Stranger on a Boat: Adult Mission Story for October 18, 2025

Jamilly felt a little scared when the stranger showed up outside her house and called out, “Hello!”

It was unusual for strangers to come to her house. It was unusual for strangers to come to any house in the remote village on the Amazon River in Brazil.

Mother and Father were out. Jamilly, who was twenty years old, was at home with her four-year-old brother.

The stranger introduced himself as Pastor Cassi from the Seventh-day Adventist Church and asked Jamilly about her life.

“How is your relationship with your parents?” he said.

“It isn’t good,” Jamilly replied.

They spoke some more, and Jamilly relaxed. Her fears went away, and she cried. She said she wished that she had a better relationship with her parents.

Then Pastor Cassi said, “Would you like to be part of the floating church? Would you like to come to our meetings?”

Jamilly had seen the large white boat arrive at her village. She had thought that it was carrying doctors and nurses offering free medical treatment from another Christian denomination.

But now she realized that it was the home of Pastor Cassi and his team and that it contained a Seventh-day Adventist church. Pastor Cassi was going house to house to befriend people and to invite them to meetings on the boat.

Jamilly agreed to go to the floating church. Then she broke down in tears again. She had remembered her difficult relationship with her parents, who had divorced two years earlier.

Pastor Cassi listened to her story, and he offered words of comfort, encouragement, and hope.

Jamilly cried some more, and the pastor suggested that they pray together.

From that day, Jamilly began praying for her parents. She also went to the floating church every evening. She enjoyed hearing presentations about family relationships, health, and the Bible.

She invited her mother to go with her, and she did.

After about a month, Jamilly gave her heart to Jesus in baptism. It was the best day of her life! She and her sins were buried in the waters of the Amazon River, and she emerged as a reborn child of Christ. A number of other villagers were also baptized that day.

After the baptisms, meetings moved off of the floating church to a newly built Adventist church building in the village. Construction workers had been building the church while Jamilly and other villagers had been attending meetings on the boat.

Jamilly went to the new church for Sabbath worship services. She went for prayer meetings on Sunday and Wednesday nights. She participated in a discipleship training program that taught all new church members to share what Jesus had done for them with others.

But Jamilly’s relationship with her parents didn’t seem to improve. Mother stopped going to church after the boat left. Father wouldn’t go at all. Tensions grew, but Jamilly kept praying.

Then one day Father visited the village’s Adventist church. Jamilly was traveling and away from home when she heard the news. A friend called and told her by cellphone. Jamilly was so excited that she jumped up and down! She knew that God was hearing her prayers. She knew that God would bring her family to Him.

A year has passed since Jamilly’s baptism, and she is preparing to become a mission volunteer with One Year in Mission, a church program in which young people spend a year of their lives in mission work. Just as Pastor Cassi came to her village to share the gospel, she wants to take the gospel to other people in Brazil and beyond.

“Don’t give up on your dreams to serve the Lord,” she said.

The floating church is bringing hope to people like Jamilly on the Amazon River after being acquired with the help of a 2016 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, also known as the Quarterly Mission Project Offering. Thank you for supporting this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath projects in Brazil and Chile with your prayers and donations. Together, we can share the hope of Jesus’ soon return.