José Oliveira tells his own, unfinished, story. Part 2 of 4 episodes
The wilderness
The situation for our family was very difficult. Without jobs, we were running out of money… And that sense of oppression was still very present I couldn’t understand why.
To me the devil was a distant figure. Pretty much like a movie character, He could very well be a tall guy with a mask, with breathing problems and “a bad stench”… Ring any bells? But in a movie, we can walk out, pause, or stop it…
One night, I had a dream… A different kind of dream… I was running in dark tunnels, underground… Deeper and deeper… Someone was in pursuit and getting closer and closer… When I reached a dead end, I looked around and I couldn’t find any escape route… and the pursuer was getting closer…
Now, the pursuer was moving around me, in circles… I felt darkness, evil… I looked up and asked for “God’s angels protection”… Interesting request, isn’t it? Why I did that? Well, I did that to trigger the pursuer’s reaction: “I am an angel as well”… Hearing that I snapped, and I woke up shaking…
It was dark, I looked at Susy and she was peacefully sleeping. I needed some sort of purification, cleansing… I walked to the living room, picked up the Bible in search of the Word of God. I needed that to calm myself down and to cleanse myself…
Now, I was well aware that Satan is very real. He wasn’t a movie character, and I couldn’t walk away, or ‘press stop’…
Weeks later, I was in our small group gathering, watching a video. It was about Jesus’ crucifixion, and Moses lifting the snake to heal his people from the snake bites… I was surrounded by brothers in the Faith, there was a good mood but, nevertheless, I felt oppression, and, at the same time, I was receiving a message. I can’t explain how I received the message, but I understood that my problems will only get worse…
Depression took over me. Two days later, I shared this with Susy, who told me to tell our small group leader. After listening to me, he told me “We are used to that. That didn’t come from God”…
Again, I was being targeted…
Custard tarts
Without money to pay the rent, we moved to a wooden shack in a field with cattle, snakes and lizards roaming freely… Still, no way out in sight. Frustration and depression were very present, and we took every opportunity to stay away from the shed and to be with fellow Christians.
One day, we visited a special family. They loved Susy’s cod with cream recipe, and we took some and shared a meal… During the meal, they said two important things; first, that it was all right to be frustrated or even angry and to present our problems to Jesus. The second, was that Brazilians were mad about Portuguese food. Susy could try to sell that cod with cream and see if we could start something …
I realised that cod was too expensive. But custard tarts were a success everywhere, and we could try that.
Susy, tried to cook custard tarts in our oven, but that was the wrong kind of oven Even so, on the first attempt, Susy was able to make them crunchy. That was, in essence, the secret of the recipe. So, finally, we had something, but we needed help. We needed an oven powerful enough to deliver a 400-degree thermal shock to our custard tarts…
Seems difficult, doesn’t it?
During that week we met the Small Group leader and asked if it would be possible to lend us an oven powerful enough to cook our custard tarts properly. He told us that he had two pizza ovens, capable to reach the required temperatures. One was big in size and the other one was even larger… We told him that the smaller one would do… His reply was, tomorrow morning, at eight, the oven will be delivered with a gas bottle. Morning came and, before half past eight, we had the oven in our backyard ready to work.
Still seems difficult? Nothing is difficult with the All – Mighty by your side! In less than a week, with the help of that family, we had a logo and a brand image for an advertisement. Now, we needed to show our custard tarts to shops around and start working hard. In less than 6 months, we had *10 selling points, *outdoor advertisements, Susy *appeared on the local TV channel, our custard tarts were *tasted live on that channel, we had *over 200 followers on Facebook and a *steady income to allow us to rent a house… We weren’t alone in our endeavour… God was helping us.
We started looking for a house, but being ‘illegals’ in Brazil, it was very difficult to sign in a contract.
After several weeks, we were able to see one house. It was a brand-new house, with 3 bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and a nice backyard. It had been on the market for several months, but no one rented that house … It was more expensive, but it was also nearby the Militar College, and usually areas surrounding military establishments were safe areas.
When we signed the contract and moved in, we had to move the oven. We hadn’t thought about that before. Yet when we brought in the oven, it fitted perfectly through the back gate…
With the help of friends, we started to plan registering our business. It looked like we were arriving to our final destination, but the Lord had other plans …
José’s story continues next month …….
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Besides his professional life, Jose produces some punchy Christian videos and hopes to develop this ministry further. Here is some of his work:
Why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rid0fSmUqfQ
Why was Jesus hated – to death?
Immanuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvlchs_tj0
Who is this Man born at Christmas-time, 200 years ago?
Please pray this ministry will ‘go’ where Jesus wants it to go ………..
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