Week of Prayer

How often it seems that I forget the incredible power of prayer. Direct communication with the throne-room of heaven. To think that the God of the universe actually listens to my prayers, and answers me, what an incredible thought! This week is week of prayer here. The topic of the week is Genesis 49, where Jacob is giving the blessing to his sons as he is about to die. Each night we look at a different son, and the characteristic portrayed in this list. Most of them are negative. Yet their names still appear in the list in Revelation 7, the 144,000 saved. The pastor's point is that by the grace of God we should be striving to overcome the negative traits that we have, and with God's help we can accomplish this. This week leads up to a very special event on Sabbath - Santa Cena (communion). This service is taken very seriously here. If you have unresolved sin in your life, you should not participate. So the pastor hopes this week will soften hearts and lead people to beg pardon of those they have a quarrel with and put away sin, and be prepared to participate in the service this weekend. And, praise God, many have taken this opportunity to make things right with others. In order to make this week a little bit more special, we (the missionaries) decided to begin an after-glow time after worship each night (this is a short time where a smaller group meets together to sing a few worship songs and spend some time in prayer). In spite of language and other challenges, it has been a very meaningful time.
Please keep this time in your prayers as well, we are praying this will be a time of spiritual revival here and that the Holy Spirit will be poured out. And please also keep praying for all missionaries. I know that my life here is extremely comfortable compared to what many of my friends are experiencing around the world. But praise God, He is always faithful. No matter the situation, He can do the impossible. That's what I've been praying for lately - that God will do the impossible. That He will take a heart of stone, a heart that has rejected Him, and turn in into a heart like His.

I miss you all and I love hearing from you. I thank God for placing each one of you in my life. Hasta luego...