STORY
In 1919, Elesbão Florentino Nunes, a resident of Itajaí in Brazil, got to know the Adventist message and was baptized. The pioneering work of a pastor from Brusque saw more people following the path of baptism, and in 1920 the first Adventist congregation of Itajaí, the birthplace of Adventism in Brazil, was formed.
“My grandfather found, among other teachings in the Bible, that the Sabbath was the day of the Lord,” recalls Carlos Nunes, grandson of the Adventist pioneer. “From there, he and a group of friends began to gather at his home. He rode a bicycle long distances to talk about God.”
Elesbão took the Adventist message as far as he could, and today there are 55 churches, 5,236 Adventists, and a school with 1,375 students, the fruit of that first congregation, which began to meet on November 20, 1920. Through the biological or spiritual grandchildren of Elesbão dozens of ministries emerged to preach the gospel in the city; ministries such as surfing, penitentiary, and fishing, which today continue to illuminate Itajaí in a contemporary way.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site