I came to Australia from Italy as a six year old in 1956. I grew up in North-Eastern Victoria, believing in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and I did my best to live according to my Catholic upbringing. At 14, I had my confirmation; a ceremony where you supposedly receive the Holy Spirit. At 15, I was encouraged to study to become a Catholic priest but my dad said I was too young.

In 1968, I moved to South Australia to find work and in 1971 I married my wife, Barbara. In 1975, two major events happened in my family which made me wonder about life and question what it was all about. Firstly, my dad died in the February – it was a very sad time and I felt helpless. Secondly, in November, our first child was born and it was such a happy time. So, to me, life had become a big question: why are we born with so much joy and expectation only to die so sadly with no hope? It just didn’t make sense to me.

In 1978, I was working as a maintenance supervisor in a small town called Rapid Bay. One of my maintenance men was tragically killed at only 34 years old. I found it extremely hard to go to his home and tell his wife and three young children that he had died. Once again, my question about life and death was reinforced within me.

I joined the local cricket team and the team captain was teaching me to play. He also began telling me about his experience of being baptised in the sea and how, as he came up from the water, he asked the Lord to fill him with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. Although I did not really understand what he was saying about his experience, I admired his new way of life which really stood out in the small community.

Barbara and I had our second daughter and by March 1981 I was making arrangements to have her christened in the Catholic religion. It was at this time that I was challenged with a question which would change my life. The man who had been speaking to me asked me: if it was good enough for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to walk a very long way to be baptised by full immersion, then why was it not good enough for me? Initially, I asked my Catholic religion about this but I was confused by their theological answers. So, I decided to go to a local Revival meeting.

I was impressed by what I heard; in particular, a man who had been healed of alcohol addiction and how wonderfully his life and health had been restored. I decided this is the way it should be – that God would work in the lives of everyday people – and so I was keen to go to a second Revival meeting the following week.

On 29th April 1981, I attended my second Revival meeting. I now had a real conviction about all I had seen and heard, and I was very attentive. I agreed to pray to receive the Holy Spirit at the end of the meeting. I was encouraged to praise the Lord, and I began to speak in a different language. I was amazed and felt quite different within myself, but not sure of what this all meant. O my way home, I asked the Lord that if this was truly of Him to prove Himself to me, and with those thoughts, I just started speaking in tongues very confidently as the Holy Spirit filled me. At the same time, I suddenly knew Jesus Christ had died for me, that He had risen from the dead and was now living within me, and that I had forgiveness for my life and a new beginning.

I was eager to be baptised by full immersion in water as I knew this was a burial of my old way of life. Jesus had been baptised in the same way as my example, and I knew this was the right way. I was baptised the following Sunday at the Adelaide Revival Fellowship and it was very exciting to know I was now born again of water and the Holy Spirit as Jesus Christ said we must be to enter the kingdom of God. I attended Revival meetings to hear lots more about how I needed to live my new life according to God’s Word. I prayed often in the amazing language of the Holy Spirit and began telling my family and friends all about what I had experienced.

Miracles started happening in my life. My nine month old daughter was healed of salmonella food poisoning – she had become seriously ill, but I prayed for her and she recovered an hour later. I prayed my wife would also come to know the Lord as she had been searching for truth in life. Three weeks later, she also received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. She now knew it was all true because she had her own personal proof, and she was baptised the next day. My second youngest brother also got filled with the Holy Spirit, and was baptised on the same day as my wife.

My youngest brother’s wife became very ill and rang me very upset, believing he may lose her. When my other brother and I arrived, she was motionless, unable to move or speak. We began praying for her, and she soon sat up and went to make us a cup of tea. My youngest brother was so amazed he started to praise the Lord and was mightily filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues. He was baptised that same week.

The Lord has blessed every part of my life, my marriage, my family and my involvement helping others come to know the Lord, and it has been very fulfilling and rewarding. I now know we are not here to die in sadness and with no hope. Rather, we are here to come to know the Lord by receiving His Holy Spirit and living a life which is right according to His Word, and I know the Lord has promised that this life will go on with Him forever.

I am very grateful to know the Lord in such a real and personal way, and I thank Him for the amazing hope I now have.