Inside Story ~ East Timor

Stubborn Wife

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Convinced that Saturday is the biblical Sabbath, business owner Zelindo JoÃo Lay informed his wife that he would leave their Sunday church in Lospalos, East Timor.

“What, are you crazy?” exclaimed his wife, Dulce. “First you close our two mini-marts on Saturday, and now you want to leave the church. Why?”

Image © Pacific Press

“I have found the truth in the Bible,” he said.

Dulce refused to discuss the matter anymore.

“From now on, you go your way, and I’ll go mine,” she said.

She stopped cooking for Zelindo and sometimes locked him out of the house.

Zelindo cried and prayed, “What is happening to me? I found the truth in the Bible but now my wife wants a divorce because I am following the Bible’s teaching about the Sabbath.”

In the mornings, Dulce went to their larger mini-mart as usual, and Zelindo watched their young son at home. He took the noon to 9 p.m. shift at the shop, and Dulce returned home to be with their son.

One morning, Zelindo prayed, “If You want me to leave my church, show me a miracle.”

At noon, he walked into the shop and was shocked to find Dulce reading the Bible. He had never seen her read the Bible before. He saw she was reading about the woman and dragon in Revelation 12.

“Darling, if you don’t understand what you are reading, I can explain it to you,” he said.

BANG! Dulce abruptly slammed her hand onto the desk. The loud noise drew startled stares from browsing customers.

Dulce started crying. “Why did they lie to us?” she said. “Why did they hide this from us?”

Zelindo hugged her. “Thank you, God, for answering my prayer,” he said. “I have seen a miracle.”

On Saturday, the family went to a Seventh-day Adventist church for the first time.

Later, Zelindo and his wife were baptized into the Adventist Church.

Zelindo, 42, said God has blessed beyond measure as he has sought to honor Him at work. He stopped selling alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea, and he changed the employment rules. In addition to salaries, he provides employees with room and board. He asks them to worship with him every morning and evening and attend Bible studies once a week.

Zelindo prays every day, “I want to use this business to praise You. Help me to bring people to You.”

The employees have expressed amazement as they study the Bible.

“What you are teaching us from the Bible is really true,” they say.

Zelindo, upper right, said God has blessed his business beyond his biggest hopes: Eight employees have been baptized in four years.

Part of a 2015 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped build the first Seventh-day Adventist school in East Timor’s capital, Dili. Thank you for your mission offering.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Amen!