Ruben & Maria Luna Rosales 1972

MARIA ROSALES TESTIMONY
I was raised a Catholic until I was 23. In 1974 a friend from high school invited me to his church called Jesus Chapel in El Paso TX . This is where I met Jesus for the first time. Three ministers laid hands on me and I spoke in tongues for three hours. I felt a heavy burden fall off of me. I cried and laughed. I knew my life would never be the same again. As a child I became ill with asthma but was healed When I receive the Holy Ghost. The first year I read my Bible 20 times. Since then I have listened to Bible cassette tapes and CD’s and read every version of the Bible night and day. My kids memorized the Bible from listening to it in my car. I had scripture posters glued to the walls of my apartment. We had hourly nightly devotions with the kids. Now we have an app on our smart phones to listen to the Bible. I have Alexander’s Scorbys CDs and dramatization of the Bible. I used the KJV Thompson Chain Center Column reference Strongs Concordance Matthew Henry and Clark’s Commentary, The Genesis Record, Bible Lands and Customs. These were my Bible College manuals. People should go to Bible college first before college.

In 1975 we were stationed in Mainz Germany. I spent hours reading my Bible. I read where Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. We began to look for someone to baptize us. A soldier picked us up as we waited for the bus to take us to our apartment. He had many Jesus stickers on his glove compartment door. He asked if we wanted a ride. I asked him if he knew where we could get baptized. The Jesus stickers were a sign that Jesus had sent him. He took us to the Lighthouse in Wiesbaden-Dotzheim Germany. Pastor Alvin and Rhoda Cobb were missionaries from Conquerors Bible college in Portland OR. Their sons were Kevin Kerry, Kendal and daughter. They had rented a 52 room mansion, the home of a Dutches that was being used by the Air Force as a Rod and Gun club. The German government leased it to Pastor Cobb for $500 a month. The Rod and gun club had shot holes in the walls literally. The government allowed them to start a church there as long as they plastered the walls and painted it. They maintained the heating system and started church services and Sunday school and soon there would be a coffee house ministry and place for the soldiers to spend the weekends. A Bible college and many conferences were held there from many countries in Europe. Many missionaries came to speak and minister. There were also German Pentecostal services. Rev. N Wayne was the German missionary with the United Pentecostal Church with his wife Rev. Esther Nigh who assisted him with piano accompaniment and women’s classes. Their children were Walter Brent Michael and Stephanie. They were musically talented and love the Lord with all their heart.
We asked Pastor Cobb if we could be baptized. He asked if we had repented of our sins. We said yes. Then he agreed to baptize us in Jesus name as is stated in the Book of Acts 2:38-39. As a Catholic I was taught that Peter was the first pope. So I obeyed the scripture which said, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promises is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” My sins were washed away and any sins, past present or future would be under the blood of Jesus as long as I repented and was sincerely sorry for my sins. We lived in this mansion for six months overlooking the city of-
Wiesbaden-Dotztheim Germany. The landscaping around the building consisted of trees, bushes and flowers of every kind. At night we would go on the roof to look at the skies full of stars and the city lights. Jesus was now Lord of our lives and we did everything in Jesus name and prayed for his blessings night and day. Joshua was conceived there. Before I met Jesus I never wanted to have children and always threatened my husband that I would have an abortion if I ever got pregnant. But now Jesus was Lord of my life and I prayed for my first child. After five years of being married I never got pregnant until we got baptized in Jesus name. We began to witness to soldiers and their wives and would bring them to church where they would be baptized in Jesus name. We met many young families who became Brothers and Sisters in the Lord. We learned the songs of praise and we shared music from different composers. My favorite was Andre Crouch. I will never forget how Jesus changed my life. There were many military chapels and our choir would travel by bus too many military bases in Germany. I learn to play tambourine with the best of them.Pastor Cobb told us about Bible college. We did not want to leave Germany but we knew we were being led by Jesus to become ministers.

