Update.... 3/14

This last week and a half has been trying to say the least.  Our whole family has been really sick except Hadassah.  We all had a bad case of Strep throat.  We’re feeling better now…praise God.  The difficult news though came two days ago.  Lisa found out from her father that her brother in prison had died.  He was 36 years old.  We won’t be able to go home to be with her family but will continue to teach and preach here in Mexico.  Please keep us in prayer and thank you to those who have been praying for us. 

 

The good news is it seemed God ordained my sickness and used it to allow me to meet a brother.  Last Saturday Josef and Lina went to the outreach in the village without us.  We were too sick to go.  The family was home sick and I need to get something from the store.  So I left and as I was driving I saw a man walking down road in front of me and he was carrying a bible.  I just smiled at him and drove past him.  Then I thought I should stop and go talk to him.  So I put my car in reverse and back up to him.  His name is Noah and he’s a Christian.  We talked for a bit and I gave him a ride up to the convienience store.  Come to find out he has a real desire to see people come to know Christ.  He became a believer in the U.S. Federal prison and was deported when his sentence was up.  He’s part of a local church here but says no one will come with him out to the streets and evangelize.  So he goes out by himself and walks up and down the boulevard passing out tracts and talking to people.    We had him over for dinner yesterday and myself, Lisa, Josef and Lina were able to help him understand the scriptures more.  He’s been watching Christian television and had embraced much of the false teaching on there.  He also attends a hyper charismatic Pentecostal church that is in to all kinds of error and unbiblical manifestations of the Spirit.  We were able to spend many hours with him just opening up the scriptures and pointing Him to Christ and His Word ALONE.  Lord-willing I’ll be able to spend some more time with him. 

 

After being sick for a few days we started feeling a “little” better.  Sometimes you can think you better but you’re really not.  But anyway, we decided to do laundry in the evening.  Actually, I believe the Lord had us do our laundry in the evening (I’m so thankful He directs our steps even when we are unaware of it!)  We put our laundry in the washer and I walked outside and Aaron was sitting in his car right in the parking lot!  Aaron is a Jehovah’s Witness that I’ve been witnessing to for a while.  He lived in our apartment before we moved in.  I’m not really sure why he was doing laundry at the place we were doing it at because it’s about 15 to 20 minutes from his house and there are many laundry places between the two.  But I was able to spend a good 45 minutes with him again reason from the scripture about the truth of the Gospel and the falsehood of the Jehovah’s Witness.  We were sitting in the laundry center at a table and he had his Watchtower magazines out trying to show me things.  So I asked if I could use his New World Translation bible and show him the scriptures.  He was speechless as I showed him what the bible actually says compared to the teachings of the JW’s.  Now the New World Translation is NOT a bible but it has enough truth in there to show a Jehovah’s Witness the error of their beliefs and the true teaching of the Gospel.  Again, he was unable to say anything against God’s word but was speechless each time.  I could see that he is wrestling with the truth and I pray he humbles himself and receives the seed of the God’s Word into good soil bearing fruit unto everlasting life!  He finally said he would go to his house and listen to the C.D. I had given him.  It’s the testimony of a former JW who has come to a living faith in the Jesus of the bible. 

 

This past Saturday when Lisa and I were unable to go to the outreach Josef and Lina meet a man who ran a drug rehab in the village we preach in.  It’s a secular rehab and a very poor one at that.  In fact, Josef and Lina took a tour of the place and said their kitchen had very little food and what they had seemed to be rotting.  But the director invited us to come on Wednesday and preach and teach them God’s Word!  So this past Wednesday we went out there in the evening.  It was a very blessed time.  There were about 40 guys there waiting for us and ready to hear the word of God!  Most of them were very attentive to the preaching.  In fact, after it was done we had people coming up and wanting to talk about the Lord.  It was good too because a few of them spoke English and I was able to talk to them without a translator.  We’re going back out this Sunday to talk with some of the guys who wanted to learn more about Jesus. 

 

On a different note, the Lord has given me the opportunity to still be able to play a part in reaching Muslims for Christ while I’m in Mexico.  I met a brother online who lives in Southern India.  He is a former Muslim who is laboring in two Muslim towns preaching the Gospel.  We’ve been writing back and forth just getting to know each other some.  One of his main needs is for Gospel literature…such as tracts.  I’m putting together a few tracts for him and having them printed here and shipped to him.  I found a place that will print them for very very cheap.  He was really thankful to be receiving literature that would help him in furthering the Gospel.  So I’m praising God because He has provided an opportunity for me to help a brother AND be part of reaching Muslims with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!