True Missions Story BACK FROM THE DEAD - AG Web Services

© 2013 by Gospel Publishing House, 1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65802. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and adapt lesson components for exclusive use in the classroom and student notebooks. Any other use requires written permission.
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Lesson 3: ITALY
True Missions Story
Hey, Teachers! The manual on CD contains Slideshow Presentations for the True Missions
Story. There are two versions to choose from, including one version with audio built in! For more
information, see the “PptInstructions” file. Click here to open it.
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BACK FROM THE DEAD
Antonia Ventura was a very loved and active believer in the local Assemblies of
God church in Southern Italy, in a town called Isola Capo Rizzuto. Her husband,
Francesco, was the pastor of the church.
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Back in 1969, Antonia was in the hospital giving birth to her eleventh child when her
kidneys failed. Because of this, her blood system was poisoned by toxins. The doctors
could do nothing to save her life, so they concentrated on saving the baby.
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After Antonia died, the doctors detached the IV tubes and the oxygen mask, and
orderlies wheeled her body into the hospital morgue. (A morgue is a place where
they take the dead bodies to prepare them for burial.)
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Click here to open
a bonus TMS:
Running on Empty
ITALY
When Pastor Francesco Ventura heard that his wife had died, he called all the people
of the church together to pray. He was saddened at the loss of his wife, but he was
especially concerned about their eleven children. Who could replace a mother of
eleven children?
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The people of the church got on their knees to pray. Some fell on their faces before
God, crying out to Jesus, asking Him to work a miracle.
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In Italy, funerals must occur within 24 hours after death. So another pastor, Pastor
Rauti, went with Pastor Ventura to the house to get some clothes in which to bury
Antonia. They also ordered a casket. Then they headed to the morgue.
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When the two pastors arrived at the hospital morgue, an orderly came running
out. He was scared to death. He said that one of the dead bodies was moving and
talking!
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Pastor Rauti and Pastor Ventura walked into the morgue. To their surprise, they
found Sister Antonia, alive and well! Jesus had brought her back to life because of
the prayers of the people in the church.
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Antonia got dressed and walked with her husband back to the nurses station
to inform the doctors that she wasn’t dead anymore and that she wanted to be
released from the hospital.
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Today, Sister Antonia Ventura is in her 70s. She is alive and well, and she continues
to be a great blessing in the church of Isola Capo Rizzuto. She leads a women’s
group on Wednesday mornings. Many of the women are converts of Antonia, and
several are mafia wives. As a result of their prayers, many mafia children have come
to the Lord.
Information for this story was provided by missionary Terry Peretti and is used with
permission from Assemblies of God World Missions.
2013 BGMC Missions Manual, Vol. 15
© 2013 by Gospel Publishing House, 1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65802. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and adapt lesson components for exclusive use in the classroom and student notebooks. Any other use requires written permission.