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| Nahomi being baptized |
Baptisms and Fellowship
On August 28 was a special day of fellowship. At 9:00 AM the church gathered at the local creek to baptize seven new believers: Efrain and Maria Luisa Rivera, Dolores Lopez de Melgar, Nahomi Villegas, Andrea Alas, Cristian Martinez and Lidia Calderón. This makes a total of 28 baptized so far this year, Praise the Lord!
After the baptisms, families from Ojos de Agua invited church members from El Tablón to their homes to share lunch and time to get to know one another. Later we met at 2:00 PM at the church building to share a special time of showing photos and videos of all the baptisms and special events that we’ve held since the church plant began. Service began at 4:00 PM with a special focus on fellowship.
Missions Week
When the Ojos de Agua church plant began we made sure to teach church members from the beginning that the vision of the church is missionary, to reach out to our community and around the world. Once a week during our Wednesday night prayer service we share a special missionary report and pray for missionaries. The offering collected every Wednesday goes towards missionaries in Oaxaca, Mexico and in Central Asia.
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| Pastor Nehemias Arcia, DEMCA shares during Missions Week |
Though we feel the church understands its role in missions we wanted to have a special week focused on different topics, countries and people groups. The last week of August we “traveled” each evening to different parts of the world and prayed for different ethnic groups and missionaries serving in the different parts of the world. Each night included special conference topics. Cindy started off the week speaking about God’s heart for the nations throughout the entire Bible (“the golden thread”), and Camilo finished off the week speaking on how missions needs to be the heart of the church. Mid-week we had a special guest, Nehemias Arcia, from the Missions Department from the Central American Mission who taught the congregation about the “10/40 Window” and statistics on the different needs for worldwide evangelism. During the week we collected a special offering for Salvadorian missionary Salvador Perez serving youth in Spain. The last evening we showed two movies. The first video was a special testimony by Steve Saint, son of missionary pilot Nate Saint who was killed in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador in the ‘50s. It was a special week and many were challenged to participate in missions locally and around the world.
Phillip Project Expands
A few changes have been made since the Blanco family has moved to Cantón El Tablón. We were meeting in one house every Tuesday night and in a different home on Sunday nights. The first change made is the brothers and sisters from El Tablón travel every Sunday to our 4:00PM church service in Ojos de Agua. This has brought more unity to the church body. As a result we began rotating between three homes to have services on Tuesdays (including ours). We saw the need to keep the service in one place so we chose our home. We have been evaluating our work in El Tablón and these past years there has not been much growth. So we decided to approach friends that don’t attend any church to see if they’d like to receive Bible studies in their homes. We have approximately 10 homes that have opened their doors to study the Word! Every other Tuesday members from Ojos de Agua and El Tablón unite and are visiting the homes in groups tp study the Gospel of John using the Phillip Project. On alternating Tuesdays we still have church service in our home.
Be very careful, then, how you live-- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Ephesians 5:15-17
We know that this is a ‘kairos’ (opportune time) of God to share his word. Please pray that we remain faithful to his command and that people will have receptive hearts to His powerful Word.
Youth Ministry
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| Osman Flores, youth leader from Maranata shares with the young people |
The first week of August Ojos de Agua youth group participated in a Youth Camp hosted by Maranata Church, MCA Soyapango. Around 40 youth traveled to Ojos de Agua to enjoy three days of camp. Activities included: devotionals and conferences, hiking up the mountain, praise and worship night, competitions in groups, games on the soccer field and more. The theme of the week was: “Don’t turn out your light.” Camilo and Cindy participated giving talks on the importance of putting our faith in action. It was an eventful three days and our youth were very encouraged and motivated by the time they spent with their new friends.
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| Having fun on the soccer field with "the clock" game |
Our youth leadership team which meets almost every Monday evening has been trying to plan our youth meetings with more variety. In August we had lessons out on the soccer field after Cindy attempted to teach the group how to play Ultimate Frisbee! In September we had a special day at the local creek with a reflection in God’s word, sharing lunch and of course swimming! In the month of October we plan on showing the movie, “Soul Surfer.”
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| Thank you for your prayers for Yeni |
Earlier this month one of our youth leaders, Yeni Guardado, suffered an accident while at school. A classmate ran into her and Yeni broke her jaw bone in three places. It has been a difficult go for her and we ask you to help us pray for complete healing. Today (Sept. 26) she is going to be operated on. Before heading to the creek, our youth stopped by her home to sing and pray with her. It was a beautiful act of solidarity by our young people.
On a personal note…
Appointment at the U.S. Embassy
On October 3rd Camilo will have his first interview at the U.S. Embassy. If all goes well he will be granted U.S. Residency. We ask you to say a special prayer for this interview. There may be a second interview on October 17th if the consul thinks it’s necessary.
Where will we serve?
This is the question we are asking and seeking the Lord’s will. If Camilo is granted U.S. Residency and depending on when he receives the travel documents, we plan on moving to the U.S. by the end of November. We ask you to pray with us as we seek His will on where we will minister upon moving. Some doors have been shut, but we have faith that He will open one for us. We just want to serve Him the most effective way that He sees fit!
A brother or sister (??) for Lucas
We found out at the beginning of September that Cindy is expecting Baby Blanco #2! She is due at the end of April. Lucas is especially excited and gives his brother or sister kisses on mom’s tummy and sings to him/her frequently. But he thinks there are two of them!
Please keep her and baby’s health in your prayers. We are so grateful to the Lord for this special gift.
Please Pray …
…for Camilo’s appointment at the U.S. Embassy on October 3rd.
…That the Lord would show us where He wants us to serve.
…for Cindy’s health and for the health of Baby #2 on the way.
…for Yeni’s recovery from her operation.
…for construction on church building: we still need more windows and doors.
Some highlights...
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| We had the priviledge of having the Carballo Family, missionaries in Oaxaca, Mexico in our home |
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| Carballo Family sharing at a special church service |
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| Cindy and Camilo were given the opportunity to share God's word at Brisas del Eden Church in Ayutuxtepeque |
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| We had a chance to visit Camilo's home church in Puerto de La Libertad, here's Lucas looking down at the church and at the ocean |
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| Camilo sharing at his home church |
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| Our praise team singing during our missions week services. |
