flesh andblood by any educational process you may select,elevate mental faculties to the highest degree of in-tellectual power, yet none of these can reveal Christ.The Spirit of God must come with power, and over-shadow the man with His wings, and then in thatmystic Holy of Holies the Lord Jesus must displayHimself to the sanctified eye, as He does not to thepurblind sons of men. Christ must be His own mirror.The great mass of this blear-eyed world can see noth-ing of the ineffable glories of Immanuel. He standsbefore them without form or comeliness, a root out ofa dry ground, rejected by the vain and despised bythe proud. Only where the Spirit has touched the eyewith the eye salve, quickened the heart with divinelife, and educated the soul to a heavenly taste, onlythere is He understood. �To you that believe He isprecious;� To you He is the Chief Cornerstone, theRock of your salvation, your all and all; but to oth-ers He is �a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of of-fense.� Happy are those to whom our Lord manifestsHimself, for His promise to such is that He will makeHis abode with them. Oh Jesus, our Lord, our heart isopen, come in, and go out no more forever. ShowThyself to us now! Favour us with a glimpse of Thineall-conquering charms.

Charo Washer



Holiday ReminderDuring the Holiday season it is so easy to get wrapped

up in all the wrong things and forget about the One forwhom every season is made - the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is our sincere hope and prayer that you will keepyour eyes on the prize - the Glory of God, conformity toChrist, and the advancement of the Kingdom through thepreaching of the Gospel. Never in history has there beensuch a door of opportunity opened to the Church to seethe Gospel preached to every nation. What a privilegeand responsibility has been given to us. As we draw closeto the end of the year and look forward to the beginningof another, let us give ourselves to only the most gloriousenterprises. Let us cast aside all temporal vanities andrun the race set before us.

IsYourEyeClear?�Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves breakin and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures inheaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, andwhere thieves do not break in or steal; for whereyour treasure is, there your heart will be also. Theeye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye isclear, your whole body will be full of light. But if youreye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.If then the light that is in you is darkness, how greatis the darkness! No one can serve two masters; foreither he will hate the one and love the other, or hewill be devoted to one and despise the other. Youcannot serve God and wealth.

Matthew 6:19-24

The above passage is one of the most important in theBible with regard to Christian priorities and missions.Ac-cording to this Scripture, the Christian is to be on constantguard in order not to stray from eternal priorities. Twochoices are always before us. One choice, offers immedi-ate rewards that are temporal and deceptive. The other is anarrow road which may cost us everything, but the re-wards are eternal and beyond the ability of even Scriptureto describe.

God�sTreasureIf we know that which is most treasured by God, then

we need not look very far to discover that which should bemost treasured by us. For God�s treasure and our treasureshould be one and the same. This is the very thing thatmade the life of Jesus so very different from the life ofevery other man. He treasured only what His Father trea-

sured. May God grant us the grace to do the same.What is it that God cares about most? With only a

cursory reading of the Scripture it is quickly discoveredthat God�s priority is His own Glory. He desires that everyaspect of His being, attributes and works be made know tocreation and that all praise and honor be ascribed only toHim. Consider the following Scriptures:

�For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, Myname will be great among the nations.�

Malachi 1:11

�Pray, then, in thisway: �OurFatherwho is in heaven,hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, yourwill be done, on earth as it is in heaven.��

Matthew 6:9-10

It is God�s great desire or treasure to see His Nameheld in highest esteem among not only the nations, but allcreatures in heaven and on earth. At first sight this mayappear self-centered, but first sights are often very decep-tive. For God to seek His glory above all other things andfor Him to desire that His Name be highly esteemed amongthe nations is one of the greatest demonstrations of Hislovingkindness.

The depth of one�s love is often demonstrated by thecostliness of the gift one gives. If someone was to giveyou a twig or a small fragment of gravel, it would not be anoverwhelming demonstration of love. You would not rushout to alert the media, nor would you gather your friendsabout you to tell them of the indescribable lovingkindnessthat someone had shown you. It would not be somethingthat you remembered very long, much less, that you heldclose to your heart all the days of your life. But if someonegave their life that you might live, this would indeed war-rant such a reaction. It would be a story worth the media�stime and your friends would most likely want to hear allabout it. You would treasure the act of lovingkindness allthe days of your life. So then, the measure of one�s love isoften manifested by the greatness of one�s gift.

What is the greatest gift that God could ever give? Itis not prosperity, health, or even heaven. He Himself is thegreatest gift. Themost loving thing that God can do for Hiscreatures is to work in such a way so as to reveal or demon-strate the fullness of His glory to them - to take centerstage and call all creatures to fix their eyes and hearts uponHim. For this very reasonwhenGod does what He does forHis own glory it is the greatest of all demonstrations of Hislovingkindness.

The adverse of this is equally true. The most destituteand pitiful of all creatures, are those who do not knowGod,who are unaware of His glory and cut off from His truth.The Scriptures declare that God has placed eternity in thehearts of men. This infinite aspect of the heart of man canonly be filled by the infinite. Man may pour into his heartall the fame, wealth, power and pleasure that this world hasto offer, but he will still be empty. Eternity cannot be filledup with the temporal, and infinity cannot be filled by the

A

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infinite. Man�s heart was made for the full measure ofGod�s glory. Apart from this man is destitute, miser-able and empty.

In summary, God�s treasure, great desire and goalis that His Name be great among the nations, that HisName be hallowed (highly esteemed), that His King-dom come, and that HisWill be done! Is this ours?Wehave been known to lay awake at night worried aboutso many things. We have been known to fret and beanxious about so many things. We have been knowto desire things passionately, fanatically, even to thepoint of obsession. House and lands, jobs and pro-motion, fame and reputation, needs and wants andcountless other things. But when was the last timethat sleep escaped us because of our concern for thenations that have not heard? When was the last timethat our hearts broke because there are places on thisearthwhereGod�sName is not hallowed, His kingdomis not advancing and His will is not being obeyed.Wefret and sweat about so many things, but do we evergive any thought to that which is most on the mind ofGod.

Christ�sWarning�Do not store up for yourselves treasures onearth, where moth and rust destroy, and wherethieves break in and steal.�

In this verse, Jesus is calling for a radical decisionon the part of His disciples to repent of their earthlymaterialism and turn their hearts toward God and Hiskingdom.Although Scripture speaks of wealth as nei-ther good nor bad, it does warn us that the love ofwealth is a great evil (I Timothy 6:10), and that theseeking and hoarding of wealth will only lead to lossand shame on the day of judgment (James 5:2-3).

Regardless of the warnings that run throughoutScripture, it seems that the desire for wealth is God�sgreatest competitor for the hearts of men. It is ironicthat although most people spend most of their time,�treasuring treasures,� very few ever really �possesstreasures.� And those rare individuals who actuallydo obtain their treasures here on earth, quickly growtired of them once they are obtained. Is it not a veryfoolish thing to trade the glorious gifts of God forearthly treasures that we rarely do obtain, and if bychance we do obtain them, we quickly grow tired ofthem?

Name one thing on this earth that is highly cov-eted by men and we can quickly assess it�s true valuewith one simple question: �Is it eternal?� If yes, it isworthy of being obtained even at the expense of allother things. If not, its worth is equivalent to the dustinto which it will turn. To seek for it is a pathetic wasteof a human life.

Christ�sAdmonition�But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,where neither moth nor rust destroys, and wherethieves do not break in or steal.�

The Scriptures do not speak against treasure or thepursuit of treasure, but it does speak against foolishlywasting the life God has given us in the vain pursuit ofthings that have no eternal value and can never fill theinfinite desire of a heart made for eternity. In Isaiah 55:2,the Scripture shakes it head in bewilderment at men whoseek for the temporal at the expense of the eternal:

�Why do you spend money for what is notbread, And your wages for what does notsatisfy?�

Isaiah 55:2

Nothing except the will of God can fill a man. The onlytreasure worth having is that which is eternal; that whichcomes fromGod, and is found by doing His will, living forHis glory and seeking after His Kingdom. Has God notpromised to care for us? Has He not promised to meet ourevery need? Has He not shown Himself capable and will-ing to fill His children with blessing and to not withholdfrom them one good thing? Why then, do we put earthlypursuits ahead of the pursuit of God and God�s pursuits.Our one obligation is also our onlymeans of truly living anabundant and satisfied life - �Seek ye first the Kingdom ofGod and His righteousness.� Heaven and earth shall passaway, the inferior products of this world will burn up in thefire as hay, wood and stubble. But the man who does thewill of God will abide forever and his works will standthroughout eternity. There will be no regrets in heaven forhaving lived �too much� for the kingdom of God, but wecan be assured that there will be regrets for having lived�so little.�

TheUndeniableTruth�For where you treasure is, there your heart will bealso.�

Every so often in Scripture, we are confronted by cer-tain statements that open our hearts and reveal the truthabout our character and desires. The verse above is one ofthose statements. Regardless of how often or forcefullywe declare that God and His kingdom are our greatest de-sire, the true desire of our life is revealed by such smallquestions:Where is our heart?What occupies our thoughtsabove all other things? What do we long for? Can we sayin truth that it is God and His kingdom that have our heart?

What if a stranger who did not know of our Christianconfessionwatched our lives and read our thoughts?Wouldhe be convinced that God and His kingdom were our twogreat priorities and the treasures we longed for?Would he

A Holiday Reminder


hear almost constant conversation about the mercies ofGod and the advancement of His kingdom?Would he hearus pray with passion for the unevangelized nations?Wouldhe see us passing a sleepless night because God�s Name isnot highly esteemed among all peoples, because His King-dom has not covered the entire earth and because His willis not obeyed or even known by the great majority of men?

If most were honest, we would be forced to admit thathe would hear us speaking about houses and lands, carsand toys, recreations and hobbies. He would see us ob-sessedwithworldlyworries, wants and pleasures. Hewouldhear very little about God in our daily conversation, wouldsee little activity directed toward the advancement of thekingdom, and would think it preposterous if we claimedour treasure to be in heaven!

Clear EyesThe eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye isclear, your whole body will be full of light. But ifyour eye is bad, your whole body will be full of dark-ness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, howgreat is the darkness!

In saying that the �eye is the lamp of the body,� Jesusis not giving us instructions in human physiology, butrather is teaching us about the great influence our desireshave on our lives. Our body goes where our eyes are fo-cused, and our eyes focus on what our heart desires. If ourheart desires worldly things, then worldly things will beour focus, and the very things we pursue. But if our hearttruly desires the things of God, then our eyes will be fixedon them and wewill pursue themwith a passion. The cleareye has a single vision without confusion or duplicity.A.T.Robertson writes, �If our eyes are healthy, we see clearlyand with a single focus. If the eyes are diseased (bad, evil),cross-eyed or cockeyed, we see double and confuse ourvision. We keep one eye on the hoarded treasures of earthand roll the other proudly up to heaven.�

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to single-ness of heart and purpose. We are to seek first the King-dom of God and entrust all our worldly needs to the Mas-ter. He knows what we need before we ask Him and isdisposed to do good things for His children.

