Who is Ana?
Hello! Olá!
I’m Ana and I’m Portuguese! I am a passionate follower of Jesus, who loves to see people joining into God’s huge family and being shaped in the image and likeness of Jesus.
Even though I grew up in a Christian family and always was very involved with the church and Christian community, I never understood God’s love, His longing for a relationship and how whole He wants to make all his sons and daughters. At the age of 33 I fell into a deep depression, anorexia and two suicidal attempts.
At that time, a couple of friends felt called by God to pray for me and started talking to me about the reality of God outside of religion, about who I was a part from God so that I could understand how deeply in need of God I was. I joined their House Church, where God raised up a group of godly people powerfully used by Him to help me and disciple me through the Word and the practice of it.
Soon I realized who I was apart from God… The Word became alive in me and in front of my eyes. I was taken by Jesus’ hand and into His heart; in my deepest brokenness He made me see how much He loves me and how free I can be if I die to self and let Jesus live through me. I decided to put all my heart into God; I started to put into practice everything I had learned from God and through His Word, no matter what the price was that needed to be paid. Soon I started to see how much I was being transformed at Jesus´s image and likeness!
I desire to see people in this country to be transformed by His love and power as I saw God use the godly people in my House Church in Portugal.
—Ana Sousa
How it all happened
An answer to two prayers.
In the USA, it started with a prayer for female leadership.
In Portugal, it started with a call from God.
A God-sized story.
In 2014, we started to pray to God for an older woman to join our leadership team. We saw a great need to have someone dedicated to helping disciple and lead the women in our church. Without knowing, God was at work answering our prayer in the same year by placing a call on Ana’s heart to be a missionary to the center of the US.
In November 2017, we received an email out of the blue from a woman from Portugal saying that she would like to talk to us because God had called her to minister in the US. It only took one conversation. As we heard her story, we knew that she was who we had been praying for. God also knew that we were the only church who would even respond to her email out of the hundreds of other churches and ministries she reached out to.
In June 2018, Ana came to Kansas to serve voluntarily in our church for a year. At the end of that year, we had a sense that God’s work through Ana was not yet complete, so we invited her back to continue to teach, disciple, and serve in our church, this time on an R1 Visa. Because her previous visa had expired, Ana returned to Portugal while we went to work applying for an R1.
Ana’s Impact
A year in Manhattan.
What happened?
Since Ana arrived in June 2018, God has used her tremendously to help balance, guide, and free our church from a multitude of ruts that we had become stuck in over the years. During the year she served with us, she developed curriculum for our Spiritual Growth Class, participated in and helped oversee the leadership of one of the college house churches, developed personal discipleships relationships, was part of our adult house church, and taught at our services.
God has used Ana instrumentally in our community.
During a time of prayer before Ana arrived in Manhattan, God told me she has going to need a close friend and he called me to pursue that with her. Within our first two times of hanging out, God opened my eyes to how mutually we needed each other. God used Ana as a mouthpiece and example to reveal my identity in Christ and call me to expose the darkest areas of my heart so that I could walk in freedom from my sin nature and the idols I had been blind to. Through her, I saw for the first time how full and complete the gospel is because of the full and complete freedom that it offers us through Christ. My life has been forever changed because of how she invested and fought for truth in my life.
Caleb Amundson, Founder and pastor of The Forge
In Paul’s first discourse with the Thessalonican church, he says, “Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” When I was brought into the loop that there was a Portuguese woman saying that God called her to the center of the United States, I thoroughly disobeyed this verse. I thought the situation was weird, and my response was an overwhelming lack of faith. Since God brought Ana to Manhattan, He has used her and those that she has influenced to continue breaking down the walls that keep me from taking steps in faith toward God. She has been used dramatically to teach our church one of the most Biblical principles that exists: die to yourself and surrender entirely to God; that is His will. Ana’s being here and God working with our community over the last year has been difficult and taxing, but the fruit is undeniable: our church is being purified, people are learning to bend their knee to the Savior and give up those things that we place in from of Him including our own desires and will
Matt Cantril, founder of the forge
Ana is truly a blessing from the Lord to our community. Our women have needed an older leader to help guide them and pour into their lives and Ana has done that wonderfully. She brings a spirit of honesty, authenticity and passion for the Lord that is unique for our American culture. She also brings a deep understanding of her emotions to our community and challenges us to ask God to not only change our minds but our hearts in the situations we go through life. This is something that both me and my marriage have greatly benefited from this year. Overall, I agree with Caleb’s summary though. Ana has provided helpful insight leading to a greater sense of spiritual freedom in our community in the last year. We are so excited for God’s plan for her here in the future as this is just the beginning!
Matt amick, founder of the forge
Some of Ana’s favorite memories
A JOURNEY OF TRUST
Ruthless trust ultimately comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise.
—Brennan Manning
At the end of a year in Manhattan
Ana's visa was set to expire at the end of June 2019. As a result, she had to return to Portugal. Nonetheless, the church made the decision to apply for the religious visa so that Ana could stay in the country for an extended period of time and work for the church.
We expected the visa process to take no more than six months. However, it took us over two and a half years to receive a final positive response from immigration services due to a number of setbacks and the outbreak of a global pandemic.
In November 2021, with the opening of the borders, Ana could visit us for a period of 3 months. It was a time of great joy and significant change for all of us.
We were notified in early 2022 that Ana's application had been approved and that all that remained was the interview at the US embassy in Portugal. Ana completed the visa process after returning to Portugal from her brief visit, and her religious visa was finally approved in mid-March.
Ana returned to Manhattan, Kansas on her religious visa in April 2022, and she will continue to work with us through the end of November 2025.
Special Moments
Support God’s work
Practical ways you can help.
The measure of a life, after all, it’s not its duration, but it’s donation.
—Corrie Ten Boom
We need your prayers and generosity.
You can support Ana’s work in Manhattan!
The Forge Church is a 501c3 non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible. You can give online using the link below or send a check made out to “The Forge Church” to:
The Forge Church
C/O Caleb Amundson
701 Elling Drive
Manhattan, KS 66502