Experiences of the altar - I got married and moved far away from my family

            "I come from a big family. We are 4 siblings, 3 girls and one boy, very united. All the girls slept in the same bedroom, even when we grew up we would talk until late, and only went to sleep after my father scream, “turn off the lights and shut your mouths.” My brother always protected us. Before I met Jesus I was always sick so I got used to go to the doctor, shopping, anywhere, always with my mother; I was never alone. We lived near my grandparents, uncles, and cousins, when we would get together it would sum up to 22 cousins. This is how I grew up and lived until I was about 18 years old when I got married. I left school, work, and my family to serve God on the altar. 

Right after we got married we were sent to a church in the interior of Curitiba, in a city called Cascavel. We went to live with another couple. The wife of that pastor was very nice to me, she taught me many things, but the pain of the separation was very big. I remember the first time I had to go to the doctor by myself. My husband couldn’t go with me and I was far away from my mother; I remember to walk in the streets of Cascavel and cry for the pain of becoming a wife. There was nobody to take care of me. At only 18 years old I had to take care of my husband, take responsibilities of a married woman, take care of a church, of a house, I didn’t have time to cry or lament. It was hard for me. At the time we didn’t have a cell phone, email, nor skype to talk to my mom; we had to use a public phone and it was very hard.

            One month after we were in that city my husband receive the responsibility of his first church, after getting married. We moved to the Foz of Iguaçu, in a small church. It was still the beginning of the work of God. We had 7 people Sunday morning. We lived behind the church in a small and simple house, without luxury, just one bed, one wardrobe, and the kitchen furniture. It was very hot and we didn’t even had a fan. I remember to wake up during the night with the noise of mousses on top of the roof. It seemed like they would fall on top of us at any time. But nothing would stop us! We evangelized during the day and at night we did the service. Despite all the battles we were happy, we didn’t look at the difficulties but we saw the privilege of being there; we never complained not even for not having what we wanted to eat. We did a core of prayer in a city in Paraguai called Naranjal. There were times that we had to cross the bridge that connects Paraguai and the Foz of Iguaçu walking. We walked more than two hours to get where we would take the bus to travel another two hours to get to the core of prayer. Inside of the bus we found everything even chicken; and it was extremely hot!

            Red sand and a lot of dust in those streets but our joy was that each day we had more people. The people were very kind, they thanked us with fruits, milk, and vegetables. Little did they know that most of the time it was the only thing we had to eat. We would get happy to see the people being healed, delivered, this was our salary. Today the Foz of Iguaçu is a regional church, a very beautiful church, as well as the core of prayer in Naranjal gave fruits where we have a church today. Well after a year without having news or talk to my family, we went back to the capital where my husband received a new church. The church was recently opened. We also lived behind the church. We had many needs; many times I didn’t have anything to wear or any shoes. We had the desire to drink milk and we didn’t have it. 

My house was very simple; and after a year without seeing my parents they went to visit me in the church. There I saw sadness in the eyes of my parents, because they were not in the faith and didn’t understand our sacrifice; it reflected in their faces. I remember my father saying, “my daughter you don’t need this, I never let you guys miss anything, why don’t you come back home?”  I looked him in the eyes and said, “father I don’t miss anything, I have everything, I’m happy and what I want is to serve God.” He gave me a hug, called my mom, didn’t even accept a cup of coffee in my house, and left. It was very hard for me but it strengthened my faith. After that the church grew a lot; God honored our faith.

            There are many experiences, if I mention each one of them, I’ll stay here writing for a very long time; but they all served to show us that doing the work of God requires sacrificing, but of course our award is very big too. We formed so many children in faith during these years! By resigning my own dreams I was able to dream and make happen God’s dreams. In each battle, in each sacrifice made, in each desert that we went through, I was always sure that God was with us, and our victory is certain. Maybe you my friend, who read this message, are going through a difficult moment, and you want to understand why. Why is this happening to you? Why couldn’t things be easier? Just because the desert is the school of God to make real and useful servants for His kingdom!"

Elaine Scheffer