May 2022

Greetings! Thank you for praying for me and for the work God is doing among the indigenous peoples of Colombia and throughout the world. Please continue to pray that the word of Christ would speed ahead and be glorified, that the gospel would advance unhindered, that many would come to faith in Jesus, and the gospel would demolish any and all barriers raised up against it.  

This week has been eventful. On Tuesday, I slipped and fell, fracturing my left (non-dominate) wrist. The bones have been set, and I am scheduled for surgery on Monday afternoon. Please pray that I will get the rest I need for a speedy recovery from the surgery and the fracture so that I may continue on with the missionary task. 

Continue to pray for the thousands of displaced indigenous who have been living in the city parks. They are living in very poor conditions. The indigenous in one park have been moved to a shelter. But they are still in poor conditions and continue to have many material needs. In the other park that's just outside the city, we have been doing an English class as an entry into the community. 

For both groups, we are in the process of organizing a relief project, providing food, blanket, and hygiene products. This should take place over the next two weeks. I will help where I can but will be limited due to my recent injury. Pray that the project will go smoothly as material needs are met. Pray that local believers will become involved in the project and in the ongoing ministry with the displaced. Pray that relationships will be developed that lead to many coming to faith in Christ. 

Continue to pray for the Wounaan work. I have been meeting with one believer and his family.We are still reading through 1 Peter. Over the past few weeks, however, "Silas" has been sick. Pray for him to recover. There is a small Wounaan church in Bogota, but many of the Wounaan are still unreached. Pray that the Wounaan believers can reach out to their own people with the gospel.  

Also, continue to pray for "Mike" and his family. He is beginning to open up to gospel discussions. Pray that God would open up his heart to receive the gospel and trust in Christ. 

Daniel and his family from Betania Church have been ministering in their neighborhood Las Cruces. I have been helping them in this for some time now. They have Bible studies for the neighborhood children on the weekends. They are also beginning to have music and English classes. Pray for them as they seek to reach those in Las Cruces. 

Thank you again for your prayers. Prayer is vital to the work. May God’s grace and peace be with you all.

This is a well-known story from the gospels. It is a story I have told many times to the indigenous people with whom I minister in order to proclaim who Jesus is, his compassion, and his divine authority. 

Jesus has been teaching the people all day concerning the kingdom. At nightfall, he says to his disciples, “Let’s go to the other side of the lake.” So they begin to make their way over.

Suddenly, there is a great storm with strong wind. The boat is filling with water. And the disciples are terrified. Jesus, however, is asleep on a cushion.

The disciples wake him up, crying out, "Teacher, don't you care that we are dying?" So Jesus gets up, rebukes the wind and says to the waves, "Silence! Be still!" And then everything was completely calm.

Jesus then says to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still not have any faith?"

The disciples are now filled with fear and begin to say to one another, "Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him?"

When I consider this story from the gospels, I can't help but think of Psalm 107 that we looked at two months ago. In that psalm, we see mariners in a storm at sea cry out to God for help, and God graciously calms the storm for them. That psalm was probably on the minds of the disciples too after seeing Jesus calm the storm.

In this story, we see not only Jesus' power over creation, but we also see his compassion. The disciples asked, "Don't you care that we are perishing!" Jesus does indeed care. And he can help us in a way that only God can help. We can trust him with simple faith to meet our greatest need—complete forgiveness of all our sins through his vicarious death on the cross.