ⓒ 2006 WATV

Brazil, a country full of passion for soccer and samba, is located in South America which is emerging as the best place for evangelism. Many people here, who have been fallen into a deep spiritual sleep, are now eagerly waiting for the light of truth.

Early in 2005, I was sent by God to Brazil. Since then, I've lived with a thank-ful heart toward God, realizing new things every day through precious and val-uable experiences.

I give thanks to Father and Mother for giving me, incapable and weak, an opportunity to participate in the fulfillment of the world mission and to realize that the success of the gospel is already guaranteed.


People of all races are gathered in Brazil

Brazil favors immigration because of her vast lands. So people of various ethnic groups live together and there are many people of mixed blood. Brazil is a unitary state which consists of peoples from almost 200 countries throughout the world.

Brazil has the greatest number of Catholics in the world; over 90% of Bra-zilians are Catholic. They commonly use the words related to the Bible in their daily life, which has caused a change in the original meaning of the words and a mixture of the truth and falsehood.

For example, the Passover is recognized by Brazilians as the Resurrection Day. If we tell them to keep the Passover, they boastfully say that they keep it. The streets are crowded with people wearing red rabbit-shaped costumes to enjoy this day, eating eggs. They also eat chocolates as they do on Valentines Day. In Brazil, the Passover, the Resurrection Day and Valentines Day are regarded as the same festival. People celebrate these days, wearing red rabbit-shaped costumes, eating eggs and chocolates.

Samba, Carnival and the feasts of the Catholic Church and those of the Prot-estant Church are celebrated as national festivals. So it is very common to see people dancing and drinking in the churches after worship.

Those who desire a godly worship despise the secular atmosphere of the churches, concluding that “there is no true church on the earth." Some of them become atheists, even saying, "There is no God."

In the midst of such confusions, those who have been longing for the truth and the true God are receiving the gospel with gladness and obedience, breaking their shell of long arrogance. At first, I was concerned: 'How can I preach the truth? If I tell them the truth, will they understand it?' Contrary to my thought, however, they realized the truth and came to God in tears, saying, "This is the true church I’ve been looking for."


God sent a prophet 17 years ago, looking ahead to the future

When I arrived in Sao Paulo in the south of Brazil, the 12-hour time difference left me too incapacitated to adjust to the day and night cycle. Water and food also did not agree with my body. But I became acclimated to this new environment gradually.

The biggest problem was language. I couldn't go anywhere because I was a stranger, and I couldn’t ask anything because I was unable to speak their language.

I had worked in Africa when I was younger, so I knew a little Portuguese. But I hardly used it and completely forgot it. In Korea, I had no time to study Portuguese and learn about the present state of Brazil. After arriving here in Brazil, I had to buy a Bible and some books. However, I couldn't go out because of my language problem.

ⓒ 2006 WATV

Fortunately, I could adjust little by little with the help of a senior deaconess and her two sons, whom God had sent here earlier. The senior deaconess and her family immigrated to Brazil 17 years ago, and she now runs a clothing shop. She has kept her faith, keeping God's laws and feasts alone in a far-off foreign land. She has brought up her sons as young adults with strong faith. The two brothers are now faithful workers who are good at speaking English and Spanish, not to mention Korean and Portuguese.

The senior deaconess received the truth in Korea before her immigration to Brazil. For over 17 years, she has not had a chance to return home. She wanted to go back but circumstance did not permit. Five years ago, she began to preach the truth to her neighbors, thinking, "It does not depend on my intention to stay in Brazil or leave here. It is certain that God has a plan for me. I should deliver the love of Father and Mother no matter where I am."

It has been about 4 years since formal worship services began in Brazil. When I came here, some Korean brothers and sisters were holding worship services together in her house. She had preached God's love to many people, and she introduced me proudly to them, saying, "This is a missionary of the Church of God from Korea." Actually I was almost exhausted after being introduced to them all. Their sincere love toward God and the truth moved me to tears. Over 10 people received God in two months after we began to reap what she had sown.

She is still urging me to go out and preach. I am astounded by her energy and enthusiasm. 'Where does her strength come from, in spite of her old age?'


