Easter Week


We hope that you have had as special an Easter season as we have. We have been spending a lot of time working with our new “Shalom” congregation. It has been especially joyous to see how they celebrate Easter for the first time together. There are now several new Christians who are experiencing real hope for the first times in their lives.

One of the church’s members invited us to spend Wednesday at their property outside the city. Everyone took food. Some people took extra meat to cook over a grill so that there would be plenty for those who could not afford it. The kids spent the day in a plastic swimming pool, and adults formed teams to play “hillbilly golf” and “corn hole”. The main goal was to get to know each other better.

On Thursday evening Angie and I invited people over to our house to watch the video “Fireproof”. The theme was on love and marriage. “You never leave your partner behind.” It was exciting to see some of the couples and youth capture the message of the video. It also saddened me to hear a very good friend comment, “I wish I had seen the video years earlier.” One of our biggest jobs as a church is to establish solid Christian marriages in our congregations.
It is normal to have people come to our house several times on any other day. On Good Friday, it was about 97 degrees outside. Most people had gone to the river or were hiding out in the shade somewhere. No one was working. We did not expect a visitor at 3:00 in the afternoon. When Angie opened the door, it was Ruben.

Ruben is one example of a young man who has found the hope that only Jesus Christ can offer. He graduated from El Sembrador last fall in industrial mechanics. Though Ruben has not found a steady job yet, he always has a smile.

Ruben assured Angie that he would be quiet so she could rest. A few minutes later, the door bell rang. It was David coming to practice with Ruben and the rest of the praise team. A few minutes later there were about 15 children showing up to watch a video. So much for anticipating a nap on a Friday afternoon! Later in the evening we enjoyed the video on the Chronicles of Narnia.

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