One Busy Sabbath

After a typically full church service we made five visits in the afternoon including two neat contacts with Evangical folks in Chan Pine Ridge. One lady named Angela is the wife of an evangelical pastor in another village and she hitchhikes every weekend to come take care of her 90 year old mother. Last week the student who was with me gave her a tract on the Sabbath. Today she told us that she read it but started to give her reasons for keeping Sunday. God helped me keep the conversation from degenerating into an argument, and yet he gave me words to say with joy and conviction, including a selection of pertinent Bible verses. She seemed touched and open to hearing more. After visiting we had singing bands at the hospital and prayed and sang to the nurses on duty as well as 7 or 8 different patients. Two of the latter were adolescents recovering from gunshot wounds from a shootout with police when they tried to rob the money changers at the Belizean side of the Mexican border. An officer stood guard as we sang and prayed with them.  After the hospital we stopped to see a church member who’s son has a bad case of food poisoning. He has not eaten for five days and is very weak. We were able to help them so they can get the proper medicine since the charcoal he was taking, though helping was not cutting it. On our way home from there we came across a grisly hit and run accident. An elderly cyclist left dead like common roadkill. It was a grisly sight. The next day we found out that the victim was Marvin's father. Marvin is one of several backslidden Adventists who live in CPR. We will visit him and his family tomorrow Lord willing. 

Anyway, this time is spare on the description, but it’s late and I’m ready for bed. Thanks for your prayers! We need them ever so much. You are in ours as well.

Calling Prayer Warriors: Turn the battle to the gates!

I have more things to say then there are minutes in a day, but though I find myself writing this message at the 11^thhour of the night, I will try to keep this report to the most essential for now. I will say that there are exciting things happening in this 11^thMOVE class session. This group has dubbed themselves the “11^thhour workers.” These are golden moments to work while it is day. God knows our sitting down and our rising up. May it be a lot less sitting and a lot more rising up! God is calling us, He is calling you! He still has something for you to do, even at this late hour. It’s time to be more intentional, more sacrificial, more bold, more faithful, more ingenious and more tenacious for the everlasting gospel of Present Truth. God cries out:

“Who will rise up for me against the evil doers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalms 94:16) Remember, God does not call those who believe themselves qualified, but he qualifies those who believe on Him and answer His call! I love the promise of Isaiah 28:5-6:

“In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.” 

            This last week a simple question to my local pastor about global youth day turned into an unexpected opportunity for me to share a plan for involving all the Adventist youth in Belize in continual, ongoing evangelism during the next year. (See attached document if you desire). Please pray for the awakening of our church here and all around the world, that to finish the Father’s work may become even more important to us than our daily food, just as it was for Jesus! (John 4:34). 

We have a family of travelers staying with us since last Sunday when they met one of our missionary volunteers in a divine appointment in Carmelita village. Igor is from Latvia and his wife Tamar is from Argentina but they are both of Jewish decent and grew up speaking Hebrew. They live in Israel where they met while studying in the university. Now they are driving an RV from the U.S. to Argentina with their four adorable children ages 4-10. I sense that they are seekers for truth. They are full of questions, but they are skeptical of God and religion in general. They have been participating in many of our activities though, and tomorrow I will invite them to join us for church and singing bands at the hospital in the afternoon. Please pray for our witness. 

I also solicit your prayers and support for three missionary families that have been struck by tragedy during the last two weeks:

Alla and her daughters Elizabeth and Eva lost their husband and father Christopher when he fell down a one-hundred-foot precipice in the mountains of Guayana about two weeks ago. Captain Lincoln Gomez, a friend and fellow missionary of ours from our time in Bolivia now working in his native Guayana was flying out Christopher’s body when his plane ran out of fuel just before reaching Georgetown and he was forced to make an emergency landing in the jungle. God was merciful, and he and the police officer flying with him both survived the crash, but Lincoln is facing a long and painful recovery and staggering medical bills. Right now he is being monitored for numbness. The airplane motor and perhaps some instruments will be recoverable as I understand, but the plane won’t fly again. If you wish to help Lincoln and his family at this time you may do so through GMI, making your donation to “Guayana Indigenous Aviation.” You can also send money through Paypal. 

Captain Lincoln Gomez in recovery. 

Finally, please pray for another missionary friend of ours who is very shook up over the sudden loss of his brother to suicide. 

Pray for us too, and don’t stop! We sure need it!

Maranatha!

The Smoke of our Torment

We arrived from evangelism and visitation late Sunday night, and as we cut across the grass toward home I caught a whiff of something raunchy.

“Something stinks! What is that?” I wondered out loud.

“Maybe it is the sugar factory” Lyli ventured.

As we passed the tool shed near the entrance of our driveway, the stench worsened.

“It smells like something burnt!” I exclaimed.

“Ooh!” Lyli inhaled sharply. “The lentils!”

Sure enough, during our rush of activities before getting out the door we had forgotten to turn off the burner.  The pot on the stovetop was black as tar, and even the trim on the neighboring countertop matched and was too hot to touch.  Inside the kettle was a smoldering mass of roasted lentil crisp, as black and porous as volcanic rock. I carried the whole molten lump out and away to the garbage pit. 

If only the smell were so easy to take away! Caustic smoke seemed to saturate every molecule of matter in every article in every nook and cranny of our abode. All things fabric had wicked up enough odor to out-stink an apartment of chain-smokers. Worst of all, not even a puff of a breeze did blow, and the smoke hung over and around the house like a pall.

We opened all the windows and doors, turned on the fans, boiled vinegar, set out backing soda and slices of onion, took down the curtains, and started scrubbing doors, walls and windows, but it was already late, and we finally fell into bed exhausted, only to have our noses sting and our scratchy throats gel over with mucous, and good sleep flee as from a burning. “The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day or night” Revelation 14:11 thundered through my head.  If nothing else, this experience definitely reaffirmsmy decision to never worship the beast or his image!I thought wryly. I’d rather keep the commandments and have the faith of Jesus by God’s grace! 

In which case, you had better not complain, had you,another internal voice seemed to chime. For the faith of Jesus would joyfully trust that this trial has been allowed for your growth and benefit. Besides, this trial is merely smoky. You’ve seen nothing yet of the fiery trial that is to try you!  I had to concede on that one, and praised the Lord that our house hadn’t burned down. Otherwise our pot of lentils would have been almost as costly as Esau’s!

In the morning we went back to cleaning. In between classes and other responsibilities, we washed clothes, scrubbed walls, and put the mattress and furniture out to air, but the house still reeked like scalded lentils all week long! We pitched our tent in our front yard for two nights. Sleeping on the ground was still much more restful than breathing smoke all night.

So, whatever you do, don’t boil things when you’re in a rush to leave the house! Also, when you smell something terrible, be careful what you say: you just might be the culprit! You might be trying to do great things for God, but don’t neglect the little things. The damage of one moment’s forgetfulness and negligence may take many days of hard work to undo!