Two teachers from Manica Province, Mozambique, have been baptised into the Seventh-day Adventist Church after attending evangelistic meetings during the IMPACT Mozambique campaign. Tomas Maita and Steven Duma, both known in their community for alcohol abuse, made the decision after spending several days at an evangelistic campsite led by Pastor Ishmael Ndlovu.

According to Pastor Ndlovu, the story began when the evangelistic team first arrived at a local school where the campaign was stationed. While team members were out witnessing in the community, a visibly intoxicated Maita arrived at the campsite and offered to help.

"He asked me, 'What do you need me to do for you?'" Pastor Ndlovu recalled. "I told him we were fine, but he noticed we did not have enough firewood."

Maita gathered several people, supplied firewood for the campers, and later returned with a flask for the team to use for tea. He attended the evening meeting but slept through most of it. Afterwards, he approached the pastor with a request: "I want to stop drinking alcohol."

The following morning, Maita arrived drunk again on his way to work, but repeated his desire to quit and asked for prayer. As the meetings continued, he moved into the campsite, first sleeping in a classroom alongside the team before being offered a tent. He later brought his friend Steven Duma, a fellow teacher who also struggled with alcoholism.

The two attended Bible studies and nightly sermons before deciding to be baptised at Sabbath services. Pastor Ndlovu said their sobriety has surprised many in the community.

"Tomas' mother had said she would buy him a Bible if he stayed sober for three days," Pastor Ndlovu said. He added that Maita's daughter has since expressed a desire to reconnect with her father because of the visible change in his life.

The transformation has also drawn attention from community leaders. The local councillor visited the campsite to verify the reports for himself. "He said, 'I came to see for myself if these men are really no longer drinking alcohol, and to see the people who have managed to change these gentlemen," Pastor Ndlovu said.

Duma said his struggle with alcohol had cost him his family and his financial stability.

"I have suffered a lot because of alcohol," he said. "I had two wives, and both left me. My child also went away with his mother. I stay alone. I earn well as a teacher, yet I own nothing, no chair, no property, nothing. Everything has been going towards alcohol."

He said he believes God has given him another opportunity in life, and he does not want to waste it.

School authorities confirmed both teachers had previously faced repeated complaints over alcohol abuse. Deputy head Maira Simao Soda said they often reported for duty intoxicated, affecting their work and their influence on learners.

"We had written several reports about them, and parents were complaining because they were coming to school drunk," she said. "However, over the past few days, we have seen a difference, and I am happy for the step they have taken in their lives."

Both men have expressed commitment to remaining in the church and abstaining from alcohol permanently. Maita said he hopes to use his testimony to encourage others. "I want to become a preacher," he said. "I know I can do it. I want to show others that it is possible to leave alcohol behind and follow Christ."

The baptisms are among many decisions being recorded during the ongoing IMPACT Mozambique campaign, where the Zimbabwe East Union Conference is operating hundreds of evangelistic sites across Manica Province.