Bible Study with three ladies (Thursday morning)

I had set up an appointment with one lady who is visiting, to study with her at the church building, at the same time when the ladies of the church have their quilting activity. Well, she came along with one more lady who is a member, and another one who is visiting too. Bible Study centered around the idea of why Jesus had to die. I used Hebrews 9.15-26.

Midweek Bible Study (May 28)

17 people were present —11 adults, 3 teenagers, and 3 children. We had one visitor who is an adult. The Bible study centered around Romans 8.26-28. We analyzed the idea of being helped by the Spirit to be able to convey our prayers to God. We discussed the idea of us not knowing how to pray and what to pray. We used James 4.3, to show how selfish we are in our asking, then talked about the Lord's Prayer, where the Lord teaches us to pray asking for God´s will to be done. How does the Spirit actually interced for us? Well, maybe he is like a translator, someone who retells God what we are asking in prayer, but he does it in a way that is according to the will of God. The Spirit truyly helps us our weakness in this respect. The Spirit is present also when he helps us understand that all things work together for the good of those who love God.

Mentoring From Walter Jones

This morning Walter and I got together for coffee and prayer. During the conversation, we were able to analyze the status of the local leadership and we both agreed that our men need special training to be able to grow in their vision and goals for this church. We believe the Lord wants this church to have elders, and according to our plans, the elders should be in place by the year 2014. Walter and I ended up praying for me to be able to start a series of training sessions for our five men who are now part of the leadership. Most probably this series will be implemented during the monthly business meetings we have the second Saturday of each month. If our men are mature enough before 2014, then we will not hesitate to install them as elders sooner than that.

Sunday Evening Services (May 24, 2009)

16 people attended. There were three trainees present, three children, one teenager, and the rest of them were adults. Bible study centered around Ephesians 2.1-10. A lot of emphasis was made on the contrast between "being dead in trespasses and sins" and "given life in Jesus." A lot of personal application was done. Many questions were asked. These people from Guararí are so interested, and so enthusiastic about this activity, that my brother Roberto and I keep being encouraged. This Bible study may become a full fledge Sunday evening service, to relieve us from the crowded conditions on Sunday morning.

Sunday Morning Services (May 24, 2009)

111 people in total attended. These include 76 adults, 16 teenagers, and 19 children. The number includes 16 visitors. The visitors were made up by 13 adults, 1 teenager, and 2 children. 4 visitors were members of other congregations. One lady was one restored and prayed for. One brother came forward and wanted us to thank God for having healed him. Carlos Brenes preached the sermon. Great sermon, about the Thessalonians example, their work of love, labour of faith, and vission of hope. Carlos is self-employed, he owns a small bakery with his brother Olman. He is married and has two young children. Carlos is great for speaking in public, and has great gifts for singing. He is very humble and always open to advice, and he is all the time seeking it. Singing was led by Alberto Astorga, son of late preacher Freddy Astorga. We call him Beto. Beto is very faithful, and he is studying to become an architect.

First Baptism from Sunday evening Bible Studies

Ramón López, Nicaraguan immigrant, was baptized on Sunday after the A.M. Service. Ramón had been invited had been invited by his sister Marlene, a member here. He has been coming to church during the last three months. He accepted Bible Studies around three months ago, so my brother Roberto and I began to go to his home every Sunday evening. Eventually this became the "Sunday Evening Bible Study." Roberto never missed a single Bible Study with Ramón and the people around him. So asked him to perform the baptism, but he said he needed training, so that's me in the picture with Ramón listening to the words from Matthew 28 and Acts 2.

Roberto and Noris Ulate

Roberto Ulate is the head of a family of 7. They have been attending over the last six or seven months. They have been very faithful. Four of them have been baptized. The rest include a three year old girl, and two are studying with us, and considering a decision. Roberto provides great leadership to the North West Bible Study. He is very committed and always very excited about the Lord. He is always reading Bible commentaries online, and actually getting involved in debates with groups that are preaching the so called gospel of prosperity. Roberto is a lawyer who has his own office. He has been a great inspiration to me. Noris, Roberto's wife, has become a very active member of the ladies group. She and Roxana have become great friends, and a positive influence for the ladies of the church. Three of Roberto's children are active members of the Youth Group.

North West Bible Study

Bible Study started at 8:35. This Bible Study group meets in the home of Roberto and Noris Ulate. Three trainees were present: Daniel Delgado, Esteban Delgado, and Luis Montero. Bible Study centered on the subject of the natural revelation of God. Passages covered included, Romans 1.20, Psalms 19.1, 2, Acts 17.24, 25. Participants were able to reflect a lot on the greatness of God. Esteban and Daniel are very well read and their contributions were highly valued. Luis is a great example with his quite way of influencing others.

Thank You Brothers and Sisters at Bammel For Your Encouragement

I have received two encouraging notes from the Bammel church so far. Roxana and I are humbled by God's use of our relationship with you at Bammel to support us and encourage us. Yesterday, when I was walking out of the post office, note in hand, many thoughts of you praying for Roxana and I went through my mind. I also imagined you in a meeting, thinking about what to do to encourage us missionaries, and making a decision about sending such notes. It is just great to know that I am not alone in these efforts. Many lives are being touched by God's Word, and the Bammel church is being used as a tremendous instrument in making it a reality. Thank you for your encouragement.

Midweek Bible Study at the Church Building

We started at 7:30 p.m. A total of 23 people attended the Midweek Bible study. There were 17 adults, 4 teenagers, and 2 children. 21 were members and 2 were visitors. I handed out cards for them to write prayers requests. The Bible study concentrated on Romans 8.18-25. It was no possible to cover all of the material prepared. Basically, the lesson concentrated on the fact that we live in a world that has been cursed by our sin. This creation will be set free from its slavery to corruption. I explained that this refers to Revelation 21.1 and 2 Peter 3.7-13. The redemption of our bodies refers to 1 Corinthians 15.43-53. We reflected upon the fact that this creation was subjected to futility and related it to Genesis 3.17, 18. We talked about the loss of meaning if no there is no belief in God. Then it was time to pray. We divided in two groups —men and ladies. There were 11 prayer requests. The men were given 6, and the women 5. The men were led by Carlos Hernández and the ladies were led by Roxana Chaves. We finished at 8:30 p.m.

Bible Study with Two Who Are Visiting

Two ladies who are visiting the church came home today to have a Bible study. They asked questions about the differences between certain protestant church and the church we go to. I explained that the differences are not as interesting as the characteristics of the model church, which is the original one, the church the New Testament talks about. They asked me if we had some manual that regulated the hair and the dress of the women. I explained that the original church did not have such regulations, that in the first epistle to the Corinthians (11:15), the apostle Paul said that it was more honorable for women to let their hair grow, because instead of veil the hair was given to them. I explained that this apostolic recommendation could not be considered a prohibition for us today, because it is a very particular situation at that time and in that region of the world. The veil for covering the head of women was an item demanded by the society of those times, and that women had to observe, whether they were members of the church or not . Therefore, it is not possible to infer that today God is demanding that women in the church do not cut their hair. Then we studied the subject of the Lord's Super. They explained to me that they are not participating in it because "they do not feel able". We talked about what "feeling able" meant and they explained that they would not do it until they were baptized; so we talked about what was keeping them from being baptized and cleared some doubts.

From Resident Training to Extension Evangelism

By Carlos Ulate

Most churches within the fellowship of churches of Christ in Latin America have not been successful in the development of elders and deacons, and much less in the hiring of a preacher to work fulltime with total support from the local church.

In my opinion, this is the result of using a missionary approach that should be reconsidered. The first missionaries came to Costa Rica almost fifty years ago, and to date, not a single church has elders, and I only know of one that supports its own preacher on a full time basis (Hatillo church of Christ in San José).

In Costa Rica, after the missionaries left at the end of the 1980´s, most churches went under the leadership of locals with support from churches from the States. Many more churches were started, there are almost 50 of them now, but all of them lack the biblical pattern for leadership.
What have we done wrong? I think I learned the lesson in Honduras, where I was a missionary for six years. When I first arrived to Catacamas, Olancho, in 1988, I became the director of the preacher school called Escuela Biblica Honduras. This school was totally under support from the States. It was a two-year program and, when I arrived, there were close to twenty graduates all over Honduras who had already started churches with full time support from the States. They were receiving around 300 dollars each, some more, some less, depending on the US church or the US individual they were getting support from. Some were very able and attracted no only support for themselves, but also funds for the buildings and many other needs.
I was expected to teach and graduate a new group of preachers. After the first two years I was able to get 7 men through the program, for whom my US coworkers had to go fundraising in the States for more support, so that seven new churches could be started, because the support they had as students had to continue for the new students we hoped to recruit for the new generation. Every two years we would have to go through this process. Let’s give this method of mission work the name of Resident Training.