TwoMastersNo one can serve two masters; for either he willhate the one and love the other, or he will bedevoted to one and despise the other. You can-not serve God and wealth.

Jesus taught a great deal about money. The reason issimple: In this fallenworld,money seems to beGod�s great-est competitor for the hearts of men. If by grace, a man has

freed himself from the love and pursuit of wealth, he hasopened himself to the possibility of undivided devotion toGod.

Fallen man is a slave to someone. The question is notwhether or not a man is a slave, but whose slave is he?.Somemen are enslaved to other men, some to themselves,others to inanimate objects such as money, others to vainpursuit, and still others to deceitful pleasure. Christ callsus to turn away from slavery to such evil taskmasters andturn to the One whose compassion and tender mercieshave no end.

One of themost important truths revealed in this Scrip-ture is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to serve bothwealth andGodat the same time. The Expositor�s Bible Commentary con-cludes: �Both God and money are portrayed, not as em-ployers, but as slave owners. A man may work for twoemployers; but since �single ownership and full time ser-vice are the very essence of slavery� (Tasker), he cannotserve two slave owners. Either God is servedwith a single-eyed devotion, or he is not served at all. Attempts at di-vided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to disciple-ship, but deep-seated commitment to idolatry.�

Your brother,

Paul DavidWasher

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Volume42 15

ANSWERS:

AnEyeExamChrist calls us tomake radical choices between two treasures (rewards on earth or rewards in heaven), two visions (focus

on the earthly or on the heavenly), and two masters (worldly riches or God). In the following, is prepared a brief exam todetermine the focus of our lives. Answer the questions sincerely and pray for the grace to make the necessary changes:

QUESTIONS:

1. Does Psalm 42:1 reflect your own desire to seek afterGod? �As the deer pants for the water brooks, so mysoulpants forYou,OGod�.......................................................

2. Does Psalm 27:4 reflect your own passion for being inGod�s presence? �One thing have I desired of the LORD,that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of theLORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of theLORD,and to enquire in his temple�....................................

3. Does Psalm 145:5 reflect your own daily thought life?�On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Yourwonderfulworks, Iwillmeditate�........................................

4. Does Psalm 63:6 reflect your own thoughts before sleep?�When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You inthenightwatches�...................................................................

5. Do you set aside time for meeting with God throughBible study, prayer andworship?.............................

6. Howmuch ofMatthew 15:8 is reflected in your life dur-ing public worship? �This people honors me with theirlips, but their heart is far fromme�...............................

1. How often do you pray for God�s name to be hallowedamong the nations, for His kingdom to come and for Hiswill to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10)?.................................................................................................

2. How often do you pray for the Lord to send forth mis-sionaries to the unevangelized people groups of theworld(Matthew9:38)? ......................................................

3. How often do you make entreaties, prayers, petitionsand thanksgivings, on behalf of all men, for kings andall who are in authority, so that there might be peaceand an open door for the preaching of the Gospel to allmen(ITimothy2:1-4)?..............................................................

4. How much of your monthly finances are designated tomissions?....................................................................................

5. How often do you share the Gospel of Jesus Christ withanotherperson?.........................................................................

Often Sometimes Never





How often are your thoughts directed towards the person of God, His glory and His praise?

How great is your concern for the advancement of God�s kingdom among the nations?








We have given much thought regarding the contents of thisHoliday edition ofHeartCry.Wewanted thismagazine to be a giftfromus to those of you who havemade this ministry possible.Weare always aware that we would be nothing and could do nothingwithout the prayers and financial support of God�s people. Weare humbled by your great concern, your frequent prayers, andyour giving beyond all that we could ask or think.

It is therefore with great joy that we present to you a collec-tion of testimonies fromHeartCrymissionaries around the globe.Each testimony is a demonstration of God�s grace and power.Throughout the years of this ministry, they have been a source ofblessing and encouragement to us. They have also been a con-stant reminder of God�s power and our need to keep focused onthe priorities - the preaching of the one true Gospel to every creature onthe face of the earth.

It is our sincere desire and prayer that God will use the testi-monies found in these pages to reveal to you bothHis grace andHis power. We pray that they will move you to a life of greaterdevotion and piety. We pray that they will act as corrective lensesso that youmight focus on the two things which aremost impor-tant during this holiday season - the incarnate Son of God, cruci-fied for the sins of the world and risen from the dead, and thecountless multitudes who have yet to hear the greatest of all sto-ries. May God get glory for Himself through you!

The HeartCry Staff

Blessings for theHoliday Seasons

Volume42 17


�Cuba�Testimony of RogelioAcea

I amCuban and I amone ofthe refugees that escaped fromCuba in 1980. The reason that Ileft Cuba was the following:When I was twelve years old therevolution began. Even though Iwas young, I had seen manythings and was very disillu-sioned.As I grew older, my disil-lusionment grew because the

communist system that had become a reality in Cubamade all my plans for the future an impossibility. Thiscreated in me a great resentment and I rebelled againstthe system. For this reason I had many problems. Un-der the communist system there was no way to makemy life better. If I wanted a new pair of shoes there wasno place to buy them. I would have to look for a clan-destine shoemaker and buy the shoes on the blackmarket. And if the authorities caught me then I wouldhave to pay a fine.

One day the door opened for some of us to findrefuge in the Peruvian Embassy. When the opportu-nity presented itself there was no time to think or toweigh the consequences. I went immediately to theembassy and sought political asylum. I was in the em-bassy for 59 days.

I had lived almost all my life in a system with nofreedom, food or opportunities to choose. The free-dom in Peru was too much for me. I still missed mycountry, my family and friends, and that created in mesuch nostalgia that I did not know how to get over it.At that time, all the Cubans that came to Peru lived in apoor area of Lima called Tupac Amaru. We becamefriends with some of the men in that neighborhoodand one of them invited me to smoke somemarijuana.I accepted. I saw that he also added some kind of whitedust to it, but I did not say anything about it becauseI did not want to be the ¨chicken¨ in the group. So Iwent ahead and tried it even though I was afraid. Thatwas the first time I had tried drugs, much less, crack.Atthat time I did not understand the effects it would haveonme. All I knew is that when I used drugs I would notthink about my family, my friends, my country or any-thing else. I just did not want to think about all thethings that depressed me. Before I did drugs I couldnot sleep thinking about everything that I had left be-hind. I used drugs so that I would not think about it all.

Since I did not think about all the consequencesthat drugs bring to a person and I only thought it wasa way to ¨escape¨ from the reality of losing my familyand country, I kept consuming them. Time went byand I started doing drugs much more often and taking

less care of myself. I stopped having a social life withothers and I needed drugs on a daily basis. But still Idid not know that I was an addict.Afriend even cameto me and said that I was doing really bad, but I didnot understand why he would tell me that because Icould not see all the changes in me. I told him therewas nothing wrong with me because I could not ac-cept that there was something wrong.

When he saw that I would not accept how badmy life had become, hewent to his house and broughtan old picture of me, showed it to me and askedme ifI could see any changes. I became very afraid be-cause I could see all the changes that had happenedinme.My friend started tellingme that I was addictedto drugs and that I had a great problem. I got scaredand tried to leave drugs, but I saw that I was no longertaking drugs because I wanted to, but because Ineeded them.

Soon, I found out that there were clinics andspecial places that cured addictions so I went to aspecial clinic supported by the United Nations thattook care of us refugees and explained to them myproblem and that I needed help to get out. They con-gratulated me for my honesty and helped me to getinto a clinic. There I was treated with pills and I spentmost of the time unconscious, but they could notcure me.While I was on the medication I did not feellike taking drugs or doing anything, but when theeffect wore off, I would start doing drugs again. Thetime came when I just gave up trying to leave drugs.I was just going to keep on being an addict.

At that time, all of us Cubans were put out of theplace where we were living and I went to live in thebad part of downtown Lima. Since I was away frommy environment of drugs and the people that I knew,I stopped consuming drugs. But then I met someonethat helped me make the contacts I needed to get tothe drugs again and I returned to my habit.

Finally, I decided to leave Peruwith some friendsthat said they knew a way to get to Brazil. We wentthrough the central mountains of Peru until wereached the jungle. I did not know the jungle, but Ihad heard that it was the place where most of thedrugs were produced. I spent eleven months in thejungle doing every possible bad thing I could do anddoing drugs. One day the police raided us and I wastaken into custody. When they found out that I wasCuban they sent me to Lima.

I was detained for a while and then sent to livewith other Cubans in downtown Lima. It was thenthat I started selling drugs. I thought that it was thebest thing that I could do because I had money and at

Rogelio and his wife Ruth are ministering in the Baptist Church in LaVictoria, in Lima, Peru. The church ministers in one of the most dangerous neigh-borhoods in the city.

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the same time could keep doing drugs. I had good cli-ents and I really thought I was doing well because I hadreached a good position. I was so vain that I could notsee what was really coming. There was another man thatsold drugs just like me and we were always in competi-tion. One day that man and some of his friends went tomy house, attacked me, and set my house on fire.

I ran because I could not defendmyself from all thataggression and I went to live with a girl friend of mine. Ilived there but I could not stop thinking about whatthese men had done to me. I wanted revenge. I hadmoney and a lot of gold jewelry from people who hadbought drugs from me and paid with their own jewelrywhen they did not have the money. With that moneyand jewelry I began to take drugs again. I was mad thatI could not get revenge over those men and I took out allmy anger by doing drugs. That was a very big mistake. Iwas high for twenty days doing drugs nonstop until Iran out of money and everything I had. I knew this girlfriend of mine would not have me back in the housebecause of my terrible condition and it was not going tobe convenient for her to have a person like me in herhouse. I kept doing drugs. I knew that I was going to die.

There were many thieves among the people I diddrugs with. One day I asked one of them if he knew of aplacewe could rob because I neededmoney formy drugs.We broke into a car and stole the cooking oil that was init. In the process, the oil stained my clothes. That night,after I had finished doing drugs, I saw my clothes and Iwas too embarrassed to leave the crack house. When aperson does not leave a crack house for a long time theother drug addicts say that he is ¨stuck¨ and that he isgoing to die there. That was the worst time of my entirelife. I was sick, but I could not stop doing drugs. I had aterrible pain in my stomach, but that could not even stopme from doing drugs. I could not eat because I threw upeverything I ate, but I could not stop smoking drugs.The painwas unbearable. I felt like I had a knife stabbingmy stomach.

