Update from the Land of Enchantment

Greetings in Jesus Name!!
 
Just wanted to give an update about our time here in New Mexico. Things have finally started coming together and we’re just about finished with the work here. Everything was kinda put on hold due to an accident I had. Myself and another brother who was visiting us from California were working on a barn that we are converting into living space when I broke three fingers on my right hand (We still live in our trailer. We are converting the barn for other saints to use when that time comes). In New Mexico there are very high winds here. I had my hand right near the door hinges when a gust of wind slammed the door shut on my hand. It was very painful and I ended up with three fingers broken right below my knuckles. I just recently got the cast off and am able to bend my fingers enough to type. I’m still not able to make a fist but my range of motion is improving every day. Thank the Lord!

MINISTRY ON THE LAND

For those who don’t know the state of New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment. However, I think the majority of people, at least where we live, are Enchanted by evil spirit and are in bondage to all sorts of wickedness (especially drugs and alcohol). The Lord has bless us by having different contractors and people come to do various work here for us. So far everyone who has come is either on drugs or an alcoholic. The good thing is this has given me a steady stream of people to share the gospel with even when I don’t leave and go into town! We had an electrician do some work for us that was continually strung out on crack. In fact, he showed up one night at 2:00 am and worked till 5:00 without telling me he was coming. The whole time he was here that night all he did was hang one light! He was really strung out. But the Lord gave me so many opportunities to share the gospel with him and also to share how God through Christ delivered me from that lifestyle as well. This man would also bring a different worker with him every day which gave me someone new to preach too. Even though the guy took FOREVER to finish his work that should have taken him about two days to finish I saw that God had him here so we could continue to preach Jesus to him day after day.

Even today we had a final contractor come out to give us an estimate to complete the barn conversion. After we finished talking about the barn he asked me if I believe in aliens. That really came out of nowhere. Nevertheless, it was a great way to be able to spend the next three hours talking to him about the Gospel. I could definitely see the Lord was testifying to what I was sharing. The Lord gave me the grace to answer everyone of his objections and questions and to point him personally to Christ. He had some very real and genuine questions like.. Why does God allow suffering? Why did an all knowing God allow sin to come into this world? How could God kill whole peoples in the Old Testament? ect…ect. Those are all really good questions and it reminded me of when I had similar questions before I was converted. We as believers, need to realize that those are real and valid questions. We need to have the patience and ability to share with people the answers to these questions all the while continually directing people to their need for Christ. I really felt the Lord was doing a work in this man and he acknowledge that God “probably” had him here as well…though I’m quite certain He did!

We’ve also developed a great relationship with a family that lives about a mile behind us. It’s a husband and wife in their late 20’s and they have five children. Again the husband is an alcoholic but is very functional as far as still being able to talk and work. I met him one day in the winter when I was stuck in the snow. I was having a terrible day. One of those days where everything seems to go wrong. Then at night when I was trying to drive off the land, when I was about 20 yards from the exit, I got stuck in the snow and ice without a shovel. I was quite frustraighted at having to walk over a mile, in the dark, back to our place. When I finally got the shovel and made it back to the car our neighbor who I had not met, named Ben, had pulled up when he saw that we were stuck. He helped us get unstuck and I was able to share with him a little about Jesus. I realized that the whole ordeal was ordained by God. I was really repenting for my frustration and attitude as I saw God's greater plan. Since that time I’ve been able to spend many hours with Ben. Seems like almost every time we get together we’re able to spend a couple hours talking about God and the Gospel. The refreshing thing is almost all of his questions were sincere and asked out of a lack of knowledge. Many times when you talk to people about Christ you have to deal with one objection after another. That hasn’t been the case with him and his family. It’s really been a joy. In fact, when I explained to him the reason for Christ death on the cross he was really amazed. He said he had never heard why Christ had to die. It’s been a real joy sharing with him and seeing him gradually come to understand the truth that can save his soul and bring him to God.
Lisa has also had many opportunities to share with his children. Their children are about the same age as ours. One day Lisa was asking his kids if they knew about Jesus. They looked at her and said “Who’s Jesus?”. Pretty amazing. These kids knew nothing. Another time Lisa was in the trailer making a grocery list. She was kinda talking to herself as she wrote each item down that we needed to buy. One of his kids looked at Lisa and said “I hear voices in my head too!”. This young girl then proceeded to tell Lisa how she would hear voices talking to her. This was clearly demonic. Lisa was also telling this girl about the Lord and the girl kept telling Lisa that God was dead! Lisa spent time with her telling her about Jesus and His resurrection from the dead…telling her that Christ was alive. All of the sudden the girl opens our trailer door and yells to her brothers and sisters outside “you guys are wrong - God is not dead He’s alive!”. It was a joy to see. I'm sure demonic spirits and principalities were reeling at that proclamation!  Since then their children have been very open to the things of God. We try to have them over as much as we can so we can sow the Gospel in their lives as well.

