OPERATION ITALY (Introduction Letter)
Greetings to everyone, in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My name is Abel Aureli and my wife’s name is Anna. We were born and raised in Italy. I was born of Christian Pentecostal parents, while my wife was born Catholic.
We have five sons and one daughter, whose names are as follows: Jonathan, William, Sammy, Daniel, Joy-Rachel-Naomi and Joshua. They were born from 1967 to 1986. Our four oldest sons all live in the United States.
I made the Lord my savior at the age of 18 being baptised in water, yet my life was not surrendered to God until the age of 36, after I had emigrated first to Germany, then to Australia and finally to the U.S., searching for peace, joy and happiness.
My wife got saved at the age of 12, and was filled with the Holy Spirit before she was baptized in water. I was raised in a Full Gospel church, so I was more interested in trying out what I never experienced in my youth.
One day, as I came back from work I parked my car in the driveway, and as I closed the car's door, my eyes went towards the sky. Suddenly I found myself speaking to God, saying: "Dear God, if you really are the God of the Bible, and this is all you can do to make a man happy, then I don't want this life. Take my life because I don't want it. But, if there's anything better, something which I am not familiar with, please let me know what it is, because I need it!"
Right there God began to speak to me saying: "My dear child; If you really want to be happy, if you want that peace which stays in your heart, and if you want to have the assurance of your salvation, then you'll need to surrender "all" of your life to me! I don't need your life, but if you will hand it to me, I will cleanse it, I will mold it, and I will hand it back to you."
I then imagined a large tray with my body roasted as a lamb on it. I myself, lifted that tray before the throne of God and said: "Dear God, if this is OK, this is my life, and not only my life, but my wife, my children, my house, my job, my car and anything else which is under my name, are yours. From now on you are the "Boss", and I will not make another move, unless I know that it's your will."
I felt as if a ton of weight slippered off my shoulders! I felt so light that it seemed as I could fly, and, for the first time in my life, I had the assurance of my salvation. Now I knew that if I had died right there, in that moment, I would have gone to be with the Lord. Three weeks later, God baptized me with the Holy Spirit, and the next day, through a vision, God called me to the ministry of Evangelism and Church-planting to Italy.
In that vision, I saw first the map of Italy, then the province of Frosinone where we were born. As the map disappeared, I saw a group of people all dressed in dark clothes, walking in a circle. There were hundreds of them, who walked and walked, without getting anywhere! They were in pain like if everyone of them had a belly-ache. I asked the Lord why he was showing me this vision, why they were suffering, and if I could do anything to help them. God answered saying: "These people are suffering because they don't know where to go. Nobody is showing them the way. Nobody cares for them! They don't know the truth, and nobody is telling them!"
I said: "Lord, I want to help them! What can I do for them? Please Lord, tell me what to do, and I'll do it. Send me, and I will go!" As I said that, I saw a hand flying by my face, physically brushing my right eye brow, pointing toward that vision, and a voice said: "There! That's where I want you to go! When you were young, you were ashamed to even mention my name, because you were not living a good and faithful christian life, but now I want you to go back to Italy, and starting from the city of Frosinone, I want you to preach the Gospel all over the province!"
After that I enrolled in the Berean School of the Bible (Assemblies of God), earning a Diploma in Ministerial Studies, required for ordination, plus a Certification in Missionary Principles.
Although accepting God's call upon my life, the Foreign Missions Department policies would not allow us to be sent to the foreign missions.
When I saw that all the doors known to us were closed, I questioned God again, to make sure that His call upon my life was real. He did confirm that and He also told us not to waste any more time. At that point I asked God to tell me something on the spot, to make sure that it was really Him and not only a strong desire in my heart. Then the Lord told me these words:
"Thus saith the Lord, tell my people: If I told you that within TWO WEEKS I would come back to pick up my church, would you continue to live the same kind of life you have lived until now? Wouldn't you run to your closest relatives and friends and hurry them up to get saved because they'll only have two weeks before the Lord will come back for His church? Wouldn't you sell all your goods (gods) and use that money to spread the Gospel all over the world as quickly as possible? And wouldn't you shake in fear because until now you haven't done your best to fulfill the will of God upon your life? So beware, and be ready because I am coming soon, very soon, saith the Lord!"
After this word, I certainly didn't need to hear any more words. I tried to share this with our pastor and with our denomination leaders but it almost happened to me like it happened to Jeremiah the prophet. They couldn't throw me in a physical jail, but nonetheless they put me in a situation in which I couldn't move.
At that point, in order to obey God's call, we were ready for anything. So we decided to sell our only house in Medford, MA, U.S.A., and with only $25,000.00 in our hands, we left for the mission field as an independent ministry, trusting God that He would provide for all our needs. And He did. He is faithful. Praise God!!!
When some christian friends and even members of our church told us that we were crazy, we answered saying that even if only one single soul would get saved throughout all our sacrifices, it was worth every bit of it!!! Praise God. Jesus gave His own life to save my soul and your soul. Could we do ever do more to see that other souls would come to the same salvation? Praise God!!!
