The Harvest is Ready!

Last Friday was incredible! My team was planning to head out on Sat. night to the “tolerance zone,” the area of town we minister to on weekends. We planned on having a testimony or study ready for all the teenage guys that hang out there with us. Plans changed at the last minute and we had to go on Fri. night instead, therefore we had nothing prepared. Before we left we prayed for awhile and asked God what He would have us do. None of us really had a big plan, but we brought some Bibles to give to the guys out there. We parked in our normal spot, prepared the coffee, and waited for the regular crew to show up. After about fifteen minutes twelve of them arrived and we began to talk and hang out with them. I have grown exceptionally close to two of these young men over the past month; Mario, who is eighteen and Jesus (pronounced w/ a Spanish accent please), who is nineteen. Mario came to church w/ us a couple of weeks ago and accepted Christ, which was incredible. I bought him a new Bible and ´A Purpose Driven Life, ´ in Spanish of course. Jesus is a little more reserved to respond to the gospel, but I had a vision for him. He is an artist who enjoys drawing and has shared some of his work with me. So, I felt compelled to get him a couple of sketch pads and a nice set of drawing pencils along w/ a Bible. I told him that God was leading me to get him these things so that he would begin to draw and use his gifts to glorify Him. I pray that he would come to know the Lord and that he would create beautiful work through these gifts. Please be praying these young men. Back to Fri. night, I sat alongside of Mario w/ my Bible and wanted to share the story of the Prodigal Son. One of my teammates saw this and asked if I wanted to share in front of the whole group. Without hesitation I said ´lets do it.´ We passed out several Bibles and gathered them all together. I was amazed by their attentiveness and genuine interest in what was to be shard. I spoke about how justice, mercy, and grace was defined through this parable. I wanted them to know about the Father’s love and how grace is something radical and how we don’t even come close to deserving it. For the first time ever I led a prayer to open the opportunity to know, experience, and receive this same love that the son received from his father, but from our heavenly Father. Eight young men accepted Christ that night! I felt so humbled that God would use me in that way and felt that this is only the beginning of what he desires to do through this time. I long for the day where an interpreter is not needed and makes me want to press harder into learning how to communicate God’s message in Spanish. Fruit is being seen through this ministry, please pray about how we (YWAM) would further minister to these decisions.
A huge event called “Carnaval” is coming up and I will tell you all about that later. Yo los quero mucho y los extraño. Thank you so much for your support, prayers, and thoughts, God is amazing!