Hermann’s Conversion, 6 July 2014
We were both born in Bolivia, grew up in the Sommerfeld Old Colony and went to school there, where we learnt many good things. After school, as is often the case, from the age of 14 or 15 we took to the streets and led a godless life, and then, when I, Hermann, suddenly started thinking about life – about where I wanted to spend eternity – it all became very serious for me. As a young boy, I’d always been terribly afraid of hell, but I didn’t know the way to heaven. No one ever explained that to me when I was a young boy.
When I was 17, after I’d heard the Gospel, I thought about it a great deal; I often went to the meetings where the Gospel was preached in Low German, and it touched me deeply. So, in May 2014, I really came to understand the Gospel for the first time, and in July 2014 I was converted. It was like this: I’d already been asked at that time whether I’d been converted or intended to be, but I wasn’t quite ready yet; then, in July, there was a church day organised by the AGUM; I went along to that, and there was a very clear evangelistic sermon; the Holy Spirit touched me there, and I was converted and born again.
At first, my parents and all my siblings were against it; I was the first in the family to want a different life, so it was very difficult at the start because my parents were completely against it and even took my Bible away from me, but God worked a miracle: my brother was converted two days after me, and my parents on 1 October 2014 – that same year. All seven of my siblings were also converted afterwards. THANKS BE TO GOD AND TO HIM BE THE GLORY!
Lena’s Conversion
I grew up in the Altkolonie until I was 17, finished my schooling there and learnt many good things, but I didn’t know what one had to do to be saved. It was then in 2014 at a youth retreat that I realised I needed to be converted; I then stayed for pastoral care and confessed my sins to the Lord Jesus. I knew at the time that my sins had been forgiven, but I didn’t believe that I was then a child of God; I had no assurance of salvation, so I lived like that for four years without any assurance of salvation, I went through some very difficult times and often tried anew to believe, but I couldn’t grasp it in my faith until 2018, when we were at an evangelistic meeting; there, God spoke to me and I understood that there was grace for me; then God enabled me to surrender myself to Him in faith; I then repented and received JESUS in faith. Oh, I cannot thank Him enough for His mercy and grace.
How the Lord led us into ministry at Betesda.
Herman: By then, the time had come for us to get married, and we’d thought we’d continue working at the school in Sommerfeld – where I’d already been for a year – but things soon turned out differently. After that, we didn’t know where we’d live if we weren’t helping out at the school, so we prayed a great deal together about it, and the Lord answered our prayers. One morning, whilst I was having my ‘quiet time’, I was on my knees praying, and suddenly, whilst I was praying, a gentle voice came into my mind: ‘BETESDA’. Then I knew that God had answered and spoken. But then my prayers had to be put into action.
So I rang Peter Giesbrecht, feeling very excited. He told me I’d have to ask our elder, as such matters are always decided by the congregation. The congregation agreed, and it quickly worked out that I’d worked there for two months before our wedding. And even after our wedding, things just kept going, so that we’re now in our third year working at Betesda.