God has never forsaken us, even if there have been times when we had to search in every pocket in the closets to see if we could find some change to buy at least the milk for the children. Yet, I am sure that if we had had the full support at the beginning and my wife and I would not have had to go to work in order to support our family and the ministry, we could have done more work for the Kingdom of God, and I am sure that more souls would have been saved as a result.
A few years later we got in touch with an Italian fellowship of independent churches and ministers called: Missione Italiana per l'Evangelo (Italian Gospel Mission) of which we became members, hoping that with time they would have helped us. Unfortunately, the Italian churches have never been taught to give and to support the home misssions, so financially, we are not being helped by them at all.
After fifteen years and many letters sent to various churches in the States, we have been able to raise about 65% of our total personal and ministry support from a half dozen churches and about ten individuals, all from the U.S. So, we are really living by faith, and we still need to raise about $1,500.00 of monthly support.
During these forteen years God gave us grace to start three churches, two of which I am still pastoring until God will raise up leaders who can take care of them. We also helped another group grow from six to forty members. In a province where they didn't have a single soul saved in fifteen years, within three years we had forty-nine water baptisms and many souls had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. We also have three home groups in different towns in the province.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, these are only some of the most important things which God enabled us to do in our ministry, but as I said, things could have been much greater if we could have ministered on a full-time basis.
Many people believe that Italy is a "Christian" nation, thus not in need of missionaries, but please let me give you some figures about this nation.
Out of 57.000.000 people living in Italy, only about 0.5% are members of a Protestant Church of any denomination. When we consider the number of true born-again believers (who go beyond nominal church membership) the percentage is even lower.
Our local province of Frosinone in central Italy, along with several in the north, such as Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Florence and Bologna, have a born-again population of 0.1%. Out of 33,000 communities in the country, only 2,000 have an evangelical witness. The other 31,000 have no evangelical testimony whatsoever.
There are belived to be some 100,000 practicing Whitches and Fortune-tellers in the country. This is 324 times the number of Protestant missionaries from all denominations. Satanism is very strong in the north, and lately they are also moving towards the south. Their practice include praying for the removal of all evangelical missionaries from the country.
Witchcraft is widespread. At least 80% of the Italian population consulted or will consult a whitch or a magician at least once in their lifetime. Many key politicians consult them for their political future or at least before every election. Some big corporations consult them before investing in major projects. They are not ashamed to do that, because it's very popular. It's fun, it's the thing of the day! They have daily programs on local and national television, they are also invited in almost every other television program for fun, and to help entertain people, so they are bocoming a daily life necessity for them. Yet, strangely enough, these same people will be afraid of what their relatives and friends would say, should they accept Jesus Christ in their heart as their personal Savior and Lord. Listening to what a whitch or a magician has to say, is more important to them than to hear what God has to say. This my friends, no matter what they say or what they want to make believe, is not a sign of christianity!
Dear friends, Italy needs to hear the good news of the Gospel. The true and unadulterated Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we need your prayer, your financial support and your encouragement, in order to provide them the good news.
Regarding our goal, and what we propose to do with the funds which the Lord will provide, we can only do what God called us to do. That is: Reach from town to town every person in the province, with the saving message of the Gospel, in this province first, and in other provinces. We'll need to teach and train other leaders to do the same, and as God should lead, I am determined to share and press on to other pastors and ministers in the area what the Lord has commanded me to tell to His people!
In order to reach this goal, we are praying that God will send us laborers who will eventually help us in our outreach and with the follow up work. With the help of God, and as people will get saved, we will start home Bible study groups in every area. Whenever possible, and funds permitting, we would also like to use the local Radio and TV stations for short messages or spots to advertise eventual rallies in the area.
Our hopes and prayers are that God's will be done upon our lives and that we will be enabled to fulfill His call to preach the Gospel to as many people as possible, trying to bring them to receive Christ in their hearts as their Savior and Lord. We do know that we can only do what we can with what we've got, but as God will provide more funds, I am sure that we can do much more for the Kingdom of God, and produce more fruits.
In his testimony before Agrippa, the apostle Paul declared that he was therefore, not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance! Praise the Name of Jesus!!! Paul was not disobedient to his calling and I don't want to be disobedient either.
Dear Friend, I believe that God called not only each missionary to the field, but He also called every other christian, to back them up with their prayer and financial support. We can't possibly do it on our own, but we can do it if we are united. I am sure that if each one of us were faithful to God's call, the entire world population would be evangelized at all times. If this is not happening, then who is at fault? Certainly not God! Each church is responsible. Don't you agree?
God said: Whom shall I send? Isaiah answered, "Here I am Lord, send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).
In sharing our heart with you, we pray that you will allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in making the right decision, and become our co-labourers in God's field in Italy.
We also pray that the Holy Spirit will testify to your hearts that, we are children of God, thus your brothers and sisters in Christ, and worthy of your prayers and financial support.
If you need more information, contact us through the address provided here below. In the meantime, may God richly bless you and grant you the desires of your heart, according to His will.
In His Love,
Your missionaries: Abel, Anna, Joy-Rachel & Joshua
Our Address:
Casella Postale Succ. 2
03100 Frosinone
Italy
Tel. 011-39-0775/201-537 Cell. 011-39-338/190-3761
Operation Italy Christian Mission, Inc.
is a non-profit ministry.
All contributions are tax-deductible.
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