If you missed my previous blog, I spent a week in Mexico building a church building and doing a revival. You can read blog one here.
The building gives them a better place to worship, but there is so much more to worship and a mission trip than just a building.
I just want to share with you about the revival we would do at night time. We setup a large tent, about 100 chairs and we were ready to start the evening. We had a meal before every service and I am pretty sure some of the kids came up for 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and maybe even 5ths but that is fine. We had plenty to share.
We were also able to bless them with a clothing pantry, we set this up in their sanctuary. We had a large gooseneck trailer full of clothes that we distributed each night to the people.
On the final night there was a terrible sand storm happening. The wind was blowing out of control and we were all worried that we were not going to be able to have the service that night. I spent the afternoon praying that the wind would die down (as well as some of my squadmates), and you know what happened. God provided. The wind ceased and we were able to do our revival without being sandblasted. My God is my provider.
I was able to share my testimony the first night and another man, Bobby was able to share his. I was told that mine was good and I am sure the Holy Spirit used my words to speak to people there but I want to tell you about Bobby’s testimony.
This is Bobby, who also answers to Santa, his testimony was raw. It was from the heart. He shared with the people from the community about his struggles from the past… about how he felt wronged by the church, how that led to him being away from the church and wrapped up in things of the world, about being a leader in the church and eventually becoming saved. He spoke about emptiness and then fullness. He spoke with such a kindred spirit that as I watched the crowd, they were waiting for each word out of the translators mouth. His testimony was powerful and relatable. What a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness to provide for his children.
My dad was able to dedicate the building to the Lord. As the prayer started, I began to hear the people of the church cry out to Jesus Cristo. As I looked around, I saw the members of the church with their hands raised in full surrender to God. It was powerful. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I spoke with Al, the man on the right hand side for a brief moment. He did not speak english so I had to track down Esmerlda to translate for me. I told him that I was encouraged by him raising his hands during prayer and worship. He even raised his hands while we prayed for the food. It is encouraging to see someone so surrender fully to God for even small prayers. That is how it should be, no matter the size of the prayer you should trust that God is going to hear it and answer it.
We averaged around 150-225 people each night and the last night there were over 125 children. We somehow managed to get them into the building and did their very first bible lesson in the new church building.
We passed out bibles to each of the children that came that evening. The middle girl in the bottom right picture was so happy when she received her Bible. I asked her what she got and she yelled, “I GOT A BIBLE.” She was so excited and she held it tight in her arms. I asked her, “What else did you get?” She grasped her bible a bit longer and dropped one hand off to reach into her bag. She pulled out candy, toys and other things. The thing that caught my attention was that, her Bible never left her heart. She held it tight like her treasure. She wasn’t interested in candy or toys. How often do I take for granted my bible? How often do I take for granted the things I have?
All she wanted was her Bible.
I want to challenge you to seek out community with other believers in your area. Why must we seperate ourselves because of denomination? We are all one body. Allow God to use you in all walks of life, don’t hinder the Spirit.
