GUNNAR OLSON’S STORY
On September 1, 1964, Esther and I were living on Wynona Lake, Indiana, and I was working in a Christian film business, touring churches in the area and promoting our films. The major project was centred in Brazil where we were filming “The Carnival of Pretence,” a low budget movie, sponsored by the Southern Baptists. As the title implied, some of the shots had to take place in Rio de Janeiro and so I spent four months there.
It was in Brazil that I had my first encounter with God’s supernatural intervention in the affairs of men. I was driving around the city with two of the actors in the back of the car, a man and a woman.
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As we went along, an argument broke out between them, and I was aware of the tension and heated moment. Strangely, although I did not speak their language, I understood them. Without thinking, I turned around and spoke to them in Portuguese, having never spoken a word of it before!
Whatever I said made sense as they immediately stopped bickering and we drove on. They no longer argued and I now spoke in Portuguese and continued to do so for several months!
I preached in churches, spoke on television and used the wonderful new language God had suddenly given me. Fifteen years later, I returned to Brazil and found I could not even count to ten in Portuguese.
Sometimes, the gifts God gives us are for a season. My ability to speak Portuguese was certainly a gift as I was barely speaking English at that time.
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