Sunday was a great day! Have you ever left a church service and just felt like God was absolutely working in it? I sure hope so. Well Sunday was like that for me.
You see Sheri and I and some of the people in the church have been trying to reach out to a poor community beside our church. We have done this in various ways although the principal way has been the soup kitchen that we have been involved in running. Sheri and Marcela (one of our friends from the church) have visited in a few of the homes in this area. Jeseña and Maria are two of the ladies we have been reaching out to.
We first met them when they came by our house looking for baby clothes. They each have 4 children. We told them the clothes that we had were all at the church and were available to be given away, they just needed to come by the church to get them. So we invited them to the church and the next Sunday they came! The each took some bags of clothes home and since then we have seen their kids wearing these clothes which is a blessing in and of itself.
They continued coming to church here and there and then we offered a sewing class at the church (led by a volunteer from Alberta who was here for 3 weeks) and invited them to it. They both accepted and Jeseña particularily flourished in learing how to sew. We are exploring the possibility of connecting her with a seamstress here and maybe helping her to possibly start into sewing as a way to supplement the household income.
Fastforward to yesterday. Jeseña and Maria along with their kids were both and 2 other families that we have had some contact with as well. The message was a salvation message and when the pastor said that salvation is found not found with anyone (Buddah, Confusious, Mother Mary) except Jesus, I saw Jeseña say "amen". Sheri and I both felt burdened to pray for Jeseña's salvation at that point. The message continued and I could see that Jeseña was hearing every word. Then the end came and the pastor prayed a salvation prayer and asked everyone who had prayed with him in their hearts to stand. Jeseña stood up! Sheri and I both rejoiced in our hearts!
After the service I went up to Jeseña and asked her if she had given her heart to Jesus. She said that she had and I told her that if she kept seeking Jesus, her life would change as mind had 17 years ago when I made that same decision in my life. I told her that Sheri and I and Marcela were available to help her in her new faith and I gave her a bible.
Sheri and Marcela are making plans to start a bible study with Jeseña and I am so excited to see how God will be changing her life in the weeks and months to come! God is bringing about fruit and we are blessed to be a part of it!
Please continue to pray for Jeseña and for Maria and the others from this same community that have been coming to our church. They need Jesus and our church needs to be His hands and feet! Pray that Jeseña would grow in her new faith and that all the new comers would feel loved and supported by the people in our church.
Thank you for being part of our ministry- the transformation of the lives of the poor by Gods love shown through His kids, the local church. We continue to covet your prayers!
Lane and Sheri
Have a look at what the Elliott's are up to in Northern Mexico
