We can make plans, but God is the one who decides.
Around 200 young people from across the southern region of Mozambique arrived in Mabil to serve as Advent messengers for the areawide evangelistic crusade we had spent almost a year planning.
Many pitched in to make the preparations, set up camp, clean the area and build the bathrooms. Everyone was very excited.
Well, everyone except for the neighborhood leader, who stepped in once again and told us to leave.
We went to city hall to speak with the municipal authorities. We had all the necessary documents. But it seems the neighborhood leader convinced the authorities to say that we could not proceed unless the neighborhood leader authorized the crusade. They said we would have to reach an understanding with him.
Many people joined together in prayer.
We thought about looking for legal means to remedy the situation, but these things take a lot of time, and we only had the following three weeks to carry out the crusade. The neighborhood leader began boasting, “This isn’t the first church I kicked out of here.”
The long-awaited evangelistic crusade for Mabil would no longer happen. We had to break camp and go to another region.
We know that this leader is not the problem. Satan has risen up. But as someone said, God could use even this situation for His glory.
Júlio, our pioneer evangelist in this region, was devastated. Because he considered the loss of the crusade in Mabil his failure, he felt ashamed and questioned whether he was truly fit for his job.
He had hoped this crusade could accelerate the growth of the newly planted church. The 200 young people were intent on helping reach most of the neighborhood during their three weeks in Mabil. They believed the lectures would draw a lot of attention from the community, opening many doors.
We talked to Julio. “God is in control of everything. We can make plans, but it is God who carries it out according to his will.”
We suggested to Julio that he take three days off to pray and rest. But at the end of the day, Julio returned to our house, full of energy and with a bag of fish.
He told us that he went to a place far from the city and began crying out to God because of what was happening. But while he was talking to God on the beach, some boys approached him and asked if he was a friend of Fernando, another pioneer. He said yes but wondered how they could know since he had never seen the boys. The youth were going through some problems and asked Julio for advice and to pray with them.
Julio then realized that this encounter was an answer from God.
Later that day, he had walked along the seashore and saw some fishermen, who, after greetings, invited him to fish with them. He accepted, telling us that it was an incredible experience and that he could imagine the stories of Jesus and His fisherman disciples.
Julio said that after he finished fishing, he felt renewed and full of hope again. God had comforted him at the seashore and reaffirmed his calling. He then decided to get back to the Lord’s work. He brought us the fish that the fishermen offered him as a gift.
Meanwhile, with the camp set up again in a new region and with just two and a half weeks left to conduct the crusade, we held the following classes for the community: Cutting and Sewing, Confectionery, Entrepreneurship, IT, Electrical Engineering, Reading and Writing, and External Imports. We also donated clothes and food, held a health fair where we taught about the eight natural remedies, and had a blood drive. Soccer games were held on Sundays, and Bible studies took place daily.
Over 130 Bible studies were carried out simultaneously. Even the children gave Bible studies to other children. At the end of the three weeks of evangelism, we recounted that God’s great action overcame so many problems.
At the end of the crusade, many students graduated from the classes, and 44 people decided to give their lives to Jesus through baptism, including seven people from Mabil, the region where Julio works.
Julio looked like a different person than he did a few weeks before. Instead of looking like someone I thought could give up the work, he radiated joy and contentment. He said something that stuck with me: “I can’t believe how Mabil has grown despite everything that has gone wrong.”
The events reminded me of the story of Gideon, when “The LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me” (Judges 7:2).
Yes, God works in unexpected ways.
