THE MOSTELLER STORY
INSTALMENT #9
Well, our story continues (in the Cape Verde Islands):
We were asked to go to Mindelo, a city of 2,200 people on the island of Sao Vicente, to re-open a work that had been closed years before. We got there and rented an old run-down hotel building. There was a large room that had been a dance hall, and it served for church services. The other 25 rooms served as ideal Sunday School classrooms.
God blessed and in short order we had enough interested parties so that we organized the beginning of a seminary with young men and their wives. There was also a former Roman Catholic priest in the number.
We had no Sunday School literature in Portuguese, so on Friday nights Gladys taught the 20-25 smartest-looking people as teachers. On Sundays she'd sneak around and listen outside the door as they taught their classes and discovered that some of them were even making the same mistakes in Portuguese that she had! Attentive learners they were!
I was directing the morning church service. I asked the people to stand for prayer and then invited seminary student Eudo Tavares de Almeida to lead in prayer. Under strong conviction, he silently told the Lord that he couldn't pray because he wasn't yet sanctified wholly. But he asked the Lord to sanctify him right then and there--and He did! Eudo prayed a powerful prayer, with no one knowing until later what had transpired in those previous brief seconds.
Eudo was an outstanding soccer player. In fact, Venezuela called him to play on their national team. He replied that he couldn't, because God had called him to preach. He became an outstanding preacher.
It was nearly Alabaster offering time, and in spite of the stigma attached to a preacher's not wearing a suit coat, Eudo sold his coat so that he would have money for the offering. God didn't let him down. The next day a better coat arrived in a used clothes "missionary box work" barrel from the U.S.A.
In Christ's love,
Earl E. Mosteller
We were asked to go to Mindelo, a city of 2,200 people on the island of Sao Vicente, to re-open a work that had been closed years before. We got there and rented an old run-down hotel building. There was a large room that had been a dance hall, and it served for church services. The other 25 rooms served as ideal Sunday School classrooms.
God blessed and in short order we had enough interested parties so that we organized the beginning of a seminary with young men and their wives. There was also a former Roman Catholic priest in the number.
We had no Sunday School literature in Portuguese, so on Friday nights Gladys taught the 20-25 smartest-looking people as teachers. On Sundays she'd sneak around and listen outside the door as they taught their classes and discovered that some of them were even making the same mistakes in Portuguese that she had! Attentive learners they were!
I was directing the morning church service. I asked the people to stand for prayer and then invited seminary student Eudo Tavares de Almeida to lead in prayer. Under strong conviction, he silently told the Lord that he couldn't pray because he wasn't yet sanctified wholly. But he asked the Lord to sanctify him right then and there--and He did! Eudo prayed a powerful prayer, with no one knowing until later what had transpired in those previous brief seconds.
Eudo was an outstanding soccer player. In fact, Venezuela called him to play on their national team. He replied that he couldn't, because God had called him to preach. He became an outstanding preacher.
It was nearly Alabaster offering time, and in spite of the stigma attached to a preacher's not wearing a suit coat, Eudo sold his coat so that he would have money for the offering. God didn't let him down. The next day a better coat arrived in a used clothes "missionary box work" barrel from the U.S.A.
In Christ's love,
Earl E. Mosteller
P.S. From daughter Ginny:
No sooner had I e-mailed my P. S. to Dad's Communication #8 about his being back home at Callahan Village recuperating from his 11-day hospital stay than his home health nurse, unwrapping his unaboot (for his leg ulcer) noted that he had a large sore so deep on the outer side of his foot that it was exposing bone. How that had escaped the attention of the nurses who did his wound care/unaboot wraps at the hospital we don't know, but our topnotch nurse immediately alerted us to make an appointment with a foot specialist. Upon seeing Dad's sore--with fragments of deteriorating bone actually crumbling off -- the specialist sent us straight from the doctor's office to the hospital for surgery the next morning. Dad was back at the Village recuperating when, a few days later, the doctor called with the results from cultures done at surgery time revealing a severe bone infection requiring IV treatment; so Dad was readmitted to the hospital. An infectious disease specialist studied Dad's case and determined that IV's would be needed multiple times a day for 6-12 weeks, so on February 13, Dad was moved to a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center for this longer-term treatment and physical therapy. The staff there is very pleased with his progress. And again, evangelistic Dad doesn't miss opportunities to share Christ. He has just led one of his therapists to the Lord! God knows what He is doing in placing us where He wants us to be -- regardless of the circumstances!
Mom (Gladys) escaped the flu bug that was rampant in our area, but unfortunately caught the stubborn cold that is taking many people around here three to four weeks to conquer. She is improving, though.
I personally want to thank you for your precious love and prayers for Mom and Dad. It means so much to me to have brothers and sisters in Christ up in Canada caring about them and lifting them to our Lord in prayer. I also have a marvelous answer to prayer to share with you: My husband, who was diagnosed last year with a very rare form of Hodgkins lymphoma just received the good news last week that following surgery, radiation, etc., there is no trace of cancer in his body. Praise the Lord! (We knew that God was in control -- and had He had another outcome in mind, we would still be loving and praising Him, but to say that this answer thrilled us would be an understatement!)
No sooner had I e-mailed my P. S. to Dad's Communication #8 about his being back home at Callahan Village recuperating from his 11-day hospital stay than his home health nurse, unwrapping his unaboot (for his leg ulcer) noted that he had a large sore so deep on the outer side of his foot that it was exposing bone. How that had escaped the attention of the nurses who did his wound care/unaboot wraps at the hospital we don't know, but our topnotch nurse immediately alerted us to make an appointment with a foot specialist. Upon seeing Dad's sore--with fragments of deteriorating bone actually crumbling off -- the specialist sent us straight from the doctor's office to the hospital for surgery the next morning. Dad was back at the Village recuperating when, a few days later, the doctor called with the results from cultures done at surgery time revealing a severe bone infection requiring IV treatment; so Dad was readmitted to the hospital. An infectious disease specialist studied Dad's case and determined that IV's would be needed multiple times a day for 6-12 weeks, so on February 13, Dad was moved to a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center for this longer-term treatment and physical therapy. The staff there is very pleased with his progress. And again, evangelistic Dad doesn't miss opportunities to share Christ. He has just led one of his therapists to the Lord! God knows what He is doing in placing us where He wants us to be -- regardless of the circumstances!
Mom (Gladys) escaped the flu bug that was rampant in our area, but unfortunately caught the stubborn cold that is taking many people around here three to four weeks to conquer. She is improving, though.
I personally want to thank you for your precious love and prayers for Mom and Dad. It means so much to me to have brothers and sisters in Christ up in Canada caring about them and lifting them to our Lord in prayer. I also have a marvelous answer to prayer to share with you: My husband, who was diagnosed last year with a very rare form of Hodgkins lymphoma just received the good news last week that following surgery, radiation, etc., there is no trace of cancer in his body. Praise the Lord! (We knew that God was in control -- and had He had another outcome in mind, we would still be loving and praising Him, but to say that this answer thrilled us would be an understatement!)