One day, I lifted my pant leg to scratch myself andwhen I saw my thighs I really was scared because I sawhow skinny I looked. I looked like someone that hadcome out of a concentration camp. I looked like a skel-eton. I could not walk and I was dying because of thedrugs. I actually wanted to die because I could not be-lieve that I had fallen so low. I could not believe that Iwas in such a horrid condition. I was without friends,without family, without a country or anyone that knewanything about me. I decided to kill myself. I went up tothe roof of a building and thought about throwing my-self down, but something held me back from doing it.The hand of God had started working in me.

I had a friend that was a delinquent. One day I sawhis picture in a newspaper. I thought he had been caughtbecause of something he had done so I bought the news-paper to see. As I read, I saw that he was actually fight-ing for the custody of his daughter. His wife would notlet him see her because of what he was. In the newspa-per my friend argued that he was no longer the sameperson and that Christ had changed his life. Since I didnot know anything about Christ or believe in anything,

I did not think any of what he was saying was true.Then one day I sawmy friend and noticed somethingdifferent about him. He was no longer the same. Hisway of talking, his stare, his expression and every-thing about himhad changed. I finally asked him aboutwhat I had read in the newspaper. He told me thatChrist had really changed his life, but I still did notbelieve him. I continued to see him now and then, andI always tried to see something wrong with him, but Icould not. Every time, I was more convinced that hewas a new person. I started treating him with morerespect.

As time went by, I continued the same. I was leftwith nothing and every one turned their back on mebut this oneman. He always came byme and talked tome. Sometimes I would avoid him because I thoughtit would not be good for him to be seen with someonelike me. This man would always try to cheer me upand tell me that God had a plan for my life. When hewould say things like that I thought he was crazy. Icould not figure out howGod could want anything todo with a man like me, but my friend always told methe same thing, �Hey Cuban! Do not worry; God hasa plan for your life.� Hewould never say �Good-bye�,or �See you later�, but he would always say thosesame words to me. One day I was lying on the en-trance of a building. I was feeling very sick and Ithought I was dying. I fell asleep and was awakenedby apoliceman that lived there in the building. I jumpedup and apologized for being in the way, but to mysurprise he was not upset at me. He walked in andthen he turned around and handed me a tract and toldme to read it while I was resting. I read it and it wasabout the love of Christ. I thought about Christ, myfriend, and this man, who instead of rebukingme andtelling me off for being at the door of his house, hadtreated me nicely. I thought about all these thingsand told myself it was all happening by chance. Idismissed it from my mind. I crossed the street andsat on the edge of the sidewalk because I still felt sickand I started to throw up.

I was in terrible pain and was holding my stom-ach with both hands, when I felt someone walk up tome and I heard him tellme ¨How long are you going tobe like this?¨ I had never seen this person before inmy life. Since I was sick, in pain, and mad, I felt liketelling him off. But I held back my temper, because Ithought he had probably mistaken me for someoneelse. I told him not to worry about me because I didnot havemuch left. I really felt like I was going to diesoon. He then realized that I was not the person hethought I was, but what he told me changed my lifefrom then on. He told me that he knew who couldheal me and change me. He said that he had beensaved and changed even though he had been worsethan me. I asked him who it was that could changeme, because I thought he was talking about somedoctor. He told me that it was Christ Jesus. I thoughtto myself, �This is another one of those Christians. Iam just going to listen to all he has to say and then Iwill ask him for money to go get more drugs.�


Adalberto SuarezAdalberto and his wife Teresa are HeartCry missionaries in the district of Santa Claraoutside the city of Lima, Peru. Their dedication and love for the people is a challenge toall who know them.

I did not know that this was the man that God wasusing to leadme toHim.He started tellingme howGodhad changed his life and could change mine and that itwas the only way for me to be changed into a newcreature. He spoke to me about a Christian rehabilita-tion center where I could have a chance, a place wherehe had been, and where he hadmet Christ. He told methat with God�s help, and the pastor�s help, he hadbeen changed. When he finished, I did not ask him formoney. He toldme that there was a place where peoplelike me could find help and I decided to go there thatsame day. The man who was talking to me took methere.

When I arrived at the center I was afraid becauseI thought they would kick me out when they saw howI looked, but I was surprised. The place looked niceand I was received by pastor Carlos Antesana, a manwhose life is dedicated to the rescue of people that areaddicted to drugs and alcohol. He, his wife and chil-dren, and the people that were there received me likethey knew me, with such love that I cannot under-stand until this day. I saw God�s love manifested inthem. The pastor explained to me the process of reha-bilitation. He said that it was only Christ alone whocould save me and that if I deposited my trust in Him,Hewould changemy life. He said over and over that ifI surrendered toChrist and followedHim thatHewouldchange me.

I spent the next fifteen days in bed. I felt like Icould not take anymore because of the pain I had in allmy body. I went to the pastor and told him that I wasleaving and that I appreciated the way they had treatedme. I told him the lie that I wanted to find a job and dosomething for my life, but it was only a pretext to getout and find me some drugs. The pastor told me thathe knew that I was lying and that he knew I wanteddrugs. He explained to me that if I had truly given mylife to Christ, then I would have to give Him all myburdens too. He told me that I was a child of God, andthat I could ask Him for help as a son would ask hisfather.

I did not understand how Icould give to God all my desires

to steal and rob and find drugs, but the pastor read mea verse that said that if I had a burden I could lay it onHim by praying. He toldme to go out bymyself and cryout toGod for help, to tell Him how I felt and to askHimto help me be strong. He also said that if things did notchange after that, he would giveme the bus fare himselffor me to leave.When he toldme those things I saw thathe was so sure about what he said that I did not feel likeleaving.

Another day came and I began to feel very sick andmy body needed drugs, but this time I went off by my-self to pray. I did not know how to pray, but I remem-bered what the pastor had said. He had told me thatprayer was just talking to God like I would a person thatwas there listening. At first the words would not comeout, but then everything spilled out. I told God thingsthat I had not told anyone and that I had inside for sucha long time. I told them all to God until I started to cry somuch that I could not stop or understand why I wascrying. I felt such real peace that I never felt before aftersuch pain and suffering. I felt it so strong I becameafraid that if I opened my eyes I would find someonestanding there.

From that day on, I started depending on Christ.As timewent by, my dependence onHim grew strongerand He started to change my life. I quit drugs and Godaccomplishedwhat I could not dowithmy ownwill andstrength. I give all the glory to Him and bless Him forwhat He has done in me.

I worked in the center for seven years. In that time,the Lord helpedme to grow in His knowledge and I wasused of Him there. I have seenmany people in the sevenyears I spent there and I have seen how the Lordchanged them and still uses them even now. Others Iknow are now married and live good lives with theirfamilies. These are all demonstrations to me of God�spower, because I have seen howGod has changed them.As for me, God had been too wonderful. How can I askanything else from him? He has given me a wonderfulwife and family. My wife could not have children, butGod gave us a beautiful baby girl that we adopted. Hername is Elizabeth Joyce. She was three days old whenwe got her, and we love her like she was our own.

My name is Adalberto Suarez and Iwas born in Cerro de Pasco, a mining re-gion of Peru, high in the Andes Moun-tains. I was eight years old when I firstheard about Christ. As a young boy Ihad the desire to follow Christ, but I didnot understand the Gospel and was un-converted. When I was a teenager, myparents and I moved to Huancayo so thatI could finish my high school studies.On completingmy education, Imoved

to Lima and began to work with my father�sfamily. I had planned to study in the conventand become a priest in the Catholic Church,but my plans quickly changed. My father�sfamily was very religious and yet I could seethat theywere full of idolatry and sin. I becamediscouraged about religion and soon lost alldesire for it. I began to live my life like anyother young man who was unconverted.

In 1982, I moved to a very poor area out-side of Lima calledAte Vitarte, Santa Clara. It

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broken because I realized that I had never thought orcared about God�s opinion. It was at that moment thatI began to see my great need of God and I began at-tending church in order to seek His face. One night Ilooked around me and saw the love the brothers hadshown to me and God spoke to my heart. That samenight I was converted and gave my life to Christ. Ev-eryone in the church received me joyfully, evenTeresa�s father who had beaten me. I thank God forhaving mercy on me and patience when I was onlythinking about myself.

The next day I spoke toTeresa�smother and askedher if I could speak to her husband about dating theirdaughter now that I had become a Christian. But shesaid that it would not be possible to date her daughteruntil I became amature believer. She also said that herhusband would be waiting to see if I had really be-come aChristian before hewould allowme to get closeto his daughter.

After a fewmonths in the Church, I was baptizedbut not because I was wanting to please Teresa or herfather, but because I knew that as a Christian it wassomething that God demanded from me. I began toreceive discipleship, and no longer worried aboutTeresa or her parents. I had a peace about waiting forGod tomove inmy favor. I knew thatGodwould do allinHis time.

As timewent by, I became a very active Christian.I obeyed Teresa�s parents and saw Teresa only inChurch. One day when I least expected it her fathercalled me to speak with him. He told me that he hadbeen observing my life and that he was pleased withthe way I had grown. He gave me permission to visithis daughter at their home and six months later weweremarried. Not long afterTeresa and IweremarriedI felt the call of God to serveHim full-time as pastor ofthe Church where I received Christ. As I pastored, Ialso studied at night in a Bible institute.

God has blessedmywife andmewith a sonwhomwe love very much. His name is Jonathan. He came tous as a blessing and a miracle because we could nothave children. His mother had died giving him birthand the father could not raise him and did not wanthim because he blamed him for the death of his wife.God opened the doors and everything worked out forus to adopt him. He has been a blessing and a joy tous from the first day. We have dedicated him to theLord and hope that one day he will serve God with allhis heart. He loves God and says that he wants to bea pastor and missionary like his father.

I praise God for his innumerable mercies in mylife. For savingme, for shapingmy life and for allow-ing me to serve Him by preaching His Gospel to thepeople here in Peru. I cry every time I tell this testi-mony and I neverwill be tired or bored of telling it overand over again. Christ is the only way and in Himalone can anyone find salvation.

Amen.

was there that I met a Christian girl namedTeresaNunez.I liked her very much and she witnessed to me aboutChrist and about the work that Christ had carried out inher family. I was unconverted and without the knowl-edge of God, and so I took it all as a nice story, butnothing more. She would not go out with me because Iwas not a Christian, but she would always witness to meand treat me as a friend. Since I liked her so much Iwouldwait for her outside of the placewhere sheworkedand walk her to her home. She would use the time toshare with me about her faith.

