AD BACABAL

In 1932, Bacabal came from Engenho Central, currently Pindaré Mirim, sister Ana Pereira and her daughters Rosa, Gertrudes and Onesinda Lima, the pioneers of the Lord's work in Bacabal.

We bring to light this memorial the story of one of his daughters, a woman who is a landmark in the history of the Evangelical Church Assembly of God in Bacabal-MA.
In its Christian virtues it welcomed the first dreams of evangelization in this city.
His name is GERTRUDES PEREIRA GOMES.

She arrived in Bacabal with her husband Luís Gama, in 1932, eighteen years after Bacabal won the District Court.

She was a primary teacher in the municipal public school system and taught in one of the rooms of her home. She was 32 years old and even with her non-believing spouse, she zealously cultivated the virtues of Christianity with her eleven sons, although, at that time, she was flanked only by four daughters: Meluzina, Maria, Virginia and Isabel, the latter still present among us .

Also with her was her mother, Ana Pereira do Nascimento, over 60, who lived in the custody of her younger sisters: Rosa, Onezinda (also known as Moreninha) and her brother Evaristo, who was not a believer.

Sr. Gertrudes lived in the Juçaral neighborhood, an important commercial center in Bacabal, but far from the city center, according to historians Orlando Alencar and Raimundo Sergio de Oliveira. She made her home the first evangelical congregational congregation in Bacabal, with her daughters as children, sisters and elderly mother as assistants.

Although he never neglected his domestic duties, he organized his family to meet together for domestic worship and congregational work on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday nights, led by Sister Rosa Parma, a pioneer in the organization of prayer and teaching. of God's Word at Sunday Bible School. According to a report by Sr.

Isabel Gama, other families joined with them, such as the brothers Firmo Vieira, Eusébio and the sisters Mariquinha and Sr. Nair Parga.

In the same year, Brother João Gregório, a Baptist believer, arrived in the city of Rosario, whom Jesus Christ baptized with the Holy Spirit, making him join the Pentecostal sisters. The newcomers to Bacabal were visited by the pastor of the Assembly of God in Vertente-MA and, on a visit by the evangelist João Jonas, Brother João Gregório was consecrated to an elder, who, prevented by an illness, did not perform the function, being replaced by the brother Vicente Rodrigues, who directed the Lord's work.

The pearls grown within the home of this evangelical woman have borne fruit. And it has borne fruit in such a way that it has formed the Church we have, with various transformed hearts that live under the aegis of Jesus Christ.

There were timid voices that echoed in the silence of Bacabal's caboclo nights with an evangelistic message, but their boldness broke the spiritual host of evil and, in their praise, built an altar of worship to God, a holy space established in Jesus Christ, which became birthplace of the Assembly of God in Bacabal and portal of access to heavenly truths.

As if seeing the Church today, Sr. Gertrudes did not let the biblical habits and customs conquered on the cross of Calvary die, and, believing in this, she sheltered pioneer pastors in her home who passed through here, among them Pr. João Jonas and Pr. Moisés Garcia. From time to time they would pass Bacabal riding a donkey to celebrate the Lord's Supper, preach the Word of God and teach Bible lessons in Sunday School.