Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Wednesday's work, God is faithful!

DONT CALL THE SATELLITE PHONE, EMAIL timcoblentz@yahoo.com if there is an emergency & you need to reach our team.


Wednesday was another great day for our team. It was a rainy and chilly day, but we were still able to share the gospel and love on the people of Ethiopia. We are fortunate to have incredible translators and disciple makers who have a heart and passion to share God’s love with their people. Because of the rain and mud our car could not reach the village we had originally planned to go to so we spent the morning in the outskirts of that village. We tossed the Frisbee, threw the beach ball and played volleyball with the kids and men. Through those interactions, we were able gain their trust & to share the gospel and other stories of God’s love to many of the people there. It was fun to look around and see our team sharing the gospel with kids, teenagers, women and men. They were friendly and open to what we had to say and there were several who received Christ as their Savior. There were also many who said they wanted to believe but were scared to accept him due to the opposition and extreme persecution they would face from family and friends.
In the afternoon, we went back to the village we visited on Monday. We started the afternoon with authentic Ethiopian tea in a local store and then made our way to the open field where we played again with the kids and talked with the people that were there. Again, we were able to share the gospel to kids and adults. They are very welcoming and engaging. They had many questions and it’s fun to see the truth of the Word of God penetrate their hearts. Our prayer is that one day it would go from being simply knowledge of Jesus and what has done for us, to something that they can’t help but believe and receive into their lives.
There are local believers who are committed to following up with people who accept Christ into their lives or desire to know more about God and the Bible. One of the most encouraging stories for our team this week is a teenager named Gatu. He was one of the boys that accepted the Lord into his life on Monday and the very next day he was helping the local believers identify other young boys who were interested in learning more and growing in their new faith. Due to fear of persecution, Gatu and several other boys his age will be meeting regularly on the soccer field with the local disciple makers. Our hope is that one day he would be leading along with the disciple makers to help carry out the mission of the church in this area.
We’re looking forward to the next few days as we finish the week here. We are blessed to be here, to meet and work alongside the translators and disciple makers. We have learned so much from their faith and love of their Savior and we’re looking forward to sharing more of that with you. Story written by Lori Michael

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for your daily updates. We are so encouraged by so many who have join the family!! Thanks for serving so faithfully!!K&B

roxrae5679 said...

Love all of you SO MUCH and praying for each and everyone one of yall!!!

Julie said...

Loving the updates and praying for you guys! Sounds like God is really moving...wish I could be there to experience it with y'all. Thankful for what's happening and praying for the hearts of the people...love you all!!

flowers by b said...

Love the updates! Lori you are a great story teller and it is incredible to see what the Lord is doing through all of you. Get ready for Penny - she is on the way and I am encouraged that you two rooms will be working together next week to make His name known. I'm on my hands and knees for you all each day.