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Guatemala News |
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September 2006 |
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News From Guatemala by Louis Soto: Our Church in San Jose continues to share Jesus from door to door, once a month faithfully, as mentioned in the last letter. Sometimes it has been under an umbrella. Rain, many times, helps keep people at home. A good number have made decisions GO OUT INTO THE HIGHWAYS Mr. Cesar Alonzo came to buy scrap metal at the headquarters. We had more than I thought. His pick-up was loaded over the top when he left. As I chatted with him, I discovered he has eight children and he gathers his kids to read the Bible together; yet they don’t attend church, nor are they Christians. One Sunday, after a good downpour, one team headed toward another neighborhood, and three of us went out to find Cesar. A neighbor lady pointed the way to their house through a dirt path and warned it was muddy, as she cringed seeing our nice clean Sunday-go-da-meetin-shoes. We climbed a staircase carved into the roots of a tree, and came upon a higher plateau. We walked through the muddy corn field, caking our shoes with about a half inch of that brown gooey stuff. Abruptly a couple of houses came into view. One, above average size, was completely corrugated tin, both the roof and walls, with one door and no windows. Drawing closer, we called out. “Good afternoon!” A boy caught hold of his dog that was suddenly awakened and started barking at us. “Is Mr. Cesar home?” There were a number of children running around inside the house from which he finally appeared at the door. Following some small talk, I started to share the Gospel with them. Seeing how his wife, Erica, was sitting with her month-old child in the background, making it difficult to listen, especially with the children fussying, I invited her to come and join the circle. Each one of us took turns sharing the Salvation message from the Five Point Plan. When we invited them to receive Jesus and they summoned all the children who came immediately sitting on the floor in a circle because there were no more chairs. The entire family prayed out loud, even the initially reluctant ones. The following Sunday the church gathered a basketful of food and the brethren took it to them. Pray the Lord will give us favor to bring this family to church, through follow-up. THE SAN JOSE CHURCH’S OUTREACH Two of the ladies from our Church In San Jose usually travel to a village 3.5 hours away by bus, one week-end a month. There they help the small Church In Magdalena teaching and counseling mostly children and ladies. The men’s group from the Church in San Jose helps pay for most of their bus fare. Meanwhile, back in San Jose, Edwin teaches the adults two or three times a month, while I speak to the youth, once a month. He also speaks during the week. Normally, we review his message together a couple of days before his delivery, in order to help him improve it, although he chooses and writes it himself. He came to the Lord with me while doing follow up on his wife, Victoria, who came to us through the clinic. She is one of the ladies that goes to Magdalena. Edwin has come a long way in his message delivery. At first, he only spoke about 10 minutes. I clocked him recently at about 53 minutes total. Manuel, and Marco, also helps me with the messages. All three men are regulars in our local congregation. They receive homiletics and hermeneutics in our men’s class. If it were not for them I would probably be running ragged. Edwin is also the Sunday School Superintendent. Normally the attendance is small, about 55. Two Sundays recently has taken us to about 75. A family of five, the Quezadas, which had left the church some five years ago, has recently decided to return and have been quite faithful. Sandra, the wife, shared with us that she really didn’t want to leave but was following her husband’s desire. We had spent many hours in counseling with them before they left. Praise God! It was not in vain. (1Co.15.58) CALL THAT A MIRACLE Back in June going in for a uric acid lab test, the technician noticed a yellow tint in the blood sample. The doctor asked me to have more blood samples and an ultra sound of the liver, which turned up a 3 x 5cm mass. The endoscopy indicated it had not penetrated the stomach, but did reveal chronic gastritis. An x-ray was taken from different angles. This time it revealed a 5 x 7cm mass. Our regular doctor Mynor said that unless it is proven otherwise, this mass is cancer and needs to be removed by surgery. He is always rather blunt with me. This is similar to what he had detected in my wife Laraine. He called a surgeon to analyze the case, and confirmed it. Our superintendent anointed me with oil and prayed for healing. The church and my family were praying for healing. I asked the Lord to free me from a fourth surgery. “Lord I dread that rough epidural; it will take me away again from the work a number of weeks, and make me spend your money.” A fourth doctor asked to have another more extensive CT scan. The results were unusually delayed in coming. I said, bless God, he’s bewildered because he can’t find the mass. Upon consultation with the third doctor, he confirmed the answered prayer. There indeed was no mass present, but rather a large liver. The Lord had converted that mass into an extension of my liver, which was perfectly whole. There was no cancer and needed no surgery. I blessed God for the miracle in the doctor’s office. He said: “We can call that a miracle.” Thank you for caring about Guatemala: Direct gifts to: CHRISTIANS IN ACTION, P.O. BOX 728, Woodlake, CA 93286. Designate for account #34 Soto. Send personal letters to: Apdo. 21, Periferico, 01011, Guatemala, C.A. HEADQUARTERS MAINTENANCE Thank you for your prayers! The Lord has answered more than I expected. One of the ladies, Cony, who goes to Magdalena, noticed that a son of one of our national workers there was neither attending school nor working. It was mentioned to me and I said great. Josua has been working here now for about three months and has been a great blessing. He is a jack-of-all trades. Although he is an excellent worker, he has been loosing his initial go-getter enthusiasm. Pray for his salvation. We have been encouraging him and he has responded by attending Sunday school, youth meetings and outings. |
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