Joy in San Ignacio
I spent this weekend with the Jovenes in the small town of San Ignacio de Moxos, about a three hour drive to the west of Trinidad. There is a sister church there, Fuente de Vida that hosted our group for the weekend. We had prearranged to do an evangelistic activity with the Jovenes of that church. God worked a miracle. We spoke with the pastor there who said they had been praying for us for some time, for the Lord to send some people to help them spread the good news around San Ignacio.
Friday night we arrived, met with the Jovenes there and taught them how to use the EvangeCube, a cube with seven images depicting the message of the Gospel. We shared with them how to use it, describing each image and then quoting the verses from the Bible, most of them well known (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, John 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24, John 14:6). The next day we paired up one Trinidad Joven with one San Ignacio Joven and went out to share the Gospel using these EvangeCubes.
Before we ever left, I had had very negative feelings about the trip, wondering how effective would it really be? I know people in the US are generally very closed off to hearing people talk in the format of door to door evangelism, for that reason we seek more creative methods. I was also reminded that San Ignacio is the cultural capital of the Beni, that many people are stubborn and stuck in their ways and traditions that have been practiced the last 329 years+.
Friday night however, just from the presentation that Milton, our adult pastor gave on the EvangeCube, one of the girls in our group accepted the Lord! Milton told us later it was a good sign. The next morning as we paired up, I ended up with someone who knew the cube well, which was good since I was very uncomfortable since I had not practiced it much and my Spanish was not good enough to explain things thoroughly. So, we agreed that I would read the Bible verses and he would do the explanation of the cube.
The first home we went to, we spoke to a little girl, probably about 8 or 9 years old. After listening to the message from the cube, we asked her, "do you want to know the Lord?" She nodded and I thought, WOW, it works! The next house we went to, we spoke to a young man, probably about high school or university age. As we were talking, his cell phone rang and I thought, "oh no, we've lost him for sure, he's distracted" To my surprise again though, when he came back, he heard the rest of the message and when the key question came to accept the Lord, I could see the understanding in his eyes as he said, "yes". And so it went house after house, we visited 12 homes in total that morning and EVERY person we talked to accepted the Lord!!!! I was riding a spiritual high and thinking, "I hope every pair is having this much success!". As I found out later, my partner was also nervous about going out and doing this and I think the Lord used our weakness as His strength, just as Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 12.
As we rejoined the group at lunch and we shared our experiences, my partner and I had the most success along with Milton the other leader of the group with 12 new sons/daughters in Chris each. In total, 74 people accepted the Lord that morning in our efforts and we planted seeds in many more too!!! The Lord is faithful and each time situations like this arise, I am reminded just how often I forget who exactly it is I am working for and that this God we serve is in fact all powerful. We serve an awesome and ACTIVE God who is working in our midst and this mission in San Ignacio is direct evidence!
The next morning in church, it was pouring down rain, so there were few people there. As a result, Milton who was scheduled to speak, rather than giving his prepared message decided to have us go up and share with the folks who had come about our experiences. As I heard each of the Jovenes share about their time it was clear all of us had doubts that the Lord overcame. We told the church it is now their responsibility to follow up, pray for and disciple these new believers.
I am riding a spiritual high right now, so floored by what happened. This is affirming my desire to convert the Jovenes group into a more missions focused group and I plan to present to the pastoral council my proposal on this.
Friday night we arrived, met with the Jovenes there and taught them how to use the EvangeCube, a cube with seven images depicting the message of the Gospel. We shared with them how to use it, describing each image and then quoting the verses from the Bible, most of them well known (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, John 3:16, 1 Peter 2:24, John 14:6). The next day we paired up one Trinidad Joven with one San Ignacio Joven and went out to share the Gospel using these EvangeCubes.
Before we ever left, I had had very negative feelings about the trip, wondering how effective would it really be? I know people in the US are generally very closed off to hearing people talk in the format of door to door evangelism, for that reason we seek more creative methods. I was also reminded that San Ignacio is the cultural capital of the Beni, that many people are stubborn and stuck in their ways and traditions that have been practiced the last 329 years+.
Friday night however, just from the presentation that Milton, our adult pastor gave on the EvangeCube, one of the girls in our group accepted the Lord! Milton told us later it was a good sign. The next morning as we paired up, I ended up with someone who knew the cube well, which was good since I was very uncomfortable since I had not practiced it much and my Spanish was not good enough to explain things thoroughly. So, we agreed that I would read the Bible verses and he would do the explanation of the cube.
The first home we went to, we spoke to a little girl, probably about 8 or 9 years old. After listening to the message from the cube, we asked her, "do you want to know the Lord?" She nodded and I thought, WOW, it works! The next house we went to, we spoke to a young man, probably about high school or university age. As we were talking, his cell phone rang and I thought, "oh no, we've lost him for sure, he's distracted" To my surprise again though, when he came back, he heard the rest of the message and when the key question came to accept the Lord, I could see the understanding in his eyes as he said, "yes". And so it went house after house, we visited 12 homes in total that morning and EVERY person we talked to accepted the Lord!!!! I was riding a spiritual high and thinking, "I hope every pair is having this much success!". As I found out later, my partner was also nervous about going out and doing this and I think the Lord used our weakness as His strength, just as Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 12.
As we rejoined the group at lunch and we shared our experiences, my partner and I had the most success along with Milton the other leader of the group with 12 new sons/daughters in Chris each. In total, 74 people accepted the Lord that morning in our efforts and we planted seeds in many more too!!! The Lord is faithful and each time situations like this arise, I am reminded just how often I forget who exactly it is I am working for and that this God we serve is in fact all powerful. We serve an awesome and ACTIVE God who is working in our midst and this mission in San Ignacio is direct evidence!
The next morning in church, it was pouring down rain, so there were few people there. As a result, Milton who was scheduled to speak, rather than giving his prepared message decided to have us go up and share with the folks who had come about our experiences. As I heard each of the Jovenes share about their time it was clear all of us had doubts that the Lord overcame. We told the church it is now their responsibility to follow up, pray for and disciple these new believers.
I am riding a spiritual high right now, so floored by what happened. This is affirming my desire to convert the Jovenes group into a more missions focused group and I plan to present to the pastoral council my proposal on this.
posted by Jimmy Bollinger at
12:26 PM
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