If you saw my prayer request post on Facebook yesterday, you know the BST was not going to be able to have a Bible School. There is a teacher strike going on in Conima (and some other towns apparently). Additionally, the children & town are preparing for a dance festival on Friday. These festivals are "cute" in that the children dress up and dance. But it is a tradition that comes from the Aymara peoples' pagan beliefs & the festivals are filled with a lot of alcohol consumption by the adults. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to convict hearts of sin & for God to reveal His Power.
Back to today's phone call.
Miles did give me some GOOD NEWS! Many at our church and friends on Facebook prayed specifically for the Lord to give the team wisdom and opportunities to share the gospel. In typical fashion - GOD ANSWERED THOSE PRAYERS! We sent the team from Van Meter, Iowa (who is partnering with us this summer) to Huancane. This is the town where Pastor Ruben lives. The Van Meter team made it into the school before they shut it down for the week due to the strike, and advertised a Bible School to be held at Pastor Ruben's house. Ruben had been wanting to minister to children in the town for a while, but didn't have an outlet to do so.
When it came time for the Bible School at Rubens ... 20 CHILDREN SHOWED UP! Praise the Lord for giving this team a chance to share the gospel!
Our BST back in Conima ended up seeing a group of children playing outside. The team began to play soccer with these students. After talking with them & some of their teachers, they asked if they could do an impromptu Bible School - AND THE TEACHERS SAID YES! This is a different school than our teams have been able to work in the past two years.
Although it is not as structured as the team had planned, for the last TWO DAYS our team has been able to do a Bible School w/ children!
More than that, they were able to share the stories with the teachers, who may even be believers in Jesus! The teachers were very encouraged by the stories of Jesus and the gospel - and by seeing a strong group of believers like our team. Miles has been talking with them more to see if they are true believers in Christ - at present, he has said they are agreeing with everything (doctrinally) he's shared with them.
Please pray for these teachers. They live in Moho & Huancane, but work in Conima. Miles said they "tolerate" the paganism in Conima. If they are Christians, it is very difficult to work in Conima because there is no church there and few, if any, believers (hence why we've been going for the past 3 years).
On Monday, our BST has a 4-hour block scheduled to be at a different school than the one they've already been in. This school on Monday is the one we've worked with the previous 2 summers. The teachers are trying to find something to do with the kids since they're "on strike." Our team was more than willing to fill up time during the day for them (and share the gospel to as many as possible!)
Today the team plans to hike to Nancy's house. She is a believer the Summer Missionaries found last year and shared many Bible stories with.
So here's some specific things to pray for:
- Pray that the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin during the festival.
- Pray that God would reveal Himself powerfully to the people of Conima during the festival.
- Pray for safety as our team travels to worship with Ruben & his church on Saturday (the roads are only open for about an hour between Moho & Huancane).
- Pray more children show up, hear the gospel, and respond to the Gospel at both Bible schools (this week and next).
- Pray for the Bible School on Monday at the school we've worked with previously - both for children & teachers to be open to & respond to the Gospel.
- Pray for those who are/may be believers - Nancy & the teachers - that they would be encouraged.
- Pray for divine appointments w/ the people in the town as our team walks around in hopes to share the Gospel & Bible stories (community storying has not been very successful / effective thus far with only one lady showing up the first night).
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