July and August have been months of a lot of work with great results. It is always rewarding to see results and God’s blessings upon the work.
Each Sunday night of July, we had a different guest pastor come and give us their testimony of God’s work in their lives. I have to say that my favorite was Manases Rivera. He was 12 years old when former Missionary Steve Shawver brought him to church. Manases received Christ, was baptized, and was very active in our youth group. When he was ready to start high school, his father gave him two choices: quit school and church and work to provide for their family or leave home.
Manases’ very wise mother came to me and asked me to take her son and become his legal guardian. Manases lived in one of the Sunday school classrooms, ate his meals at a church member’s house across the street, attended high school and our Bible institute at the same time, graduated from Bible school, got married, started four churches in neighboring towns, and has been faithful to the Lord and God’s purpose in his life. Praise be to God!
In August, we were allowed to go into 6 different rural public schools to take the Gospel and give New Testaments to all students and teachers. We preached a clear presentation of the Gospel to 769 people, and 292 of them professed Christ as Saviour. Our assistant pastor, Jimmy Trujillo, and our son Daniel organized this evangelistic outreach. There truly is no greater joy than to see the next generation carry the torch, following Christ in service.
Please pray that God will work in the hearts and minds of the many servants of God who will be attending our annual Pastors’ and Workers’ Conference. It starts in 12 days! We are preparing in prayer, organizing, and getting the church building ready to host hundreds of guests. I am amazed at how God is already working. There are many coming for the first time. This is an exciting time of year for our church.
Thank you for investing in prayer and finances for us to be here in El Salvador serving the Lord. We know that without your sacrifice, we would not be able to be here. Please pray for us.
Joyfully in his service,
Henry Gonzalez
