"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21
This was part of the passage Jared shared this afternoon with the youth group. We started the youth group meetings four weeks ago. It is going really well. At our first meeting, we had 16 teenagers. Each week following we have had three. At first we were discouraged with these numbers. We know it is not about the numbers, but we want to share the Word of God with as many people as possible. Tonight, however, truly encouraged us that it is about changed individuals, not big numbers.
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| We also have been playing some team building games! |
Jared opened the group tonight by asking the kids to share about how they see the Lord working in their lives. Jyro shared that each day he can see the Lord is changing him. Enmanuel shared that today he was thinking about the bad things he used to do and how he doesn't want to do those things anymore. Seth shared that the Lord opened his eyes this week to see how blessed he is and that there are those around him less fortunate. Tonight, I(Steph) was reminded that Jesus spoke about the one lost sheep and how the Shepherd will leave the rest to go find that one that is straying. We are excited to see how the Lord is working in the hearts of the young people during this time. Please pray that these teens would see Jesus and live for Christ.
Another opportunity we have to minister here weekly is children's Sunday school. Jared and I have been helping and co-teaching with Vicente and Johan on alternating Sunday mornings and Thursday afternoons when we have Bible studies here at Calvary Chapel of Barahona. We typically have around 20-30 kids at each service. We have been following the adult service in where they are in the Bible, which is the book of John. It is a great blessing to be able to teach these children about Jesus. We pray they grab hold of the Truth and follow Jesus with their lives.
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| Johan, youth group co-leader |
We are overjoyed to report that the Lord provided everything we needed for the residency visa process. All our paperwork has been submitted and approved. Thank you for praying for our visa situation.
Please continue to pray for us as we learn Spanish. We are blessed to have great co-laborers here who are bilingual and very patient with us, but we know how important it is for us to speak the language of the people to whom we serve.
As always, thank you for you prayers and interest in what the Lord is doing here. Our Lord does great things when His people come to Him in prayer!
