3 Filipino Baptisms in Cyprus – European Division

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Yolanda Malla, a Filipino domestic worker in Cyprus, saw that her friend Beatrise had tagged her in a Seventh-day Adventist sermon on Facebook.

Image © Pacific Press

Yolanda had met Beatrise, a Filipino domestic worker in Israel, several years earlier when they both worked as domestic helpers in Taiwan. Yolanda remembered that Beatrise had been baptized recently in Israel.

“Why did you become a Seventh-day Adventist?” she wrote on Facebook.

“This is where I feel comfortable”, Beatrice replied. “Just watch the video that I sent you, and you’ll understand”.

Yolanda clicked on the video and heard a sermon about God setting aside the seventh day Sabbath at Creation, reminding His people to keep the Sabbath with the Ten Commandments, and calling for Sabbath observance throughout the New Testament. Yolanda was surprised and checked the sermon’s texts in the Bible. She saw that the Sabbath was on Saturday.

“Why have I gone to so many churches and never heard a pastor preach about the Sabbath?” she wondered. “Why does no one else talk about the Sabbath?”

She called Beatrice.

“This has opened my mind!” she said. “I want to find this church that keeps the Sabbath, but where can I find it in Cyprus?”

Beatrise did some research and sent the telephone number of Branislav Mirilov, president of the Adventist Church in Cyprus. Yolanda called and received directions to the church in her town, Limassol.

Yolanda began attending the church’s Bible study group on Sundays. Soon she invited a cousin, Michelin, also a domestic worker in Cyprus, to accompany her. Then she invited another Filipino domestic worker, Maria, to attend as well. But Maria cared for an elderly woman who needed round-the-clock care, and she couldn’t get permission to leave the house.

“No problem”, said Marica Mirilov, who is married to the church president and works as a Bible worker. “We can do the Bible studies on Facebook Messenger”.

In a short time, Yolanda, Michelin, and Maria were baptized.

Leading friends to baptism is the natural result of knowing Jesus, said Yolanda Malla, 42, a single mother, still working in Cyprus to support 7- and 8-year-old sons in the Philippines.

“Even though I come from a broken home, I have strength because I have learned that I have hope”, she said.

Part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter will help construct a new church building and community center in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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