"Be Still and know that I am God."
This verse from Psalm 46 became my key verse for this mission trip. Often when I wanted to be busy, or was frustrated, or wondering what our purpose was, I would repeat these words that God gave me at the beginning of our trip.
We thought we would be going to begin a sponsorship program in the village of Tabacal. That door closed. Instead, we went with Pastor Merari from San Lucas, Hugo - our translator, and Pastor Mario from Magdalena to El Membrillal to interview people there on their needs - especially focusing on stoves and school. Good cookstoves are a need because in general, families cook inside their homes on an open fire, leading to many health issues.
The goal is to begin and build relationships with people and share the Gospel with them. This way, people get to see Christians living out their faith according to James 1:27 and James 2:26. Although they help meet social needs, their focus is on the gospel and sharing it with others.
While some of us were in El Membrillal, others stayed in Magdalena to build a stove for the pastor. Not only did they have enough money to build that stove, but enough for 2 other stoves. So, there were 3 groups building stoves in homes. One was for a young man who had been injured and is not able to work; he does the cooking while his wife works. The other was for a family that had been persecuting the pastor and disrupting church services. It was amazing to see their change in attitude. A new relationship has begun. When they stoves were finished, we went to the homes to offer a prayer of dedication and Merari also shared the gospel with them - a gift even better than the new stove.
Our big event in Magdalena was a children's program including puppets, singing, crafts, Bible story, face painting, and balloons. Children from El Membrillal and Magdalena attended. Merari shared the gospel with them at the end of the program and invited them to visit Pastor Mario's church. It was a fun event for all.