Missions trip week two

Dear friends and family,

 

" Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.....

But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God, yea let them exceedingly rejoice."  Psalm 68:1 & 3

 

Week 2...    Started with the bus that the group was driving from Ohio, breaking down... about two hours away from BPS.

 (the one radiator quit working....and the bus did not have windows to open up, so when they had to stop the air conditioner, it got HOT... it was about 105 degrees outside that day.)

So some of our workers and some of the men, took one of the buses from here and rescued the group.  :)

The more struggles and "reasons not to come" the groups have, and they still come, the better the week is going to be!
When people are totally dedicated to serving the Lord no matter the cost, satan is going to try all the harder to stop them.

As we heard later, there were some in the group who did not think they would be able to come because of finances, but at the last minute God provided for them.. there was one lady who has been trying to stop smoking for the past few years, God told her that as long as she stayed focused on HIM, she would not need the ciggarettes. So she left them behind, and she has not "needed" one since she left her home!  God is so faithful!!  

One of the young men is on dialisis, but that did not stop him from coming.

One of the ladies told us later in the week, that satan had been trying to tell her that she is too old to be on a missions trip...like when her ankles swelled, or it was really hot... but God gave her strength, and she stood up and testified in front of the group about what the Lord taught her through this week, and then she said; I am here to tell satan I AM NOT TOO OLD!!!  :)   Praise the Lord!  God can use ANYONE no matter what age they are, as long as they are willing.

That Saturday night when we went up to the mountain it was touching to see one of the young ladies looking at the cities of El Paso and Jaurez, with tears streaming down her face as she thought about all the spiritually lost people.  

Do you cry over the lost?

Sunday Morning, there was a missionary and his wife, who are working on going to Paraguay.  

(Rachel was born there, and her parents were missionarys there.)  So she and Ruth felt right "at home" ! :)

Sunday evening, we went to Jaurez, to the church that we would be working with that week...there was a sand/rain storm, so everything got covered in dust. :) The advantage to the sand everywhere, would be one of the prettiest sunsets!                   

The pastor from the ohio group, (Pastor Slabaugh- sp?) preached a very good sermon about consecrating your whole being to the Lord. How each of us has a leporsy called sin and we need a touch from Jesus called salvation.  Two people from the mexican church got saved!!!!  PTL!

The lady who got saved that night, came all week and helped with going door to door, along with her husband who was already a Christian, and their three adorable little children. 

What a blessing to see her grow in her faith, even in 4 days!

I think the young man who got saved, also came the next few nights.

Monday night, Ruth, Justin (from Ohio) and I, were in a group together, with a lady from the Church in J. going door to door... the houses in that community were different than I have seen before, and a lot of them were empty... but the Lord brought about 200 people that night, even though the sky was threatening to rain... when one of the men saw the clouds, he came and told Ruth that we needed to pray that the Lord woud keep the rain away.   So  Ruth  found Amanda, and Allie also came over to where they were, and prayed.  (having faith that God would show Himself mighty)

The result was amazing!!!  There were clouds and lightening all around us.. except  for right above the park where we were! it was basically clear sky.. and the sunset was AWESOME!  There was a pink sunbeam that came right up behind the Chalk drawing!!!  God blesses you abundantly when you are doing HIS will, and we could all feel His love and favor that night!  When the people pray for salvation, it is such a holy moment, it is hard to explain!

A motorcyclist had stopped to watch the program, he was farther back and away from the group. But the message had touched his heart and the expression on his face was humble and sorrow. Later, he walked up to the pastor to talk with him. It was so good to see him give his life to the Lord. 

(oh, the "park" Monday night, was more like an open lot/garbage dump.) 

 

One of the nights, brother Joe (from El Paso) was able to lead a young man to Christ!

 And that young man brought a bunch of his friends to the next meeting! 

Ruth, Justin, and I, all had instruments along, so we played for the meetings.. (Justin had a guitar,Ruth had a mandolin, and I my violin)  I would pretend that her violin was not working right, and would make screeching sounds with it, and then Brother Hector would take it from me, and say I think I can fix it... and then he would raise it in the air, and almost smash it....the first night I did not know he would do that, so my reaction was great to see! :) A big NOOOOooooo! and  grabbed it back..then proceeded to play I'll fly away. :)  the children loved it!

Justin (15) has a amazing gift from God in the area of music, and he is also a very comical type of person, great with children! :)  Brother Hector would be telling a story, and Justin would come up playing the guitar, and "interrupt"...after a few times of that, Brother Hector would include him in the story, and Justin would play, and act out different things in the story. It was great!

Tonia (Jarvis) Reed, (the Jarvis's one daughter,) and her husband, and 2 children were with the group from Ohio.

Tonia used to do the chalk drawings in the past, so Rachel let her do the drawing on Tuesday night, it is always fun to watch different people draw, with their own unique styles.

Wednesday, was awesome!! The Lord gave us a great meeting that noon, and again in the evening! 

There were 2 ladies who were selling newspapers,or magazines,(I think) who were invited to the meeting, but they did not seem to want to come,  the one young lady ( from Ohio) Nicole, who had invited them,  saw them watching from a nearbye store...and then after a little while, they came to the meeting- and they both got saved!!!  PTL!

 

That afternoon at Soriana's, Ruth had a mexican experience... ordered a lime slushi,  thought it had strawberry in it.. Ruth watched the lady make it, and saw her put salt in it... ( thought ok...) and it turned out that the red was chili powder!

It tasted interesting! Ruth was able to eat most of it, but I thought it was soooooo gross. :s Ruth said it was pretty good (it also came with a popsicle to dip in it).

I stayed with and innocent frozen cappacino, I'm curious but not desperate.

Wednesday evening, was the biggest meeting yet!  with about 350 people that came... and MANY got saved!! 

When the children were brought into seperate groups  from the adults,to lead them in the salvation prayer, the adults quickly swarmed closer to the chalk easel to see and hear better.. it was so delightful to see their hunger for God's word!

This week, about 425 people were saved at the meetings!!! 

 (and who knows how many will, or have come to Christ, just by reading the John and Romans and tracts!!)

This church was in a very poor area, and we were so glad to go to an area where people were poor in the things of this world, and to be able to share the Love and riches of God with them!

I think there is more that I am forgetting, but I guess I need to save some to tell when I get home!! :)

 Thank you for your prayers!  

Please don't worry about our safety, God is protecting us, and when you are in the center of HIS will, NOTHING can harm you, unless God allows it, and it will all be to HIS glory!   Pray for our safety yes, but pray more that people will be saved!
Dios Te Bendiga,  (God Bless you!)

               Joyfully serving Jesus,    JoyAnn

 (thank-you Ruth for writing so much of this letter!)