Today was a good Sabbath. You guys have heard me talk about my cousin Eugenia (Junior's and Tina's mom... remember Junior? The one I have a hard time taking pictures of/with? lol), well her husband's name is Nito, and he was the guest preacher at one of the biggest churches in Luanda today. Eugenia and Tina are in Brazil (ugh, I wish I'd gone with them!) for the next couple of weeks so Nito and Junior came to pick me up to go to church where we met up with the rest of the family. Anyhow, so the service was nice (I usually really enjoy service at that church... if only it wasn't so far!!!) and then for the sermon, which was about total surrender to God and not letting the cares of this world overwhelm you, he gave his testimony. I didn't know this story at all, because he rarely talks about it. As a matter of fact, his older brother, who was also there today, didn't even know the full story...
During the wartime, when he was 10 yrs old, him and his little brother got kidnapped by the rebel army and taken away from their family and hometown deep into the jungles where the rebel army camped out. At first, although they were scared and lost, they stuck together so as to feel a little bit better about their situation. But later on, the soldiers decided to separate them and they sent the little one away to some other camp. I didn't fully understand what the purpose was for taking them, but I know that the rebel army would take boys to brainwash and to train them to become part of their forces and they would become little robots fighting for a cause they didn't even understand, just losing their childhood overnight. Maybe that was the case in this instance too. Anyways, to make the long story short... the boys were separated from each other for 4 months, then each of them were led to believe that the other one was dead, and then later through a series of circumstances the little brother was brought back to the camp where the older brother (Nito) was staying, at which time they ran away from the camp and walked aimlessly through the forest with no food and water for several days until they stumbled upon a village where a family took them in and hid them. They then were able to send word to their hometown to tell the parents that the kids were found and alive and well. The dad then walked 250 kilometers (155 miles) in the midst of a warzone to go pick up the boys. When they were finally reunited, all three of them took to walking the way back home, a journey that would require them to walk through the forest at night, and hide out in villages during the day. They knew the rebel army was searching for them and they had control of that whole region so it was extremely dangerous... so fast forward a bit, and they ended up falling back into rebel hands, but in the scuffle the two boys were able to get away, while the dad was captured and tortured for several days. The youngest boy ended up hiding in the thick of the forest a few yards from the rebel army campout, so he witnessed his father being tortured. He said that he was so close to the camp that when they threw out the dirty dishwater, it would land on him. But he couldn't move a muscle, or sneeze, or cough, or anything, because it would mean certain death. The oldest boy was able to run to a nearby village and hide out there while waiting for news about the other two. Anyways so the miracle took place when one of the generals of the rebel army touring through the campsites found the captured father and recognized him as the local pastor of his hometown (he was an SDA Pastor, I forgot to mention)... he ordered that he be immediately released and told his men not to bother him anymore. He reunited with his boys, and they walked the rest of the way home.
Nito told this story in tears and mentioned how the scars of that torture stayed with his father until the day he died, and how it always reminded him how things that happen to God's faithful servants are never coincidence, but always Providence. It was such a touching and beautiful testimony. During the appeal, I played Que Te Dare Maestro, which I think has some of the most inspired words in the hymnal. It was one of those goose bump rising moments for sure...
Anyways so then we got invited to lunch at Nelson's house (the littlest boy in the story), whose wife is a new and entusiastic vegetarian with a passion for cooking so the food was off the chain and completely vegetarian which I loved! At lunch, I met a lady who had been invited to church by Nelson's wife, who is also a survivor of a crazy story. I don't know much detail because she didn't go too much into it, but basically her father was a witch (can a male be a witch? or is he called a wizard? I don't even know...) and she showed us the scars from where her father had slit her wrists and stabbed her thighs as a sacrifice to the devil when she was a little girl...
She survived and she is now seeking the Lord.
Anyways, it was definitely a Sabbath full of extraordinary testimonies and I'm just amazed at how God looks after His people. I'm so inspired to pray more, to trust Him more, and to cast all my cares upon Him, for He is good... oh so good.
My crew! This pic shows some of the friends I love and miss... there's a lot of people missing in this pic, but I miss all my friends very very much!
The O's! These ladies are my sisters from another mister and Sammy is the little brother I never had! Miss them terribly all the time! :(
The lovely Bryces. My adoptive family :) They've been heavensent to the G-Unit. LOVE them and miss them so much...