When my sponsors and I began to question what we were doing, we came to the conclusion that were doing something wrong. It didn’t make sense to us that, for a new church to be started, there would have to be a graduate in place, and new support would have to be sought for him. There was also this frame of mind in our graduates: if they started new churches in nearby villages, they felt there was no way the new church could go on its own unless there was more US involvement: more money for fulltime workers, and money for buildings, for benches, for transportation, etc.

The reason why it didn’t make sense to us was this: almost all the churches were incapable of developing its own leadership, starting new churches, supporting their own preacher. In other words they didn’t meet the qualifications of indigenous churches, churches that are self-governing, self-propagating, and self-supporting (as specialists in missions call them). Let’s give this method of mission work the name of Leadership Training Evangelism (LTE, a term coined by Dr. Ed Mattews, ACU).

My coworkers in the States were very kind to send me Dr. Ed Matthews to spend a week with me in Catacamas to analyze this situation. He was very instrumental in helping us to make a transition from Resident Training to LTE. After my second year of work there, we immediately closed the Resident Training program and started to use some of the graduates, still supported by our program, to do extension work. They would go to a village every weekend to hold the Sunday morning service, and they would try to train the locals to help them become the local workers with self-support. During the week, I would spend time with them helping them with further training in Catacamas. I was able to do this for the next couple of years, and soon had to come back to my home country. The work went on with the Escuela Biblica people helping the graduates, however, I am afraid that the results of what happened after that have gone unrecorded.

According to the Resident Training method of mission work, there would not be any natural sustainable long-term growth. Any growth at all would have to be artificial; in other words, the people in the States would have to keep injecting an ever-increasing amount of funds for any growth to be accomplished. When I talk about growth I mean more villages reached, more churches planted.

Regarding local growth some preachers would be very successful converting great numbers of people, but soon this people would find themselves with a US supported preacher controlling everything and little responsibility given to the locals so that they could develop leadership. The development of local leadership would be stifled from the very beginning by the precedent set by the US supported preacher. This is what I call the wrong precedent.
The problem with the wrong precedent at a very critical time, which is the starting of the church is this: When there is significant involvement of U.S. money in the process, for example a building, this sets a precedent, which is very difficult to overcome, the locals will inevitably continue to expect everything to come from brethren in the States, in other words, they become dependent.

Another example of the wrong precedent is the role of the US supported preacher. He is perceived and perceives himself as the local preacher. He is expected to function as the “pulpit minister”, and in the absence of elders, he has to do elder’s work; in the absence of deacons, he has to do deacon’s work. In some cases, he and his family end up controlling everything. The locals depend totally on him for everything. He gets frustrated and blames the locals for not assuming responsibilities. Now, it is important to note that he and his sponsors in the States are totally well meaning throughout the whole process.

To me, there is nothing wrong with him receiving support from the US, there is nothing wrong with him having to function as the local preacher for the first few months or even years. To me, what could be wrong is the missionary approach to the work. Maybe our Bible schools in the US and in Latin America are not preparing them well regarding missionary strategies.

To me, there is a different approach, a sound strategy that could be used. I propose that the US supported preacher or evangelist, look at the apostle Paul, and learn from him, what he did. There are of course enormous differences between his context and ours, but in the main, he was successful because from the very beginning he set the right precedent, he didn’t make the locals dependent on him.

As I see it, this is what the apostle Paul would do if he lived in our time: He would go into a village or town, and he would not worry from the very beginning about the church owning its facilities. He would understand from the very beginning that since there is no church yet, it doesn’t make sense to have a building yet, so he would use the facilities that are already in place: the homes of the families that open their doors to the gospel.

Buildings are important to have a respectable image and to give the church an identity to attract people, however, at this stage this should not be important. He must have patience; if he wants sustainable growth and an indigenous church to be the outcome, he must understand what is really important at this time: the first fruits. The first family or families that open the door can perfectly meet in one location of their own. The apostle Paul would want to concentrate on them. He would want to convert them and then train them. There would be of course others who would be converted later and would be considered first fruits too.

The first fruits are important; because in the absence of elders they are the natural leaders (1 Corinthians 16.15, 16) the rest of the converts should subject themselves too. If the evangelist does this well, he would not be the only one people would subject themselves too, he would be a first fruit too. It would be easier for him to leave and start new works.

