The believers from First Baptist Church in Valentine, Joao Pessoa were faithful in their prayers and visits to Algodao. When they would drive in, they would stop by the "Tree of Life," and pray and consecrate themselves, then drive on into town. They would hold gospel meetings, and every time poeple would come to the Lord.
On the way out of town they would drive a good 45 minutes up a very steep mountain, park and walk the rest of the way up to the top of this granite mountain where they would pray over the city. This was not convenient or easy, but they were faithful in their prayers and visits.
As I mentioned, in December 2003/ January 2004, the rains came. Everyone knew that it was the prayers of the believers that had brought the rain. The rains came so strongly that as the water filled the resevoir, and flooded over the spillway, it was throwing boulders up in the air.
There was even a place up on one of the mountains not too far from there, where water was coming out from the rock!
Today, they catch shrimp and fish out of the resevoir. There is a resident missionary who is there to minister to the people.
The stick and mug shacks that once were about all anyone lived in are now replaced by cinderblock homes. The streets are paved. Where there was once no water table, now there is a water table that would last at least 16 years. They grow three of four different types of crops.
The change has been truly miraculous, and is a testimony to the power of God and His faithfulness to His Word to "heal their land."
There are so many "layers" to how God worked in this story that it is not possible in this brief overview to even give justice to the story.
It began in mid-2002 when First Baptist Church of Valentine, in Joao Pessoa was going to celebrate their 7th anniversary. They were a church plant from the Lagoinha church in Sao Paulo. One night as they were practicing the songs for the celebration, and began to close in prayer, God came with great power and conviction. They spent two hours in repentance on their faces. In the following weeks, God continued to visit them in this way. One of the choir members, Vitoria, had come one evening to quit the choir, but was not able, and when she went home, late in the night she had a dream of this community. God gave her the name, showed her what it was like, and she even saw the faces of the people! As they prayed, God put this place on their hearts. They had no car, and had to borrow a car and hold bake sales to raise money for gas. When they arrived, it was all as Vitoria saw in her dream. When they went to one house in town, they met a believing couple who told them that they had been praying that God would send someone to help them.
Thus began God's miraculous work of the Transformation of Agldao de Jandaira.
