God Opens Doors

Pray for E

We met him on the road the other day.  As we arrived home from Tacna on Saturday, he followed us and asked if we could help him with his English.  E. is applying for a job with a local hotel and he has to be able to speak some English.  The most difficult thing about learning a language is not the grammar, it's the pronounciation of the words.  Accents really do make a huge difference.  And there are very few here who speak English and speak it well.

E. came over yesterday afternoon.  He is 37 seven years old.  He told us his mom went to our church.  I smiled and asked him which church she attends. (I smiled because I had an idea what he was about to say.)  He said, "Aren't you Mormons?"  I explained we were not Mormons, we were evangelicals.  I asked him if he was a Mormon.  He responded, "No, I haven't figured it all out yet.  I am not Mormon and I am not a Christian."  We moved on and practiced more hotel dialogue to make sure he had a handle on the pronounciation.  Before he left, we found (praise the Lord) ONE English tract to give him.  It was a cartoon one which was very appropriate for his personality.  He called us back later in the evening to offer us fresh fish to say thank you.  And he said he wanted to talk more about what we believe.

Please pray for E.  We are very excited the Lord is giving us an opportunity to know him and share with him!

La puerta cerró (Por mis amigos latinos)

Nuestra mente esta con los Estados hoy día.  Estamos ayunando con muchos amigos Norte Americanos por la misericordia de Dios en E.E.U.U.  (Los musulmanes van a orar enfrente de la casa blanca para que su agenda se cumplirá y la casa blanca se convertirá abajo el control de Islam.)  Islam dice en su página web que “Nuestro tiempo ha llegado.”  ¿Dimos cuenta como cristianos que nuestro tiempo también ha llegado?  Recibe un e-mail de Focus on the Family acerca de un documentario se llama “Dios, sálvanos de sus discípulos”.   (You-Tube tiene un clip, pero está en ingles.)  Es difícil a pensar que lejos de dios es nuestra gente.  La única esperanza es arrepentimiento bíblico. 

Estamos estudiando con un grupo pequeño la historia de Noé.  Cuando leí que la puerta se cerró, me sentía diferente que antes.  Cuando la puerta se cerró, no había más tiempo para arrepentirse.   El tiempo para arrepentimiento había terminado.  Un comentario de Mateo Henry dice lo siguiente, “El tiempo de la paciencia y tolerancia de dios hacia los pecadores a veces duro mucho tiempo, pero siempre es limitado; retraso (retraso: posponer para más tarde o más adelante) no es perdón; aunque Dios tiene paciencia con gente; no es para siempre.”

Mateo 24 dice, ³⁶ “Pero en cuanto al día y la hora, nadie lo sabe, ni siquiera los ángeles en el cielo, ni el Hijo, sino sólo el Padre.³⁷ La venida del Hijo del hombre será como en tiempos de Noé.³⁸ Porque en los días antes del diluvio comían, bebían y se casaban y daban en casamiento, hasta el día en que Noé entró en el arca;³⁹ y no supieron nada de lo que sucedería hasta que llegó el diluvio y se los llevó a todos. Así será en la venida del Hijo del hombre.⁴⁰ Estarán dos hombres en el campo: uno será llevado y el otro será dejado.⁴¹ Dos mujeres estarán moliendo: una será llevada y la otra será dejada.
⁴² “Por lo tanto, manténganse despiertos, porque no saben qué día vendrá su Señor.⁴³ Pero entiendan esto: Si un dueño de casa supiera a qué hora de la noche va a llegar el ladrón, se mantendría despierto para no dejarlo forzar la entrada.⁴⁴ Por eso también ustedes deben estar preparados, porque el Hijo del hombre vendrá cuando menos lo esperen.”

Hoy día las señales son muy claras.  Debemos vigilar.  Nosotros que proclamamos el nombre de Jesús tenemos que arrepentirnos y empezar a vivir es como Cristo.   Recuerda que solamente una familia entro el arca.  Había 120 años (aproximadamente) a construir el arca y nadie se arrepintió y nadie fue fiel excepto Noé.   No somos salvos por la proclamación de nuestros labios que son salvos.  Somos salvos porque Dios nos conoce.  La pregunta es, ¿“Parece nuestras vidas como Jesús de la Biblia?”  Cada uno necesitamos contestar personalmente.

***Acabo de terminar este comentario cuando recibe un e-mail de mi mama. Me dijo que la hermana de mi hermanastra, Kelly, se sucedió ayer.  Pido sus oraciones, Kelly tiene 3 hijos.   

