La Barra Update
October 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Declare His glory among the nations,
His marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.”
Psalm 96:3-4
Hey everyone!
Things have been crazy here since last time we talked.
We had two translators from Honduras that were planning on coming, but were unable to get visas in Mexico for some reason. We were in a bit of a tough situation given we can’t communicate the gospel efficiently in Spanish. I was about to call Jason Dawson to see if he would be able to come for a week and a great brother named Jorge from California made it down here. Praise God. He is a young pastor who is thinking about going to the missions school in Texas next year. He has been a huge encouragement to the team also!
We were warned by a gentleman from the town named Wolfgang about being there. He is actually a German consul who is working in Mexico with ocean stuff. He is not viewed by the people of the village as “one of them”, but has still obviously not liked us much. He said we weren’t legally there. Since then, he has gone to several people to try and get them against us. We need prayer for that.
Cara is the other single on the team, and while she was cleaning a kid’s infection, we think, she got it herself. It had gotten VERY bad to the point she almost had to go home to the hospital. We drove her to a hospital here and she is on some very strong medicine and it looks as if she will be able to stay. But, still needs prayer because it is definitely not over and the infection was going toward her heart pretty rapidly for a while. Also, her family had been having a difficult time with it and they need prayer.
The first part of the trip had seemed like little was happening spiritually, and that has turned out to be an integral part of the foundation of what God has been doing now. SEVERAL people have been asking us what we believe and why exactly we are there apart from the medical and dental sides of things. There are several people we have been going through the Gospel of John with and have been giving out Jim Elliff’s book Pursuing God in Spanish.
We finally met the Christian family that had moved out of town. They certainly seem to be Christians, but seem to have quite a legalistic gospel. Pray that we have opportunities to disciple Roberto and Maria.
We met a couple of people who profess to be Christians. They are considered outsiders by the village, but are technically part of it. We are meeting with them daily at their house and this Sunday are going to have a meeting of sorts. There are two women and we have invited maybe 3 others at this point. We need prayer as to whom to invite and not. I guess they had someone from a church in a town an hour away come and teach them some, but were threatened to be thrown in jail by the town and stopped coming. This Sunday will be the first time and we have no idea how everyone will react. Some people from the village will probably figure out what is going on so that needs prayer also.
It seems as if God has just opened the door wide to allow us to preach the gospel and that has been amazing. Pray that the Lord causes the seed being sown and watered to grow!!
Let everyone know that the cards that were sent have been a HUGE encouragement and it is amazing seeing them saturated with the Word!
This has been an amazing experience for us. It has opened our eyes to see the need for missionaries to unreached peoples. Their reaction is just amazing. Not even necessarily positive. The only word I can use to describe their reaction is RAW. Totally new.
Also, to get to our camp we drive through 3 feet of water. It is very close to our air intake which is very bad. One of our two cars is out of commission today. We NEED the cars alot.
Lastly for now, there have been women, much more than men, interested in the gospel. Churches need men. Pray that God would break down the pride of the men.
Things to pray for:
- Inocenta and “i don´t know her name” - lady who is hosting first “service” this Wednesday and friend who claims to be Christian
- Aquilino - man whose family we have met with everyday and is asking REAL questions
- Pablo - friend who owns restaurant and has been shown the gospel many times and still likes us for some reason
- Vicente & Josepha - another family we spend a lot of time with and in central part of village
- Antonio & family - (work at banana field we live in) wanted Bibles and have come to talk with us many mornings
- Roberto and Maria - discipleship and gospel centered on the cross
- Cara’s arm
- Team unity
- Town’s reactions to meetings
- Cultural sensitivity
- Vehicles don´t die on us
- Our future decisions
- People’s hearts of stone will be ripped out and replaced with hearts of flesh
- MEN to be changed by gospel
- A CHURCH TO EXIST HERE
I am sure there are more…
I hope things in KC are great. The greatest encouragements to Laurel and me along with several others on the team is listening to preaching from our church put out on sermon audio! We thank God for the gifts God has given the body to serve one another and between prayer, cards, preaching, money, and who knows what else. Specifically, John 15 and abiding in Christ. In a place where the wickedness is rampant, you have this fleshly tendency to preach against the fruit primarily when changing the fruit doesn’t change the tree. The cross centered preaching has helped keep our hearts directed toward the cross and the ROOT of the evil and rebellion, not the frivolous fruit that an unrepentant Christless heart brings out. Thanks you for prayers! We love you guys!
For the Cross
Shane and Laurel and Hallie
