Siloam.....Over the Horizon: January Monthly Update

JUMPIN’ IN

Well, January has been quite a full month as it kicked off our Short-Term Missions (STM) season! And what a packed season we have ahead of us! As of right now we have 10 outreaches on our 2007 STM calendar from January to August, and there is at least one more in the works! January started with a women’s team from Houston, Texas. They came and ministered to our women through aerobics, crafts, Bible studies, providing a library of books and CDs, and through the building and strengthening of relationships. It’s exciting to see them continue in some of the activities and habits that the women from Texas introduced that week! May these activities and habits become permanent! At the end of January we had a construction team from Washington state. What hard workers these folks were! They worked entirely on our central church facility, which we started construction on just a year ago! While they were here, they finished the platform floor and steps, built the instrument room (minus the roof), and leveled about one-third of what will be the sanctuary floor/basketball court. Two of their men also created our front gate from scratch, welding strips of metal together, and they had it installed by the time they left. What an undertaking! But we are excited to see this facility beginning to take shape as well as the dream behind it! Even more exciting is that our local church members are beginning to catch that dream themselves as they see it coming to life before their eyes, and so quickly! Praise the Lord!

THE MENTOR GAZETTE

In ministry news, I’m very excited about how the Lord is working in our young ladies! I continue to mentor Sandy, and I continue to be awed and humbled as I watch the Lord working in her and growing her into a truly beautiful, strong, and committed woman of God! We just finished studying the book of Ester. It has been a wonderful study in the contrast between worldly and godly character, in submission and obedience, and in having confidence in the presence and working of God in all things at all times! In addition to our study, we have talked about other issues. Discipleship is one of them, and I am encouraged to see her taking steps to reach out to other girls, praying with them and encouraging them in the truth! We have also dealt with issues such as standing firm in the decision not to date non-Christians and in figuring out what kind of man she would want her future husband to be. As the Lord has worked in her life in all these areas, she has been put to the test over and over again both in her own relationships and also due to the attitudes of her parents and sisters on these matters. She is a voice of one more often than not, but she stands on the Word of God so she does not stand alone. I’m so proud of her steadfastness and persistence in the face of strong opposition and from those most dear to her. We are believing that the Lord is doing a changing work in her family, but that takes time and often a lot of pain. Please pray for Sandy and her family.

DO NOT STOP MEETING TOGETHER…

The other very exciting development concerns our girls’ prayer group! This group began in April when I was here during my internship and consisted of me, Sandy, her sister Mili, and her two cousins Lupe and Favi. Favi and Lupe are no longer able to meet with us. However, though we miss having them, we are pleased for the opportunity to open up the group to include more girls. This required us to move our meetings to my house in Cofradía in January, and as a result we have had three to four of our Cofradía girls attend each week. They are all much younger in age and in faith, but they continue to come and do not seem to be deterred by the fact that they are required to share something and pray with us. The point of this prayer group is that each girl would be reading throughout the week so as to have something to share in our meetings, and that we would all pray for and with each other before going our separate ways. By requiring participation from each girl who attends, we avoid having the same ones share each week and increase the possibility of spiritual growth in every one of them! In just our first three meetings, the Lord has done a great deal in each one, and I’m excited to see how He continues to move in their hearts and lives. In addition to Sandy and Mili, please keep Cintia, Ana, Claudia, Pati, Mirna, and Judit in your prayers.