To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, April 29.

By Andrew McChesney

When Joana finished third grade, she needed to go to a new school. Her school in Portugal only taught grades one to three. She needed to go to a school that taught grades four and higher.

Mother asked friends to recommend a good school. One friend recommended the Seventh-day Adventist school.

“This is a very nice school with good teachers,” the friend said.

Mother liked the sound of that. She wasn’t a Seventh-day Adventist. She didn’t even go to church every week. But she believed in God, and she wanted Joana to believe in God, too. She called Joana to her. “Joana,” she said, “you will study at the Adventist school.”

Joana had never heard of Adventists. But she was happy about the plan to go to the Adventist school. When she saw Father, she broke the news to him. “I will go to the Adventists!” she said, joyfully.

Father looked surprised. “What?” he said.

“I will go to the Adventists!” the little girl repeated.

Father didn’t like the sound of that. “You are not going to go to the Adventists,” he said. “You are going to study at an Adventist school.” Joana was fine with that.

On the first day of school, the Bible teacher asked which children had Bibles.

Joana didn’t own a Bible, so the teacher gave her one to keep. The teacher also gave Bibles to other children who didn’t own one. Joana liked her new Bible very much, and she began to read it.

In addition to reading the Bible, Joana also learned songs about Jesus at the school. She had never heard songs about Jesus before, and she liked them very much.

Joana made a new best friend, Ingrid, at school. Ingrid came from an Adventist home.

One day, Ingrid asked Joana, “Do you want to come to Pathfinders on Sunday?”

Joana had never heard about Pathfinders. Ingrid explained that Pathfinders is a club were children learn about the Bible. Joana wanted to go and asked Mother for permission. Mother thought highly of the school, and she trusted everything connected to the school, including the Pathfinder club.

“Of course, you can go,” she said.

Joana started to attend Pathfinder meetings on Sundays. Then she went to Pathfinder camps. She liked the happy songs that the Pathfinders sang. She liked everything about Pathfinders, and she looked forward to their meetings.

On weekends, Joana had gone with Mother to the countryside to rest. But now she didn’t want to go anymore.

“Why don’t you want to go?” Mother asked. “You like the countryside.”

“I know,” Joana said. “But I don’t want to miss Pathfinder meetings on Sundays.”

Mother understood.

Joana became more and more active in Pathfinders. One day, she decided that she wanted to give her heart to Jesus and be baptized. She wanted to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Mother was surprised to hear about Joana’s decision. She wasn’t sure that she supported it. Then Father spoke up. “We never invited Joana to our church, so we cannot forbid her from going to the Adventist church,” he said. Mother saw that Father was right. Joana was baptized.

Today, Joana is all grown up, and she is so happy that Mother sent her to the Adventist school. It changed her life.

This quarter, your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a new Seventh-day Adventist elementary school in Setubal, Portugal, so other children’s lives can be changed by the power of God. Thank you for planning a generous offering.