March - April - May 2010 Update

A message from Pastor Heber and family:
We are now in our 5th month here in Ojos de Agua and it has been a very special experience because God continues to support our ministry. We have had experiences where God has worked in our favor in the area of health in our family especially in our oldest daughter Cesia's health. She has had a few asthma attacks and God has provided quick medical attention when this has happened. In all areas of our life God has shown us His goodness and faithfulness. In these 5 months God has allowed us to make friends with many people in the community and this has opened doors to share the gospel with them. We are happy that God has brought us to Ojos de Agua to serve Him.

March
Sunday School Celebration
At the end of March, we held a celebration with the children's Sunday School Classes from Ojos de Agua and El Tablón. Upon finishing the trimester, we got all the kids together for games, a puppet show, and prizes for the students who had memorized the most verses. The event was held in El Tablón near the soccer field under the mango tree.






Enviromental Education
Cindy along with members of the Environmental Committee of Ojos de Agua, visited the seven schools in the area to give talks on Water Conservation in observance of the International Day of Water (March 22). In the month of April they visited two schools to talk about Solid Waste Management and the importance of recycling. A contest was held to see which group of students created the best poster representing what they learned. The best posters were displayed at the Earth Day festival on April 25th.

April

Children in Crisis Conference
During the first two weeks of April, Cindy assisted two conferences about working with at-risk children and children in crisis. The conferences were organized by the missonary agency WEC International (World Evangelism for Christ). Wendy Dezan, director of Rainbows of Hope of WEC, gave excellent teachings. The first conference was designed to teach local churches how to start a ministry to reach out to these kinds of children. The second conference was for people from NGO's that are already working with these children. The focus was how we can restore a child in crisis. Cindy learned so much at these conferences and has already started to teach the Sunday School teachers in Ojos de Agua and El Tablón what she has learned. We are hoping to start a ministry for at-risk kids in our community. (The photo on the left is an activity where the girls drew a map of Ojos de Agua and identified the risks to children that exist in the community.)

Mom's visit
Cindy's mom, Mary came down to El Salvador for a nice visit. We were so blessed to have her with us especially to join us in celebrating Lucas' 2nd birthday! She helped us out a lot with Lucas while we were busy with ministry activities.

A visit from a missonary
All of the MCA churches in Chalatenango had the privilege to hear a mission report from one of our missionaries that is serving in Central Asia. On Saturday, April 17, we gathered in Potrero Sula just outside of Nueva Concepcion. We learned a lot about the culture and needs of the region that he is working in. We are supporting him monthly in our church circuit. He is getting married soon and will head back to the country he is serving in with his wife. (His name is not mentioned for his safety.)

Earth Day Festival
The Earth Day celebration was organized this year by the Catholic Church of Ojos de Agua. The Mayor's office was invited. Cindy displayed posters that were made by the children that attended the environmental talks on Recycling and she was invited by the local priest to represent the Environmental Committe of the Mayor's office and sat at the table of honor along with the mayors of Ojos de Agua and Las Vueltas. She gave a small talk to the people attending the event of the importance of being better stewards of God's creation.


May
Raising the Roof!
God has been faithful to our construction project. We have just received an anonymous donation from a member of Tulare First Baptist Chruch of $10,000 towards the roof project! At the same time we received a phone call from José Melgar from Iglesia de Dios in Tarzana, CA. Their church raised $1,400 for the roof project in a tamale sale. This was a surprise to us as well! The Tulare First Baptist Church will be holding a rummage sale this month for the same purpose to raise money for the roof project. Camilo and Pastor Heber traveled to San Salvador yesterday (May 11) to purchase supplies. We are able to cover all the expenses with these donations! We are so grateful to many of you that are contributing to our efforts. Everything is happening in God's perfect timing!

Baptisms May 9, 2010
On Sunday, May 9, six members of our church made the important decision to be baptized. The church hiked to the local creek to see the following brothers and sisters in this special act of obedience: Griselda Calderon, Soila Chinchilla, Mari Chinchilla, Ronal Molina, Jeremías Villegas, and Genero Melgar.

We now have a total of 50 baptized members! According to our denomination's regulations, we can now officially be called a "church" and no longer "mission field".

The Phillip Project
Our church members have responded in a strong way to the Phillip Project Bible studies. Many of our members are meeting in homes of non-Christians to share the gospel and disciple using the books that are provided by this project. Through this Bible sudy of the Matthew's Gospel, many more people are accepting the Lord as their personal savior and are interested in coming to church services!

Building Project
Fridays have been designated as work days. Church volunteers have continued the difficult work of leveling out the ground. This week we have been working on finishing the office space to provide us a storage area for chairs and sound equipment.





Signs installed
Cindy and the Environmental Committe a number of months ago designed and painted no littering signs. The signs were installed this month throughout all of Ojos de Agua where people have created their own garbage dumps in the creeks.








 
Prayer Requests
-God's guidance in the formation of the ministry for at-risk kids in Ojos de Agua.

-God's protection and safety for the workers that will be installing the roof. And for protection for some church members (including Camilo) that will have to stay over night at the construction site to protect the materials that will be delivered soon. There is no where to store the materials, so we will be setting up camp.

-For the Phillip Project. That, God will open the hearts of those participating in the Bible Studies and accept His word.

-For protection, provision and wisdom for Camilo and his studies. He is currently in his third month studying at the Assembly's of God Christian University working on his Bachelors Degree in Theology with an emphasis in Missions. He travels to San Salvador Thursday-Saturday.

-For time management for Cindy who is slowly working on her Masters degree in Theology.

-For Pastor Heber and Leidy Marquez (one of our youth leaders from El Tablón). They are traveling on Saturdays to the MCA Bible Institute for studies in Theology. -for safety and wisdom as they are being equipped for service!

-We are praying for God's provision and timing for a bus to transport our church. Currently we are using the back of Pastor Heber's pickup and this is getting too dangerous.

More pictures of our Sunday School Celebration:























More Baptism pictures: