July News

July News

Dear praying friends,

Time for some news once again!

I continue to work with the pastors and leaders in Progreso, and they should be graduating from their first level of First Principles courses in the end of September or beginning of October. I make the two-hour bus trip there every Monday, and I now alternate between facilitating and have one of the students facilitate the class.

Carlos, facilitating a Monday evening class. 

 Lise and I continue with the First level of First Principles courses in the Nuevo Pacto church, although we have handed over the leadership of that to the church’s pastor, who seems to have caught on to the idea of facilitating discussion. They should be graduating in August. Please pray that they will be able to reproduce what they have learned by starting new classes with church members. 

And next week, I will be returning to Alubaren, in the south of the country, with pastor Josué Claros, for the next step in the training of those pastors.

In the beginning of July I had the opportunity of visiting a small village called Cacao, where I had been invited by Florence Mayerle to teach a course on Inductive Bible Study that I had put together when in Spain. I had 14 students, from various denominations, some of them from churches that teach “covenanting” (prosperity “gospel”) and “name it and claim it”. So we were able to discuss those questions, and I think the students were able to go away with a more Biblical view on those subjects. The most important thing, however, is that they went away with a better idea of how to study the Bible for themselves. In a lot of churches here, there is a strong dependence on the pastor to tell you what you are supposed to think.

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 Group in Cacao, holding their diplomas at the end of the course

On my last evening there I was asked to speak to a group of about 35 young people who gathered at the mission. The large majority of these were unchurched. They were attentive, and as I talked with each one individually after, several told of how they had at one time attended to church and committed their lives to Christ, but how they had become discouraged and left it all. I realized that there has been quite a bit of legalism and pastoral abuse that really destroys the faith of young people. One young girl, Isis, prayed with me, putting her trust in Christ for salvation.

Our project for visiting “La Mosquitia” has not yet seen fruition, due mainly to lack of funds.

Lise continues to facilitate a group of students in the Hermon Baptist church. They are now in the third of five courses in the first level. The original pilot group is now well into their third and final level of courses.

Roberto, who left the Vida y Libertad Home 2 years ago, continues to live with us off and on. He joined the army, in the local battalion, and seems to enjoy what he is doing. A few months ago some gangsters walked into a house where his older brother was staying, in San Pedro Sula, and took him away. Isidro’s body was found about three weeks ago, almost unidentifiable. Roberto was naturally pretty broken up about it. A year earlier he had learned of the killing of a friend, Yan Carlos, another boy who had left the Vida y Libertad Home.  This country is very risky for young boys who allow themselves to just “drift along”.

with Roberto

Two Sundays ago Lise and I participated in an evangelism project in Brisas del Bosque, a very poor area in the heights of Siguatepeque. The wonderful thing here is you can knock on a good number of doors without anyone telling you to go away because they aren’t interested. We met a couple of people who had previously professed faith but who had drifted away. I prayed with one man who told me about his struggles and his feeling that he just couldn’t come back. Another lady we visited, who had drifted away from church showed up for that evening’s service.

In May we witnessed the baptism of Joel Andrés, pastor Francisco’s teenage son. He has shown a level of commitment and faithfulness that we don’t often see in young boys his age.

On May 26^th Lise and I celebrated 42 years of marriage. 

In Canada, our oldest daughter Annie is kept busy travelling back and forth to the Ste Justine;s children hospital with our newly adopted grandson, James, from Viet Nam. 

Many thanks for your faithful support and prayers.