How Shall They Hear?
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?- Romans 10:14
God has been moving in miraculous ways since we have returned to Guatemala. We had a baptism almost as soon as we returned. We had shared with many of you about a man named Hector. He was intoxicated and wondering down the road headed to buy more alcohol, when as though a great big hand reached out of the church and drew him inside. He sat down on the back seat, but only for a moment. Conviction was so strong, that he couldn't sit any longer and he prayed and cried at the altar. When he got up, he was a sober, changed man. He has been going strong in the Lord for around 8 months now. When we returned, he couldn't wait any longer to be baptized. We took the church members out to a nearby lake all to share the change the Lord has made in our new brother. He has continued to grow since then. He now is the main bus driver to transport the members to and from church and also loves to help in any way possible. He wants to serve the Lord by cleaning or preaching and every way in between. We are so thankful for the work that Jesus Christ has done in him!
We have had several new families added to the church in the recent months. We were blessed with some missionary friends, Jeff and Kim Oeder, who came and stayed a week with us. They purchased lots of food, toys for the kids, and most importantly Bibles! These Bibles have reached and blessed so many. One particular lady couldn't see well. She really expressed her desire to read the bible and study but because of her eyes, she was unable. We were able to bless this sister with a large printed bible. She started to cry and hug it. We were so blessed being able to see this, but we wanted to make sure she could read it. So she opened it up, but still her eyes struggled. Thankfully they had also bought reading glasses. As she put these on and tried again to read the words. She finished a text and started to hug us and thank us. Wow! What a joy to be able to put the word of God into hands that have never had the opportunity before. This sister has two of her grand daughters that she cares for and now they all gather around to hear grandma read the bible and search the scriptures for living bread.
The past few weeks we have held out door services once a week. This is a great blessing to our church to take Christ outside of our four walls and share with the community. Our people have a great burden to go door to door ministering and preaching this gospel. A candle whose light cannot be hid. There has been a wonderful response to these ministries and we have seen many new faces as a result. We are growing in numbers and in spirit! God is blessing tremendously!
We never want to fail to give thanks to all of you who stand behind us in this work with your prayers, love and support. We want to give thanks to ALMI for allowing us to work in this mission and share our heart's burden to reach the lost and dying. We try to focus everything around preaching this gospel. Often this spreads out into many different ways and ministries but it always comes back to Christ. How can they believe unless they have heard, and how can they hear unless they be sent. Thank you for sending us! Many blessings in Christ!