About 2 weeks ago Pedro (one of our future elders) received a phone call from his brother’s family in a nearby town. They said that a ghost or some other type of spirit had been disturbing their home. They were terrified. The family mentioned that they were considering asking a local pastor to come and pray out the spirit from their home. Seeing as how no one in the family is a believer, this was a big step towards evangelical Christianity. Pedro at once recognized this spiritual openness as an opportunity to once again share the gospel with his brother. He told me about his desire to go and pray over his brother’s home and share God’s Word with him and his family. I asked Higinio (another future elder) if he would go with us and he immediately agreed. So the three of us prayed up over the next 3 days and readied ourselves for what we thought would amount to an exorcism. His brother also had symptoms of liver dysfunction and wanted me to do a house call as well. So we took off in the car and drove half an hour down a dusty dirty road to Pindo’i where Pedro’s brother lives. We stopped just outside of town and prayed over Pedro that God would give him courage to share the gospel clearly and gently with his brother and family.
Upon arrival we were greeted warmly and invited to sit down and drink some cold tea, terere. As we shared tea, Pedro opened the Word and began sharing the story of blind Bartimaeus receiving his sight, a passage that he himself hand-picked for the occasion. It’s a great story of a blind man healed by his faith in Christ. After that, he asked me to share the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a vivid story of eternal paradise for the believer and eternal suffering for the unbeliever. Then Higinio shared a verse from James about how the things of this world will all pass away, but the man who does the will of God will live forever- a verse he had been meditating on that week. His brother listened closely and nodded his head to show that he understood the information being transmitted. His daughter and granddaughter as well heard and understood. We then learned that the spirit had left the house 3 days prior. We still went ahead and prayed over their family and their home and asked God to drive out any evil presence or any other obstacle of the evil one that may be preventing them from finding peace with God through faith in Christ.
I then attended to Pedro’s brother who was suffering from acute jaundice, loss of appetite, dark urine and light stools, vomiting and fatigue- all symptoms of hepatitis. I left a lab order slip and told him to come to my house after his lab results were in for a check-up and an abdominal ultrasound. Then they wanted Pedro to castrate their pig, so I got to watch the master slice open the skin over some poor pig’s unmentionables with a sharp knife, express them and then leave them lying on the ground for the dog to eat. But first the dog went nuts (pun intended) and chased the pig all over the yard despite being thrashed over and again with a branch. Pedro washed the blood off his hands and then we loaded up and left. We wait and pray that the seed of God’s Word landed on good soil and that it will soon bear fruit in Pedro’s brother’s home.
Please pray for Pedro and Higinio as they have been nominated for elders in our church. I am giving the believers 3 weeks to bring any objections to me before they begin their work on the 12th of December. Both they and their wives are eager to serve in this capacity. These are deeply spiritual men who have been taught the Word for many years under Tony and Jean’s ministry. We are excited to see our church maturing and moving into the next phase of self-governance. What we really long to see is the next self... self-reproducing!
Here are some of our church members and people you can be praying for:
Church service outside under the trees
Sandra, Palina, Amelia (holding Julia), Antonio, Amalia and Ignacia
Gasparina, Antonio, Ignacia, Rosi (the mom of these kids) and Ale
Jeff, Higinio, and Pedro praying over Aniceto. In his testimony he says....I had problems breathing and I couldn't even walk to my neighbor's house, but when I started coming to church and you all began praying for me I not only was healed of my sickness but I also decided to follow Christ."
Euginia (mom to these kids), Baby Darles, Maribel, and Diosnel
Pedro (future elder)and his wife, Josefa
1 comment:
What a great report!!!! Thanks for sharing. God does use so many ways to open doors, huh?
(I have to say that the day the neighbors castrated their pigs, which ran all over our back porch and yard leaving blood everywhere, was the worst we've had here. The girls kept asking what all the squealing was about and I didn't have the heart to tell my animal-loving babies that the pigs were being cut... ugh)
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