This team did not know when arriving here on Monday their week would turn out very differently from their plans. But our plans sometimes are not always God's plan. As I shared earlier we started out with a sweet pastor and community but this was not where God had intended for us to be sharing the gospel. So as we rearranged "our" plans into God's plans we were in for some amazing God moments for the rest of the week. There are so many pictures but yet so many stories to unfold on this one blog page. Pastor Steve on the first day was able to lead a young man who was slightly intoxicated to Jesus Christ or he rededicated his life to Jesus Christ. The pastor of this community in Monjares had been discipling this young man for quiet some time but he got pulled back into the ways of this broken world we live in. Bobby shared when he saw Pastor Steve head over to this group of men, the Honduran pastor just shook his head. Even us as Christians sometimes doubt what God is capable of doing through others. After this young man rededicated his life he followed the evangelism team the rest of the morning listening to this group share the gospel with other families like he had just heard himself. Hopefully now this young man will reach back out to his own pastor and continue learning all he can about our Lord and Savior. Terri was with the other group evangelizing asking God to give her peace today as she traveled over two miles to get to a community to share the gospel. She quoted Philippians 4:13, 6-9 to herself as she walked along the dusty rocky road to the home God had sent her group to.
God sustained Terri and gave her more than enough energy for this first day evangelizing in Honduras.
As they returned that afternoon full of joy for the four salvations and even for their disappointments of one lady sharing with Pastor Scott when he asked her did she know where she was going when she died and she said yes, "I am going to hell." Sadly she was okay with this and this hit us all very hard as Pastor Scott shared this story. All we can do is share the Word and pray her heart will soften.
As they moved on to Cerro Maranon community on the second day the harvest was ripen for fruition. they broke up into two groups one being led by Pastor Carlos and one being led by O'Nil. Yes our O'Nil was so excited when he was asked to go out with the group to evangelize with the the group. At breakfast that morning I was eating beside him as he looked at me and said "Boss are all these people pastors?" I replied, "no and you will be just fine learning more about Jesus as you lead these folks to different folks in your community who need to hear about Jesus as you did about two months ago." He looked at me and smiled and bounced down the hill from the multi-purpose building all dressed up ready to serve wherever he was needed. That evening as the team arrived back to Monte de Horeb Ministry campus they were overflowing with praise and glory for our Lord Jesus Christ. The group consisted of Scott and Terri, Bobby, Meida and yes O'Nil. Scott shared how they would share and ask the families questions and ask O'Nil to read the scripture and pray at the end of the visit. O'Nil received this privilege with humbleness and a genuine heart for his community. What a beautiful time to see this community's mayor, O'Nil, praying and reading scripture with each of his neighbors. Meanwhile Pastor Steve, Gorge, Joel and Pastor Carlos was going door to door as well. These door to doors were not actually next to one another as you may envision it to be. But nevertheless they went and visited different families Pastor Carlos already had formed relationships with as Pastor Steve shared. Once Pastor Steve saw the relationships Pastor Carlos had with some of these families he graciously backed off and allowed Pastor Carlos to visit with these families and reach out to them in his culture. What humbleness led by Pastor Steve and Gorge as well to step back and let the Hondurans reach out to their own people. The first day both groups came home with eight salvations only God Himself could have provided. Amen y amen. As the week continued more and more folks came to Christ. Eight children came to Christ which one includes O'Nil's daughter Kimberly and two of Noel's children as well. Both groups shared how Pastor Carlos had already planted so many seeds and they were blessed to reap the harvest of many whole families. Yes whole families came to Christ this week. O'Nil's father and mother along with all his siblings accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. There was so pretty devout Catholic families who accepted Jesus Christ this week. The oldest man and patriarch along with his entire family accepted Christ this week. He is also O'Nil's father in law and the owner of the property the community may purchase to build their church on one day in the future. Praise God the gentleman is selling the land to the church for $200.00. Now the church is got to raise the money to purchase the land and prayers will start towards the church building fund. They definitely got the manpower up there to build their own church. Let's pray along with them God will make provisions for the church as well.
One of the mornings Meida and Terri did not go up the mountain to share the gospel. Instead they stayed behind and prayed for what was about to unfold once they got to their destination. Bobby, team leader shared he checked his watch once he started climbing up the path to where finally the path was not a path anymore and one and half hours later they arrived at their first home visit. Pastor Scott shared it may have been a long journey up but God knew we needed to go and share the gospel with several families who if I am not mistaken Pastor Carlos had not reached yet. Gorge shared it was well worth the journey if someone else could hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Pastor Steve shared Pastor Carlos was in his Sunday shoes climbing those paths as if they were a piece of cake as we all struggled to get to the top with our tennis shoes and hiking shoes on. Actually Pastor Steve left one of his soles at the top of the mountain and had to wear his Crocs the rest of the visit in Cerro Mararon. There was not anything or anywhere this group of five would not have done to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost and broken world up in those mountains. Praise God for Meida and Joel who worked hard right beside the North Americans and Pastor Carlos and O'Nil. There is so many more awesome stories of the lost coming to Christ this week. God is good all the time and all the time God is so good.
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