Good Stuff

I am so proud of our team! Every person has done many things that they have never done before, whether it is sharing their testimonies in public, leading people to Christ, mixing cement or laying brick. So many new experiences and great results. God is also doing a work in each one of us as we wrestle through different things about ourselves that He is revealing. This trip has been a furnace for Gods refining fire to reveal and burn off stuff and will transform us more into the likeness of Christ. Not always an easy process, but also good. God is also forming us into a strong team that cares deeply for each other and utilizes our strengths well.

Thank you so much to everyone at Almaden Neighborhood Church who sent cards of encouragement with us! Every day I give out two or three to each person at breakfast. Susan particularly loves mail call and we are all so blessed and uplifted by your words!

The last couple of days we{ve continued doing construction in the morning, invitations and evangelism in the afternoon and visiting small groups in the evening. We have had several people pray with us and it has been very exciting. Muna and Tom Alexander went out with Jorge (a seminary student here at the church and a great guy) and they met a young man on the street and shared Munas testimony with him. He proceeded to tell them that he was recently robbed and lifted his shirt to show the fresh stab wounds on his body that he received while trying to protect his friend. Jorge told the young man that what he did for his friend is exactly what Jesus did for us. Except that Jesus not only received the wounds but He gave His whole life for us. That young man prayed to receive Christ as His savior right then.

Another young man, Sebastion stopped by the church to visit his friend. I pulled Jared out from the back room and said ¨¨There is someone hear I want you to share your testimony with.¨¨ He came out and thought that it was someone in the church that he was going to practice with. Jared didn{t realize that Sebastion didn{t know Christ. Jared sat with Sebastion as Pastor Marcos read Jareds testimony in Spanish and then talked to Sebastion in Spanish about God and then prayed with Him to receive Christ. Jared thought that the whole thing was a role play until he heard Sebastion say¨Si¨ and pray with Pastor Marcos! God is using us even when we don{t know what is going on. This has been something that is sometimes difficult for the team as they go around with the church members talking to the people in the community and its all in Spanish. The team often walks away from the conversations saying ¨What happened?¨ And its hard to judge the response by looking at people because Paraguayans tend to not show much emotion on their faces.

Surprisingly, I{ve found that I{m able to communicate in Spanish, but I get frustrated that I can{t do more. I try to translate for the team and talk to people but I find that I can understand better than I can speak. Yesterday I told someone that I have a 10 year old wife when I meant to say that Ive been married for ten years!

So keep the prayers coming! Pray that we dont get frustrated from language and culture barriers (like the constantly changing schedule). Pray for physical strength- we{ve all been healthy, Muna has a little cold but is doing fine. Pray for open doors and open hearts as we talk to people. Pray for us as we prepare for another busy weekend of ministry starting the Awana kids program, Ladies Tea with Kathy speaking, Sunday me preaching and Sunday night showing the fireproof movie in spanish.

Sunday morning we will try to video skype into the Sunday morning worship service at Almaden if it works. We are a little over halfway through the trip and this time next week we{ll be back in the USA!

We love you and appreciate all of your prayers. Please post comments on this blog if you can so we know that you are reading it and can be encouraged by you!

Dios te Bendiga (God bless you)

-Jordan