A few more to go . . .
My family a
nd I have been helping out in the church started by Bro. Foust and his family in San Gabriel. We specifically started helping out in the Children’s Ministry. My family and I began teaching the children there the plan of salvation. They quickly memorized their Romans Road memory verse every Sunday. I had started promoting a children’s soul-winning activity the second week of my arrival. They had the verses completely memorized by the fourth week and were eagerly anticipating our soul-winning activity.
The date arrived, and my family and I arrived at the church to start our soul-winning activity. We were stunned to hear that children had been waiting outside the church for over an hour. We had over 8 children in attendance by the time the soul-winning meeting started. As soon as we walked out, we had a train of 13 church children following us to a local park. I gave the kids some quick instructions, and off they went with tracts in their hands and a skip in their walk. As a group we were able to lead 3 souls to Christ that afternoon.
One in particular stands out. I saw a girl, no older than seven, shouldering a clear plastic bag bigger than her, filled with individual popcorn bags. I stopped her and asked her what she was up to. She stated that she was coming back from working with her mom. She had been out since early in the morning selling these popcorn bags and only had a “few more to go.” She had initially caught my attention because she was standing from afar off staring at these “crazy” kids running around handing out tracts and talking to people. I asked her if she wanted to know what we were doing. She smiled and said, “Yes.” I handed her a tract and explained away. After a few minutes, she acknowledged that she understood what was explained to her, and she prayed, receiving Jesus as her personal Saviour.
Afterwards I asked her if she wouldn’t mind selling me half of her popcorn bags. She smiled and nodded her head “Yes.” With an armload of popcorn, I walked back to our church children and called them into a circle. I handed out the popcorn, and we recapped the afternoon. All the children were ecstatic and couldn’t wait to do it again. Since its beginning, our children’s soul-winning-group attendance has not fallen below 10. Souls are saved every Saturday, and our Sunday school class continues to grow every Sunday due to the visitors being brought by the children.
Is God proud of us too?
My parents worked really hard on us as children. I remember many times not understanding why my parents trained and expected us to do certain things. A few stand out:
1. They taught us to acknowledge and say “Hi” to everyone. It didn’t matter if it was the person fixing the plumbing or the
President; we were to acknowledge everyone.
2. They taught us to always look an adult in the eye, especially when being spoken to.
3. They taught us how to have conversations with adults.
A few decades have gone by, and now I have my own children. My wife and I have worked really hard to train our children with disciplines similar to what our parents taught us. A couple days ago, my wife and I were given a big compliment as parents. We were told by the corner-store lady that a security guard from a nearby condominium stated that there were three kids who lived in our complex who were the best kids he had ever seen; they always said “Hi,” they always looked him in the eyes, and they always had a conversation with him. As parents we were very proud of our children. I took that opportunity to let my children know that people were saying good things about them and how proud we were of them. My youngest asked, “Dad, is God proud of us too?” That evening as I lay in bed, I thought really hard on Joaquin’s question. I pray our actions as parents/adults compliment God and that everything we do causes God to be proud of us.
To be continued . . .
I am thankful for praying and giving friends such as you. If it weren’t for you, my family and I would not be able to be here in Lima, Peru. We love you and pray for you often. I pray that the Lord continues to bless you and your family.
I have included links below for more information and pictures of the various ministries of Team Peru (IBI). Please feel free to share them with friends and families who may ask, “Hey, what is Team Peru up to?”
https://fbmiteamperu.blogspot.com/
https://plus.google.com/111719239931395719856/posts
Prayer Requests:
• Safety for our family, our team leader Dan Hubbard, and the other families of Team Peru
• Additional monthly financial support.
• My family and I have finished our current apartment contract and need to move out by the end of the month. Please
pray that we are able to find another apartment.
Blessings:
• We have seen 19 souls saved.
• Sunday school class children are soul winning and bringing visitors to church.
• My family and I were able to visit a city north of Lima and were able to see Peruvian snowcapped mountains.
Thank you once again for your prayers and support.
Your co-laborers to Peru,
Abraham, Fabiola, Marco, Leilani, and Joaquin Avila
