Highlights of Family Campaign--June 2017, Part 3

We spent Monday morning sharing at a public school in San Salvador.  Tuesday morning we went to a public vocational school in Apopa and shared in two different classes.  The lesson we taught was "Redeeming the Time," which came from the life of Samson.  The director of the school was so happy with the presentation that she invited us to return on Wednesday morning to share the lesson with the 7-8th grade students.  Since the school originally scheduled on Wednesday had not confirmed our visit, we were happy to return to the school in Apopa.

Thursday morning we went to the central park in Santa Tecla and shared one-on-one.  Obviously, the parks are quite a different environment from the schools, so the parents had to keep a close eye on their kids.  I was privileged to translate for the Batton family and both of their children.  Adam shared the gospel using his soccer ball and Ana, aged 6, shared the gospel with the evangel cube.  She was so matter-of-fact with her presentation, "This part of the cube represents that you need to make a decision.  Do you want to reject Jesus and spend eternity in hell or do you want to accept Jesus and spend eternity with him in heaven."  As adults, we could do well to share the gospel like a child and not try to over complicate it.  

 

Friday morning we traveled to Aguilares and shared with a rural school.  Not only did the group share the lesson and gospel, they brought each child a new backpack filled with school supplies and at least 2-3 pieces of clothing.  The children were so excited--the smiles on their faces tell the story!

Nicaragua Campaign--Days 1 and 2

We spent last week in Nicaragua for a campaign with our two church sites in Managua.  Unfortunately, the Internet at the hotel was wolefully lacking so I wasn't able to keep the blog updated.  I managed my daily upload of pictures but only if I did it after midnight or before 6:00 a.m.  The delay might have been due to the fact that there were 37 team members at the hotel and every one of them had at least one device (some had a phone and a computer) they wanted to connect.  

We flew over on Saturday morning--the flight is only 45 minutes!  Pastor Felix and his son were there to pick us up.  They took us to the hotel and our room was ready!  Our friend, Misha, rode the bus over with the Salvadorans, but stayed in the hotel.  The three of us walked to the mall for lunch.

Before the Saturday evening campaign in the Villa Venezuela neighborhood we paired up the translators and the team from North Carolina.  The rest of the team did not arrive until after the campaign.  Even with only 18 people, the team was able to go out and talk to many people in the neighborhood, share the gospel at the door and invite them to the family festival.

  
One of the new things we have added to our family festival is a group dance activity.  This holds everyone's attention after the kid's games are over and the second time through, people from the crowd are invited to join us.  Right on the heels of the dance is the drama and then the gospel presentation.  There were 35 professions of faith on Saturday evening.

Sunday morning we all worshipped together with the Bolonia church, at their new location.  They were able to rent the auditorium in the Chamber of Commerce building; there's also a large parking lot.

Half of the team, 14 from First Baptist, Van Buren, Arkansas, were "newbies," there were 12 high school/college kids and two adults.  Even though they were new, they were excited about sharing the gospel so on Sunday night the entire team of 37 shared one-on-one before the family festival.  

 Another 30 people asked Jesus to save them!  Pastor Felix and Pastor Rodrigo are excited about the response to the gospel!  Follow-up started the next day!

Monday in Bogota

Monday morning the group had devotions with Pastor Steve and then boarded our little bus to share one-on-one along the main street near downtown Bogota.  For the most part the street is blocked off to cars, so we were able to walk freely.  Many of the people were in a hurry, so sometimes we were only able to get a tract in their hands, but other times they stopped to talk and we were able to present the gospel.  

In the evening we returned to a neighborhood close to Pastor David and Alex's apartment.  It was quite cold, so we didn't find as many people out and about and we are not allowed to enter the apartment buildings.  Nevertheless, at the end of the evening we saw hands raised around the crowd and had new Christian brothers and sisters.

Finishing the Campaign

Every now and then I get behind on my blog posts.  I'm never sure if it's worth it to do catch-up posts or just let them go.  Today, my thoughts are to post a final post about the El Salvador campaign. 

Like every other morning of the week, we had devotions at the hotel, picked up the Salvadorans at the church and drove to a school.  Friday's school was just a bit north of Apopa.  

Over the last five years, we've become accustomed to expecting things to change; sometimes the school is closed, sometimes there are fewer classrooms than we planned, sometimes the school is being fumigated and on and on.  What happened on Friday was different--it was unexpected blessing.

Once inside the school, school was full of adults--not a common occurrence.  When we made it down to the basketball court, we noticed that the bleachers were full of parents!

It seems that it was the day for parents to come pick up their children's grade cards and the administrators were talking with them.  We expected to hear that we wouldn't be able to share, but God had other plans.  The principal sent the parents to the classrooms (with their kids) and we were able to share the lesson, testimony and gospel with them.  What a blessing to be able to have the parents and kids together.  

There were professions of faith by parents and children!  A follow-up team from the church in Apopa will contact all of them, and we're excited to see the church grow as a result of this unexpected blessing.