In the trenches

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  1 John 4:9

Tom teaching at youth group

This verse just so perfectly sums up what we have been teaching the children (& adults) here.
  
 There is a good dose of superstition and witchcraft thrown into the mixture of belief systems here...most likely because of Indian roots not only here but Mexico as well...ie...there is a good size hill just outside of town with a cross on it.  The reason the cross was put there was because there is a belief, based on an old tale, that the devil danced with a woman on top of that hill.  The kids are always willing to tell us 'ghost stories' about this town.  I can probably handle the superstitious beliefs better than I can the mixtures of 'religious' beliefs.  Based on what we've seen & heard, what I mean by mixture is...a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and that He died on the cross for our sins, that He rose again & is seated at the right hand of the Father and we await that day when we get to be with Him eternally.  This is the gospel. Right on. But, sadly, this is not enough. This is where the mixture comes in.  Faith in Christ is added to and mixed in with Mary & the saints. People want to be sure that 'all bases are covered' so to speak. This is not new...different versions of this mixture are being played out all over the world. Jesus is not enough...His blood is not enough...His sacrifice is not enough...this is very sad. There is also a knowledge of the person of the Holy Spirit and His gifts but a denying of the power.  The greatest gift given to us is salvation through Christ...and the second greatest gift given to us is His Holy Spirit!

I know this is not a good picture but I included it because I love it!  Scottie reading Tom's bible next to him and Amaya reading out loud to the group.

  
That is why I titled this blog 'In the trenches'.  We are dug in, shoulder to shoulder, proclaiming that Jesus is enough...His blood is enough...there is only one Way, one Truth, one Life...and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for us today! We know & believe that the Gospel is the power of God and there is no need to go on to greater knowledge, greater wisdom, some new truth. The Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:30...'But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption'. He became everything for us...all that we need...I have everything I need...in Him! There is no need to pray to an idol or a 'saint' in addition to praying to God the Father.
 
So...we stand...not compromising.  We are praying & waiting. While Tom & I were praying this morning, the story I heard or read, about the village (in South America I think) where the Gospel came & was received and the whole village was transformed, came to my mind. Oh, how I want to see that here!

Tom praying for the children.

 The Lord has been encouraging us along the way with testimonies that we've heard.  One was from someone here in the church who testified about being a 18 yr old boy who went into a youth meeting in a church for one reason...girls...but he found himself accepting Christ when the gospel was preached.  Even though he fell back into the world for several years, the pull of that gospel that he'd heard & received, brought Him back to Jesus again.  Just the other day a woman, who lives in Odessa, shared her testimony with us.  She spoke of being a little girl of 5 when her brother shared the gospel with her at the time of his water baptism.  She had been questioning him and he told her about sin and the need of Jesus.  She said she felt convicted and gave her heart to Jesus.  How amazing!  She shared about being insecure & shy as a young girl.  She didn't talk about her faith in Christ & wouldn't participate in youth meetings.  She had strayed from Him also and gone her own way but she has not been able to resist the pull on her heart to return to Him.  She had led the youth ministry here at our church for a couple of  years before moving. Her 2 youngest children are here in our church and always here for youth meetings and hanging out almost daily. Of course there's Tim Tebow's testimony.  We took 3 of the youth here to see him last Sunday afternoon. He shared about being a young boy when he gave his heart to the Lord.  He had been raised in a missionary family and did and said all the things he was suppose to but one night he was convicted and saw his need for the Savior.  He went right to his mom in the morning and asked her to pray with him and he got on his knees and surrendered to the Lord.  Most of us know who he is. He has a tremendous platform to share the gospel.

Most of these kids have never had someone lay hands on them & pray for them.

  
We have been told by different people that the Lord has sent us here.  We visited with the Justice of the Peace (Tom calls him the JP...haha) and his wife last weekend. They are our neighbors. Incidently, he was the pastor here at Believers in Christ for a few years.  They have it in their heart to help us feed the kids who are coming and have offered to help us however they can.  They are excited about what's going on here with the children. He told us he believes the Lord sent us here and spoke Isaiah 55:11 to us..."
"  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; 
 It shall not return to Me void,
 But it shall accomplish what I please,
 And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

This has been spoken to us before by different people and encourages us everytime!  Our job is to preach the gospel...preach grace & truth in love...it's His job to see to the seed that is planted!

