Hallelujah! - A Day of Worship and Rejoicing

When we arrived in Choluteca, Ginger and Mike shared with us that Reinaldo is the only member of his family that is a Christian and is active in the church. We agreed to pray with her that German (Reinaldo's father) and the other members of his family would feel the presence of Christ in their lives through our work and witness. On Wednesday, German was there working but kept his distance from us. On Thursday, after the lunch break we had a devotional with the Honduran workers, including German, in which we presented German with a Bible for his family. On Friday, we noticed that German was smiling, laughing with us, calling us by name, and even hugging some of us as we were leaving the work site. Yesterday we invited him to bring his whole family to worship, and he agreed he would. When we got to the church, Reinaldo and his older brother Ronys Alexis were waiting for us but the rest of the family were not to be found. Just before the service was to begin, in walked German and Reyina (Reinaldo's mother). Reyina sat with the other women from the community and German sat with his older son and some of our group. We were excited to see them there and Bob walked over and gave German his wooden cross necklace, which German proudly put on. As the singing began, German began to sing along. Later in the service, Bob, Joel and Egla each gave powerful testimony about what Jesus has done in their lives and extended a heartfelt invitation for those who did not already have a relationship with Jesus to come to know Him. Dudley then preached a powerful sermon in the same vein and laid out the plan of salvation and the need for strong Christian father figures in Honduras. When Pastor Mejea gave the invitation in Spanish, he even called German by name and told him that God was calling him. German was clearly struggling, but remained in his seat. However, Ervin, a young man in his late teens or early twenties came forward and made his profession of faith.

After the service, we gave Ervin a new Bible. Some of us watched Ervin walk down the road toward the well. Just past the well he turned into a yard of a house where he sat down in a chair, Bible in hand. A short time later, as we walked up the road on our way to the Flores family compound where we built a house three years ago, we saw Ervin still sitting in the yard of the house reading his new Bible. Meanwhil, German hung around in the churchyard smiling, hugging, and telling us "Tomorrow". God is clearly working in this man's life through what we are doing here for him and his family. Join us in praying for German and his family as we finish up our project. We know that God will finish what He has begun through us. We were reminded today that when we step outside our comfort zones and proclaim the gospel through the telling of our individual stories, our words are subsumed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Today another lost lamb was returned to the fold. It wasn't the lamb that we were expecting and hoping for but all of Heaven rejoiced with us nevertheless as Ervin made his decision for the Lord. We don't preach a religion, but instead quietly tell of our relationship with the historical Jesus who left His throne in Heaven to become one of us, died on the cross to bear away God's wrath for our sins, and rose again to conquer death so that we may live forever with our Savior and our God. For the second time this week in a worship service we sang, "I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross", but we do know the cost for failing to share the good news of salvation to those around us every day who do not know Jesus out of our own fear and lack of faith. May we all pray every day for the power to share the gospel fearlessly and faithfully. This is our command from Jesus. This is our call to action. This is our true mission here in Honduras.