A Story of Pioneer-ism

in Brazil

March 20, 2010

After three years of work, helping to establish a self-supporting school at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, our family (Herculano family) came back to Fortaleza with the purpose of establishing a self-supporting work. The Lord gave us a very good property of 33 acres, with 2 beautiful lakes on it, in the country near a little city named Pacatuba, 25 miles from Fortaleza, a big city of more than 3 million people.

At this property, my wife Pompéia, our three daughters (Flávia, Fernanda and Ruth), and I are living and working hard for the Lord. Fernanda and Flávia are Bible workers, working for a local church, and Flávia has a very full schedule of holding weeks-of-prayer in many churches throughout Fortaleza. Ruth is finishing her high-school homeschooling and she helps her mom a lot.

When we arrived at the property, we discovered a very old wood-burning oven. It was very damaged, but the Lord gave us skills and we were able to fix it. Now this has been a very useful piece of equipment on the farm. With it, Ruth and her mother have made dozens of tasty breads, biscuits and bags of granola to sell to the neighbors.

We have been privileged to reach out to others right after moving here. The Lordput us in contact with a Pentecostal family. They had already heard of the Seventh-day Sabbath on an Adventist DVD they had watched about Revelation. Both the father and the mother had decided to keep the Sabbath. They had already begun closing the doors to their bakery at Friday sunset and keeping it closed until Saturday night.

They had experienced tragedy in their family though since they made these decisions to obey Jesus. Sister Eliane, the mother, had to go to the hospital unexpectedly one day. The doctor that examined her, spoke with her husband and told him that she had a brain tumor and that she could die at any time. This situation impelled them to call on the Adventist church for advice on healthful living. I was given their name to visit from this request, and this is how we got in contact with them.

We began visiting them every Sabbath afternoon and sharing with them about the eight remedies God has given for good health. They were amazed with what they learned and God touched their heart. They immediately began practicing the health practices as they learned them.

God looked down on Eliane and rewarded her for following Him. From that day until now, more than two months have passed, and Sister Eliane is not only still alive (Praise God!), but she is living without pain. When the physician saw her, he was amazed at how strong and healthy she looked. He even suspended her medication prescriptions. We praise the Lord that until now He has chosen to give her life.

Brother Aldemir and Sister Eliane need a lot of prayers. They are now preparing, along with some of their children, for baptism. They have four children and the only who is really accepting the changes is the oldest, a twenty-year-old daughter. She has accepted the message with all readiness of mind. She has embraced the health message and has already become quite a good vegan cook.

Each week Sister Eliane comes to our home to spend some time in nature and to study the Spirit of Prophecy and Bible with us.  Brother Aldemir cannot make those visits because of his work schedule. He has turned his occupation into a blessing for God’s work. He is a very good metal worker and he has been helping me make a very good soy milk machine to make milk, yogurt and tofu. Their family is being such a blessing to God’s work here.

There are others like them here that we would like to reach. We just pray that the Lord will help us to be able to reach these people.

Fernanda and Flávia established a ministry named VMM – Volunteer Missionary Ministry. They are organizing a camp meeting to be held at our farm, at which we will host fifty young people. We will be studying about present truth at these meetings. We will give classes on how to bring reform and revival in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At this camp meeting we will make a call for some of the young people to be part of the pioneer group of students at our future school to be opened next year, 2010. We really need your prayers for this important and necessary project.

Another goal for our property is to establish some industries: a bakery and a farm. These will be to help support the missionary school and to give the students a variety of work opportunities, a little food industry associated with agricultural work in order to support the missionary school and give to the students a variety of work places, helping them with their education. Right now we are hoping to get a little tractor to help with the agriculture.  (The price for this would be $20,000 US.)

We hope that you will support us with your prayers as we set out on this new endeavor.

By Francisco Herculano.