How about building your own baptistry!!!!
The plan is to baptize Humberto this Sunday at our first church service at the new orphan facility that is under construction. He just finished constructing the new baptistry and he will be the first one baptized!
A little update.........
So Humberto was saved on August 3, 2009 and he continues to grow and grow and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ! We continue to read and study together, along with his family, as he makes sure that they are around to here the word of God when we talk. Pastor C and I have been talking with Herminia, Humberto's wife, as she says that she was saved some time ago but never baptized. Humberto says that she has just been recently saved because she is a different person now. She may be baptized with Humberto this Sunday. He has also been talking with two of his brothers over the last few weeks. Artimeo, his younger brother, has been bringing his family to church the last 4 weeks and has been coming to the Humberto's house to talk with us about the bible. He has also been talking to his father, who is a professing Christian, but as Humberto tells it, his father has two hearts; that's the terminology that Humberto uses for someone that only speaks with the mouth but not with a truly changed heart. His father has been very upset with Humberto lately because Humberto continues to talk with his father about the bible and his father does not want to hear it. Humberto is always talking about having one heart...a heart only for Jesus. He is always witnessing to people about what the Lord has done for him and we are praying for some specific friends of his that he so desperately wants to see saved.
Just a little more about Humberto's background.
He basically drank everyday for 13 years and did drugs for 8 years...and he did them all the time...seriously, all the time...his wife testifies to this as well...but as of August 3rd he has not taken one drink of alcohol nor done drugs and he says that he doesn't even have the desire at all to do that...not even a little bit...and believe me, I believe him because there probably hasn't been but a handful of days since his salvation that he has not had someone offer him some drugs or offer him some whiskey...that is the culture down here so it is pretty much impossible to get away from...then you add to that the fact that he knows almost everyone in Teopisca and so you can imagine that there are so many people that do not know he has been changed by the grace of God.
Please continue to prayer for our new brother who is so very excited about LIVING OUT LOUD FOR JESUS!!!
Some pics!!
We had to dig the hole first...it is a about 3 feet deep x 6 feet long x 4 feet wide
About two weeks ago we received the first donation of several that we will be receiving from Godalming Baptist Church in Surrey, England. Six months ago, pastor C met a woman in San Cristobal who has lived there as a missionary from England for the past 50 years. The world would say that these two just happened to cross paths but we know better than that. The Lord used their first providential encounter to produce several more. Several of the elders/deacons of the church came to Teopisca a few months ago to meet with pastor C and then just last month, others came to visit. But this time they had some very good news for us...they said they wanted to help us continue with the construction of the new orphan facility.
In total, the donations will help us get close to completing the second structure of the new orphan facility - the first of two dormitories. I call it the second structure but in reality it will be part of the first structure as we have decided to add this dormitory as the second floor to the first structure - the kitchen/eating area.
Now, here is the really awesome thing about this particular church in this particular part of the world. I have to take you back about 4 years but I will make it quick!
Pastor C´s favorite hero of the faith is George Muller for reasons that are probably obvious (Mr. Muller started up and operated many orphanages and cared for over 10,000 orphans in the early to mid 1800's in nearby Bristol, England). Four years ago pastor C began praying that the Lord would show His might by providing some financial support for our work here in Teopisca from the same country as George Muller. Pastor C was not asking this for confirmation that his vision for building the orphanage in Teopisca was from God, but he did believe it would be awesome to see God's power manifested in this way.
So you can imagine his delight and our thanks to God when Godalming Baptist Church, from the land of George Muller, shared their desire to help support our work here in Teopisca.
But that is not all!!!!!
We have been told that this same church actually gave financial support to the work of George Muller in the early 1900's! This church has been around a long time and has been supporting the work of God in this fashion for many years. One of the elders of the church asked us to be clear that they are still researching documents in England to verify that this claim is indeed true. The fact that this church gave to the work of George Muller has been passed down and talked about for years at the church but they just want to make sure that the previous steps of their church did indeed cross paths with the lives of thousands of orphans many years ago.
Regardless, we praise the Lord for Goldalming Baptist Church!!!!! I mean, who would have ever dreamed that a church in England would be a part of the Lord's work here in little ole Teopisca, Mexico!
http://www.godalmingbaptistchurch.org.uk/
We will keep you informed of our progress as we get started again (below are some pics of what we have done so far).
Blessings to all,
Lance, Sarita and Joshua
Here we are unloading the first of the bricks for the second story dormatory! In total we will probably have to unload about 7,000 bricks...500 at a time as that is what fits in the back of my pickup.