At this stage the church is small and doesn’t own its own building, and this should not be an issue yet. When the building becomes an issue, the evangelist would not have to be the only one to worry about it; at this time there would be others to worry with him. Or, he could perfectly tell them that he wishes to move on and start new works, and let them as locals worry about the building. At this time he would have done a good job training them to be preachers and teachers. All his energies would have been concentrated on developing them as people and not on developing and controlling structures such as buildings and organizations. He would have done a good job at training them in doing personal evangelism, which is the best method to save souls. He would have taught many other skills like holding business meetings and making decisions, etc.

Planting new churches would be easier for him, because there would be families in the initial congregation who would live in the places where he wishes to start the process all over again. He would convince the brethren in the first congregation to let these families go. Some of the brethren from the initial congregation would want to accompany the evangelist to learn from him. Eventually, the evangelist could come back as a coach to help the first congregation in the process of appointing elders and hiring their own preacher.

This approach is natural. It does not require raising funds forever in the States for new preachers or for church buildings. It is totally indigenous, in other words, the churches are planted in such a way that they soon become self-sufficient in three important areas: organization, finances and evangelization (they will be self-governing, self-sufficient, and self-propagating). The churches would be taught from the very beginning to be responsible for such endeavors. There will not be precedent of dependence on US funds, which is what has kept many churches in Latin America from becoming self-sufficient.

Walter goes from thinking the worst to thankfulness

This morning, Roxana and I went to see Walter. We were concerned about him because he had just gotten through with a four weeks flebitis episode in his rigt leg, but then his left foot began to show signs of a second episode. Earlier this morning, Walter and I had talked about this, and he was thinking the worst. The doctor was due this morning before our visit, so, when Roxana and I arrived we were there just on time to find out about the doctor's news. The doctor said, "not so"! It is just a little bit of trauma from his sandals! The doctor said his heart sounds strong, his lungs are in great shape, so we will have Walter around for a while. You could tell Myrna was really excited. So we hudled in prayer of thankfulness and thanked the Lord for the news. Walter will be 84 tomorrow, so we brought him a basket of fruit to show him our appreciation.

Bible Study at Doña Lorena's canceled, Elida wants to be baptized

This Bible study had to be canceled. Doña Lorena was not available. She was baby sitting for her son who is a surgeon and was called to perform an emergeny surgery. Roberto and I decided to take the night off to rest. When I was home, Elida called me and she and I had a "Phone Bible Study," because she said she is ready to be baptized. However, she had a lot of questions about her former baptism in a denomination. Finally, she said she wants to be baptized on the Sunday that is closest to her birthday on May, 26. I explained to her that the meaning of baptism implies that you don't have to wait, because it is the actual time of conversion, etc. Now it is up to her when she will be baptized.

Sunday Evening Services (May 10, 2009)

I call it Sunday Evening Services, but it is actually a Bible study. There were 17 people present, made up by 12 adults 2 teenagers and 3 children. This number included 6 visitors —people who are studying with us. The title was Understanding Our Need for Salvation. Participation was great, with people actually asking if they needed to be baptized. The answer of course was yes. They were open to continue to study with us, until a decision can be made. There were four trainees present. They are learning how to do the same thing with other groups later on.

Sunday Morning Services (May 10, 2009)

There were 115 people attending! The following is the composition of the crowd: 89 members and 26 visits. The members were made up by 60 adults, 12 teenagers, and 17 children. The visits were made up by 20 adults, 3 teenagers, and 3 children. Out of the 26 visits, 8 are members from other congregations who may end up placing their membership with us.

The Sunday School crowd was a little lower than the Worship's. However still many people attended. This time I presented a contrast between Eros Love and Agape Love. Participation was high. Lots of comments and nodding of heads as the points were presented. Some of the young couples who are dating were specially interested. The singles did'nt comment much, but I am sure they really profited.

The sermon was delivered by trainee David Alvarado. David happens to be dating my youngest, Rebeca. He did an excellent job. I am not exagerating. He actually overdid me. His presentation was so professional, with Power Point, Pictures, Videos, and Text. He went out of his way to rent a video projector (We decided afterwards that the church will pay for this). One of the videos drove the point home very effectively. The crowded was touched. The title of the presentation was "The Power of the Parents Influence". The text used was Ephesians 6.1-4. David is a second year Business Administration students, who is paying his own way through college. His dad is a cab driver, no a member yet. His mother is a member here. She must have been proud of her son, and Rebeca, my daughter too.

