Dear friends, mission partners, brothers and sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. All glory and honor and praise be unto Him, our Lord, King, and Saviour forever and ever, Amen.
The Lord has been answering some long time prayers. But we have also endured some difficulties in the starting up or “rebirthing” of this work in Hato Mayor. None of it unexpected though, and truly is miniscule in comparison to the blessings and potential we are now seeing. All of hell and it’s host will be against you when you seek to do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way. We march on confidently though knowing that the Lord is with us until the end of the age!
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20
We have been praying for God to send more men to share the gospel with and disciple. Little by little He is answering that prayer. We have steadily seen new people visiting the church. The Lord has crossed our path with another young man who is apt to teach and has a passion for preaching the Gospel and teaching. His name is Kelvin and has been a blessing to get to know. Another brother in the church whose name is Carlos has approached me about wanting to grow in his walk with Christ and wants to be discipled. I will be spending time with him weekly for some one on one discipleship. We now have about five core couples/families and several other people that come any given Sunday.
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. – 2 Timothy 2:2
It was just in January that there were very few people metting here. The Lord has been bringing together this core group and now we have an average of 40 people on Sunday with new visitors on a regular basis. Praise the Lord! Next week I will begin evangelism training on Wednesday nights coupled with a time of prayer. We hope to equip everyone, teaching them to be unashamed and give them confidence in the Gospel. Please be in prayer for that. That will be a key step for the future growth of the church, all the while understanding that the results are completely up to God. In the meantime we will pray and obey. We are now studying what a biblical New Testament church is and does and we will take those basic but crucial commands seriously. All too often churches are overwhelmed with programs and activities (sometimes good things) while neglecting the more important work of the church like discipleship, biblical family, leadership training, and evangelism (the better things) to list a few. We will be keeping it basic for a while, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded us (Matthew 28:20). There is more than enough there for quite sometime.
Yeison is walking now and cuter than ever. The picture attached to this newsletter is of him with one of his uncles out in Piedra Gorda. We still take him to visit with his biological mother Yerra from time to time. Many of you know the story of how the Lord brought Yeison and us together. He has been such a blessing to our family. He will need some therapy for his tight heel chords so he is walking on his tippy toes, but he is getting around pretty good.
The children will also be starting school here after the last four years doing homeschool. But Maya has been tested and is not where she needs to be. She will be receiving extra help and a special teaching style adapted to meet her needs, but this is pushing us to the finaial limits as a family. Please pray about helping and for God to meet that very important need. We still have the fundraiser going for the children’s new education needs here.
Around mid September I will also be making a trip home alone to share our ministry and seek support for our budget. If you are a Pastor or church leader, I would love to come and share our ministry with your church. We have a new budget that now includes not only our family’s needs, but monies for the church and ministry purposes as well. This should eliminate the need for frequent fundraisers. But we have quite a way to go to meet the amount needed. Please be in prayer for this trip and perhaps even becoming a mission partner with us through prayer and support if you are not currently one. We are so thankful to God for those who have been faithful in prayer and finacial support. It is through your sacrifice and love that the Lord has sustained us here for exactly three years now this month! Wow, time flies!
Pray about becoming a monthly mission partner. You can contact us on the home page of this site, or at salgadodrmission@gmail.com. Every litle bit helps and no commitment is too small. We are confident the Lord will provide, and He does so through churches and individuals back home willing to pray and give to make God’s glory known. Those who pray and give to missions play a role just as important as those on the mission field. In most cases the Lord has already provided His people with the resources to meet the needs in His church over seas. Will you use it for His glory? Will you join us? Pray.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. – Philippians 1:3-5