Something went terribly wrong
as Vitalina prepared to give birth to her second child
in São Tomé and Príncipe,
a tiny island nation off the coast of West Africa.
She began to bleed heavily,
and the doctors mistakenly gave her the wrong type of blood
during a blood transfusion.
The baby was born safely,
but Vitalina suffered a severe infection in her legs.
To save her life, the doctors amputated both legs.
Vitalina was just 19 years old.
After this tragedy, Vitalina’s husband left her for another woman.
Depression overwhelmed her, and she considered suicide.
I felt a lot of pain, and I asked God, “Let me die, please kill me, God,
because I cannot live with this pain.”
But God had a purpose, a plan for me,
so He allowed me to live.
Vitalina worked hard not to burden her family.
She sewed to pay the bills
and the people who assisted her with house chores she couldn’t do.
After some time,
a Seventh-day Adventist woman who washed Vitalina’s clothes got sick.
I wanted to find another person but the woman said,
“Don’t worry, I am going to ask church members
to come wash your clothes.”
At that time, I wasn’t an Adventist, so I told her not to do it.
But she didn’t listen.
She asked people at church,
and they came and washed some of my clothes.
When a group of Adventist girls arrived at Vitalina’s home
to help with washing clothes,
she only gave them some of her clothes and told them that was all.
But eager to help,
the girls decided to look through the house for more items to clean.
Then they took her clothes to the river and sang as they washed.
They washed and washed,
and then they invited me to an evangelistic meeting.
I attended it and decided to accept Jesus.
After her baptism, Vitalina was eager to share her new faith.
She told her personal testimony to everyone who would listen.
“Look at me,” she told people who stopped by her home.
“God is working in me, and I’m able to work.
God is wonderful, and you need to trust Him!”
Through her witnessing,
Vitalina convinced seven people to go with her
to the closest Adventist church.
She even paid their bus fare for weeks.
All seven people are now baptized members of the Adventist Church.
Vitalina also organized a Bible study group outside her home,
and six more people were baptized.
Soon, she led 40 people to baptism, including two of her children!
Church leaders began drafting plans to open a church in her neighborhood.
Lacking funds to buy land,
the church accepted an offer from Vitalina
to build a temporary structure outside her house.
I used to go to the closest Adventist church,
but it was still far.
Now, I feel happy about this.
I feel content because it’s much closer now.
It was expensive to visit there,
and I needed people to take me there because I couldn’t go alone.
This humble church is made of people who are on fire for mission.
After the Sabbath service each week,
they go out the door singing and shaking each other’s hands.
As Vitalina shakes each hand,
she is reminded that God will one day give us victory
over everything that leaves us helpless.
I pray for this community that we may win them for Christ.
There are still a lot of people here who need Christ.
This is my mission.