After a short time, her father found out that therewas a youngmanwalking his daughter home fromwork.One night as wewalked to her house he jumped out fromthe bushes with a belt in his hand and began to chaseme and beat me as I tried to run away. I tried to talk tohim and tell him that I respected his daughter and hadgood intentions but this man would not hear a wordfromme! As I ran, I fell into a ditch full of water. WhenI was pulling myself out of the water, I looked back andsaw that the oldmanwas still coming after me. I tried toreason with him since I could not run because of mywetclothes, but he continued to beat me with the belt.

It was at that moment that my salvation finally ar-rived! His wife Josefina yelled out to him, �Antonio!What do you think you are doing? You are a Christian,how can you behave like that! What kind of testimonyare you giving this boy?� When she arrived to wherewewere, she apologized tome for her husband�s actionsand asked me to please come the next day to their houseso that we could talk about everything. This good ladytold me that she and her family were Evangelical Chris-tians and that if I intended to have a serious relationshipwith her daughter that this would not be possible be-cause I was not a Christian.

The next day I was told that I could not see Teresaanymore or have any type of relationship with her be-cause I was not a Christian. I was very sad, but as timewent by, I began to attend her Church. At first I stoodoutside of the Church and would not enter because Iwas afraid of her father. Little by little I made my waycloser to the building and listened from afar. One dayTeresa�s mother sawme near the door and invited me tocome in. She told me that it would be OK and that herhusband would not do anything bad to me. Because ofher words, I finally had the courage to enter the build-ing. I did all of this because I really loved Teresa, butwas blind to the lovewith whichGodwas drawingme toHimself. I attended the church only to impress Teresaand her father. I wanted them to see that I was a goodand moral man, but her father Antonio would not evenlook at me or give me permission to speak with her.

One day I sent word to Teresa that we needed torun away and be married. I told her that I loved her andthat we should disobey her family. She did not agreewith my proposal and told me that she could not dis-honor her family or her God. When I heard her responseit really broke me. I was sad that she did not love me�enough� to agree with my plans, but I was even more


Angel ColmenaresBrother Angel and his wife Efigenia are serving the Lord as missionaries in the depart-ment of Piura in northern Peru. God has used them to direct a movement that has grownto over 600 churches in the rural areas.

When I was a child, my fatherwould tell me stories from theBible. When I was a young ado-lescent my father found a NewTestament and Psalms in the gar-bage and gave it to me. In oneyear, I read it through severaltimes and it helped me begin tounderstand the things ofGod. Af-ter about a year of reading on myown, I found a Baptist Church.The pastor told me about Jesus

and I became a Christian. I was amazed when thepreacher told me that God so lovedAngel Colmenaresthat He gave His only begotten Son, so that if Angelbelieved in Him, he would be saved. The night of myconversion, the pastor gave me a box of Gospel tractsand I gave them all away in the street before I reached

Daniel ColmenaresDaniel and his wife Jenny are working ministering in the department of Piura in northern Peru. Daniel iscurrently directing the seminary in Sullana and working alongside his father Angel.

I was born onApril 16, 1976. My father andmother aremissionariesAngel and Efigenia Colmenares. Since

I was born, I attended Sunday School and Church withmy family.As I grew older I always readmyBible andsang hymns to the Lord. Despite my religious devo-

tions, I did not know the Lord andhad no peace. I would continuein sins such as lying and dis-obeying my parents, but had notrue repentance.When I was eight years old, I

began to understand the Wordof God. I began to see that I wasnot saved and that I was goingto lose my life in hell. The firstSunday ofMarch in 1984, I heardmy father preach a sermon onhell. I realized that I was on theroad to that place, and that Christdid not dwell in my heart. Whenmy father finished his sermon, hegave an invitation and I re-sponded. I was eight years oldand very small for my age. Be-

my house. He also gave me the Gospel message on arecord that I played over and over on the record playerinmy house. When people came tomy house I wouldhave them sit down and listen to the Good New ofJesus Christ on the record player. I even made theJehovahWitnesses listen to the record whenever theycame to our house.

In time, I knew that God was calling me to pre-paremyself to serve Him. I did not knowwhere to goor what to do, but I knew that God was calling me toserve Him in preaching His Word, the Holy Gospel.To me it was a message so great and sweet and pow-erful, that I thought that thewholeworld should know.I thought to myself, �How could it be possible thatthere are people who do not know this message thatis so beautiful, and that there is no one who wants topreach to them.� I thought to myself, �I will do allthat is possible to preach this message to them.�

cause of this, some people laughed at mewhen I wentforward to profess Christ, but I was serious. I hadcome to receive Christ as my Savior. The counselorsdid not talk to me because they did not take me seri-ously, but when I arrived atmy house, my father cameto me, and explained the Gospel in a way that I couldtruly understand. I prayed to Christ and told him thatI was repenting of my sins that I had committed, andI received him intomy heart. That moment I gavemylife to Christ and Christ began to govern me.

From the moment of my conversion, my life be-gan to change. I became a better student and beganto live the Christian life as Christ wanted. I began toread theBiblemore and to understand the life ofChrist.Aweek after my conversion, I went withmy father tothe river Chira and he baptized me there. My fatherand I were the only ones at the river and yet I believethat the Father, Son andHoly Spirit were also present.I was very happy that day because I knew that I hadobeyed the Lord.

Daniel Colmenares

�...Despite my religious devotions, I did not know the Lord and had nopeace. I would continue in sins such as lying and disobeying my

parents, but had no true repentance ...�

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Gregorio Chavez LezcanoPastor Gregorio is a missionary in northern Peru between thecities of Sullana and Piura. He presently has two works in theDepartment of Piura, one in Juan Bosco and the other in Tacalá.

Before I became a Christian, I was an insomniac. After seeingmany doctors and spending money on analysis, the doctors toldme that I was going to die. They told me to go to the witches tosee if they could help me, because medicine could do nothing. Iwent to see three different witches. On the last of the three visitsI was accompanied by one of my good friends. After the visit, myfriend died and this frightenedme terribly. Because of his death, Ibegan to think about what would happen to me when I died.Being worried about what would happen to my soul, I began toread a Bible that I had in my house for thirteen years withoutreading. In 1979, the 17th ofApril, I was repairing a radio receptor(I am a radio technician by profession) and I heard the preachingof the Gospel. That moment I received Christ asmy personal Lordand Savior. That same Sunday I went to a Church and since thatday I have never missed a service.

Francisco �Paco� LaosPaco has been one my closest friends and co-workers. We covered many milestogether through jungles, over mountains, and down rivers. He is working inthe Church of the Savior in Barranco.

to me a place called �CentroNacer.� When I heard thename, something jumped inmy heart and I knew that thereI would be changed.

When I arrived at the cen-ter, the people gave me morelove than I had ever experi-enced in my life and whenthey told me about Christ Iknew that He must have beenthe source of their love. Im-mediately, I acceptedChrist asmy Savior. I began to cry andI felt as though through mytears every bit of the evil I had done was coming out of meand leaving me forever. After my conversion, I began tochange, but the circumstances around my life were almostunbearable. If God had not kept me through His Word andSpirit, I would have never made it through those difficulttimes.

Paco

Even though it brings me no pleasure torecall my life before Christ, I will do it as manytimes as is necessary that God might be glori-fied in the saving power of the cross and in myredemption.

I was an alcoholic for eighteen years and adrug addict for fifteen. During that time I wasextremely violent and dangerous. I would doanything to obtain the drugs and alcohol thatenslaved me. Once in a fit of rage I almostkilledmyown father andmany times I attemptedto take my own life. I hated myself and every-one else.

I often sought help from different secularinstitutions that offered freedom from my ad-diction, but I never changed. As soon as I wasreleased from one institution, I would seek outthe drugs and alcohol that I craved. I was likea pig that returns to its ownmire and a dog thateats its own vomit. I had become the demonpossessed man of Gadarenes who could noteven be bound by chains. Finally, when I wasat the end of all hope someone recommended

�... the people gave me more love than I had ever experi-enced in my life and when they told me about Christ Iknew that He must have been the source of their love...�


Segundo RodriguezSegundo is currently pastoring the Church of the Savior in Barranco and assisting inthe care and theological training of many of the HeartCry missionaries in Peru.

I first heard the Word ofGod when I was very young.When Iwas a child, a local churchopened a Bible club near myhouse. The purpose of the Bibleclub was to teach the Word ofGod to children likemyself. I wasgreatly influenced by this group,but was not converted. Theirteaching was biblical, but it didnot keepme from becoming a re-bellious and disobedient son.

The first to be convertedinmy familyweremymother and

my older brother. My brother soon gave his life to theministry and has now been pastoring for more than 25years. When I was eleven years old, I made a profes-sion of faith in Christ. I was suffering from a terriblefever and was delirious. I was gripped by the fear ofdeath and so professed Christ as my Savior. It soonbecame evident that my profession was false. My lifedid not change, but became worst. It was my brotherwho used the Scriptures to show me that I had notbeen genuinely converted to Christ.

From the time I was eleven until I was convertedat the age of twenty-two, my life was rebellious anddisobedient. I lived in a very disorderly fashion andthere was nothing good that I can speak of. When Ientered the army to fulfill my requiredmilitary service,my moral and spiritual condition only grew worse.When I left the army, I decided that the best way tomake the greatest amount of money in the shortestperiod of time was to become involved in the drugtrade in the jungles of Peru. I praise God that, althoughI was a very wicked person, He did not permit me to

enter into the drug trade. Afterliving in the jungles of Peru fortwo years, I returned to the city

of Trujillo on the coast of northern Peru. There I con-tinued living a very sinful life until my conversion.

My conversion occurred as a result of my olderbrother who was teaching in the Baptist Seminary inTrujillo. He went to one of the NorthAmerican mis-sionaries who was building a house and asked him togiveme a jobworking in construction. I give praise toGod that the missionary hired me and I began to seeand hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ through his life.

I was converted onMonday, June 29, 1987. I willnever forget that day. I woke up at five in the morn-ing. The room seemed so dark that I wondered if I haddied. When I realized that I was still alive, I began toask myself some very important questions: �Am Igoing to live in such disorder and emptiness for therest of my life?� �Is this the reason why God createdme?� �Is there not a better life out there than what Iam living?� These questions caused me to begin tothink about Jesus Christ. I knew that I should givemylife to Him. I knew that He was the only one whocould giveme a better life. I knew, but I was distractedby other questions: �Could I ever leave behind mysinful way of life and my bad habits?� �What wouldall my friends say if I was converted?� �Could I everfulfill the demands that Christ and His Gospel placeduponmy life?� Inside ofme therewas a terrible strugglefor many hours. It was about eleven in the morningbefore I finally decided to givemy life to Jesus Christ.

