Tim and Christa Simmons Prayer Letter: Preaching Completely in Spanish for the First Time!

Visiting a Family

We were contacted by a man named Gustavo in the U.S. who found out that we are missionaries in Uruguay. He said that he is from Uruguay and still has family here. He said his family didn’t have a church to go to, so he asked us to visit his family. We wanted to visit them with someone from the church since we aren’t fluent in Spanish yet, although we can converse comfortably. Trying to arrange for someone to go with us to visit them just wasn’t working out, so my wife and I just decided to visit them by ourselves, praying that we would remember our Spanish. We chatted with them for about an hour and a half, just learning about their family and their church background. I asked Maria, Gustavo’s sister, if she knew that she was saved. She told me that she was. I then invited them to our church and prayed with them before leaving. I invited them to come to the church’s 46th Anniversary Service, but they weren’t able to come for that. Then on June 26, Maria and her son Rodrigo came to church. Praise the Lord! They plan to continue coming.

Preaching in a Church Service

I had the opportunity to teach a children’s class in May and again in June, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to preach in a regular service before then. Pastor Silva asked me to preach on a Wednesday night service in June. I told him I would be honored to preach, knowing it would take a lot of work to prepare. I prepared a message. Then I asked for help with the grammatical corrections from my Spanish teacher, who is not a Christian. I love having the chance to look at verse after verse in the Bible with unsaved people in my Spanish classes. Most of them have no desire to attend a church, but they will at least listen patiently to God’s Word in class. With the Lord’s help, I was able to preach about a 44-minute message completely in Spanish for the first time! I ask for feedback anytime I teach or give a devotional in Spanish. I was told that they understood almost everything I said. We are planning to finish language school in October. Please pray that we learn all that we need to learn of the language and culture here so we can be effective missionaries for the long-term.

Evangelism Conference

I found out that a church in our city was hosting its first- ever two-day Evangelism Conference June 17 & 18. I had never met the pastor, but I had heard that it was a good church, so I went to the conference. I had the privilege to meet several national pastors from our city, as well as other parts of Uruguay. James Adams, who was a missionary in Mexico, taught the conference. He taught a thorough plan for having a soul-winning program in your church and training soul winners. He also gave out materials that we can use to teach in a soul-winning training class. At the end of the conference, a number of pastors committed to starting that program in their church. I am looking forward to putting the program into practice in the future.

Thank you for your heartfelt prayers and faithful support.

Your missionaries to Uruguay,

Tim, Christa, Ethan, Evan, and Emmalynn Simmons