Wednesday, 08 October 2008

• A Little Catching Up

  Wow, a lot of water has passed down the Rio Grande in the over-a-year since posting here. There have been a few changes, and the Lord has shown His faithfulness in a lot of ways.
      For the first time, I was in a team that got kicked out of a village for the sake of the gospel. We've been going to La Barra for several years, and had made quite a few friends there. In October and November of 2007 several of us stayed there for seven weeks, and got to be friends with a good number of the people. We also discovered a couple of women in the village who are believers, but who had not known about each other. One of them, on her own initiative, told us that she'd been reading the Bible and it said that she needed to be baptized. A brother from California, Steve, and I had the privilege of baptizing her in the Pacific surf, and then a small band of us had a communion service on the beach.
      Our next visit, in February, saw both greater interest in the gospel, and heightened opposition to our presence. We were told by the second president of the village, Jose, that we had to leave, but were granted a few days extra. During that time there was greater attendance at our gatherings than there had been before. In May, we were expelled from the village after a few days, and in July a team that went there was threatened with arrest, and arrest of the Christians, if they even came into the village. There are now six professing believers in the village. A few minutes ago, I bade farewell to three friends of mine who stayed with me overnight, and who are on their way to a city near La Barra, who want to get word in to our friends there. Please pray that the Lord, who has been pleased to show his power over opponents to the gospel for two millenia, would be glorified in their ministry. I'm praying that he would even break José's hard hard and snatch him from the enemy. We serve a great God.
  Jim
  

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