To start off, we spent a lot of money this month on transportation because of where our ministry was located. We were beyond walking distance and transportation was being provided by our pastor. With that, we were supposed to pay Pastor Manuel for gas so that he could provide transportation. We paid all that we could in our budget and pretty much we ran out on Sunday…so after our day off on Monday, we have just been waiting and available and hoping that we would get a chance to say goodbye. So far no such luck.
Today though…while sitting out on our front patio in true Dominican style (in lawn chairs in the shade avoiding the heat of the day) we welcomed a couple Mormon missionaries into our midst. A group of us listened to them and got into a discussion, we wanted to get some answers, but we also wanted to share Christ’s love. We didn’t want contention, we did want Truth and Life to be spoken. They (James and David) left us with The Book of Mormon and some of us are reading it to better understand where they are coming from and how to better pray for our brothers. I want to encourage those reading to pray for these two men as they may begin to question their beliefs and the roots of their faith. We have come to understand that they do in fact believe in God the Father, Jesus as the Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit…but there is a papal hierarchy of Prophets who ultimately lead the people of the Mormon faith. The conversation was less about who is right or wrong and more about allowing the opportunity for Christ to shine through. We were able to not only pray for James and David but to lay hands on them and speak Life over them. We shared with them what we have come to understand as prophesy as revealed in the New Testament (in reference to spiritual gifts).
It was an interesting change up to out ministry…for the past week my team has been doing door-to-door evangelism – today we were the recipients. Perhaps it will make our ministry more effective, or perhaps we were in the right place at the right time and God used us today in a way he couldn’t have if we were in Mogollon. Either way, I am grateful for Christ and the way his TRUTH is revealed in nature as well as in relationships, the Bible, prayer, worship, etc. Praise God for the way he works.
