Some Accounts from Venezuela
The team made it safely home from Venezuela. Lois and the kids are still there with Pastor Darwin, his family, Ised and the whole church. They'll be going with them to the Yucpas after a week. I'll have some photos to share soon if Lois doesn't beat me to it, but I wanted to offer a couple of accounts right away.
We showed up to do a carnival next to a baseball diamond and discovered that a semi-famous baseball player (don't ask me his name - I'm sports illiterate) had come to do a baseball clinic for some boys. One of our team, Hank Dahl, had come prepared for a baseball clinic with an evangelistic emphasis and talked to the man. He was a Christian and agreed to let Hank and a few of our men help out and share the gospel with the boys.
A boy, cousin to someone in the church, had been badly burned. Amazingly, he says it was Jesus who pulled him from the fire. He was released from the hospital because the bills were too high - not because he was well enough (that's socialized medicine for you). We sent a few people to his home pray for him. His uncle, known to be an alcoholic, was in a nearby house and was moved by the Holy Spirit to get up and visit. He found the team there and heard the gospel and came to Christ. That night while we were at the church he came in and exuberantly shared his testimony of that day how the Holy Spirit made him get up so that he would hear and finally understand the gospel (he had heard it before countless times, but had never submitted to the Truth). His family testifies that he is indeed a different man.
"Ghandi" and Pedro (a father-son team) have been our bus drivers for the past couple of years. This was the third time they've driven for us.The first year they drove for us, we discovered that although they have driven for Christian teams in the past, no one had ever shared the gospel with them. Ised, our Venezuelan missionary, shared the gospel with them then and they both accepted it. Now, two years later, having seen us minister with the gospel, we were at a location where a security guard was nearby. They went to him and shared the gospel with him. I don't know that he accepted, but it shows the effects of a consistent and persistent ministry: Men, for whom God used us to bring into His presence, are now our fellow ministers among us. How blessed we are to see our Lord grow His people.
We showed up to do a carnival next to a baseball diamond and discovered that a semi-famous baseball player (don't ask me his name - I'm sports illiterate) had come to do a baseball clinic for some boys. One of our team, Hank Dahl, had come prepared for a baseball clinic with an evangelistic emphasis and talked to the man. He was a Christian and agreed to let Hank and a few of our men help out and share the gospel with the boys.
A boy, cousin to someone in the church, had been badly burned. Amazingly, he says it was Jesus who pulled him from the fire. He was released from the hospital because the bills were too high - not because he was well enough (that's socialized medicine for you). We sent a few people to his home pray for him. His uncle, known to be an alcoholic, was in a nearby house and was moved by the Holy Spirit to get up and visit. He found the team there and heard the gospel and came to Christ. That night while we were at the church he came in and exuberantly shared his testimony of that day how the Holy Spirit made him get up so that he would hear and finally understand the gospel (he had heard it before countless times, but had never submitted to the Truth). His family testifies that he is indeed a different man.
"Ghandi" and Pedro (a father-son team) have been our bus drivers for the past couple of years. This was the third time they've driven for us.The first year they drove for us, we discovered that although they have driven for Christian teams in the past, no one had ever shared the gospel with them. Ised, our Venezuelan missionary, shared the gospel with them then and they both accepted it. Now, two years later, having seen us minister with the gospel, we were at a location where a security guard was nearby. They went to him and shared the gospel with him. I don't know that he accepted, but it shows the effects of a consistent and persistent ministry: Men, for whom God used us to bring into His presence, are now our fellow ministers among us. How blessed we are to see our Lord grow His people.
Labels: evangelism, gospel, mission, Venezuela
posted by Jim Pemberton at 7:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home