A touching day when I preached a sermon in Portuguese for the first time

We were able to establish a Church a little distance away from Korea town three months after my wife and I arrived in Brazil. The number of the Church members who attended the first service was about ten and they were all Koreans from Korea town.

Before long, the Brazil Church began to be filled with Brazilian brothers and sisters. The first fruit was Sister Maulene. She received God three years ago, after she heard some basic truths from the senior deaconess. At her first attendance at worship service, she could not understand anything because it was held only in Korean. After that she was not observing worship services.

The senior deaconess asked me to meet her, and she began to learn the Bible again. She saw me trying hard to preach to her, using all kinds of body language, and she began to understand the truth from her heart.

When I taught her about the Savior of the age of the Holy Spirit, she earnestly longed for the new name. After that, she began to preach the truth to her cus-tomers with the Bible in her workplace. No one told her to preach, but she preached with a burning heart. She said that she could not hold the truth in and she could not work after she realized who the Savior is.

When she was taught about the heavenly Jerusalem Mother who is testified in the Bible, she burst into tears. Actually I was worried that I might not be able to fully explain Mother to her because of my poor language skills. I showed her only several verses, but she understood Mother and wept for a long time. She was so overwhelmed that she could hardly sleep at night during the whole week after she learned about Mother. She said, "I want to preach the heavenly Mother to many peo-ple, but I don’t know how."

She said that she would attend the Sabbath day worship with her family, and asked me to preach a sermon in Portuguese. I had preached sermons only in Korean because there were only Korean brothers and sisters. So when I was asked to deliver a sermon in Portuguese, I didn't know what to do. It was going to be my first sermon in Portuguese. I practiced preaching the sermon in Portuguese during the whole week, and I did the whole night before the Sabbath day, but it was beyond my capacity.

ⓒ 2006 WATV

On the Sabbath day morning, someone was knocking at the door about one hour before the morning service. It was Sister Maulene. She came with 8 members of her family; her husband, two children, elder sister, brother-in-law and three nephews and nieces. Sister Maulene’s house is about two hours away from the Church by bus and subway. She arrived at the Church at about 8 a.m., which meant she had to wake up at least by 5 a.m.

I promised myself to do my best, but still I was lacking confidence in my first sermon in Portuguese. I put my trust in God. The worship service began, and first I asked my Korean brothers and sisters to greet the Brazilian people with Mother's love. The Korean brothers and sisters joyfully greeted them, saying, "Deus te abencoe (God bless you)." They seemed a lot more at ease with the Korean brothers and sisters' greeting full of love.

The time for my sermon came, and I preached the truth of the new covenant in Portuguese for the first time in my life. At the beginning I was not confident, and my voice was so small and low. I was dripping with sweat. My sermon in Portuguese was poor, and I saw Sister Maulene. Her eyes were full of worries.

I perceived how serious the situation was and prayed to God from my heart. Then I raised my voice, thinking that I had to touch their heart by all means. As my voice got louder and louder, her family, who were paying no attention to the sermon by a small Asian man, began to give attention to my sermon. When the sermon was almost over, I could see them being moved by the word of God.

On that day, all her family members who visited the Church were reborn as God's children. I was reminded of Mother’s word that She gave me before I came to Brazil: "Let the brothers and sisters become one-minded with love." I realized that we can save one soul when we preach with Father and Mother's love, not with our fluent speaking skill or our knowledge of the Bible.

Since that day, Sister Maulene and her family have been keeping every worship service. They come to Zion by 7:30 in the morning and ask me to open the door, calling me by my English name, "Joseph." Her husband and brother-in-law get up very early in the morning and pick up brothers and sisters living nearby, saying that they should go early to receive blessing through worship. It is so impressing that the Brazilian brothers and sisters come to Zion early in the morning to receive blessing.

After the first service with the Brazilian brothers and sisters, more and more Brazilian people came to Zion every Sabbath. It was truly the work of God.

Sister Maulene also led her mother Helena to Zion. Sister Helena had personally experienced the corruption of the Protestant and Catholic Churches. After that, she hated going to church, saying that there is no true church in the world and that she would not go to any church, so none of Sister Maulene’s family members were able to persuade her to go to church.