In 1978 we attended Conquerors Bible college in Portland OR. Rev. John Klemin was President of CBC and Rev. Ruby Klemin was his wife. They were our instructors. We wrote to him asking for help in finding an apartment and they had one waiting for us at the home of a family that he knew. They would give us jars of raw milk and taught us how to make cream and butter. They were in love with Joshua. A young couple attending the Bible college asked if they could babysit Joshua while we went to school. They wanted to have children but could not. After a year she became pregnant. Joshua attended many classes with us. He was only five years old. We started our classes with prayer services at 7 AM. Our classes consisted of every single book of the Bible both Old and New Testament. We learned about the lives of the prophets and apostles and the teachings of Jesus. The Holy Ghost allowed us to learn the mysteries of the Bible. Many people see the Bible as only a book. It is the living word of God. It speaks life into you. We attended CBC for four years. We completed an internship at Hood River OR under Rev. Raymond A. Sirstad. He and his wife Rebecca were our Bible college instructors. He was our pastor in Hood River OR. He had a burden to start a new church in Hood River OR. We had bought a new 1975 Chevy van and we used it to carry Bible college students to and from Portland to Hood River OR through the Columbia River Gorge every Wednesday and Sunday. Our services were held in the home of Sis Ann and her husband and soon he sold us land to build our church. This was our first time helping to start a new church. Many Bible college students and families joined in building this church which was a home missions project with the United Pentecostal Church. Sis Ann had a mother by the name of Rev. Lucille Farmer. She was the mother of Sis Ann. and Sis Rose. She once was a pastor in New Mexico. She baptized Pastor Alvin Cobb in Jesus name in New Mexico when he was in the Air Force. He received the Holy Ghost and went to Conquerors Bible college in Portland OR where he met his wife Rhoda. Reverend Lucille Farmer was a missionary in Ecuador and Israel. She came back from the mission field with Parkinson’s disease. Pastor Cobb came to visit Rev. Lucille Farmer in Hood River OR. She thought she had come to die but the Lord showed her this family from Mexico and decided to start a new ministry with this Spanish family. They owned a taco house restaurant and we would have breakfast on Sunday mornings and witness to them. They had seven children that were married and we would invite them to church. They were Baptist so we started a Search for Truth Bible study in their kitchen with a cassette tape recorder and played Christian music. They finally started coming to church and liked the hand clapping, raising of hands and speaking in tongues. They were all baptized in Jesus name Their children were in Sunday school and soon became musicians in the church and teachers. This church has grown and move to a bigger building. Our lives were changed as we learned how to serve the Lord in the ministry. We assisted in ministerial trips with our van to ID and WA with the Bible college students. They brought their puppets for the children Sunday school classes. They sang and preached in different churches. We door knocked and passed out tracts about Jesus. I was expecting my second child Isaiah and we decided to move back to El Paso TX.

In 1983 Ruben joined the Army in Ft Bliss TX in the delay entry program. I was expecting my second child Isaiah. We went to Nurnberg Germany in the military. I worked as a secretary for the federal government. We began to serve the Lord witnessing to everyone that would listen. This time I took my six-year-old son Joshua and my six month old son Isaiah and 18 pieces of luggage. Rev N Wayne Nigh met us at the airport in Frankfurt Germany. He was a missionary at the Lighthouse where Pastor Alvin Cobb had baptized us in Jesus name. Rev. Nigh and his wife Esther were both ministers and their sons Walter, Brent, Michael and daughter Stephanie were their children. Esther and Rhoda were sisters. We were happy to see them again but we knew that we had to start a new church in Nurenberg Germany. Our next Pastor would be Rev. Richard McGrffin at a military chapel. We began door knocking at the military housing apartments and witnessing to wives and their husbands about Jesus. Isaiah began having seizures. We almost lost Isaiah when he was 18 months to spinal meningitis and encephalitis. The church fasted and prayed. Jesus healed him. The doctors did not expect him to live through the night and called him a miracle. Pastor Dan Cox was also our pastor and we went on many trips with them.We made sure that all of our families heard the gospel and were baptized in Jesus name received the Holy Ghost.