Greetings from Santa Ana, El Salvador, where we are enjoying nearly perfect weather for this time of year—cool breezes during the day that are not filled with humidity and cool nights where temperatures go down to 62°F. It will not last long, but while it does, we will definitely enjoy it.
We just finished the Christmas and New Year’s Season and are looking forward to a great year in the ministries here in Santa Ana. The year 2018 was a year of many firsts, several milestones, heartbreaks coupled with great blessing, and defeat along with victories. I am sure that you could say the same. Counting you as our co-laborers with Christ gives us great comfort because we know that you continually keep us in your prayers. Thank you for your faithfulness throughout this past year in both prayer and financial support. You owe us absolutely nothing, yet you faithfully hold the lifeline for us. Thank you. We would not be able to do what we do were it not for you.
In 2018 we started a Christian school for our church members’ children. We had 5 students last year, and this year there are 20 enrolled! We are very excited about this. We will have 5 K3-K4 students and 9 grade school students on campus, and then we will have 6 students who are enrolled but will be homeschooled by their parents. These homeschooled students are children of missionaries in Central America who have graduated from our Bible institute and are now serving as missionaries in Nicaragua and El Salvador. This is a great blessing for them and an honor for us to be able to do this for them. Homeschooling is not practiced here in El Salvador, but having them enrolled in our school makes it possible for these children to receive a Christian education that is tailored to their individual needs. Please pray for us as we endeavor to honor the Lord through this new ministry.
The year of 2018 marked the end of our 20th year of having started the church here in Santa Ana. On December 9, we celebrated the anniversary by holding a special celebration service where we honored all the church members who had been in the church since 1997. What a joy it was to see family after family come forward to receive their recognition as long-term members. We look forward to serving the Lord here for many more years to come.
We held Vacation Bible Clubs this year during the first week of December. Child Evangelist Marco Turriza and his wife Mary came to help us that week. They have been coming almost every year for the past 21 years to help us have VBS and VBC. There has been much fruit from the efforts of that week. Many children and their parents came to Christ. One of the greatest blessings is to see our church members excited about serving God in the Bible Clubs.
In the month of December, 346 souls were saved through the personal soul-winning efforts of the church members and our family. God gave much fruit. We look forward to this coming year of service. Please continue to pray for us. We desperately need your prayer support more than ever.
Your humble servant,
Henry Gonzalez