Some of the youth that gather here to play ball & hang out.

A man in our church, Miguel, stopped by one afternoon this week and seeing all of the kids commented that they (members of Believers in Christ) have not seen that much activity here on the church grounds before.  They are amazed & excited! So are we!
But feeding them, playing ball with them, even showing them we care will not save them...only Jesus can!

Waiting for youth group to start!

To those of you back home in Illinois... I can't say it enough... Thank you for praying for us & for the people of this town!!!  

 



 



 

catch up blog

Wow...it's been a few weeks since my last blog! Now I have to play catch up which is not easy...it's hard enough for me to remember what happened yesterday, let alone 5 weeks ago!  But...here goes!

After my last blog post, we returned to Watseka for about 2 weeks.  Man, that's a looooonnnnnnggggg drive!  It was so good to see everyone though.  It made my heart happy :) especially seeing all of the kiddos!  I was 'chompin' at the bit' to get back here though.  I felt very restless while in Illinois.  I needed to get back to the work here.  I guess that surprised me...how I felt.  I admit to being a bit selfish about my time...needing space...alone time...peace...good quality 'down' time.  Those things are not part of my life down here really!  And I know the Lord is changing me and I love that He does that almost without me realizing it.  (of course, as I type this, nobody is home...it's quiet except for the wind blowing through the window...ahhhhhh)

So, since we've been back here in Balmorhea, we have been so busy.  Tom & I discovered while talking during that looonnnggg drive back here that we both were more focused & determined to preach the gospel.  To preach the message of the cross as the only  means of victory.  During that first few weeks here, everything was new & very different for us...like another country.  We were trying to get settled and acclimated.  We were coming into a church body that was already established and so we were figuring out our place, I guess.  And it has been an adjustment on their side as well.  And...my quiet time is over...hahaha...I knew it would be short lived! (there are now 6 other children here besides our own...and here comes another down the road...haha)

Children's ministry is available to us pretty much every day.  We have the 'regulars' who are here almost every day.  Then there are the ones who come & go.  You never know from day to day who is going to show up.  It's so funny, one minute we look out the window and see certain kids & turn around and look again & there are more...or different ones...different ages...sometimes adults.  Yesterday I looked out at the basketball court and saw an adorable little 1 yr old girl toddling across it...with a teenager following closely behind, of course) This basketball court really draws people and what an opportunity it is for us!  Kids are just showing up, out of the blue, to hang out here.  But we don't want it to just be a good place to hang out...we are glad that we have a safe place for them to be, given the alternatives...but it is opening up opportunities to minister to the kids. 

So, we have a projector now!!  We introduced the kids to worship via the projector last week.   Then we introduced some of the adults to it at prayer on Thursday night.  It's new to all of them I think!  We have discovered just how incredibly spoiled we have been all of these years.   To be in a church where worship is so important and led by the Holy Spirit...where the intent is to worship Him for who He is and what He has already done for us...to know His Presence. Thank you, Erik & Sally, for seeking only to worship the Lord and glorify Him...for surrendering to His Spirit...for...oh my, I could go on & on...we have learned so much from you both!  Your focus is Jesus, not yourselves or your music...which sadly is very rare in the church today. 

We have been meeting in the church daily to pray. By we, I mean our family.  We have invited everyone in this church body to join us.  Whether they come or not, we will continue to pray. It has become such a sweet time and a time with the Lord that we must have!   We cannot do this work without Him!! 


Thank you all for praying for us!!

I am including some pictures of the children. We made homemade pizzas here at the church last Friday night and the kids loved it! I recruited 2 of the children to help, as you will see in the pictures. They are siblings, Scott & Elena. Please pray for them. Their circumstances are not good but we are loving them & telling them about the great love the Father has for them. The mother stopped here yesterday and said she would like to talk.  We are waiting to see if she comes back.  

Also, there are pictures of  our kids that we took on Easter Sunday.  

We love you all!