Here's the devotion for Day 2.
The Rubberband – We didn’t really have a scripture reference for this. We just used the rubberband as an illustration for how we needed to be during the week. We talked about that what determined the value of a rubberband was how much it could hold without breaking. However, when a rubberband does break, it is able to be tied back together or tied together with other rubberbands to become stronger. Our prayer was that God would stretch us throughout the week to a point of breaking so that we could bond with each other and become stronger individually and as a group.
Anyway, we sat in on the service and the girls that didn’t get to sing last night got to sing this morning during the service. Also two group members, Phyllis and Melody shared their testimony. When Pastor Cesar started the sermon, several of us left and went to help with children’s church. Funny thing. We were told that we all would be told what bible story to act out when we got down there but when we got down there, they were ready for us and we hadn’t been told what to do. So we congregated in the hall and decided to act out the Zaccheus story. I, always wanting to be the star of course, volunteered to be Zaccheus. The kids loved it. About half, maybe over half, of the kids were Christians. It was amazing! I think there were probably over 50 kids there.
After the service, Cesar sat us down and told us about the church, what they’ve done, what they are doing, and what they are going to be doing. He went through they way they apply the disciple-making process to their church. They have planted 12 churches in nine years. The mission of the church is Matthew 28:19-20 and just about the whole book of Acts. Their disciple-making process is this: Teach. Discipline. Build.
Communion serves as a central church, a training site, if you will. People come to Communion Baptist first, they receive Chirst and are discipled. Then they are sent out to start a church. Pastor Cesar calls the church a mission until another church is created from that one.
They’ve planted a school in the middle of the church for the sole purpose of producing disciples of Christ. At one point we asking him how they got the computers that are in the classroom; who donated them and how were the students going to learn how to use them? Pastor Cesar quickly responded with a short answer to the question (the government pays for it) but then he also went on about how there are 10 Christians intentionally put in the class to produce other Christians. The class may start out with 10 Christians but their hope is that by the end of the class, everyone in the class will be followers. How awesome?!?!?! The mission of spreading the glory of Christ is central in everything they do. Oh, that that would be the desire of our hearts in the U.S.
Next, we had lunch. Communion cooked for us again as I’m supposing they are doing for the whole week. We had burgers and fries, and for dessert, watermelon and the best pineapple I have ever had.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel to get our supplies together for the week. We were under the assumption that kids would be at the church tonight and the service would be really an opportunity for is to play with them, so we packed a good but of candy, crayons, bibles, and coloring books. However, we misunderstood once again. The service was just a regular service.
We headed back to the church around 3 p.m., to prepare for our afternoon mission. We were going to be split up into three teams, each with a translator and a member of the church. We were to go to the surrounding neighborhoods with small tracts of John and prayer request sheets and talk to the people and ask what prayer needs they had. It was somewhat like Sunday visitation.
Once again, we were put on the spot and told we would be the ones sharing our testimonies and sharing the word with the people through the translator. However, my group was split in two and Candace and I were sent off with a female member of the church who spoke no English and Carrie, who spoke some Spanish but not a lot. I think this is how the Lord wanted it though because this lady was fierce. She was amazing! She talked and shared the word until she got what she wanted, or better yet, what God wanted.
The first house we visited was the house of a woman named Gladys, probably in her upper sixties, with I think I counted probably 10 or 12 other people living with her ranging in age from 5 to 30, including two pregnant women. They had just finished watching Honduras play Mexico in soccer. The game was being played in New Jersey, ironically, and Honduras won two goals to one, so it was a happy day for everyone. Mexico is Honduras’ archrival so it was pretty much like the Super Bowl for them.
After our group leader read a little bit from John, she laid the Gospel on thick. I don’t know what she was saying but it had to be the Lord talking because it was obviously what Gladys needed to hear. Gladys began to share how her husband was severely ill and had been in the hospital and she was needing medicine for her eye sight as well. Our leader prayed for Gladys and her family and Gladys began to cry. I think she was feeling a lot of weight and as soon as we started praying, it seemed to lighten up a bit.
The next house we went to was up a bigger hill. I’m pretty sure we hiked up the side of a mountain. Not to mention, it was pouring down rain. The owners of the house were a mother (Alba), grandmother, and two daughters, probably 11 years old and 7 or 8 years old. Out leader began to read and Alba was kind of skeptic or stand-offish. Throughout sharing the word and talking to her she mentioned that they didn’t go to church because her mother (the grandmother) was too old and ill to make the trek down the mountain to church. Our leader began speaking to her about accepting Christ and we began to pray. Candace prayed in English first and them our leader began to pray in Spanish. The rain got harder. The power in the home (which was surprising that there was even power because it was just a one-room shack) flickered. I knew God was keeping the rain going to keep us there so He could continue to work on Alba’s heart.
The rain just got harder and harder and our leader just decided to continue reading from the John tract. We asked Alba to read and then we even had her 11-year-old daughter read. When she finished reading, Alba said that that was the first time that her daughter had read from the Bible. When she said that, Candace and I decided that we had to get this little girl one of the New Testaments that our group had brought. However, we didn’t have any with us, but we knew that our group leader Tom had packed some in his bag. The problem was, though, that our group had been separated and everyone was in a different location.
Candace and I even read from the Spanish version of John. After we finished reading for the second time, our leader prayed for Alba to continue to consider accepting Christ. I couldn’t believe my eyes! This woman’s heart opened up right before our eyes! I could tell when we walked in that she was ready to get us out. However, God made a way to keep us there in order for him to use us to open her heart to him. Not too long after we prayer, the other half of our group came and found us to tell us that our bus was coming to get us since it was raining. We immediately found Woodie (Tom) would had a backpack full of Spanish New Testaments and grabbed one from him to give to the 11-year-old girl. She could not have been more excited. And neither could I. She immediately sat down and started reading it. We said our goodbyes, and headed out into the rain.
We made our way to a bus stop – me with our leader, this 70-something-year-old woman in heels using me for support down the hill. I’m in my sneaks, praying that the traction on the bottom of my shoes is enough to keep me from slipping on the wet rocks that made up this 60°-angled hill.
It was time for us to go back to the church for dinner and the evening service. We had meatloaf and baked potatoes. I think the folks at the church are trying to make us feel at home.
When it came time for the service, we all headed upstairs to the sanctuary. It was a little hard to hear because of the rain, but we made it work. More singing in Spanish; I think I’m getting pretty good at it.
Annette and Haley, two more members of our group, shared their testimonies which was really cool because they both have stories of healing. Annette has Chrone’s disease and was in and out of the hospital for about a year and a half. She spoke about the power of prayer and what a huge part it played in helping her not to be as sick as she was before.
Haley is a recent survivor of breast cancer. She just turned 25 and had a double mastectomy about two months ago. She found out in the midst of preparing for this trip that she had cancer, had numerous surgeries, and found out about a month and a half ago that she was completely cancer free. This was a huge step for Haley because it was the first time that she had shared her testimony ever in her life.
Melody, who gave her testimony this morning, offered to five the “sermon” for tonight. It was amazing! She spoke complete truth. She talked about how each person has a story and then went into the Roman Road and the Plan of Salvation. For having found out that she would be doing this four hours earlier, she did an amazing job.
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