Since I was already at the Seminary, I began tolook for the missionary whose house I was building.It was almost two in the afternoon before I found him.With the missionary, I cried out to the Lord, �Lord, Iam tired of living like I am living. If you can giveme abetter life than what I have, then I entrust my life toyou.� After listening to the missionary�s counsel, Iwalked away, looked up into the sky, and said, �DearLord, live your life in me.� My life was changed inthat very instant.

Ernesto ZacaríasErnesto and his wife Concepción are very dear to our hearts. They have been ourfriends since the mid-eighties and continue to be trusted coworkers. Brother Ernesto isa hard working soul winner who still relies heavily on door to door, one on one evan-gelism. He is one of the most successful church planters in Lima, Peru.

Myname is Ernesto Zacarías andmywife�s name is Concepción. All our chil-dren are Christians and three of them arein the ministry. Two of my sons are pas-tors and my daughter works in the Bap-tist Seminary in the city of Truijillo.

Before I was converted to Christian-

ity, I was a truck driver. Since I did not knowChrist, I lived a very wicked life of drunken-ness and friendship with the world. I believethat I was one of the greatest sinners that hasever lived on earth. But now I give thanks toGod that Christ came in His time to save me,forgive all my sins and buy me with His pre-

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cious blood that He shed on Calvary. I have come tounderstand that the greatest thing that can happen toa man is for him to have Christ dwelling in his heartand to live for Christ. There is nothingmore beautifulforme than towork for theGlory ofGod and theHonorof Jesus Christ our Savior. I can tell you with all con-fidence and security that there is nothing more won-derful than to live for Christ and to have His peace,

love and joy in my heart. Before knowing Christ, mylife was boring and full of anger and wrath; but whenChrist entered my heart everything changed. My lifechanged,my family changed andmy children changed.Nowwe live in the light of the gloriousGospel of graceand there is only one thing for us to do - serve Jesuswith all our heart, strength, and mind.

Sorin ProdanSorin is the HeartCry director over Eastern Europe. He is responsible for34 missionaries and their families. The following is the testimony of hisconversion.

I was born in 1975, in a small village in the north-ern part of Romania. My parents were considered tobe one of the richest families in the village becausethey had a large farm and many people who workedfor them. Their social status was modified after thefirst Communist regime took power in 1950. The col-lectivization process, which started in 1959, left mygrandparents without any land and the Communistsconfiscated all their animals. My grandfather couldnot bear all that had happened to him. He felt his lifehad been destroyed. He became an alcoholic and fi-nally committed suicide.

I spentmy childhood in thewonderful atmosphereof the village life. Even though we only attended theOrthodox Church twice a year at Easter and Christ-mas, I was sensitive to the things I understood aboutGod. During the second Communist regime led byNicolae Ceausescu, it became quite difficult to attendchurch, but this did not have a great effect on ourfamily.Wewere typical Orthodox.We lived accordingto the traditions and attended the church only duringtimes of celebration.

Although there was some religion in my life, mysoul cried out for something more. I did not knowwhat I was looking for at the time, but I knew thatthere was something in me that desired a change. Tofulfill this desire in my heart, I focused my interest onworking in the cultural projects that were sponsoredduring the Communist regime. For mywork in chore-ography, I won the first place in classical dances inRomania�s greatest festival.

Because of my achievements in dance and otherforms of art, I thought that I would dedicate my life toartistic achievement, but one Sunday in the spring of1985 everything changed. I learned that a small groupof Baptist believers had moved into a room that be-longed to some of our neighbors. I was disturbed be-cause of the presence of this �sect� and thereforerefused any invitation to visit. Finally my curiosityovercamemy prejudice and I visited themeetings oneSunday morning. I wanted to see what kind of peoplethe �Baptists� really were.

That Sunday was a real shock for me because I

found exactly whatmy soul had beencrying for. Eventhough I was still achild, I saw the dif-ference between theempty Orthodox re-ligion and the groupof people calledBaptists. Theyseemed to trulyknow God. Theirfaith was simpleand yet so deep andsincere. The atmosphere of spiritual unity, the songsthat were full of life and the sermons overwhelmedmyvery being.

After the service, I met the pastor, JoldisConstantin. He is a great man of God who eventuallybecame my mentor and spiritual father. Abandoningthe dancing team and my ideas to became a dancer,produced a very violent reaction from the Communistteachers at my school. I became very active inmobiliz-ing a group of 30 young people from school that be-gan to attend the church and to take mission trips toother churches in our county. Finally, the conflict withthe teachers became so serious that they decided toexpel me from school. They discovered that I was at-tending the Baptist church and labeled me a revolu-tionary. They demanded that I renouncemy faith. Eventhough it was a great pressure, I decided to keep myfaith in God and to be expelled from school, but thenGod intervened. The night before the teachers were toexpel me, a Hungarian teacher who had attended ourchurch secretly, succeeded in making them changetheir decision. God used this man to keepme in schooland save my family the disgrace of having a son ex-pelled from school for being a Christian and a revolu-tionary. This was the first experience that taught menot to worry, but to be dedicated to God and live witha passion for Him.


Stan FlorinBrother Stan is working with Nicolae Vulpe and the rest of the team to plant a church in theRomanian city of Pucioasa.

Daniel CocosBrother Daniel was one of the first missionaries that we supported in the country of Roma-nia. He is currently pastoring and planting churches around the city of Buzau.

Iwasborn in anOrthodox family in1977.God began to work in my life at the age ofseventeen. I was reading a great deal andone day, I could not find a new book to readand so I began to read a New Testament.Since that very moment the Lord began todeal withmy life. Prior to reading theBible, Ihad a good opinion about myself. I consid-eredmyself to be a good person and I thoughtthat God had nothing against me. I thoughtthat only the murderers and thieves weregoing to hell.As I read the Bible, I sawmanyverses that accused me and I began to feelguilty. I had many wild friends, and I en-

joyed drinking with them. I thought that those things werenormal things to do, but after reading the Bible I was dis-

gusted by them and I realized that I was goingto hell. I tried to talk to my friends about it butthey laughed in my face and told me to live theonly life I had. Because they were not inter-ested, I began to look for the right people withthe same problems I had. I had heard about�Repenters� and so I attended one of their gath-erings. The message pierced my heart and Idecided to go back. My decision to associatewith the Baptist Repenters was revolting to myclosest friends, but I continued to go. I under-stood that Christ died for my sins on the 23rd ofJune 1995,when I receivedHimasmyLord andSavior. That day, I received a new life and Iwant to serve Christ until the end!

Cristi CiucãCristi is currently working in youth and missions with the Holy Trinity Baptist Church inBucharesti, Romania.I grew up in a Christian orthodox family, butmy mother was raised in a Baptist family. Ithank God that she decided to follow theLord when I was eight and helped me andmy two sisters to know the Lord. She tookme with her to church, against my father�swill. When I was a teenager, I wanted myfather to be against it so that I would nothave to go anymore. I was addicted to soc-cer and Sunday was the only day I couldplay.My father was an electrician. When I wasseventeen years old, he asked me if I wouldlike to go to a TV and Radio MaintenanceSeminar. Although I was in a History-Phi-losophy High school, and I had other planson my mind, I decided to go. The seminarswere being held on Thursdays in a buildingclose to the Baptist church. This was thesame day as the worship service. I began to

attend inNovember 1990. OneThursday, I feltlike somebody told me to go to church. I wentthere and at first I was a bit embarrassed andwanted to leave. Seeing all my friends therechangedmymind. I kept on going but still noton Sundays. I got back in the midst of teensbut never thought that I needed to make acertain decision. One Thursday evening, asusual, I was in church. I was with my friendsand not paying toomuch attention to themes-sage. Suddenly something began to draw myattention. I could not see or hear anyone. Itwas like my mind was in a fog. I could onlyhear the pastor saying, �You need to do ittoday.Why will you not do it today?� I raisedmy hand and it was like the world changed.They usually do not give invitations on Thurs-day unless it is a special occasion. It was nota special occasion for the church, but it wasforme.

Word and whether or not the Baptist Church wasreally teaching the truth. I began to study the Bibleto find its mistakes and to show the people that theBible was wrong so that they would no longer read it.But as I studied the Bible, I became very impressedwith the message. I began to realize that the Bible

Ever since I was a child my par-ents took me to church and taughtme how to pray and read my Bible.In 1981, I gavemy life to JesusChrist.Prior to that time, I struggled withwhether or not the Bible was God�s

Volume42 27

decided that the Baptist Church was what I needed.Through studying the Word of God in the BaptistChurch I understood that the most important thingwas salvation by grace and through faith in Jesus.When I was eighteen I was baptized.

was something supernatural.Having come to believe that the Bible was the

Word of God, I had to face my second problem -Werethe Baptists teaching the truth? I went to every churchand watched their worship and preaching. Finally, I

NicolaeVulpeBrother Nicolae is working with Florin Stan and the rest of the team to plant achurch in the Romanian city of Pucioasa.

I was born in Republic of Moldova in a BaptistChristian family. From my childhood, I attended theSunday School and the adult service in the church.My parents were very faithful people. My father wasa preacher and my mother led the choir. My brothersand sisters inherited the talent of singing from ourparents and we served God with our gifts. Being theyoungest son in my family I was helped by my twosisters and especially by my older brother who was amodel forme.

My brother was a very evangelistic person whotraveled a great deal and sang in villages and townwhere there were no churches. I used to join him in hismission and I loved to share theGospelwith the people.In 1992, he organized an evangelistic meeting in a vil-lage where no one had ever heard the Gospel. I was ina group of 25 young people whowere trained to coun-sel those who repented. I was standing up front whenthe preacher shared the Gospel and invited the peopleto come and repent. In that moment, the Holy Spiritworked in my heart, and I realized that although I had

come to lead other people toChrist, I myself was not a Chris-tian. I had never accepted Jesusas Savior. Even though the HolySpirit revealed this to me, I wasashamed to go before the oth-ers because I was the one whohad come to share Christ withthem. What would the youngpeople say about me?

I hesitated, but then I re-membered what John Wesleysaid after he returned from hismission inAmerica: � ...but whowill saveme!�At that moment, Idecided to tell everybody that I accepted Jesus. I feltimmediately the power of the Holy Spirit and I wasborn again. What a blessed day! Two months afterthat I was baptized in the river of Prut. I was fifteenand from that moment on I wanted to serve Jesus as amissionary.

VadimBulgacVadim is a HeartCry missionary working in the city of Bacioi, Moldova. He is a

church planter and also teaches history at a local school.

