[1]SAN PEDRO, Dominican Republic (BP)–For a solid week, the pastor and a Brazilian volunteer visited the young man dying of AIDS.
“He said he believed in Christ but did not want to accept him as Savior,” said Antonio Carlos Carvalho, one of 41 Brazilian volunteers participating in Impacto ’97, a simultaneous evangelistic effort of the Dominican Republic’s Baptist churches.
“Our hearts were very sad. We visited again and again,” Carvalho said. “We were praying for him, that he would open his heart and surrender his life to Christ.”
The last Sunday of the campaign, the team made one more attempt. When they got to the house, the electricity was out, a common occurrence in the Dominican Republic.
The visitors took advantage of the semidarkness.
“We told him Christ is the light of the world and we prayed for him,” Carvalho recalled. “He was moved. He called his mother and asked, ‘Mother, can I accept Christ?’ She said, ‘Yes, my son, be converted.’
“He opened his heart and said, ‘Today, I accept Christ.’ He prayed, confessed his sins and accepted Christ.”
Carvalho, a pastor in the Rio de Janeiro area, shared the experience in a meeting with other volunteers and Brazilian and Southern Baptist missionaries the day after the campaign ended. Some 400 to 500 decisions reportedly were made in house visitation and church services.