UPDATE
NEWS FROM GUATEMALA
By Nelson Rivas, Senior Pastor of VidaNueva Baptist Church, Ciudad de Guatemala
April - May 2009
ESPAÑOL
SAN SALVADOR
2009 All rigths reserved. © Good News In Action
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, April and May 2009
What pastor on the face of this earth would not be thrilled with continued baptisms in his congregation?
10 MORE BAPTISMS
Do you remember what a blessing it was when we baptized 18 new believers earlier this year? Well, on April 19th we had the joy of baptizing 6 more and on the 3rd of May, 4 more. That day was very special because our youngest daughter, Camila, was also baptized. After intensive Discipleship during the past 4 months it was an honor to baptize not only Camila, but all 10. The Cadena family and Luisa Garcia are all fruit from our most recent Vacation Bible School. Vanessa Lopez, Maynor Elías, his wife Reina, and daughter Carmencita are all fruit from last December’s evangelistic efforts. I believe that Camila is fruit of my wife’s influence in the life of our daughter .
Please enjoy these 10 photos as much as we did!
EVANGELISTIC BREAKFAST TO CELEBRATE MOTHER’S DAY
Monica Pinzon, Noelia Perez, Gloria Perez and Rosemarie have done a phenomenal job. For months these four have been leading the women’s breakfasts and quilting classes every Tuesday. The goal has been to win all the lady friends and family of the ladies at church to Christ. They organized a wonderful celebration for Mother’s Day on May 10th. It was a 5 star breakfast, I know because I saw it with my own eyes! I was invited to give the message for the occasion. Everything was perfectly in its place; every detail. They hand made decorations for the tables and exquisite food. They had a praise time with live music which created a perfect ambient. 34 ladies attended, 10 ladies came and heard the gospel for the very first time, and 5 ladies received Christ as Lord and Savior. To God be the Glory for all He is doing.
VIDA NUEVA GUATEMALA YOUTH GROUP
Rosemarie and I continue to take care of and meet with the youth of our church. It remains our prayer that the Lord will provide a pastor for them. When we meet we bring them all to our house and spend the entire day together. It is our hope that we will have an influence on them especially as they begin to make their own decisions. We are so thankful for the help we receive with the youth from Ivan and Roxanita Contreras, and Carmen Irene Orozco; they are always such a blessing.
On Saturday May 16th, 16 youth met with us at our house, some were invited guests!
We had a great time playing games, eating lunch together and listening to Ivan’s message from his heart to them. We also had a wonderful time of “Questions and Answers” in which each one wrote an anonymous question on a piece of paper. One by one we read the questions and answered them with the Bible. Later that afternoon rather than going bowling or to the movie theatre which we sometimes do, we decided to watch a really scary movie at our house. What a great day we spent with our youth!
PRAYER REQUESTS
1) Please join us in praying for the spiritual growth of every adult, youth and child that God has placed into our care at Vida Nueva Guatemala. Currently we have 47 adults and 25 children.
2) Please pray for the country of Guatemala, every day it seems that it is becoming more dangerous and more violent, also please pray for our protection.
Every time we go out we face possible danger, much of our ministry is discipleship which we do with families or individuals at night, we always go to them. We usually return home around midnight each night, our girls stay home alone the majority of the time while we are doing discipleship. Please pray for our safety.
3) Please pray for the Martinez and Amaya families, they are recent fruit of members of Vida Nueva Guatemala. What a joy it is to see some of our members sharing the gospel with their families and friends. Not long ago Carlos Pinzon invited an entire family to church, the Martinez family. To our surprise all 3 adults received Jesus as Lord and Savior. The same thing happened with Mayra Cadena. Mayra received the Lord with us in January. Last week she won her best friend to Christ. Her name is Anayté Amaya. She visited church for the first time on Sunday. This is such a tremendous joy!
4) Last but not least we have a very personal prayer request: Due to the world economic crisis we almost necessarily need to move to a house down in the capital city. This will help us to economize in a variety of areas like gasoline, school busses for the girls, electricity and water. We would like to find a house with enough space to still do ministry in our home, this is our priority, so we can continue to have youth meetings, women’s meetings, and room to accommodate those who come to work with us and stay with us short term. We are trusting the Lord for something economical and that will meet our ministry needs. This is no easy task; we have been looking for a month and have not yet found anything. Rosemarie and I are literally on our knees before the Lord asking Him to help us. Our prayer is to find a house that will be sufficient to accommodate our ministry needs in this city. This is why we are here.
Thank you so very much for all your support, please do not forget to pray for us.
May God bless El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.