"Marta, when you come through the gates of Heaven, what do you want to do up there?"

Marta had obviously thought that question through many times before I asked it beside her cooking fire in Mucapane, Mozambique. She immediately leaned forward and began to speak intensely in her language, Shangana.

Many years ago Marta, the village curandera (spirit healer), had fallen in love with Jesus and become the village evangelista. It all began with a dream, one of many dreams Marta experienced as she worked with the spirits to find the right potions and cures for her neighbors. They paid her well, because her cures worked. The spirits guided her and gave her a good life, so good that she had even started saving money to purchase a truck. A truck would make her the most important person in the village, and everyone would look up to her!

Then she had the dream. She was in her truck, driving up, up through the clouds, on through the stars, right to the terrible walls of a giant heavenly city. She drove to the gate, but it was closed. She got out and pounded for entry, but all was silent. She screamed loud enough for everyone inside to hear, but the gate stayed closed to the curandera from Mucapane. She tried to jump over the wall, and that's when she woke up.

When Marta awoke, she knew she had to learn how to get into the heavenly city. She asked around, talking to people who should have known, but discovered they were all confused and no help at all. Then someone told her of a farmer in Machumbutana who knew the truth about the city. So, the village curandera walked miles down the dirt path to the huts of Machumbutana, hoping to find the city's key.

What Marta found was a group of searchers studying Scripture, praying to Jesus the Savior, worshiping on Saturday, and planning for Heaven.

She listened, studied Scripture with her new friends, and fell in love with Jesus.

Till the dream returned.

This time the gate was open, but a powerful giant with "huge shoulders, crossed arms, and a bad frown" blocked the entrance. He told her she had to leave the old life, get rid of all her curandera tools, and teach her neighbors about Jesus and His city.

So, Marta took all her "stuff" into the street and started a fire. She even burned the money she had saved for a truck. "It was bad money, and I didn't need a truck to get to Heaven anyway."

Everyone came to the fire, and that morning Marta started a Jesus congregation in Mucapane. They met beneath a cashew tree, studied pieces of a Bible, and planned for Heaven.

"Marta, when you come through the gates of Heaven, what do you want to do up there?"

"I want to see Jesus," the bright-eyed church planter said. "I want to walk with Jesus. I want to touch Him, to hold His hand, to listen to Him, to talk to Him. I want to take a long walk in Heaven with Jesus!"

Dick Duerksen is the official "storyteller" for Maranatha Volunteers International. Readers may contact Dick at dduerksen@maranatha.org.

Marta's church in Mucapane will be the third of the 1,001 churches Maranatha Volunteers International is building for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mozambique. The new brick building will serve as church, school, and health education center. Mostly, it will be a place where people fall in love with Jesus.