Thursday, July 11, 2013
Great is God’s Faithfulness! Thank you for your continued prayers for our
Bolivia Mission Team and the people of the Florida Norte Church Congregation.
The past two evenings (Wednesday and
Thursday) we have been privileged to spend time teaching and encouraging the church
leaders and members. Wednesday night’s
theme was growing in our relationship with Jesus and Marcos, Kerry, Paige and I
all shared about our prayer lives and devotional lives to provide ideas,
encouragement and to spur on our brothers and sisters in Christ to grow as
followers of Jesus. Pastor Jaime was
thankful for the variety of ideas that were shared. We provided the church leaders with Bible
reading plans and challenged them to read 11 Psalms between Thursday and
Saturday. The Psalms are Psalm 95-105. Please join us all in reading these
psalms. We also provided the leaders and
many of the church families with a wonderful book about Christ called ‘Jesus of
Nazareth.’ It is published by Concordia
Publishing and focuses on the amazing character and teachings of Jesus. We are able to provide these resources
because of the generous donations of many of our OSLC church family and many
friends and family members as well.
Thank you!
Thursday night’s topic was a big one
as it was focused on each person using the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit
has given them to serve others. We did a
Bible study on what spiritual gifts are and then each of the church leaders and
many members took a spiritual gift survey.
On Saturday morning at the church retreat, one of our activities will be
to connect church members to church ministries based on their spiritual
gifts. The goal is for every member to
be serving in at least one church ministry as together we are all the Body of
Christ. ‘Each one should use whatever
gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace…’ 1
Peter 4: 11.
We were also able to give each church ministry leader and other church members a book on Spiritual Gifts that will encourage them as well. This is again because of your generosity!
When I look out at the congregation as I
have the privilege of standing before them to teach and encourage, I realize
how much I love these dear people. This
is my 6th time here in Cochabamba, and I know most of the congregation
here by name now. They are growing as
followers of Jesus and reaching out to others with His love. At least 10 of the
young adults who are now serving as teachers in VBS and Sunday School were
children that our teams helped teach in 2002 and 2003. We showed a photo slide show on Tuesday night
at the church to celebrate that this was our 10th trip to Florida
Norte, and many of the young adults pointed out themselves from photos of
previous years. What a joy it is for me
to witness this! One of the young women, Ruth, is going to Pakistan on a medical missions team later this year! Wow! Florida Norte is becoming a sending congregation! The church is growing
in its organizational efforts and leadership development, and Pastor Jaime is a
strong man of God who loves the people of Florida Norte.
The Vacation Bible School that the
church offered to their community on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons
was fantastic. I couldn’t be more proud
to work with these dear people in hosting this terrific outreach. We helped with songs and crafts each day—Connie
Hashem planned terrific crafts that children and teens both enjoyed! We also provided a fun puppet script on
Thursday about the amazing love of Jesus.
Evelyn and Esteban then organized another puppet show with puppets
singing that was terrific! The large
group teaching of the salvation message in Genesis was done through a daily art
display led by Esteban Panigua, a church elder who is training to be a
pastor. It was a very creative way to
present the Good News of Jesus.
It is my honor to work with my 8
teammates from OSLC. They are working
hard for our Savior and for the people here of Florida Norte. God is giving us great joy with one another
as well as with the San Martin family.
Please pray for:
*God’s grace to strengthen the team
members that have experienced some various stomach issues. As of Thursday night, most team members are
feeling strong and ready for the days ahead, by God’s grace.
*The all-day church retreat on
Saturday that will focus on the church ministries celebrating ministry goals
that were accomplished this year as well as setting new goals. The retreat will also have many team building
games for the ministries and people of Florida Norte—and they love to have fun
together!
*that God would use Pastor Jensen and
all of us to bless the people on Sunday during morning and evening
worship. Pastor Jensen is preaching on
the theme of ‘reconciliation in family relationships’ as this was the topic
that Pastor Jaime suggested. I will
preach on Sunday evening.
*Pastor and Paige as they lead a
Pastors and wives breakfast on Monday morning from 9 to 11 a.m. There are over 40 Pastors and their wives
attending from the Union of Christian Evangelicals denomination.
*Connie, Kerry, Joanne, and Paige as
they lead a 3 hour women’s retreat on Monday afternoon with the Florida Norte
women. The theme is nurturing your faith
in Jesus and nurturing the faith of your family members as well.
Thank you for your prayers and
love! We pray for our senders each day
from this side of the equator!
God is always good,
Mateo Beish
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