January 2021 Prayer Letter
We write to you once again rejoicing in the grace of the Lord. Throughout these difficult days we have seen the hand of the Lord working. We serve a great God, and He is worthy of our praise.
With the main part of construction finished at the new church property, the people are starting to get more involved. We were starting to raise the money within the church to buy the windows, doors and do the electrical work as room-by-room projects. As of our last letter, we had come within $3 of our first goal. This was a blessing since we are in such a horrible economic situation because of the pandemic. To my surprise, within about 2 weeks of my last letter, the finances came in for all the other rooms. We never even had time to present them as projects for which to raise money. We had an electrician show up and say he wanted to do our electrical work for free. Within the next day or two, we had another man pay to have all the windows installed. Then money was given for another door. The next thing I know, we had all we needed to finish our planned projects! What a joy to watch people see the need and have a desire to get involved, without having to be asked.
Once we were given the keys for the property, we celebrated by having our very first service on the new property for Christmas. We had a special Christmas service with an invited guest preacher, a special meal provided for us by my home church, two baptisms and gifts for the children. We had better attendance that day than what we expected. We were anticipating about 75 people, but without promoting the service, we had over 100 come worship with us. Best of all, we had 2 people trust Christ as Savior! I had the privilege of speaking with one of those 2 people. I read a couple of verses from Romans then asked if he had ever sinned. At that very moment, he broke down and began to weep like I have rarely seen from men here in Bolivia. I knew he understood he was lost and needed help.
Since our first service, we have moved all the churches belongings from the place we were renting to the new property. We painted and prepared the rented place to return to the owner. Thankfully, the pastor's father-in-law was visiting for Christmas. He offered to do this work while he was visiting. The owner came, looked over his property and returned the deposit. That rarely happens here. I then saw Rogelio and his wife speak privately to the owner. A few minutes later Rogelio walked away with the keys. Since he and his wife currently live about an hour away from the church, but they have such a deep desire to work and do more in the ministry, they have decided to make this move closer. I was excited to see this! They want to be with their people. They want to work with their people. Living 3-4 blocks away from the church will give them a great opportunity to do so. In my time with this couple, I have seen the Lord work in them as Paul said, "both to will and to do of His good pleasure." It has been a joy to watch them grow in the Lord.
Thankfully, our family is still happy and healthy. Jessica continues to faithfully teach the children in school as I handle the day-to-day ministry work. Ellie and Daniel are doing well also. They both celebrate their birthdays this month. Ellie will be 7 and Daniel just turned 5.
To end our letter, I would ask you to help us pray about something. Our desire was to begin preparing for a new work in the next few months. We had a man in mind who we wanted to begin working with in his home, but he passed away in November. We have 2-3 other opportunities available and places in mind where we would like to start. Would you help us pray for guidance as to what our next steps should be? We are not leaving the church we are currently in because while they have their pastor and their building, there is still work to do. We are, however, trying to prepare for the future and would like for you to help us pray about that.
Once again, we thank you for all you do to make the ministry here possible. We are blessed to have great supporters.