The singing was led by Daniel Delgado, bank teller, single. Daniel demonstrated a special ability with his voice. He motivated the crowd to sing. He used the same equipment David had rented. So it worked out great, because everybody was able to read the words on the screen.

Carlos Hernandez presented the announcements. He was in charge of the last prayer too. His prayer was special in that he thanked the Lord for David's presentation. This is kind of unusual. I encouraged him to continue to do so.

What else? Oh, the contribution: $327.

Business Meeting

This meeting is carried out every second Saturday of the month. From the group of 5 men who are elected to assist in the leadership, only Walter Jones and I were able to make it to the meeting. Thankfully there were two brothers who had been invited to be part of this business meeting: Roberto Ulate and Esteban Delgado. Also, four ladies had asked us to come to the meeting to express their desire to work in different areas such as. Essentially they proposed two areas of work where they feel they would be helpful: visitation and maintenance of the building. We discussed several aspects where we feel we need to mature as a church. We decided that we will teach the church the principles of Acts 6 and will apply them in the election of members who will be able to carry these works.

North West Bible Study

Two of my trainees and I went to teach the North West Bible Study. When we arrived, we found out that the Youth Group was taking the family kids to another home where they would spend the night. Roberto wouldn't be taking the kids to that home and it would be a while before he could be back. So he and I decided to cancel the Bible Study for the first time in about three months.

My two trainees and I ended up spending some time encouraging one another. One of them let us know about all the pressure that has been mounting up on him, due to the very difficult family, work (or the lack of it), and career situations he is going through. We lent an ear to his words of anguish, and then prayed for him.

May be if the Bible Study hadn't been canceled this trainee would not have had the opportunity to be encouraged. But then, there is a question, why should a Bible Study have to be canceled for brethren to receive encouragement?

Baptism and midweek Bible Study at the church building

Milady's co-worker was baptized! I had mentioned Milady in the April report as one of the few members who can and does personal Bible study. Milady asked Roxana and I to give her coworker one last Bible study, then I proceeded to baptize her. She is a call center agent. She lives in Santo Domingo, another town near Heredia, on a secondary road towards San José. We need to pray that in the near future, she and her family will be the seed of the church in that town. According to our philosophy of missions, new churches must be started with first fruits. This lady is the first fruit of Santo Domingo, although right now she is attending the Heredia church.

There were 21 attending the Midweek Bible Study. There were 13 adults, 1 teenager, 3 children, and 4 visits. We covered Romans 8.15-18. Other passages studied were Isaiah 6.1-7, Psalms 32, and 1 John 1.5—2.1 The main point was that we are adopted children of a God who is awesomely holy. We need to understand that God has made it possible for us to be adopted by taking away our sins. However, for us to be cleansed, we need to walk in the light, in other words, to confess that we do sin.

Personal Bible Study

Elida, 23, is a girl who joined the Sunday evening activity two weeks ago. She is the one who wanted further Bible study after the Sunday evening service. We had made plans for her to come Wednesday morning to our house to spend another hour studying God's Word. Elida is a baby sitter, but she had the morning off.

She is interested in having knowledge of the Bible in general, so I helped her with a quick survey of the Old Testament. She had many questions, so I had a hard time staying on the subject. Finally, I gave her a copy of A Survey of the Old Testament, an issue I had translated for Truth for Today a few years back, and asked her to continue studying it.

South West Bible Study

This Bible study is carried out at doña Maritza's. This lady has been coming to church for quite a while. She has two children, Michael who is 12, and Paula, who is 6. My brother Roberto came with Paula, her 3 year old girl. So there were six of us. We started at 8:45 p.m. and finished at 9:35. We studied Romans 1, 2, and 3. I tried to help Maritza understand the need we all have to be made righteous by Jesus' blood. However, for us to really apreciate this righteousness from God, we need to understand the futility of us pretending to earn it. So, a lot of emphasis was made on the fact that those people we consider better than us, are not really better in God's sight. Also, we need to accept that we are not better than those we consider worse than us. It's just like it says at the end of Romans 3.22 and the whole of 3.23: "… there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There is not even one who measures up.

We are helping Maritza with a decision. She says she was baptized in a denomination. We are helping her decide whether her baptism was Scriptural.

Bible Study at Doña Lorena's

Today was the third Bible Study we had with Doña Lorena. This is a neighbour of my brother Roberto, in the Norh East corner of the city. She was contacted in my brother's office one day when church member Myriam Brenes wanted my brother to notarize a sale of some property in downtown Heredia from Doña Lorena.

