Dear Friends and Family,
Nothing encourages me to pray more than hearing how the Lord is answering prayers, so I wanted to share this with you all so you will keep praying, and praying even more for the first Awa Believers Conference ever held in Rio Verde and directed by the Awa believers.
Here are some verbal "snapshots" of what we have seen this past week:
- Paulino hauling sheets of tin up the mountain on his shoulder, and then working hard to convert his old house into a community kitchen for conference cooking.
- A phone call to the lowlands with the report that about 12 believers from that area are planning to come.
- Porfidio showing up on Monday afternoon to cut firewood for all the cooking. (Funny, we never even would have thought of that!)
- A cow has been bought for a conference feast by the Awa believers. We missionaries contributed, but the vast bulk was paid for by them. (Meregildo amazed us by giving $30 dollars!). Think of that as about a weeks salary, folks.
- On hearing a donation had been made by Kevin's church for buying a large pot for cooking, Milton said, "Hey, we need to do something like that! We are really lacking in that area!" Now plans are being made to have a fund set up among the Awa believers to help those in need.
- After spending most of a day working on checking the translation for Daniel, Elvia frowned and shook here head when I got out her pay. "I wanted to do this for God, she said"
- Milton came to talk to me yesterday to discuss which lessons each of us would be teaching from the book of Daniel, and when and how.
Friends, GOD IS WORKING, AND IT IS SO EXCITING TO BE HERE AND BE A PART OF IT. So above all, PLEASE KEEP PRAYING! YOUR PRAYERS ARE BEING ANSWERED IN EXCITING WAYS. GOD IS MOVING!!!!!
One additional request is for the final service on Sunday. We are thinking that this might be an excellent time to formally appoint Paulino and Milton as elders in the Awa Church, especially after having demonstrated their godly leadership in organizing the conference. We plan to talk to them about it this week. We have been preparing for this, and have had them before the people for consideration for about year now, and they have proven themselves as godly men worth emulating as leaders. Please keep praying for wisdom and grace for these two dear brothers, and for unity and love to prevail in the conference overall.
In Jesus,
Doug and Dorcas
