SOC Viamão, RS Brazil
When we arrived in the city of Viamão, Brazil, in February of this year, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the faithfulness of the Lord. During the twenty-one years that we lived on the mission field, the Church in Viamão had become a second home for us and an integral part for the outreach ministry of the SOC. From 2006 until 2013 Viamão hosted the SOC every year in January.
By 2014, practically the entire ministerial staff of the Church had been through the SOC. At that point Brother Brian Larsen and Pastor David Mattos were led to hold a yearly convention of the SOC in January instead of the entire SOC. This, however, was with the understanding that one day the Church would once again need the the entire SOC taught. That year was 2025. After 11 years of waiting on the Lord’s time, navigating the challenges of the 2020 pandemic, the Lord by His grace and faithfulness brought us back to teach the SOC once again.
From the first day, we knew the Lord was working on the lives of every student present. We had nearly 80 students and over 70% of the class had never been through the SOC. In fact, we were blessed to have had a wonderful group of young people who were not even born when we held the first SOC in 2006!
These details left a great impact in our lives as we are now witnessing the next generation being impacted by the lessons of the SOC! We did not have facilities to house the students, so our days began at 8AM to allow enough time for every student to arrive. We started with an hour of prayer, followed by a full day of teaching and ending with another hour of prayer around 5PM. On Wednesdays, Pastor David felt led to call the entire Church to a 24 hour fast. These were 2 weeks of complete consecration to the Lord. After the final evening prayer, we would then preach in the different congregations around the city. The Lord moved greatly in these two weeks! We saw brothers and sister being baptized and renewed in the Holy Spirit. We also witnessed a sister, who suffered previously with excruciating back pains, being strengthened to walk a round trip of 30 minutes to and from the school every day! Young people even testified of having been full of themselves previously, but after the SOC, they stood committed to preaching the Gospel anywhere God would lead them to!
Bitterness and unforgiveness were dealt with at the altar, and by the final day the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the entire class! Many students testified afterwards that they felt the call of God upon their lives, and they willingly answered, “here am I!” One young brother shared with Brother Brian that he could feel the weight of the lost souls upon his shoulders. For all of this, all we can say is, To God Be The Glory!
Due to time constraints we were only able to teach the first half of the SOC. However, we have already scheduled a return trip next year to teach the final half. We are looking forward to all that God is going to do through the lives of each brother and sister who surrendered themselves at the altar! Thank you for your continued prayers and support so that we may continue the world missions training and outreach through this vital missions ministry.