                                                                   Ben, Tasha and their Children

NEAR MISS

A few days ago I took my car into Albuquerque to have it worked on. It was going to take all day so I figured I’d just walk the streets and find people to talk to about Jesus. As I was walking down the sidewalk next to the street I hear a car engine rev up and the horn blowing. I turned around and saw a car coming right towards me. I literally jumped out of the way and then heard the car crash into another car and then turned around and saw it spin and hit the median. It’s was a really close call for me. No one was hurt but I stayed around till the police showed up. During that time an older man walked up and started talking with me. It wasn’t too long before I was able to start talking with him about Christ. It was really sad actually. He was from an Assembly of God Church. He proceeded to tell me all about being a founding member, about how they don’t believe any doctrine or teaching unless there are at least three scripture reference..ect..ect..ect. He could tell me all these things about his denomination that mean absolutely NOTHING and couldn’t tell me anything about knowing a personal living Christ and walking daily with Him. I was able to point this out to him in a gentle way and exhort him with his need for true saving faith. But I couldn’t help just thinking how many millions of people are just like this man. Able to tell you everything about their denomination, doctrines they believe that make them special, all about how their church functions and yet they know nothing of Christ and His salvation. Nothing of having Christ dwell in their hearts by faith, nothing of the witness of God’s Spirit, nothing of expecting the blessed hope of Christ return. Just dead empty tombs, void of the life of God, with a façade of Christianity that has no power. I really felt the whole ordeal was from God so I could speak to this man about the true condition of his soul. I’ve come to see in my own life that many situations that appear to be bad are often used by the Lord is such good ways. Either giving us opportunities to share the gospel or opportunities to be more conformed into the image of Christ. If you can see (and it really is true) that every situation no matter how bad can and is an opportunity for you to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit and bring you into more conformity to Christ..you can rejoice! When you truly understand this you can really give thanks to God, from the heart, no matter what situation you find yourself in.

BROTHER ISMAIL

For those who pray and periodically send support for brother Ismail - he and his family are doing well. They recently had to move from their house to a new location in the city. The place where they are now living is in even a more dense Muslim area giving them new opportunities to preach to their new neighbors. Brother Ismail still has his home fellowship and continues to minister and build up the relatively new converts that attend. He is also working on translating the “AnseringIslam.com” website into the Telegu language making the resources accessible to more believers. On a personal note, brother Ismail’s motor scooter recently broke down. It was their families only personal means of transportation. In fact when I was in India Ismail took me to several villages on his motor scooter. It was in such bad shape I really wondered if we would make it back and forth to the villages. Thankfully we did. But it did finally quit working. I want to say thanks to those of you who have recently sent support for Ismail. With the support, that came at the right time, he was able to purchase a new motor bike for him and his family almost paying it in full. He was able to purchase it from another brother who’s letting him pay the rest off in a month or so. Either way, Ismail and his family were extremely thankful and praising the Lord that they were able to get another means of transportation so soon.

WHAT’S NEXT? - INDIA TRIP

While I continue to do ministry around where we live I’m also praying and planning a trip to India by myself. Provided the funds are there, and the Lord brings it all together, I am praying and planning on making a trip to India soon. Lord-willing, I plan on staying for about 4 or 5 weeks and visiting some brethren as well as preaching in a heavily Muslim populated area in Northern India. Right now I’m tentatively planning on visiting a brother in Southern India as well. He and his wife are missionaries from the US and have been in India for about six months. From there I would be going to see brother Ismail who is preaching among Muslims about two hours from the village our family used to live in. I plan on holding some meetings together with him to preach the Gospel to the Muslims he’s working amongst. From there I would go to Northern India - West Bengal- and minister along side a brother and his wife who are working in a Muslim area where they are constantly persecuted for their faith (hopefully brother Ismail will be able to go with me as well).  In fact, one of the believer's daughters was recently raped by one of the fanatical Muslims because they left Islam. They also face continual intimidation, have their bibles stolen, and sometimes are beaten for their faith. These believers meet and congregate in home fellowships. I will be able to hold meetings to exhort the brethren and hold meetings to preach the gospel to Muslims in that area. I believe the real thrust and purpose of this trip will be to work along side these believers in this dense Muslim area in Northern India. Lord-willing, as all this comes together I’ll send out another update. If you would like to help with the trip or find out more details you can email me directly. Again, this is something I’m praying about and seems to be a door that the Lord is opening for me at this time. Please keep me in prayer regarding this trip.
Thank you to each of you who have kept us in prayer and encouraged us as we’ve sought to continue preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

IN Christ,
Sean & Lisa Scott

www.preachingjesuschrist.com