And the door was closed...

I think at the forefront of our minds today is our country.  We are fasting along with many of you in hopes God will have mercy on America.  Islam has stated on their website that their time has come.  As Christians I wonder if we realize our time is now.  I received a Focus on the Family newsletter by e-mail and it recommended a documentary which will be released soon called "Lord, save us from your followers."  They have a trailer on you-tube if you care to check it out.  It is difficult to come to grips with just how far we have gone as Christians.  Our only hope in these days before Christ returns is true Biblical repentance. 

We were studying with our group the story of Noah.  I think it struck me different than before when God closed the door to the ark.  Once the door closed, there was no more time to repent.  Time was up.  Matthew Henry's commentary makes this statement, "The time of God's patience and forbearance towards provoking sinners is sometimes long, but always limited: reprieves (reprieve: postpone or cancel punishment) are not pardons; though God bear a great while, he will not bear always." 

And then Matthew 24 says, ³⁶"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

 ⁴²"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. "

The signs could not be more clearer today.  We must keep watch.  Those of us who claim to know Jesus must repent and begin living it.  Remember - in the days of Noah - only ONE family entered the ark.  Out of the approximately 120 years it took to build the ark, no one repented or was found faithful except Noah.  We are not saved by claiming salvation.  We are saved by the God of salvation claiming us.  Does our lives reflect true Biblical Christianity?  It is a question each of us must ponder...

**As I was finishing this post, I received an e-mail from my mom.  She stated my step-sister's sister committed suicide last night in Colorado.  Please pray for Shelley's (my step-sister) family.  Kelly (the deceased) has three children.

Telling the Story

As a family, one of the most important things you can do together is study the word and pray together.  We finally, after years of starting and not finishing, became faithful with our morning devotional a few years ago.  Our next hurdle was doing something at night to finish the day.  Tyler only has about three years left with us and we felt a desire to step up his and Garrett's discipleship.  A few weeks ago we began our night devotional Monday - Thursday.  Three of the boys' friends wanted to start coming. 

This has been an unfolding adventure we could not imagine.  We are telling the stories of the Bible chronologically and discussing how they apply to our lives.  Tonight, two mothers came!  They had questions after the study about the text which was great!  And they want to come on Friday night - and we didn't plan to do a study on Friday's. 

The Lord always knows who needs to listen to the gospel story.  It's important we are available to teach whoever HE brings to our path. 

Chile's Independence (Fiestas Patrias)

Chile celebrates their independence day on September 18 every year. Their freedom was actually proclaimed on February 12, 1818 from Spain. However, the path to become free began September 18, 1810, hence the day they commerated to celebrate freedom. They celebrate with original chilean dances in the schools, parades, marches, and parties. Today is a holiday here and the people join together with their families and cook on the grill (asado). Unlike the island, Arica requires the homes to hang a flag in support of the holiday. Thankfully, a friend of mine allowed me to borrow one of theirs. Since we were late putting it up, the local hardward store was sold out of poles for flags. He modified it by using a piece of PVC pipe! Here are some pictures of our neighborhood:

You can see our wonderful display of electrical wires in addition to the flags.

This is the main street of our neighborhood; they take decorating seriously.

They also decorate their patios.

Not sure if this picture fits in the group, but Dokey always likes to get in on the action when we take pictures:

Peru Follow Ups

The missionary in Peru, Yolanda, and her church are following up with the people who made decisions from the medical clinic.  We join them every few weeks to help out.  It can seem a bit overwhelming standing on the hillside overlooking the main city of Tacna:

We travel just like in the States - two by two or three by three  (Tyler with a mom and son)

 

Then we meet back up for report time:

And we realize again, we reach them one by one. The best part for us is the name on a page becoming real as we are able to knock on their door, see their face, listen to their story, pray for them, and let them know that in the middle of a huge city, the Lord specifically wanted to let them know personally Jesus is coming again soon.  May be have a deeper desire to reach the multitude one by one.

We are still here!

I am working on the blog changing a few things.  I will put the medical team pictures back up in a few days.  We are preparing for our trip to the U.S.  Time is flying and we find ourselves at the end of the day wondering where the hours went.  The Lord is blessing in many ways.  

Just wanted to say we are still here and we will be working on getting things rolling again in the blog world.  Thank you for your prayers and remembering us.