Our Story
I had been living in the U.S. since December 1999 and working with some brothers from the Keene Adventist Church in the prison ministry but felt that I was not doing enough to serve the Lord our God.
At that time, I was attending the Dallas Brazilian Adventist Church in Irving, which had a video library with a lot of evangelism material in Portuguese [my original language]; and I liked to collect the material so I could make copies and send it to my mother in Angola. She was very happy with the videos and shared them with her brothers and sisters in Christ.
Some of these brothers formed an evangelism group and projected the videos they received during the evenings in the open air.
One night, at 2 a.m., I was rolling in bed, sleepless. I felt the call to return to Angola to preach the gospel. Desperately, I tried to stifle the thought, struggling to fall asleep. At that time, I was working at the Fire Side nursing home, in the town of Cleburne Tx; and I usually worked two shifts a day from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday. On Friday I worked only one shift, from 6 to 2 p.m. to prepare for Saturday. I would always come home late at night during the week.
That night sleep was impossible. At five o’clock in the morning, I got up to go to work as usual. Very restless with the visions of the night. I worked all day. I threw myself into bed as usual, very tired, around 11 pm. At two o’clock in the morning I was awake again with the same uneasiness. Unable to sleep, I decided to turn on the television. A pastor preached about prophecy on 3ABN and the need to take the gospel to others. My mind refused to heed the call; it was laden with many excuses. I then looked at the clock and it was 5 o’clock in the morning. I had to get up to go to work. On the third night the same thing happened again, I woke up again at 2 o’clock in the morning.
Usually when I don’t sleep at least 6 hours during the night, I can’t work properly the following day. But on those 3 nights and thirteen days in a row without sleep, it was different. During the days, I didn’t feel tired or want to sleep. I thought that was very strange.
The Spirit of the Lord troubled me for two years. I had to go back to Angola to preach the gospel. But how? I had never stood in a pulpit to preach even though I had been a member of the Adventist Church for over 38 years. I was always a shy woman sitting at the back of the church and I refused whenever I was asked to participate in any program.
In 2016, I decided to go to Angola responding to the call of the Holy Spirit who would not leave me alone. While in my parent’s home in Angola, I received the visit of these young missionaries with whom my mother worked. To my astonishment, one of them invited me to share some messages with a group of young people. I accepted the invitation, but when I was at the church, I was startled when I realized that there were close to 2,000 people in the room awaiting to hear me speak.
Very surprised, I trembled with fear and wanted to run away. I wasn’t a pastor or a public speaker. I shut myself up in a room and prayed to the Lord to put the words in my mouth. Then I went up to the pulpit and preached for 5 days. The church became more and more crowded during these evenings without chairs for everyone. Many listened while leaning against the walls of the church and many others sat on the floor.
I was then invited to preach at other churches, and the impact and attention of those present surprised me more and more. I started going to Angola once a year to preach the gospel because of the constant invitations received. Hundreds of people gave themselves to God during the appeals.
In 2018, I went to the province of Uíge in the commune of Cangola, where I carried out 3 evangelistic campaigns. I noticed that the people of that area lived very primitively and that they needed a lot of help. The degree of mortality in that region is very high.
In 2019, I returned to Cangola, as I had promised, and for 7 days I showed them how to have good health using the benefits of the 8 natural remedies. The government of Angola took notice and raised 3 criminal cases against me for having spoken about health without documents and the government’s approval. Thank God I didn’t end up in jail because I was already back in the U.S.
This is how we founded our nonprofit organization, “Still Hope”, to bring hope to the people of the villages of Angola.
Our history
I had been living in the U.S. since December 1999 and working with some brothers from the Keene Adventist Church in the prison ministry but felt that I was not doing enough to serve the Lord our God.
At that time, I was attending the Dallas Brazilian Adventist Church in Irving, which had a video library with a lot of evangelism material in Portuguese [my original language]; and I liked to collect the material so I could make copies and send it to my mother in Angola. She was very happy with the videos and shared them with her siblings. Some of these brothers formed an evangelism group and projected the videos they received during the evenings in the open air.
One night, at 2 a.m., I was rolling in bed, sleepless. I felt the call to return to Angola to preach the gospel. Desperately, I tried to stifle the thought, struggling to fall asleep. At that time, I was working at the Fire Side nursing home, in the town of Cleburne Tx; and I usually worked two shifts a day from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday. On Friday I worked only one shift, from 6 to 2 p.m. to prepare for Saturday. I would always come home late at night during the week.
That night sleep was impossible. At five o’clock in the morning, I got up to go to work as usual. Very restless with the visions of the night. I worked all day. I threw myself into bed as usual, very tired, around 11 pm. At two o’clock in the morning I was awake again with the same uneasiness. Unable to sleep, I decided to turn on the television. A pastor preached about prophecy on 3ABN and the need to take the gospel to others. My mind refused to heed the call; it was laden with many excuses. I then looked at the clock and it was 5 o’clock in the morning. I had to get up to go to work. On the third night the same thing happened again, I woke up again at 2 o’clock in the morning.
Usually when I don’t sleep at least 6 hours during the night, I can’t work properly the following day. But on those 3 nights and thirteen days in a row without sleep, it was different. During the days, I didn’t feel tired or want to sleep. I thought that was very strange.
The Spirit of the Lord troubled me for two years. I had to go back to Angola to preach the gospel. But how? I had never stood in a pulpit to preach even though I had been a member of the Adventist Church for over 38 years. I was always a shy woman sitting at the back of the church and I refused whenever I was asked to participate in any program.
In 2016, I decided to go to Angola responding to the call of the Holy Spirit who would not leave me alone. While in my parent’s home in Angola, I received the visit of these young missionaries with whom my mother worked. To my astonishment, one of them invited me to share some messages with a group of young people. I accepted the invitation, but when I was at the church, I was startled when I realized that there were close to 2,000 people in the room awaiting to hear me speak.
Very surprised, I trembled with fear and wanted to run away. I wasn’t a pastor or a public speaker. I shut myself up in a room and prayed to the Lord to put the words in my mouth. Then I went up to the pulpit and preached for 5 days. The church became more and more crowded during these evenings without chairs for everyone. Many listened while leaning against the walls of the church and many others sat on the floor.
I was then invited to preach at other churches, and the impact and attention of those present surprised me more and more. I started going to Angola once a year to preach the gospel because of the constant invitations received. Hundreds of people gave themselves to God during the appeals.
In 2018, I went to the province of Uíge in the commune of Cangola, where I carried out 3 evangelistic campaigns. I noticed that the people of that area lived very primitively and that they needed a lot of help. The degree of mortality in that region is very high.
In 2019, I returned to Cangola, as I had promised, and for 7 days I showed them how to have good health using the benefits of the 8 natural remedies. The government of Angola took notice and raised 3 criminal cases against me for having spoken about health without documents and the government’s approval. Thank God I didn’t end up in jail because I was already back in the U.S.
This is how we founded our nonprofit organization, “Still Hope”, to bring hope to the people of the villages of Angola.
Make a Difference Today!
Your support can change lives in Angola’s villages. Join us in our mission to bring hope and essential resources to those in need. With your donation, we can drill water wells, provide health education, and build sustainable infrastructure. Take action now by clicking the button below to make a difference. Every contribution counts towards creating a brighter future for these communities.
