Hello, bishop!

Like most of the testimonies that you have posted, I also went through this.

I came to the Universal Church when I was 15 years old. I listened to punk rock and heavy metal.

At the age of 13, I attempted suicide, and I would have tried again when my brother took me to Church.

Oh, what a day!

From the first prayer to the last, I wept, as if I was reborn that day. It was no longer a cry without comfort or distress. I felt peace! A peace that I had never felt in my entire life. Consequence: I surrendered myself body, soul and spirit.

I got home that day and threw away everything that linked me to the rock music. At first, my mother thought I was crazy, but she saw something in me that she had never seen before – a smile, a different kind of glow.

Then the fights started.

My father, who was a very hateful, violent and proud man, did not accept this change in me. I’ll even go as far as saying that I deeply hated him. I slept with a knife under my pillow to kill him because, since I was very small, I would see him be violent with my mother and brothers. But from that day forth, I no longer saw him the same way.

I knew that the same way that I saw a “light”, he would also see it. This was the only way that he would be become a new person.

With just one month of Church, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and my battles grew. He would hit my mother for covering up for me when I went to Church.

Until, I was raised as an assistant. That is when he put me out of the house because he always threatened me and said the same thing that Paloma’s father: he would rather see me on the corner like a prostitute, than see me in the Universal Church.

This did not bring me sadness; on the contrary, I told God that it was an honor to be “suffering” for his sake, a privilege! I couldn’t see my mother for about 2 years because my father ordered his “guards”, who were always armed to kill me if I approached the house.

These were difficult days.

I slept on the street for 15 days. As soon as the Church opened, I went inside. I used the bathroom to change into the few clothes my brother snuck out of the house in a plastic bag. God opened the doors and I found people that were really generous and willing to help me. However, I never abandoned my faith, or stopped serving my Lord Jesus. It was 5 years of struggle, but I had a vow with God: the day my father stepped foot in the Church, he would never leave again.

Many things happen to him. Unfortunately, he had to reach the bottom of the pit to acknowledge God, but that is what happened!

My father became a beggar on the streets, eating garbage, had lice and a broken arm. I found him there and took a pair of pants and a shirt, which I consecrated in Church, and my wedding invitation because God had blessed me with a man of God. And he, humiliated, without looking up, cried.

It didn’t even seem like that man who was proud, impudent, and everyone feared. It was very difficult to see him in that situation, but I didn’t let myself get too involved by my emotions, it was time to use my faith.

I asked him to come to my wedding and that I would leave clothes for him at my sister’s house, so that no one would steal them.

And to my joy, on my wedding day, the first person I saw standing at the Church door, with his head down, was my father!

Again I said, “OH, WHAT A DAY!”

I did not know whether to laugh or cry, because I knew that I had a vow with God, and that day would be the day that my father would be touched. Though he did not hear the preaching of salvation or receive a prayer for deliverance, God’s presence was there, and he would be touched like I was!

From that day on, my father accepted the Lord Jesus and started going to Church. I joked around with him saying, “You’re too fanatic, huh Dad! Lol…” He laughed and said “Now I know why you left everything”.

I have been in the presence of this wonderful God for 28 years, and serve Him with all my strength on His altar. I believe that my father and my dear mother are enjoying the Eternal Life He promised.

Sorry for writing so much.

I want to say thank you bishop. Thank you for enduring everything and teaching us to be fighters and persevering!

Ana Mara

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Hello, bishop!

When I came to the Church 14 years ago, my family was troubled.

My brothers left home and got involved with drugs, and my sister in prostitution. My father was very bad. He cheated on my mother with several women and was very abusive. He was also abusive towards me and my younger sister.

When I was about 9 years old, I would sit on my father’s lap and drink and smoke with him.

I grew up in the Catholic Church and even did my “first communion”, but our home was a living hell. My father tried to kill my brother by hanging him. My mother shot at my father several times and my father was a medium.

As a teenager, only married men and drug addicts wanted to date me. Because of that, I suffered two attempted rapes, but God delivered me.

I started going to Church with a neighbor, and my father did not like the idea at all. My mother even slapped me in the face. I had just come back from a meeting, but I did not give up.

I met my husband in the youth group and when I told my father, he said he’d rather see me as a prostitute than see me married to a man form the Church. Because, as a prostitute, I would bring money home, but in Church I would just be throwing money away.

I’ve been married for 12 years, have a beautiful daughter and we are assistants. My father says that I am the daughter he has the most pride in, even though he does not go to Church. He has gone with me a few times, but does not stay.

He lives alone and is promiscuous. He’s unhappy.

Today, almost all of my family goes to Church. I have a brother and a sister-in-law who are assistants, and everyone respects me as a person and as a woman of God.

I’m very happy.

God gave me a blessed family and our lives are on the altar of God. His Work is our life. I love the Universal Church, because she made me the person I am today. Now I am very happy.

Thank you, Bishop! I have a great love for you and these people.

May the Lord Jesus bless you and your family, and may He use us much more to save souls from this rotten world, like He saved us one day!

God bless you!

Zina Silva