Hafa Adai from the beautiful island of Guam.
The words, “feed my sheep,” have been on my mind as of late, and in the middle of a message recently, it was impressed upon me to stop preaching and explain something. So, I stopped and said to the folks, “Please do not interpret my intensity as anger. I am not angry, nor am I angry at you. I believe that what I am saying is important and has great meaning.” To my surprise, many of their faces shifted as if they understood, and it made sense to them. They visibly became more relaxed and responsive as the rest of the message was preached. They just needed to know that I was trying to lead them to pasture, not to slaughter.
Since my last update, the Lord has used me to lead 32 people to Christ. For the previous update, the Lord allowed me to lead 36 people to Christ—I forgot to include my personal soul-winning numbers in my last letter.
Kif was sitting on the edge of a planter box waiting for a ride when I met her and asked if she knew for sure she would go to Heaven. She said she did not know, and before I could begin to explain the Gospel, her ride showed up, put down the driver’s side window, and scowled at me. It was her adult son, KK, and he did not look happy to see me talking to his mom. I went with her to the vehicle and introduced myself to him, and he seemed to calm down a little. Both allowed me to explain the Gospel, and then they both received Christ into their hearts as their Saviour. When we finished praying, KK’s face had a great big smile on it. Both happily thanked me as we exchanged fist-bumps and said goodbye.
Roland was a gas-station attendant who offered to pump my gas. I said that I would pump it, and then I asked if he knew for sure he would go to Heaven. Roland did not know and allowed me to explain the Gospel. He said he understood and believed. We then prayed together, and Roland received Christ as his Saviour. When we finished praying, he touched his chest and said, “Wow, I felt that!” Then he said, “Thank you. That just made my day.”
A young man was walking in my direction, so I said to him, “Hey, have I talked to you yet?” He replied, “No, but you’ve talked to all of my friends.” He then let me talk to him and pray with him to receive Christ as his Saviour too.
Unfortunately, I am not able to lead everybody I talk to to trust Christ. A man deported from South Korea to Guam crossed my path recently, and I tried to talk to him about the Lord. He seemed a bit distracted and was not interested. A couple of weeks later, he died. It is difficult to think about, but in retrospect, all we can do is try.
Island Baptist Church is doing fine. One of our young men went Stateside to visit relatives recently, and I was so proud of him when I heard that he refused to “drink” with his relatives because he told them he was a Christian. That might not seem important, but for this place and its culture, it was huge. We are thankful for the good people the Lord has brought to our local church. Island Baptist Church has been through many different iterations over these past 24 years, but the faithful folks we have attending now have been the biggest blessing thus far, and we thank the Lord for it.
Thank you for praying for and faithfully supporting us. Please continue to pray for our health and safety, Island Baptist Church, Guam, and Micronesia.
In His harvest field,
Dan Rothwell and Family