Doña Lorena was not feeling well today, so we kept it short, it didn't last more than 30 minutes. We studied 2nd Timothy 3.14-17. Concentrated on the idea of what "inspired" means. Then we went on to reflect on the power of God's Word, with support from Hebrews 4.12 and Isaiah 55.11.

Sunday Evening Service

There were 14 people present in the first Sunday Evening Service in years. One was me, the preacher. Four of them were traineess. Four were children. Three were visitors. Two were women who are members. A couple who are visitors couldn't make it because she was not feeling well. The topic covered was from Ephesians 4.11-16, about the importance of being active members of the body to be able to grow until we all reach the full measure of the stature of Christ. One of the visitors, Elida, insisted on me giving her further Bible study. She came with one of the families who are members. I went to their home and gave Elida and the family one more Bible study. She was very interested on different subjects. We only had time for one. She had been a member of a denomination, where one pastor runs the church. She wanted to know about the biblical way of running a church. We studied most of the passages related the subject. When we are about to finish, since the home we were in was next door to the couple where one lady was not feeling, I ended having to take her to the hospital. I took her and her husband to the hospital. She was having an asthma crisis and actually collapsed. Her husband picked her up and put er in my car and we all drove to the hospital. I made sure she was taken care of in the hospital. I ended up getting home two hours later than initially expected.

Sunday Morning Services

A total of 97 people attended services today. There were 57 adults, 14 teenagers, 13 children, and 14 visitors. Two of the visitors were members from another congregation. Three of them are members from Nicaragua who are considering membership in our congregation. The rest are studying with us during the week. The contribution was in the neighbourhood of 329 dollars. Attendance to Sunday School was large.

The Sunday School teacher was Carlos Ulate. We are studying a series from Truth for Today, Let't Get Serious About Love. We began studying today The Greeks Had A Word for It. There was a lot of participation. We concentrated on the word eros. Aboundant explanation was used to give the biblical idea of eros. A lot of single people present. They really needed to hear a positive approach to sexuality. It was aboundantly explained that God is not against it. However, His conditions must be met for eros to be enjoyed. The most important condition to be met is agape.

In the Worhip Service, the singing was led by Olman Brenes, a qualified song leader. Olman has an excellent baritone voice. He is a faithful man of God and family man. When he leads, the church does sing, because he commands a lot of respect. Today we started using the new songbooks. This is a compilation done by Raquel Ulate. The members are being asked to acquire their personal copy at the cost, two dollars.

The Lord's Supper was conducted by Roberto Ulate. Roberto and his whole family are still faithful after being baptized in September, 2008. Roberto did a great job. He is learning very quickly. Joshua, his son, led the Contribution prayer.

The announcements were given by Luis Montero, a young man who is very faithful, recently elected as part of the Youth Group leadership committee. Luis has a natural gift for public speaking. He is presently unemployed, doing odd jobs. We really wished he had the opportunity to get a college education, but he can't because he has to take care of his younger brothers, while his two older brothers work to make a living for the family of five. Their father died threee years ago and their mother married another man who didn't adopt them.

First Saturday of the month.

It was first Saturday of the month. We had the meeting of the ladies in the auditorium and the meeting of the men in the largest classroom. There were 30 women and 20 men attending. Most men were singe adults and teens. There were only four married adults. We had a lively discussion about leading people to Christ, specifically, about How to Bring a person to the decision point of baptism. Key passages covered were John 3.1-6, Mark 16.15, 16, 1st Corinthians 15.1-4, and Romans 6.3, 4. The leaders and trainees of all the midweek groups were present. It was new stuff for all of them. They really needed to learn the connection between the gospel (death, burial, and resurrection) and baptism. There was a lot of participation from most of them. The basic message given was this: When you are teaching a person about baptism, help him or her understand that the salvation achieved by Jesus on the cross 2000 years ago is achieved in the person who is baptized today, because this person is united with Him in the likeness of His death (Romans 6.5).

In the women meeting, the class was taught by Sindy Elizondo, a single woman, who has been a member all her life. Sindy is professional high school counselor. She works for the public education system. Sindy taught a lesson about the three key factors needed for the church to have a successful work in the Lord: Like what you do, Work for the Lord without being told what to do, and Encourage one another. Roxana's report about the quality and creativity of her presentation is glowing. The person in charge of organizing these ladies meetings every first Saturday of the month is Milady Masís.