We are thrilled to report that our ministry in San Pablo, Guatemala is going great!
It’s been really amazing that as we’ve gone before the Lord in prayer each day to show us what to do, He has been faithful and given us a confirmation of His will. A great blessing of praying and ministering as a team is that God often gives each one of us a different piece of the puzzle. When we put the pieces together, we get a clear picture of what God would have us do. Our faith is growing, as the more we expect of God, the more He delivers.
Yesterday morning, we were blessed to share the love of Christ through physical labor. God has given Pastor Antonio a vision to build a permanent church building in July. To raise money for the project, Antonio had arranged for church members to help with hurricane cleanup. We spent about 3 hours removing rocks from someone’s backyard, left behind from the Hurricane Stan mudslides. Fortunately nobody in this area had been killed, but there’s a lot of cleanup to be done. Despite the hard work, we rejoiced for the opportunity to demonstrate Christ’s love through our actions. We want to be servants, which can be hard when everyone wants to serve the foreign visitors!
The sweetest part came when we sat down for a break. As we snacked on oranges and watermelon, Pastor Antonio introduced us to a couple of young men he’s been working with. Antonio relayed to us that Zacheo (one of the young men) was considering coming back to church, but that he felt a lot of shame from his former sinful lifestyle. God gave us tender words to say to Him, words about the Father’s love for us and His forgiveness of our sins. God gave me a great illustration about how He works in our lives. Unlike the rocks in the backyard, we don’t have to do the work of changing our hearts ourselves. We only need to make God the Owner of our hearts, and then His Holy Spirit does the work and renovates our hearts.
We were thrilled when Zacheo told us he wanted to pray and confess his sins to the Lord. Pastor Antonio laid hands on Zacheo’s shoulders, and Gary sat in front of him in the freshly turned dirt with his hands on Zacheo’s legs. We prayed for Zacheo as he called out to God.
When we finished, Antonio told us that Zacheo had given his life over to the Lord! Hallelujah! It was such a blessing to see him totally repentant and grateful before the Lord, and to see the peace in him afterward.
In the afternoon, we tried out a new role: radio superstars! We joined Antonio in his weekly radio program and sang the English version of the hymn “It is Well With My Soul”. (I say the English version, because people here are familiar with the hymn, but only in Tzutujil.)
Later that evening, we bumped into our new friend Zacheo. It turns out he had been listening to the radio program and heard us singing! He told us that as he listened to us on the radio he felt joy, as if we were praying specifically for him.
We are so thrilled to see God working in his life and we look forward to getting to know him better over the next few weeks. We invite you to join us in praying for Zacheo and his new walk in Christ.
