Tuesday, May 19, 2015

NOT JUST ANOTHER WIDOW!

Mighty in Spirit and in Deed – that’s Mai Terazinha!  Two years ago she and her group of widows she met with in her little mud hut, came to us asking for help.  “Can you please buy us some land so we can build a church?”  We consented, and soon a visiting World Race team put up the firsts posts for her little church.  Later, however, these posts and bamboo strips were stolen.  Mai Terazinha never faultered.  She doesn’t read or write, but she prays, intercedes for her flock and all the surrounding churches.  Jesus gives her visions and dreams to encourage others.  Faithfully she listens intently to her audio solar powered Bible, and attends all our leadership training seminars.  When we recently endured many trials at our center, it was Mai Terazinha that organized her ladies to pray and fast for our center.  She also takes her ladies out to the other churches in our district, walking for miles in intense heat - visiting house to house, praying for the sick, and encouraging the brethren.  When we give out our discipleship booklets, this doesn’t deter her.  She asks a youth or man (most of the women don’t read) to read it to them so they can all learn together.  Nothing stops her.  She has no husband, but cares for six orphans in her little hut with no electricity or running water.  She continues to till her farm at the age of 65, providing for her household with the rice and corn she grows.  She has never attended Bible school, but listens to the audio Bible school course on her solar powered unit we gave her.  Recently we built her a strong metal church frame with a good roof, called “Church in a Day.” (see link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPSISJ9HHXE  They will likely fill in these walls with bricks over time.  (But we prefer the open walls with the cool breeze!) What blessed us the most was to see how her small group of widows had grown to a thriving church of men, women, youth, and children in these last two years!  Nothing is impossible with God.  Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.  God uses the weak and lowly, so all glory goes to Him.  She doesn’t focus on what she doesn’t have or what she can’t do.  She spends time with Jesus, loves Him with all her heart, and spreads that love around.  A simple, illiterate, poor woman, but such a powerful example to us all.  Mai Terazinha – not just any ordinary widow!