Last year I received an email from a Cuban pastor, inviting me to visit his church in the province of Holguin. Last year I visited his church, which is up in the mountains, where I met him and his church. This past month I visited him again and took him some children’s Sunday school materials. I noticed that he had on very old dress shoes, so I asked him if he had another pair of dress shoes. He replied, “No! When I go to the provinces, I take my dress shoes and a pair of tennis shoes in case I need to do a lot of walking.” So without hesitation, I offered him my dress shoes (almost-new), and he accepted them, telling me that they looked new. It was my joy to be a blessing! We made plans to start some people from his church in the Bible institute and will be praying about a good turnout of students later in the year.
The wife of one of my graduates was always very serious; she never smiled. We started services in their home on Sundays. For the last three Sundays, I have preached on having joy in the Christian life. Finally, one Sunday as I was preaching, she got it! She smiled! It was a clean, natural smile. Now she and her whole family smile.
Another time, I met a lady in her sixties. When I visited her, she would invite me to come in and sit in the living room. She would give me coffee and then go back to doing her household duties. She was attentive but did not seem happy (and who is without Jesus?), so I did not have the opportunity to witness to her. This happened a couple of times. One day I made this visit in the evening. I figured she would be done working around the house. This time she was sitting in a rocking chair in the living room. There was another rocking chair nearby. I sat there, and after a little conversation, I witnessed to her. Since there was no rush for either one of us, I took the time to explain Heaven to her the best way I knew how. She smiled! I asked her, “Do you want to go there?” Her reply was, “Certainly!” In her own words, she asked Jesus to forgive her and come into her heart and take her to Heaven when she died. AMEN! When I left, she said with a smile, “THANKS for sharing the plan of salvation with me!”
A GENUINE SMILE IS LOVE YOU GIVE TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS! Tell someone about Jesus and put a smile on their face!
Please pray for:
1. Our family’s spiritual life.
2. Our finances.
3. More opportunities to preach the Gospel.
The Leyva Family
