This week our leader's meeting was in Salcoatitan. We had decided last week to try to create a
mission statement for our leader's team- what we hoped to accomplish with the
mission efforts in Salcoatitan and here in Juayua. After spending a few minutes talking about
tee shirts for the group and about a couple of upcoming events we spent the
next two hours trying to word the mission statement. It was almost humorous at times and in the
end Charlotte and I both felt a little unsure of the real value of what we had
done. Mainly to me it was fairly
general- We want to develop
congregations that are sound in doctrine and that are strong in faith and
relationships and that one day can continue without us so that we may be able
to go somewhere else and start the process over again. That is all good but without specific small
steps of how to accomplish each of those goals it seems vague. Anyway, now we have a mission statement
though it is still being refined. Also I
think there was something in there about maintaining the strong relationships
the four leader families have and perhaps someday going to another place
together. At the end I mentioned that
one way to strengthen our relationships with each other would be to spend some
time with each other when we were not being totally consumed in carrying out
the mission efforts here. We decided we
would try to take a group trip somewhere once each quarter to just spent time
together and relax and enjoy. Our first
tentative trip will be toward the end of June to spend the day sightseeing at Lake
Ocotepeque which is near Santa Ana. It is supposed to be one of the most
beautiful places in the country and there is a nice hotel beside the lake where
we can have lunch. Carlos and Linda and
kids had walked to the church building in Salcoatitan so we gave them a ride
home to pass on some clothes for them and the kids that we had gotten while in
the states. After lunch we headed up to
Mr. Riva's house for a study. This study
is with his aunt and grandmother and usually Charlotte and Seyli go but today
Seyli could not so I went with Charlotte.
Mr. Rivas was home for the first time in a while so I asked him if we
might ride over to our church building around the corner to talk while
Charlotte studied with his grandmother and aunt. We had a really good visit and did look at
several verses but did not have a formal study.
He said his uncle Miguel who is the preacher in Santa Katarina had
recently had a strong conversation with him about making the decision to be
baptized and said again that he believed it would be soon. I told him that each day he waited made it
easier for him to wait some more. At 4
we went back over to leave him and pick up Charlotte because we still had some
more preparing to do for dinner with Wendy and Oscar. When we got home I washed dishes and cleaned
and set the table while Charlotte finished the cooking. At 5:20 I ran up to meet them at the end of
the path behind the cemetery. When they
did not show by 5:45 I walked back to their house. Wendy was home but Oscar was working. She was not ready to go and at first said we
had not told them and I said that last Monday night we had said we would do
this every week for a few times and Charlotte said she had reminded her on
Thursday when she studied with Reina who lives directly beside them. Anyway she said she was sorry they had
forgotten and that they could come later after Oscar got home. I was a little irritated but did not express
it I just said since we had no idea when he would get home perhaps it would be
better to just reschedule for next week.
When I got home and told Charlotte she suggested we see if Mario and
Sara and kids might come since we had never had them for a meal and had been
wanting to since they had started back coming to services the last couple of
weeks. When I got there the door was
shut and I thought I was out of luck but as I was getting back in the car they
came around the corner from having picked their son Carlos up at school. I told them the situation and they said they
could be ready in a few minutes. In the
end it almost seemed to be a better result.
We are trying to study with Wendy and Oscar about the differences
between the church of their family and the teachings of the Bible but it is
fairly clear that they feel strongly about staying with the family
religion. We had pretty much given up on
Mario and Sara but on their own they started back coming and showing renewed
interest so we had a great visit with them and talked about renewing studies
and they were very positive about it all.
Mario has not worked in a year since his fall from the tree that crushed
his leg was about a year ago and now Sara is out of work also. Their parents had been helping them some but
for various reasons are able to no longer so at least for now we are going to
try to do some and pray this will encourage them on their journey to Our
Lord.
Cariltos, Sara, Igelsa and Mario
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