January to April 2011

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What’s been happening since January:

Baptisms

In February, 12 new believers were baptized in the Sunpul River. The following publically testified their faith in obedience to Jesus’command: Husband and Wife: Alfredo and Albertina; her brother Will, and nieces and nephews: Nora, Mariela, and Carlos; Mother and two daughters: Leonor, Glenda, and Veronica; brother and sister:  Alejandro and Sandra; and Diego. A couple unique moments that happened in these baptisms: - Pastor Heber’s daughter, Cesia participated with her father in baptizing Veronica, her disciple.  - three more new converts spontaneously joined the group in the water to be baptized, Sandra, Leonor, and Glenda; just as the Ethiopian eunuch said to Phillip, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” (Acts 8:37)

More baptisms are scheduled for May 8^th. 

Conversions

We have been blessed to be a part of the Lord’s harvest here in Ojos de Agua.  God is touching the lives of entire families.  A few weeks ago, in Camilo’s evangelistic/ discipleship Bible study to Leonor’s family, her husband Antonio, brother, Mauricio, and son-in-law, Omar accepted Christ together! God is changing lives all around us and wants to use us in the process. We need to “make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” as Paul writes to the Ephesians (5:15-16). When God opens those doors, we need to go through without fear, because there may not be another moment for that person to hear or see the gospel in our lives.

Evangelism/Discipleship

The Phillip Project continues in various homes. Please pray that the Lord continues to use His church body in spreading the Good News with these Bible studies with friends and neighbors.

In January, a group of youth decided that they wanted to put their faith in action this year by sharing God's word to children in the neighboring community of Zapotal. Currently they are working with 12 children and using the Phillip Project's children's lessons.  Please pray for this missionary effort.

On April 15^th we celebrated Lucas’ third birthday with a special lunch, brownies and ice cream with our neighbors, who are like close family to us.  That night our church held an all-night church service for the community.  We were happy to see new faces come and hear the gospel message and participate in our fellowship time. 

Weddings

Camilo has declared this year the “Year of Weddings.” In January we held a civil / religious ceremony for two couples: Ronal and Maria Molina and Remberto and Reina Molina that had been together for years but had never officially been married.  The local mayor, Raul Chinchilla, came to conduct the legal part of the ceremony.  It was his first time at our church, and was impressed by the construction.  In March we celebrated two more weddings. One of our church members, Leydi Marquez married Efrain Navidad from El Regadillo, La Libertad.  This was our first formal marriage that started with a formal engagement. The third wedding was the wedding of Genaro and Lola Melgar. This couple has been together for many years and their whole family has become Christian. 

These weddings have served as a positive testimony for the younger generation of believers as they witness the importance of the marriage commitment and to the community as many friends arrived to witness the events.

Construction Update

Bathrooms

Praise the Lord the septic tank is finished and toilets are in use. The sinks and shower- heads are purchased but waiting to be installed.

Windows

In the month March we raised enough funds for six windows for the back wall.  Four windows were donated by Lidia Mejia visiting Ojos de Agua from Los Angeles and two windows were donated by various members from the congregation. Donations keep coming; currently we have enough to purchase 11 more windows.  With donations expecting to arrive for windows in the next two months, Lord permitting, we will have all the windows! 

What’s next…

The next step will be to raise funds for the window’s guard rails and for doors.  Thank you to all that have been praying and donating to our construction efforts!

Youth events

To celebrate Valentine's day, the Youth Group hosted a special dinner for friends and projected the movie, To Save a Live.  In March, 30 youth traveled to Nueva Jerusalen Church in Coyolito for a joint youth service and dinner.  It was a special time to meet new friends, learn from God's word and share dinner together. On April 23rd, it was our turn to host youth from Coyolito. We had a fun morning at the soccer field with team building games, lessons on unity from the Bible,  soccer and softball games.  We had a hamburger feed at the church building and then everyone headed to the creek to cool off.

Visit from NC friends

At the end of March we were blessed by a visit from long time friends of Heber and Mercedes, Stan, Bill and Bob from Cary, NC.  They helped us by building a storage room and a sidewalk around the church building. (See our last blog post for more details from their trip). 

Immigration

On April 11^th we took a trip to the US Embassy and successfully turned in Camilo’s US residency application.  We have been told to wait about a month to receive a response. Please keep the immigration process in your prayers!

Please Pray...

•  for the formation of church leaders
•  that the Inauguration of the church building would be a true act of worship to God and that many from the Ojos de Agua community would attend.
•  for our children's outreach in neighboring community Zapotal.  
•  for Camilo's U.S. residency process.