When I married my wife Ina in 1995, she was at-tending the services of a Baptist church. Her grand-mother was a very godly believer who prayed her en-tire Christian life for her children and grandchildren. Itwas from Ina that I first heard that a church calledBaptist even existed. In the beginning, I was not inter-ested at all. After my wedding, I went to a Baptistchurch, but I left very disappointed because they hadno candles or icons. In that same year, at Easter, Ivisited my parents-in-law and my mother-in-law in-vited me to the Baptist Church where she attended. Iwent and listened to the message but what impressedme the most was at the end of the service the pastorapproached me saying: �Christ has risen!� I was veryimpressed. The following week I joined the pastor�sBible study. Since I had read the Bible before, I askedhim all kinds of questions. At the end of every meet-ing, we would walk home together and discuss bibli-cal matters. Being a student in history, I asked ques-tions about evolution, trying to embarrass him. But he

showedme that my conceptionsabout life meant nothing to him.After one week, I went toChisinau where I continued toread theBible andmeditate uponit. It was there that I felt God�scalling and the burden of mysins, but I hesitated. God wasshowingme things, but I was notready. During the next summervacation, I went back to the Bap-tist Church and joined in the ser-vices and the Bible studies, butI still did not have the courageto repent. I thought about myfriends and my parents whowould not consider me to be their child anymore. Fi-nally, one Sunday morning, together with my wife, Iwent forward and professed faith in Christ. After thestudies for new converts, we were both baptized.


Wally VasylovychWally is a HeartCry missionary in the country of Ukraine. He is a tremendous blessing

as a minister, translator, and educator.

Our God is an amazing God, andso everythingHe does is amazing.Myname is Wally Vasylovych and I amthirty-five years old. The first twenty-one years of my life I did not knowGod or His saving power. I just livedas the other people lived around me.It was a time when we all lived underthe Soviet Union and we had beentaught that there was no God. I neverthought about spiritual matters.

Oneday,mymothermet awomanwhowas believer. She gave her a copyof the New Testament (at that time it

was very difficult to get one). So my mother began toread it to me. I did not pay much attention to what Iheard. I remembered only two stories from that time:Jesus walking on the water and the multiplication ofbread and fish to thousands of people.

After I graduated from college, I went to theArmy.When I returned homemy father toldme thatmymotherhad repented and was attending the Baptist church.The woman who gave us the New Testament and herfamily had become her good friends and had invitedher to the church. When I came home from army theyinvited me too. I did not have any job at the time and Ithought it should be interesting to see what believersdo.

When I first arrived, I just looked around the sanc-tuary and thought it was very simple but nice. Sometime later I noticed that the preacher was preaching

something interesting. Then, before I knew it, it be-gan to touch my heart. Soon I felt like I was sittingalone in the church and the preacher was speakingdirectly to me. I began to feel that my heart was aplace of battle. I heard two voices that spoke to me.One voice told me that I should repent and receiveJesus as my Savior. Another voice said that I shouldnot hurry. There was enough time and I could do itlater. A month passed and every time I was in thechurch, one voice told me that if I repented all myfriends would laugh at me and reject me. It even toldme that I would die themoment I repented. I was veryafraid. But I was even more afraid when the pastorgave the invitation and I could not make myself goforward. I realized that if I did not repent I wouldspend eternity in hell without God.

Finally, on October 7, 1989, by the grace of God,I responded to the quiet and loving voice of my Sav-ior Jesus and repented. It�s impossible to express thefeelings that I had at that moment. It was like a greatstone fell offmy shoulders. Joywas overflowing frommy heart. I had a peace and love that I did not havebefore and a strong desire to study the Word of God.I envied the young preachers who preached from theBible. I wanted to know theBible like them. I attendedevery church service and every event in the church.Twomonths later, I was baptized in Central Baptist inChernivtsi. But before I could be baptized, the eldersof the church told me that I had to quit the youngcommunist party. It was a very frightening thing todo, but the Lord gave me strength to obey.

MoisesMarinBrother Moises Marin is supported as a HeartCry Missionary. He works as the supervisorover our Gypsy missionaries in Romania and is Director of the Peniel School for GypsyChildren. The following is the testimony of his conversion, call, and ministry.

thing for me was to join the army so I left my familyand traveled to the capital city of Bucharest. I knewthat to become an officer in the army I had to do wellin school and be a good fighter, so I worked in theday, studied at night, and began to train as a boxer. Iwas very dedicated to my goals, but I had one terribleproblem - I drank a lot. One night after graduatingfrommy studies, I got drunk and found myself in themiddle of a terrible fight. The police came and chasedus. I was hit by a car and developed amnesia. After Irecoveredmymemory, I presentedmyself formilitaryservice, but the officials told me that all gypsies wereliars and thieves and that I would never be an officer.Very discouraged, I decided to enter themilitary know-ing that I would never have the opportunity to be an

I was born in 1965 in a small vil-lage about 50 miles from Bucharest.My father was an alcoholic and welived in the slums next to the towncemetery. My father was very abu-sive. There was hardly a day thatpassed in which he did not beat mymother or us children. We never hadfood because my father spent all themoney we had on liquor. If I everaskedmy father formoney to eat or togo to school, he would beat me andsend me to the fields to work.

By the time I was 16 years old, Iwas very bad. I decided that the best

Volume42 29

officer. However, the night beforemy enlistment, I gotdrunk and lost all my identification and my commu-nist party card.

After months of struggle, I was finally able toreestablish my identity and enlist, but on the day ofmy enlistment, I heard two men where I worked talk-ing about God. They were excited about a church ser-vice where God had done great things. I asked them ifI could gowith them. They toldme to be there at 6pm,but I arrived at 5pm to be sure that I wouldmeet them.When the man began to preach, I felt as though hewas talking tome. I began to cry. I left themeeting andall that I could think about was God and the message.I returned to hear the preaching every evening. Onthe last night there was a baptism. I wanted to bebaptized, but they did not let me because they werenot sure of my conversion.

Three months later, I went to a little village out-side of Bucharest and attended the little church thatwas there. Since I was fromBucharest, they thought Iwas an important person and so they asked me topreach. I was so ashamed because I knew nothingabout the Bible. I tried to preach the sermons I hadheard in Bucharest, but it did not turn out very well.Afterwards, I made a promise to God that I would bebaptized and that I would learn the Bible so that Imight be a good preacher for God�s people.

Now I am a follower of Jesus Christ and a mis-

sionary of the Gospel to my people, the Gypsies. Thestate of the Gypsies is very degraded. Sin, corruptionand crime are everywhere.Whether it is in the ghettosor in the country, the sin of my people stands out likea flag. No one wants the Gypsy. No one wants to hirehim, or associate with him. The Gypsies have no in-come, no respect, no medicine. Only 20% of the gyp-sies have a full time job, another 30%works part timewhen they can find work, and the rest cheat and steal.The aged have no retirement or income, they are sickand harassed, even beaten by their own children. Theyouth have no future and no skill except that of steal-ing. The young girls practice prostitution and manychildren are out of wedlock. The children are abusedand they learn only negative things because there isno positive thing to learn in such an environment.There is much violence and terror. The women are se-verely beaten especially if they become Christians.Most live in dilapidated apartment blockswithout elec-tricity, water or heating. My people, the Gypsies, arepushed to the edge of society and the Romanianpeople and government are not willing to do anythingto help them. Even the Christian Church has turned itsback on the Gypsies. This is why I am driven to preachthe Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gypsy. There are 5million gypsies in Romania andmore than 800,000 inthe capital of Bucharest. I believe that God has calledme to reach themwith the Gospel.

ToniAnghelBrother Toni is a HeartCry missionary planting churches among the Gypsy people ofRomania. He works in close coordination with brother Moises Marin.

I was born in an Orthodox family, butuntil I was twelve years old I had no knowl-edge of God. In 1990, a pastor came to ourcommunity and began a mission work. Theentire community was convicted of sin andmany people received Christ, including myfamily, but notme.At that same time, duringmy vacation, I went to work in the town ofMovila Verde. One night I went with myfriends to a wedding to have fun. In themiddle of the party, I felt a great sadness inmy heart. I knew it was time for me to givemy life to Christ. I went out and knelt downin a ditch and prayed to the Lord to havemercy onme. Ever since that day, Hismercyhas never stopped.

Afew years after my conversion, I was

livingwithmy family inBraila andwork-ing for a German company. I had manyopportunities to preach to my people theGypsies, but I did not because I hatedthem. They were such liars and thievesthat I believed that they did not deserveto live on the earth. Finally, in 1998 Godopenedmy eyes to see the need forwork-ers among the Gypsies. Like a miracleGod changed my heart and He made theGypsy people to be a part of my life. Ihave been serving among gypsies forthe last three years and I can say thatGod has givenme a special love for them.I have had the best times of my life be-side them.

�...The women are severely beaten especially if they become Christians.Most live in dilapidated apartment blocks without electricity, water orheating. My people, the Gypsies, are pushed to the edge of society...�


IonMarinIon is a HeartCry missionary plantingchurches among the Gypsy people of Ro-mania. Like the other Gypsy missionar-ies, he works in close coordination withbrother Moises Marin.

I was born in a very poor family offive children. My father was an alcoholicand there was always a lot of fighting inthe house. My father beat me and mybrothers constantly.

In 1980, therewas an evangelistic ser-vice in our village and I was very im-pressed by the Word of God. When Ireceived the Lord I could not contain myjoy. At themoment of my conversion, theChristian brothers told me that I had toget out ofmy oldworld and get intoGod�snew world. They pointed out to me thatChristians and their behaviormust alwaysbe different than the behavior of thosewho are in the world. They told me that Ihad no options. If I was going to be aChristian, my life had to change. Theyalso told me that only the Word of Godhad the power to change me and that itcould lead me much better than I couldleadmyself.

After two years, my church realizedthat God had called me to preach and sothey sent me to be an evangelist. I amnow preaching in the villages among theGypsy people of the Ramnicu Sarat areaand God is bringing much life to people.We have established places to meet andGod ismakingmany people fully devotedto Him. We usually meet in people�shouses because we have no buildings.Throughout the week, mywife and I visitthe people in the villages to make surethey are walking with God.

TomaMarianToma is a HeartCry missionaryplanting churches among the Gypsypeople of Romania. He works inclose coordination with brotherMoises Marin. We greatly appreci-ate the work that the Lord has donein and through brother Toma. He isa great blessing to us and we countit a privilege to support him and hisministry.

I began to go to church when Iwas eight years old. My grand-mother tookme even thoughmy par-ents were not believers and were notpleased by the idea. Many times myparents locked the door to preventme from going and sometimes theyeven beat me. They often gave medifficult chores around the house sothat I would not make it in time forchurch. Sunday was always themostdifficult day for me because I did notknow what my parents would do tome. In spite of the trials, the Lordeventually worked in the heart of myentire family and tamed them.

