Revived Lives!

Our recent revival changed the lives of some of our church members. Today in church, a young man sang a special for us for the first time in his life. He (Miguel) came to the Lord two years ago, but had never sung in church because of fear. He told us he sang today because he learned in the revival meetings not to let fear keep us from serving God! Amen!

We had 44 come out Friday night, an all time mid-week record for us! Others gave testimonies about how they were touched by the meetings and good preaching from the Bible. Wow. It is exciting to see the Lord change lives!

Revival!

We held a three day revival, from Wed-Friday last week. I invited a Pastor born in the Dominican Republic, (the island next door to Puerto Rico) to preach for us. He did a great job. He is the taller man on the left of the picture. He preached three powerful messages about love. Almost all our members came out and good number of new people visited our church during the special meetings. There were tears and testimonies Friday. It seems the Holy Spirit is doing a work in the hearts of His saints here in Puerto Rico!

Evangelistic Funeral Service

I led a elderly gentleman (about 90) to the Lord about six months ago and preached at his funeral Sunday afternoon. I gently but firmly shared the hope of the resurrection and spoke of The Good Shepherd and his love for all classes of people, represented by Lost Sheep, Black Sheep and even Goats. At the grave site, the message was Tears without Jesus and Tears with Jesus (shared sorrow here, shared joy in heaven). At the end of the graveside message, a little rain fell, just enough to go along with the falling tear imagery of the devotional. Many non-Christians were there and heard the gospel. I saw many nodding their heads in agreement during the sermon. Our hope is that the funeral sermons may be a new avenue to share the gospel here in Puerto Rico and bring more people into the church.

A New and Unusual Bible Study Site!

A New Tool. I just found this neat bible study site today, the "Blue Letter Bible" It has a feature no other site I've found has. Next to the verses listed, is an icon that takes you to CLASSIC HYMNS that go along with the verse, complete with the Lyrics, Biography of the hymn writers AND a Midi file that plays the tune! I wish I was preaching in English so I could use all of the neat lyrics for sermon illustrations! Well, here it is for my English speaking Pastor friends. It is at: http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.html

Eye Surprise!

Tina went to get some new lenses for her old glasses yesterday, but was a little concerned about the expense. Tina described what she was looking for and then her eye doctor surprised her. She had some of her personal eye glass frames that resembled what Tina wanted and she offered them to Tina for free! Wow! Yesterday free bananas and now, free eyeglass frames! God is meeting our needs in some very unexpected ways!

Banana Blessing!

We rent a small wooden home with a metal roof that has a lot of hidden blessings! Our landlord planted some banana trees down the hill and allows us to harvest whatever grows in our yard. We picked a bunch yesterday that has about 100 bananas on it and weighs about 35 pounds! They help with our food supply and are better than the store bought variety. But we have to eat them all in the next two weeks! Got any recipe's?

Good Sunday

We led a young man named Israel to the Lord a few years ago. He dated and became engaged to Kati, one of our church members. I baptized Israel one year and performed the wedding ceremony for them in our church the year after. They have continued faithful ever since. This Sunday I had an opportunity to pray over their 22 day old infant daughter. It is a very satisfying experience to see one you prayed with and baptized continue in the church and mature in Christ. The baby is cute too!

Missionary Kid Music! An unexpected blessing came our way this year. Someone donated about twenty violins to our Bible College! We have a student, Nora, who loves to teach and only charges $5 a lesson. So, while I pick up some students to go on visitation with me on Friday, Sarah comes along and has a violin lesson at the College. Missionary kids miss their friends in the States, but our kids seem to have lots of opportunities for fun here on the mission field! 

Graduating Church workers from Deacons to Pastors! Carlos and Judy have worked in our last two churches. He has served as a Deacon and as an interm Pastor for a year during our last furlough. Jim Stinedurf, a missionary friend of mine, started a church in the town of Caguas where Carlos lives. Carlos went to help him get it started. He is a very smart guy and worked as an accountant for a big company, but has always felt he should retire early and serve the Lord full time. Well, we are happy he has taken the plunge!

A woman came to church Wednesday night just as we were locking up. She had her little daughter of 4 with her. She said, "Oh no! I have been meaning to visit your church for a long time, and now I am finally here and it's all over!" I said, "Come on in!" and opened the doors. Tina and I went in, showed her around and later spoke to her about her soul. Her name is Anna, she is a nurse who works Sundays and describes herself as "separated" from the Lord. We showed her God's simple plan of salvation and prayed the "Sinners Prayer" with her. She left happy and promised to come back. Sometimes we go looking for the lost sheep. But sometimes they come looking for us!

PS She came again tonight! Anna had some good questions and we knew what book to look in for the answers! Amen!