“Why am I not saved? Could you explain it to me later?” I received this message from a man named Federico one Sunday afternoon in December. I had just shared in our church text-message group that another man named Andrew had trusted Christ after church that day. Federico had been coming faithfully since August. He has a rough background and an eclectic experience with churches. Each time I witnessed to him before, there were various reasons why he wasn’t ready to trust Christ. One of the big sticking points was the issue of Hell. I told him I would meet with him. We sat down for over an hour, and he listened carefully as I tried to clearly explain why we need salvation. He then put his complete trust in only Jesus for his salvation! Afterwards, he told me that he wants to get back to doing discipleship with me. He’s been going out soul winning with us as well! Please pray for his spiritual growth (and physical health).
New Visitors
The Lord has been blessing us with several new visitors. One of them was Andrew, whom I just mentioned, from Brazil. He was a part of a Spanish conversation group for foreigners that Christa had been a part of for around seven months. Another couple who has a daughter also started coming. We had been in contact with them for about a year. They told us they had been looking for a Baptist church. The couple also invited Isabel and Gabriella. They’ve all continued coming and have started discipleship. Also, on January 5, Juan Pablo came for the first time. He had been watching our services on YouTube and asked to meet with me. He is very willing to serve in any way he can. Please pray for their spiritual growth.
Thanksgiving Outreach
We held a special service in November centered around Thanksgiving. It is not celebrated here, but we thought it might be a good way to introduce the people to it. We printed out invitations, as well as invited people we knew. Christa also invited immigrants from her Spanish class hosted by the city government. We had some traditional Thanksgiving desserts, and others brought food. We also introduced cornhole to the people. I preached a message on thankfulness. We praise the Lord for 15 visitors that day!
Christmas Service
Christa prepared some Christmas cookies, and after our Christmas service, we decorated them. The goal was to take bags of cookies with a Christmas-themed Gospel tract and give them to others. The people took them and gladly passed them out to their neighbors and families. They all really seemed to enjoy that. A couple of men and I also took around 30 and gave them to homeless people near us. We enjoyed the opportunity to serve and give the Gospel.
Thank you for continuing to give and pray! We love you all so much.
Praise
- Federico and Andrew accepted Christ!
- Many new visitors!
- My health is much better!
Prayer
- Spiritual growth of the new people
- Receptive hearts for the Gospel
- To find a good meeting place
- A group from Mexico is coming for an evangelism campaign. They will be in Uruguay from February 5– April 1. Please pray for the Lord to give us much fruit for our labor.
Your missionaries to Uruguay,
Tim, Christa, Ethan, Evan, Emmalynn, and Elizabeth Simmons
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- Thanksgiving Outreach
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- Andrew accepted Christ!
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- Decorating Cookies
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- Christmas Service