One day, God spoke to methrough John 3: 16 and I realized thatI needed to giveHimmy life.When Iwas eighteen years old, I was bap-tized. My parents violently opposedme andmy father beat my sisters justbecause they attended. I did not gohome until my sisters told me that itwas safe. I praise God that He didnot stop with me, but continued towork in my family. I baptized my fa-ther last year and one of my sisters isnow a believer!

TomaMariusToma is a HeartCry missionary plantingchurches among the Gypsy people of Romania.He works in close coordination with brotherMoises Marin.

I was born in an orthodox family and eventhough my parents did not have a personal rela-tionshipwith Christ they gaveme a religious edu-cation. My father read the Bible and asked me tolearn the Lord�s Prayer. Because of the things Iread in the Bible, I became fearful and was con-stantly on guard against disobeying my parentsand using bad language. I was afraid to hangaround with bad children and the other childrencalled me a �Repenter�. I hated that they calledme this name and so I gave in to the pressurefrom the others and started to become like them.I began to drink, gamble, and swear. Everyonewho knewme before as a quiet boy saw that I hadchanged. They said that I was in the wrong way.I felt very satisfied in my sin until one evening inmy bed. All alone, I began to feel an emptinessand a bitterness that I cannot describe.

One day there was an evangelistic meetingin my area and so I attended. I enjoyed how theywere praying and praising the lord and appreci-ated that they had come from a long way to tellme about God. They stirred inme the desire to goto the Baptist Church and the next Sunday I went.I never felt so much love like I felt there. I startedto go there regularly and God began to deal withmy heart. I realized that I was a sinner and that Ineeded a personal relationship with Him. I cansay that He filled the emptiness in my life andwas there forme in all my problems. I became thefirst convert in my area that would study to be-come a pastor. My desire was to serve Him withall my life and to become a missionary. The lastthing that I want to say is that thanks to Him Ihave the assurance that I am going to heaven!

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AbrahamBabalolaAbraham is a HeartCry missionary to Benin. He is achurch planter working in close coordination withbrother Solomon Owolabi.

I was born in a religious family that believed thatgoing to church and observing all the necessary reli-gious practices would get them to heaven. Seeing the�deadness� and �impotence� ofmy family�s religion, Ibecame involved in the occult. I became a prophet ofdoom. I boasted in the devil�s power and was used tobring many people into occult practices.

I was engulfed in darkness, but one glorious day,someone witnessed to me about Jesus Christ. Theytoldme that He laid downHis life for my sins, and thatthere was salvation in Him alone. At that moment, Irealized that I was very deceived and full of error. Irealized that I was trusting in a false hope. I repentedof my sins and trusted Christ as my Lord and Savior.As I was growing in the Lord, I met a Christian girlnamedRebecca andweweremarried. God has blessedour marriage, and we now have six children.

In 1992, God burdened my heart to take a step of

faith and serve Him as His min-ister. I obeyedHis call formy life,but I did not knowwhat I shoulddo. I was willing to serve theLord with my life, but I felt thatthere was a great vacuum in methat needed to be filled. While Iwas going through this time ofstruggling, I met Dr. SolomonOwolabi, the director of BlueMountain Baptist Bible College,inOgbomoso,Nigeria. He talkedwith me at length and counseledme in the things ofGod.He chal-lengedme to prepare for themin-istry towhichGodhad calledme.I accepted his invitation to theBible College and have beentruly blessed. God greatly usedDr. Owolabi throughout my stay at the college, andcontinues to use him now. He has been a father and acounselor to me. Please pray for him always and askthe Lord to give him grace to keep �burning� for theLord.

DanielAmooDaniel is another of our HeartCry missionaries

in the country of Ghana. He is working as a churchplanter in association with Dr. Solomon Owolabi.

I am grateful to the Lord for I know that it is onlyby His grace that I stand and am able to testify of Hissaving power in my life.

My life in Christ began in 1976, during my firstyear at technical school.Afriend ofmine invitedme toaccompany him to hear a series of evangelistic mes-sages at the Baptist Church where he attended. It wasthere that, for the first time in my life, I heard the mes-sage of salvation. Dr. Solomon Owolabi of NorthernKaneshie was preaching and I could not resist thewords that were coming from the Word of God. Theyseemed to be directed only to me.

Though I had always considered myself to be avery righteous man, that day I realized I was nothingbefore the Lord, a sinner under wrath awaiting the dayofmy sentencing. The sermon I heard that night, mademe miserable the entire week. I could not escape thewords that I had heard. The message kept ringing inmy ears. Each time I considered what I heard, I felt the

menace of death all aroundme. Ireturned to the church the follow-ing Sunday looking for some re-lief, but my misery only becameworse. When the call came fromthe pulpit to repent of sin andtrust in Christ, I could not helpmyself. I had to obey, to cry outto the Lord to remove the miseryinmyheart.When I came forward,the pastors made me understandfrom the Scriptures that I was asinner, and that without JesusChrist, I was doomed to hell. Thatday, I cried out toGod in prayer. Iasked Him to forgive all my sinsand give me the life of Jesus. Atthat very moment there was a re-lease frommy terriblemisery and I knewwithout doubtthat I was saved. My life was transformed and joyflooded my heart. I knew that I was reconciled withGod and that I would one day be with Him in heaven.

Frank KarimuBrother Frank is a HeartCry missionary to Ghana. He is a church planter working in close coordinationwith brother Solomon Owolabi.

I was born of a father from the Alhaji tribe and amother from the Hajia tribe. My entire family, includ-ing all my brothers and sisters, are strict Muslims andpartakers of the Haj pilgrimage. Born into such a fam-

ily meant that I would be a Muslim by birth.When I was about four years old, myAlhaji father

died of old age and left me behind as his much-lovedand last-bornmale child.My father�s friend knew how


much my father had loved me, andbecause he did not want me to beabandoned, he adoptedme as his ownson. Soon aftermy adoption, theman,whowas a teacher, was transferred toa new teaching station. The new sta-tion was far away from my Muslimbirthplace. I felt like I was lost. I wasliving with a new tribal people andeven a new language.The greatest difference in the newplacewhere Iwas livingwas therewerevery fewMuslims and no regular callsforMuslim prayers.As I grew, Imain-tained my Muslim faith and arguedwith those of the Christian faith. Fi-nally, I was admitted into a schoolwhere I had noMuslim friends.I became opened to the Christian

religion and its practices. I noticed that some of thestudents in our school always met to hear stories toldfrom the Bible by the visiting missionaries. I began tohave a desire to knowmore about the God of the Bible.One day, I surprised the other students in the classwhen I came in and sat down quietly with them tolisten to the Bible stories told by the missionaries. Myinterest in the Bible stories grew more and more be-cause they told many of the same stories aboutAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob that are told by the Mus-lims. From that day forward, I never missed any of theBible classes.

One day in the class, the question arose aboutgoing to heaven. The Muslim faith had taught me thata person must have more good deeds than bad deedsin order to enter heaven. I was surprised to discoverthat the Christian faith said that heaven was a free giftfromGod through faith in Jesus who took away all oursins through His death on the cross. If one truly trustsin Him, then the gate of heaven is open. I was takenback and challenged by these two differing opinionsand spent much time trying to understand which ofthe two was the way of God. I decided to judge myown life and to make a list of my good and bad deeds.I thought by doing this I could prove that I was �goodenough� to go to heaven. Before I thought that I wasa �good boy� because I was not a thief and did notdrink or smoke. I thought that I was as good or betterthan others. At least I was better than �some� of theChristians.

I thought I was better, but I needed a test to proveto myself that I was ready for heaven. At six in themorning, I took a sheet of paper and began to write mygood deeds on one side, and my bad deeds on theother side. I stopped writing at noon because the sideof the paper for my bad deeds was full and there wasonly one good deed on the other side � one time inclass, a boy�s pencil fell to the floor and I picked it upfor him. The discovery of mywickedness knockedme

off my feet. Even though I thought I was good incomparison to other people, I knew that I could notget to heaven through my good deeds. I knew myMuslim teaching was wrong!

As the days passed, I became more and moretroubled. I knew for sure that there was a place calledheaven and I knew that there must be a way to enterit, but I did not know theway. I only knew thatmy baddeeds were greater than my good deeds and that Icould not get to heaven through my works. Howcould I make it to heaven? I thought on the matter fora long time and hoped to find the true way to heaven.I became more confused about everything concern-ing God and religion. I wanted to give up and put allreligion out of my life. I even stopped going for theBible studies.

My confusion continued until one hot afternoonduring lunch break. I was resting in the roomwithmyeyes wide open looking up at the ceiling. Suddenly, Isaw myself walking down a road. I reached a forkedroad and did now know which side to follow. I stoodthere wondering what to do.When I looked to the leftside of the fork I saw a statue of a man pointing to theleft side and a road that was very wide. Themoment Istepped toward the broad road, I heard a voice fromthe right side calling tome.When I looked to the rightside of the fork, I saw the one the missionaries called�Jesus.� He was not a statue, but a living being. Hesaid to me, �Follow the right road that leads to theGod of heaven, to the place where you are going.�After I heard thesewords, I came tomyself once againand the interpretation of what I saw became very clearto me. The road to the left and the statue that pointedto it were only a sign and not real. They representedall the other religions and their teachers that point theway to heaven through works. When I understoodthis, I felt very relieved as though some big load hadbeen taken off my head. I believed that Jesus was theonly way and was filled with great hope and assur-ance. I did not know the Bible very well, but I prayed,�Lord Jesus of the Bible, please take my bad deedsand let me enter God�s place with your good and deardeeds.�

Yes! That moment, I was assured that my requestwas granted. I had complete satisfaction. I now knowthat God will reveal Himself through even the mostextraordinary means to anyone who sincerely seeksto knowHim.That day, I said tomyself, �Surely Jesusis the way.� It was not until later that I read from theBible in John 14:6: �Jesus said to him, �I am the way,the truth and the life, no one comes to the Fatherexcept throughme.��

Frank Karimu

Volume42 33

James LampteyJames and his brother Joseph are working as church planters in the country of Ghana. Theyminister in coordination with brother Solomon Owolabi.

The story of my life begins not with my birth,but years later. It began as a day like any other inthe month of August. The year was 1975. I was astudent in the secondary school and an activemem-ber of theAnglican Church. Since childhood, I haddevoted myself to the religion and ritual of mychurch. My end goal was not the glory of God, buta deep desire to fill the deep vacuum inmy life andfind some sort of happiness for my soul. My reli-gious activity eventually became an endless down-ward spiral. Themore I tried to please God throughmy obedience and devotion to ritual, the more Ifailed and the deeper I sank into misery. I was tor-tured by fearful thoughts of hell that would not besilenced in spite of my �Christian� baptism and

�Holy� confirmation. I had no victory oversin and had no peace with God.

