We give thanks to God for this difficult month and the gratifying work in His service, using us both to plant and water his harvest, and we trust that it is He that gives the growth. We are also happy because of the trials that we have gone through alongside other Christians and the opportunity to minister, both of which are part of the grace of God. The growth that the Lord is giving to his work is wonderful. We are praying always, and we ask that you also pray that God would continue to be preached in Nueva Esperanza.
The words of Isaiah have been running through my mind, when God tells us that His thoughts are not like ours. We have been able to see this truth in our own lives, as we have preached the Word of God in our community fervently this whole month, evangelizing from house to house. Though in the initial stages God did not show us any indications of salvation in any of the families we visited, we know and have understood from what our God tells us that we have planted and watered, and He will give the growth. The fact that the church has understood this truth is wonderful, from the adults down to the children. I feel very joyful because of this conviction that I see in the congregation.
It has always been our desire to preach the Gospel wherever our feet might go, with the conviction that the harvest is great, and the workers are few. This month the blessings of God with respect to His missionary work have drowned out our afflictions, needs, trials, and temptations. God in his marvelous grace has opened the heart and the home of a man in Sullana that was very hardened and very wealthy. The Lord has touched his life with problems that can only be explained by the grace of Christ.
Alone in my house, I received a call from a friend who lives close to us. She said to me, “My father has problems and he wants to hear the Gospel. Can you come see him?” Though it was late, and tiredness had me weighed down since it was the end of the day, I heard the call of the Shepherd of shepherds, and I understood that I needed to go and look for those that had been lost. Arriving at the house of Mr. Benjamin, we spent hours talking about the Gospel. Since last month, I have now been going daily to see him in his home and we have spent the afternoons praying and studying the Word of God.
Mr. Benjamin is not from Nueva Esperanza. He lives in the center of Sullana, in a development in which many wealthy people live. After visiting with him for several weeks, we held a service in his home. Some of the brothers and sisters from the church went along with us, and we were received by his family as a result of their desire to hear the Word of God. Finishing that day, as I was reflecting on the events together with my wife, we said what Isaiah said: “ ’Because my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways,’ says the Lord.”
We preach the Gospel in Nueva Esperanza, but God sent us to a place that the church had not even gone. God is very wise, and thanks be to God for these things. May the Lord work however He pleases. Wonderful God! We are praying that the Lord continue this work in Benjamin and that it might be the beginnings of the establishment down the road of a lamp that announces the Gospel where many live who rejoice in their money, but not in salvation. I see this as a sign from the Lord that He is giving us what my wife and I have sought for years, the ability to enter into that district, where the Word of grace has not yet entered.
I hope in the Lord that all will be done according to His own will. Thanks be to God because despite the difficulties that a useless servant like me might have, His grace toward me abounds. There is nothing that is of more worth than Christ and His work.
