On Sunday he appeared at her house for dinner.  After the dinner was over she suggested that they, in company with several of her children, should take a stroll through some of the parks.  They passed through the great park in the center of the city, and after a while they found themselves in front of a building in which they heard singing.  The good woman suggested that they go upstairs into the hall from which proceeded the sounds of the music.  They went in, Thomaz not knowing what sort of place it was.  Dr. Bagby, the first missionary of our board to Brazil, was conducting a service and soon began a sermon which impressed Thomaz very greatly.  The sermon drew such a picture of his life that he accused the woman of having told Dr. Bagby about him.  She had not done so, she declared, and this fact impressed Thomaz even more.

Next Saturday, when she brought his laundry, she invited him to take dinner with her again on Sunday, but he was too shrewd for her and declined, saying that he understood her purpose.  The message which he had heard in the sermon, however, stayed with him.  On the following Saturday the good woman again invited him to take dinner with her on Sunday.  He declined.  When the third Saturday came, before she had time to extend her usual invitation, he said:  “I am coming to dinner with you tomorrow.”  He went according to promise, and after the meal had been finished, they did not take a round-about course, but went directly to the church, and there the man listened to the gospel again and gave himself to Christ.  He has not missed a service since unless providentially hindered.  I asked him if he was sorry of the step he had taken and he replied:  “No, indeed.  It is as Paul says, ’A salvation not to be repented of.’”

There can be but one inevitable result to such faithful witnessing as this.  One of the most hopeful signs in connection with the work in Brazil is the fact that a large percentage of the members of the churches endeavor to lead others to Christ in a personal way.  A large percentage of them will conduct public services wherever the opportunity can be found.  In the First Baptist Church in Rio there are more than twenty men who will go out and conduct public services.  They are not skilled preachers.  They may have very limited education, but they can take the Book, read it, explain its message through the light of their own individual experiences, and by this means of witnessing to the power of the saving grace of God in their own lives, they are able to lead many to Jesus.  Is not this after all the kind of preaching our Lord has sent us into the world to do?