In spite of all my deception and hy-pocrisy, the Lord had mercy on my miser-able soul. On a day like any other, a closefriend invited me to a Gospel crusade orga-nized by Dr. Solomon Owolabi. That nightwas the first time inmy entire life that I heardthe Gospel preached with such power andconviction. After the message, an invita-tion was given by the preacher. I hesitated,but finally yielded to the call of God. I gavemy life to Christ that day and became a newcreature. The misery of my soul was re-placed with peace and joy unspeakable.

Joseph LampteyI became a child of God in August of 1975.

Before that time, I had always believed that I was aChristian because I bore a Christian name, was abaptized and confirmed member of the AnglicanChurch, sang in the choir and served mass at thealtar. I was clearly self-deceived, trusting in myown useless works and silly religious rituals. I waslost in my sin, and although I did not understandit, God was constantly bearing witness to mylostness through my restlessness - I had no peacebecause there is no rest for the wicked. Finally,when I gave up all hope of finding life and joy andpeace in my dead religion, I turned to the worldand pursued worldly pleasures. I thought that edu-cation, success, and an honorable reputationamongmen would satisfy my soul and give me thepeace for which I longed. The world could notgive me the peace I desired.

Finally one day, my brother invited me to aBaptist Church in the city of Accra. After a few

visits to the Church, the pastor, Dr. SolomonOwolabi preached a message on salvation.It was the first time I had heard the Gospelpreached with clarity. He spoke about mysin, and the dangers of judgment and hell;he spoke about Christ�s death; he spokeabout the wrath of a holy God poured outon the sinless Christ in my place; he spokeabout Christ�s resurrection and triumph overdeath, hell, and the grave; he spoke aboutrepentance from sin and dead works; hespoke about faith in Christ alone for thesalvation. I was struck downwith terror andjoy. I ran down the aisle of the church andcried out for Christ to save me. At that mo-ment my life was changed. The peace I sooften longed for flooded into my heart: Ro-mans 5:1 - �Being justified by faith we have peace with God,through our Lord Jesus Christ.�

SamuelAhmedBrother Samuel is a pastor and church planter in the city of Minna in northern Nigeria. He isworking in a very difficult and dangerous Muslim area. He works in coordination with brotherSolomon Owolabi.

My mother gave her life to Christ in 1963, ayear after the death of my father. That same year, Ifinished my required recitation of the Holy Koran.In 1965, I entered a church for the first time on theinvitation ofmymother�s pastor. Immediately, newsspread among my Muslim friends that I had be-come a Christian. The problem became so danger-ous for me that my family sent me to the city ofIbadan about 600 miles away. While I was there, Ibegan to attend a church because the people withwhom I was living were Christians. I was still apracticing Muslim at the time, but had begun todrift away from the Moslem teachings. Finally, in

1970, the anger of those who had sought tokill me ceased and I returned to my home.

InNovember of 1978, whilewatching afilm titled, �The Death and Resurrection ofJesus Christ,� I gavemy life to Jesus Christ.I immediately threw away all the charms thatI had used in witchcraft and began to servethe Lord. In a short time, I began to give mytestimony in open air crusades and was fullof joy because the Lord used the crusadesto lead many people to Christ. By 1981, Iknew that God was calling me to the minis-try as a preacher of the Gospel.


Dauda FreemanBrother Dauda is a church planter among his own people (the Mwaghavul) in PlateauState of Nigeria. He works in coordination with brother Solomon Owolabi.I was a Moslem by birth andIslamwasmybeloved religion.In the townwhere I lived, therewere some Churches andChristians who alwayspreached the Gospel of Christto us, but I hated Christianityand theGospel. Because ofmyhatred, I hardened my heartwhenever they preached tome.

One day a preacher cameto our house preaching theGospel of Salvation. Usually, Itried to avoid himand run awayfrom the Gospel, but that day Idecided to stay and listen to

him. That night, after he had finished and left the house, I couldnot sleep. I was very disturbed for many days. I could hear a voicespeaking to me inmy heart that told me that I would die if I did notreceive Christ. I was so burdened that I lost weight and began tolook very skinny.My father could not bear what was happening tome and asked me what was wrong. I refused to tell him because Iwas afraid.

As my desire to know the Gospel grew, I lost interest in theIslam way of worship (i.e. Sallah), but I still taught my youngerbrothers and sisters Arabic. I was afraid that there would be greatconsequences frommy parents if I did not teach them.As the days

passed, I developed great interest in becoming a Christian,but I wanted to remain under cover. I did not to want to beexposed to others.

After I resolved to be a Christian, my heart became evenmore burdened and I completely lost interest in the Islamway of worship. I decided to get closer to Christians and dothings in commonwith them, but without disclosing to themmy true motives. My burden increased and so I decided thatI would openly proclaim my Christianity. I was afraid, but Iwas also comforted from the Heart through a voice that toldme that the Lord was in control. That inward messagestrengthened me and so I began to openly attend a nearbychurch. My parents were so annoyed with me that they didfour things: (1) They refused to give me food. I had to eatwith neighbors and anyone elsewhowould haveme. (2) Theygave me work to do on Sundays at the very time that theyknew I needed to go to the worship service. (3) My mothertried to poisonmy food, but the Lord deliveredme. (4) Theydid not even try to prevent a group of Muslims from killingme, and so I had to escape.

After this fiery trial, I went to pastor John Longtongand explained to him everything that was happening to meas a result of my going to Church. The pastor then sharedwithme the Gospel and ledme to Christ. OnAugust 1, 1990,I received Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Not muchtime afterward, I was baptized.

AndrewMarteyBrother AndrewMartey has been supported as a HeartCry missionary for the last two years.He is presently working in the city of Minna, but hopes to soon begin a new church inanother unreached city in Nigeria.

event and there were posters everywhere advertizing theevent.My friendwho had beenwitnessing tome, invitedmeto the meeting and I accepted. That night, brother Solomonpreached on the second coming of Christ. I had never seenaman speak with somuch passion and desire. I was touchedby the Holy Spirit. I thought to myself that if Christ returnedthat night to take His own I did not know where I would beor what would happen to me. When the invitation came, Iresponded. It was brother Solomon himself that counseledme and he asked me where I was staying. I gave him thedirections to my house and he promised me that he wouldcome and visit me. I was sure that he was joking, but thatSaturday evening he came tomy house and shared theWordof God with me again. Then he told me that he was going tocome by my house the next day and take me to Sundaymorning services. I listened to him while he preached andpreached, but still I did not repent. But brother Solomonwould not give up. I was amazed that he kept coming andcoming and would not give up until I repented and believedthe Gospel. Finally, one day I understood the grace of Godand was soundly converted.

Because of my conversion, my life became very diffi-cult.My people were not happywithme.My parents, unclesand friends said that I had become very disgusting to them.

I am from Accra, Ghana andwas born in 1953 into a �Chris-tian� family that attended anAnglican church. We went tochurch, but we had no knowl-edge of salvation. Even thoughwewere �church goers� like somany in Africa, we still prac-ticed idolatry and even madeand sold idols as a means ofincome. Iwent to a �Christian�school andwe even had a classin doctrine, but again salvationwas not taught and I was un-

converted. Then in 1973, when I was twenty years old, I met afriend on the street who told me that he was �soul winning.� Iasked him what that meant and he shared with me the Gospel ofJesus. I did not understand what he was saying because I hadalways been taught that I was OKwith God and there was no needfor me to concern myself with the �deeper things� of religion. Butmy friend persevered in witnessing to me almost daily, telling methat I must repent and believe.

It was during this time that Imet brother SolomonOwolabi. Hecame toAccra to hold an evangelistic meeting. It was a very large

Volume42 35

It seemed that everyone was trying to discourage me, but brother Solomon was always there encouraging meand praying for me. I attended every meeting at the church and accompanied brother Solomon when he wentout soul winning.

Emmanuel SakalaBrother Emmanuel is a HeartCry missionary in Zambia. He is planting churches in coor-dination with Pastor Conrad Mbewe.

I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ in 1980 and this was at a time when I was still insecondary school in Mufurila. It all started when two people from the Southern BaptistChurch stopped me along the road and shared the word of God with me. The sharing wastaken from the book of Romans chapter three. From that sharing I learned that I was a sinnerin need of repentance and forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ. This particular en-counter proved the way of salvation for me. That night, I opened the Bible and read throughthe same passage of scripture in the book of Romans. It was after I had studied this passageof Scripture that I found myself overcome with a deep sense of sin and the justice of God.This condition was to remain uponme for a period of threemonths before I could find relief.Later inMarch of that same year, I attended a service at the Southern Baptist Church whereI received further enlightenment on how to be born again from a sermon preached from John3:1-6. That same day I knelt down and prayed for forgiveness and salvation from Godthrough the Lord Jesus Christ. This experience was very much overwhelming and it left meweeping. I knew from then that I was born again through the Grace of God alone. I can nowtestify that my life has never been the same from that day.

LichawaTholeBrother Lichawa is a HeartCry missionary in Zambia. He is also planting churches incoordination with Pastor Conrad Mbewe.

I was born to Presbyterian parents and baptized as an infant. I was brought up in thePresbyterian Church of Southern Africa (PCSA) and went through Sunday school andCatechism class. I was generallymorally upright andwas sure that I was a Christian. In 1986,after attending a Pentecostal church service at my friend�s invitation, I began to think seri-ously about my salvation. Though the preacher who spoke was not very articulate, it wasthrough his words that I began to be troubled about the state of my soul. From that momenton I felt a constant inner emptiness and the inadequacy of my self-righteousness wasalways before me. I was under constant conviction of the Holy Spirit until one day in 1987when another friend invitedme to a ScriptureUnionmeeting at school. This time the preacherwas very articulate and took great pains to show the difference between the genuine Chris-tian and the unregenerate unbeliever.As I listened to the preacher�s message, I realized thathis description of the unregenerate unbeliever fit me perfectly. For the first time in my life Isaw myself as a terrible sinner under the wrath of God and felt the need to embrace therighteousness of Christ and to live a holy life to the glory of God. I prayed to God forforgiveness and felt His peace.

In Christ

Lichawa Thole

HEARTCRY MISSIONARY SOCIETY

HeartCryMissionary Societyc/oWaldoBaptist Church6970Waldo Church RoadMetropolis, IL. 62960

Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDBrookport, IL.Permit No. 10

What part of �GO� do you notunderstand? Matthew 28:18-20

Email: [email protected]

Visit Our Web Sitewww.heartcrymissionary.com

Phone: 618.564.2770 Fax: 618.564.3471

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