When Sister Maulene persuaded her to come to Zion, she was extremely unwilling to go, saying, “Every church is the same. They are all false churches.” However, Sister Maulene pursuaded her every time she met her, saying, "Zion is different. There is truth and the true God." Then Sister Helena said, "Then I will go and see just once, but if I don't like being there, don’t ask me to come any more."

When she came to the Church, she didn't seem to accept the truth. After the worship service, she learned more about the truth and shed tears after she realized that the Church of God is the true Church that follows the Bible. She said, "This Church my daughter attends is the true Church," and gladly received God.

When Sister Helena opened her mind, her daughter-Sister Maulene's elder sister-was shocked and said, "It's amazing. What made mom, who had been so stubborn, change? There must be something special there." Then she wanted to study the truth and became a true child of God.

Sister Maulene is storing up bless-ings, diligently preaching the truth to her father and all her relatives.


An unforgettable day when we sang the new song for the first time

Our Brazilian brothers and sisters couldn't sing the new song for about one month after the Church was established in its new location. They envied Korean brothers and sisters, just looking at them singing the new songs, because no new song had been translated into Portuguese.

Meanwhile, a brother who is a computer programmer was given an opportunity to translate a new song. He is a Korean and fluently speaks four languages including Portuguese and Spanish, because he has ever lived in Argentina for 10 years and Brazil for 17 years. He translated a Spanish new song into Portuguese. The title of the song was "God bless you."

ⓒ 2006 WATV

The Brazilian brothers and sisters were deeply moved by the first new song in Portuguese, and they sang it throughout the whole week. We gave them a tape recording of the song, but they continued asking the Korean brothers and sisters to personally sing the song. The Korean brothers and sisters sang it so much, and their voices became hoarse.

They sang the song on the Sabbath day even more than ever. It was the first time for the Brazilian brothers and sisters to sing a new song in Portuguese during worship. They began to sing it from an hour before the worship service began. While preparing for the worship, we sang the song together. When the worship began and we sang the song, then the Brazilian brothers and sisters were extremely overwhelmed and burst into tears. They cried too much and it was hard for them to sing more, but they did not stop singing. I was so overwhelmed that I could hardly preach the sermon.

After the service, the Brazilian members kept asking the Korean members to sing the song for them. The Korean brothers and sisters sang the song throughout the Sabbath day, that their voices became hoarse.

The brother who translated the song was deeply moved by the Brazilian brothers and sisters. Now, he translates the new songs every week and prepares himself to become a prophet. The Brazilian brothers and sisters learn a different song every week, and the Brazil Zion is now full of songs and delight.

Not only the senior deaconess, Sister Maulene and the brother who translates the new songs that touch our hearts, but also many other brothers and sisters are spreading the fragrance of Zion. There is a sister who immigrated from Korea at the age of seven and now runs several clothing shops. She is very famous, and everyone in clothing town knows her. She's been delightfully keeping God's laws and serving the Church since she realized the true God.

A brother, who is a leader of a samba team, received the truth when he was in Korea for a performance. He is now being reborn as a prophet in the Brazil Church. Currently he visits his hometown Manaos, near the Amazon River where his team is staying. He diligently preaches the truth to his family and leads them to God. Also, he is studying the truth of the new covenant hard to become a prophet of God as soon as his contract with the team expires.

Brothers and sisters including me here in Sao Paulo have a great hope. It is that the truth of the new covenant will spread throughout Brazil and the sleeping souls will wake up quickly and see the light of our heavenly Mother's love.

It takes a long time to visit our brothers and sisters because Brazil is such a big country. It will be really wonderful if Zion is established in various places in Brazil. We are finding our lost brothers and sisters, hoping that our dream will come true soon.

It hasn't been long since the gospel began to be preached in Brazil. We are striving to preach the gospel, believing that if the gospel spreads throughout Brazil the world mission will be completed, because people of all races live here in Brazil.

I truly give thanks to God for giving me, weak and foolish, the great blessing of being able to participate in the world mission, and for allowing me to walk this way with gladness.