The last time I wrote you an update, I mentioned that I was uncertain about when I would go back to Guatemala. As of this past week, it’s all coming together for me to go down for 17 days in April! Also slated to be with me is Ray Gurney, pastor of Cross Creek Baptist Mission of Oak Grove, Missouri.
Here I’m introducing Cesar before he speaks to our Rancheros Cristianos groups by way of a recorded Zoom video call. Cesar is excited about having the first mission team come visit him in Guatemala in over a year!
Because of Covid-19, we will have to get negative tests before flying, but both Ray and I have gotten our first vaccines and should be fully vaccinated before going down. For me, special thanks goes to Eudora Baptist Church of Eudora, Kansas, for letting Nola and me be part of their church vaccination day on March 6th. For years, their church has been a place for flu shots for senior adults, and this year they opened up the church for community Covid-19 shots. While the vaccine is not a requirement for flying, Guatemala has just started allowing proof of a vaccine to bypass getting tested before going down.
Encouraging Leaders to Multiply
Plans are for us to speak at the Kekchi Baptist Association meeting in the jungle, where we will spend a couple of days encouraging pastors and leaders in their efforts to have spiritual conversations with people in every hut in 80 different villages. They have already begun to pray for their lost friends and family, so this usually is an indicator that many people will come to Christ by the end of the year.
In January of 2019, we spoke to the Kekchi Baptist Association pastors group. Here Cesar shares how to use enjoyable play activities for evangelizing new villages. On the far right is Ray Gurney, pastor of Cross Creek Baptist in Oak Grove, Missouri. Next to him is Rex Kelly of Ord, Nebraska. Since that time this group of pastors and leaders have started several new churches.
German, the leader of the Kekchi Baptist Association, interprets Cesar’s talk from Spanish to Kekchi. For the past year, Cesar has traveled to the jungle to continue evangelism training for the pastors.
Also during this trip, we are scheduled to help in the initiation of a new Christian Rancher group in Chiquimula, Guatemala. In a recent Rancheros Cristianos video, I zoomed with Cesar and the new leader of that group, who raises prized horses who dance in the parades that Guatemalans enjoy each year.
Luis, a rancher and horse enthusiast from Chiquimula, Guatemala, shows me one of his problem horses in a recent Zoom video call. He would love to have one of our horse trainer friends come down and give him some pointers on what to do with this horse! But more importantly, he wants to get his friends together to start a Rancheros Cristianos group. In April, we plan to spend an entire day with him.
When we get closer to leaving on the trip, I hope to update you with more specific prayer concerns. In the meantime, pray that we get our hearts and minds ready.
Continued Production of “Be the Church” Videos
We’ve been updating our Be the Church blog and working to finish our full set of videos this year. Bill has been doing most of the English versions, and I have done the Spanish translations. As we continue to produce these, please pray that God will use them to equip all of us to be the church.
Praying For You as You Pray for us
At the beginning of 2021, Bill and I committed to praying for our faithful supporters by name once a week for the entire year. We then created a refrigerator magnet to remind us to pray and keep us accountable. The cool part of this magnet is that it also can be used for our faithful friends to remember to pray for us! If you haven’t gotten one and would like us to send it to you, please let us know! And if you have personal prayer concerns, we would love to pray with you over those requests.
Nola has a parrot looking at our magnet on our refrigerator!
10:02 PRAYER
Please pray for this next trip to Guatemala scheduled for April 12-29. Pray that this trip fosters the multiplication of more followers of Jesus. And continue to pray for Bill and me as we finish up the “Be the Church” videos in both English and Spanish.
ENGAGE
Don’t forget to request, receive, and use our prayer magnet! And let us know how we can pray for you!
INVEST
Thank you so much for your continued partnership in this ministry. You encourage me so much.
CLICK HERE FOR THE EASY WAY TO INVEST.
Love y’all!
Steve
During that cold spell in February, I showed my friends in Central America what we were dealing with in the Midwest during several weeks of extreme cold. After such a cold winter, I’m looking forward to heading south!
I told Cesar he better be loaded and ready for “bear” when we come!