11/24/2012: Opening a New Work in Brazil

Opening a New Work in Brazil

 

Many thanks be given to our Heavenly Father for calling us to serve in the medical missionary ministry. I am an Adventist mother who, with my husband Javier Francisco Zapata and three children, moved from Colombia to Brazil to receive donated property to either sell or swap for rural property in which to develop medical missionary work.

Our training included organic agriculture, health, nutrition and vegetarian foods. Eleven years ago, when our oldest son was nine months old, my husband and I left our work to accept the order of Heaven given through Sister White to dwell outside the cities and educate our children away from worldly institutions. Since then, our whole family has lived in the country, educating our children in our own home school.

Two and a half years ago, we moved to Brazil, following a call to develop a health educational center according to what God has in mind. By faith, we came to this country by a most interesting bus trip which took us more than 18 days. With God’s help, we have passed through the difficulties of living in a strange land, but we are very thankful to have been chosen by God to do this work.

Although we do not have any worldly means or savings, God has provided help from donations from dear brethren who have shared with us very generously their own means and helped with money to buy a motorbike that has served as transportation to distribute bread and other wholegrain products that we bake and sell. Through some Christian brethren from Cornerstone Publishing and local friends from São Paulo, Alexandre and Olimpia, natural health materials were printed for distribution here in our own neighborhoods where we have been making many missionary contacts, spreading God’s everlasting gospel and starting quite a few personal and family Bible studies!

God has opened our way most graciously and wonderfully, and has conquered many difficulties for us and helped us to obtain two-year temporary work visas. This will be over for us in less than six months. We sold the donated house in the city and bought a farm to begin our work in organic agriculture, Christian education and a natural sanitarium. Already a few guests have started to come in, people with diseases and different heath issues. We bought some equipment such as a whirlpool tub, gas water heater, weighing balance and a massage table for our basic therapy room—all of this in the only house available which we are using for these purposes until we can build a special house for the sanitarium. For now we receive our guests in our own home.

Soon we are expecting to receive a couple of Adventist brethren who are interested in joining our effort, and we have many people interested in learning, not only to become missionaries themselves, but also many others who want to receive treatment using the eight natural remedies.

We are now in great need of economically sustaining ourselves. The financial assistance we have been receiving so far is going to end in four more months, since the sister who has been sending her support will not be able to continue anymore. In addition, expenses are increasing as we get to educate people, and we need income to sustain us as a missionary center.

We are currently doing the following tasks:

1. Taking care of people to prevent and cure their diseases while they are taught how to best take care of their own bodies.

2. Visiting from door to door with personal missionary contacts, visiting people in their homes and giving Bible studies on the changes to be made to their own lifestyle to be healthier, as well as providing inspirational printed literature.

3. We are translating more than 30 booklets from Spanish to Portuguese called Health Habits, which present the natural treatment for more than 30 diseases, as well as other materials relating to the preaching of the Word of God.

4. Organizing educational organic gardens to help with foods free of chemicals and pesticides.

We have many other needs, and we pray daily for God to provide us with more resources to be able to receive more people, not only to educate them, but to meet their many physical, material and spiritual needs.

Our projects are the following:

1. To establish a legal educational foundation to train medical missionaries in the area of natural health, organic farming and Bible-based evangelism, where they can also develop areas for practical industrial work. We know that this is how they will be well educated for self-supporting work—whole food industry, printing, organic agriculture, etc. To do this we want to form quick and easy educational programs. This we can do if we get a permanent visa in this country. We have put in a request to the Ministry of Labor in Brazil.

2. Build a natural health clinic/home that will house at least 20 to 25 sick people. We have in place a proven 20-day recovery program for treating and educating our guests.

3. Equip the health home with everything needed for the accommodation of guests and patients—beds, bed sheets, treatment equipment, etc.

4. Print natural health brochures translated into Portuguese and purchase computer equipment to do the editing and design of the material published.

5. Build a home to house young people or families to be educated.

6. Build a greenhouse in which to grow organic vegetables, and plant organic fruit trees.

We make great efforts and sacrifice to carry out the work that we are sure God has placed in our hands, and we trust that God will use you to grant the resources to work more efficiently in the spreading of the everlasting gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, exactly as the promises have been given to those who are employed in preaching the last day message of love and mercy.

We work in hastening the soon coming of our beloved Jesus because we want to finish this sad story of humanity’s pain and suffering. That is why we are presenting our needs to the brethren. If you wish to contribute, you can email us for more information.

By Liana María & Javier Francisco Zapata. Emails: liliana.tunia@gmail.com or lasdeliciasbrasil@gmail.com. Pouso Alto, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

 

 

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