A lesson from the field

Roxana and I just started studying the Bible with a new couple in San Rafael de Heredia. They are Guillermo and Susy. He is a waiter in Heredia, and she has a part time job at a supermarket. They have three college age children and struggling to get these children through college. They used to be neighbors of Carlos and Mery Brenes, who are leaders of the Heredia church. So they knew Carlos, his wife, mother and children, who are all faithful members too.  Guillermo tells me that he had not been interested in Christianity because of the bad testimony he has always seen in co-workers and other associates who claimed to be Christians. But, when he began to know Carlos and Mery and their testimony, he became receptive to God's word! Eventually Carlos referred Guillermo to me, and after a few days of exchanging phone calls with Guillermo, trying to set up a place and time, we were finally able to go to his home and start formal Bible studies. This is an answered prayer, because, as you know, Costa Rican people are a lot like people in developed countries. They feel so self-sufficient that they end up not feeling a need for God. We are excited about this new development, and we beg your prayers for us, so that we will be faithful to God's charge as He has sent us to this home.

So, what's the lesson? People may not be receptive, but this is not an unchangeable condition. People actually change when we, as true Christians, reach out to them and allow them to get to know us so that they can get convinced about how real the Lord is, and what a blessing it really is to become a member of the body of Christ. Let us not give up on reaching out to the lost. We will eventually reap a plentiful harvest for God's glory. People do need the Good News. They really need salvation, because family, marriage and personal lives are under attack.