Dear Friends,

I just had to post this testimony from a very dear friend of mine in Colombia. He is a true man of God and the Lord continues to use him in many miraculous ways. I met up with him during my trip to Colombia in April and he is alive and well.

Hello dear brother Charles Wardell,

What a joy to be able to write to you and to tell you how God’s hand was manifested in this occasion. First of all let me tell you that I appreciate the support that I have received from you and the confidence you have deposited in my capabilities, thank you very much. I have to say that the facts happened in Bahía Solano, Chocó are the evidence that we have a great God, since I face death, not without before having witnessed God’s power and the inscrutable of His designs toward us. Let me put things in order:

1. The Assemblies of God invited us to accomplish an evangelism campaign to strengthen the work in Bahía, and I had an estimated of 20 brethren to be trained and go out to do the campaign, but days before we get there, the pastor that was in charge of that church did undue things and caused serious problems to the church. When arriving only I found 8 people compromised with the work. With those 8 people we did the task and last Sunday in only two hours 49 new souls were saved for Christ, !Hallelujah! I also trained a native from the Embera tribe who in turn will be among her people preaching them with the cube. I have to return to the tribe personally and establish a new work there.
2. While I was training the people for the work to accomplish, a local sister knew that I lived in Tuluá and told me there was a gravely sick man about to die and that he also came from Tuluá. She asked me if I wanted to meet him, I said her yes, and we went to visit him. ! What a surprise to me when I found his name was Neftalí Viera! 67 years old. He is definitely my relative. We identified our relatives’ names and no doubt he is my cousin. I never met him before, but God wanted me to go there because in 25 years he does not know anything about his family here in Tuluá. He was raised in the Mennonite faith but he was not active long ago. A month ago doctors diagnosed him colon cancer (like me), and he prayed God for forgiveness. He had asked God as a token of forgiveness to let him live longer than what doctors said. My arrival to Bahía was God’s answer to his prayer. My tears gushed of joy when seeing God’s love. Now I am going to put him in touch with his family here in Tuluá. The truth is that we did not get to understand God’s thoughts.
3. When the work ended up in Solano Bay, last Monday, we should have taken the ship in Bahía, but they sent us some other place to aboard the ship at the El Valle village, an hour through the jungle by car. When arriving to the place, at about 3:30 pm., we had to wait to be picked up and taken to the ship, because it was anchored out to sea, because El Valley does not have a dock. They picked us up by night, at about the 7:30. When passing the bocana (Narrow step of sea that is used as entrance to a bay or anchorage.) an immense wave of approximately 20 feet rose up and hit the boat! We were shipwrecked in the middle of the sea! The boat did not have life jackets or something like that. There were approximately 15 people in the boat, including a girl of 8 years and an old man. I had control of me, because I can swim, but while time went and rescue arrived, hypothermia began to defeat me. The strong waves scattered us adrift and I was worried about my companion, Pastor Jairo Vásquez for a moment disappeared out of my sight. Pastor Leonardo Torres, presbyter of Assemblies of God who had also worked with us there had traveled hours before by plane. When rescue arrived hypothermia was doing its work on me. Before rescue came, God sent a very young man, an expert swimmer to accompany me; otherwise I would be enjoying my Lord’s presence. He was one of the boat workers charging the ship with wood. While the rescue arrived, many things went through my mind, and I told the Lord that if I die, my life worth it for those 49 new souls saved for Christ. At the same time I was praying and telling the young boy about Paul and his ship wreckage experience.  I never was afraid to die, although for a moment it seemed to me that the end had come. When the rescue boat arrived, the little girl and the old man were put to save first, and I swam to the boat and tried to get into safe, but they put me back to water because there was no room enough. I had then to wait for a second chance. It took several minutes because the rescue boat did not have motor but oars. I had to wait held onto a very small portable fridge.  While he waiting, the youth told me his only fear was a cramp or sharks to arrive. At this point I had lost energy and got part of my arm stiffened. Now I understand Pablo’s words when he said: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” I Do Not Have idea how much time passed by, but the moment the rescue boat returned, I no longer had energy in me, because hypothermia already had stiffened all my body and shivering. If this youth had not been to my side, I sure would have died since I did not have the strength to continue swimming. I lost everything at sea. The baggage and work goods, the portable Pc, the video beam, camera, everything, but I earned 49 new souls for my Christ’s kingdom. Miraculously they recovered only 20 evangecubes and my I.D’s. Even today I have the body in pain and a headache because of the hit of the wave and all of the process. “But, no, rather I also count all things to be loss because of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them to be trash, that I might gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).
4. On Wednesday, when we arrived to Buenaventura’s port, (3 hours by bus to my house), the transporting company told us they are not responsible of material losses or something else, simply because “accidents happens”. Then I headed to the Captainship of the Port and I set my protest because the company did not have the least elements of security in the boat wrecked.

Now, let’s see the positive side: Pastor Leonardo Torres, Assemblies God presbyter saw how the evangecubes works and wants us to open a new missionary trip to the coffee axis. Pastor Leonardo Torres and the national President of the same denomination will write letters to E3 Partners requesting missionary trips to the coffee axis (Risaralda, Caldas and Quindío, three States coffee producers). I talked to him and explained how e3 works. Next week I have a meeting with these people to set a date to introduce E3 Colombia in a General Pastors meeting.

God bless you brother

George Viera