May 2009 Weekend Trip, 5/21-5/25

This is what Armando sent out, so I just copied and pasted it here...

Presenting the Gospel at 30,000 feet
Guillermo and I were supposed to leave at around 9:40 AM, but American Airlines had canceled the flight and we ended up on another flight and sat separately. Next to me was this gentleman in his 50s, ponytail, boots and hat, he said he was  going to Mexico for his Mother’s funeral. As we continued to chat he mentions how sad and depressed he had been after he heard of his mother’s death. You could tell his heart was heavy, but I told him he looked very composed. He said he was getting ready because he knew that he had to confront one of his brothers, whom he doesn’t have a good relationship with, and he mentioned he was getting ready in case the confrontation got physical. During our talk he actually mentioned something about God and even mentioned something he had read in the Bible. I had been praying as we were talking to have an opportunity to present to this man the gospel and the moment the conversation turned to spiritual things I presented the gospel and at the end I asked him if he had any objections about trusting Christ as Savior and Lord and right then and there at around 30,000 feet he said “I don’t have any objections” and he trusted Christ as his Savior; I then prayed for his situation, his family and his safety.
 
Arrival and my grandmother
We arrived Thursday night in Guanajuato and I went to see my grandmother. I had a chance to once again pray with her and talk to her about God and salvation. Thanks to God and all of you who prayed, she is doing much better, she began to eat again and gained some strength. I spoke with her again this morning after we arrived in Dallas and her spirits are high. She told me how much she loves me, which felt really good because she seldom mentioned that before and for those of you who don’t know, she raised me as a little boy and I do actually call her mother.
 
Friday Conference in Acambaro Church
On Friday, Guillermo and I presented 7 principles (from Josh McDowell’s Belief Matters) on how to build a healthy relationship with our kids, over 30 people in attendance. We talked about unconditional acceptance, appreciation, affection, availability, accountability, etc., and gave part of our testimonies. We had no idea that people would react so positively to the presentation. A lot of people shed tears, I guess God touched a few hearts there. This area of Mexico is known for a lot of broken families, single mothers, lack of affection; we can see families love each other, but affection and I love you's are not a norm. One lady in particular was crying so much that the Pastor and his wife had to console her; later on she came to us and said, "thank you for showing me this, I have never ever told any of my kids that I love them, I need to go home to call each of the!!" The lady was over 50 years old.
 
Saturday Evantell Seminar
On Saturday, we presented a seminar to a congregation, two pastors and several church leaders on personal evangelism, how to present the Gospel clear and simple from the Evantell Organization. One of the pastors was actually shocked to hear what we had to say about the gospel and the way to present it from the Bible. He was particularly upset when we explained that in order to be saved we have to Trust, believe in, have faith in Christ alone for salvation, he was upset because that is not the way he presents the gospel, or … teaches it. He happens to teach the class on evangelism at a Bible Institute.  Guillermo and I explained the meaning of the word “believe” using a digital Strongs Dictionary on our laptop, which we left with him as a donation. After the class he came to us and said, "I need to teach this course in my Bible Institute!" We will be training him in July so he can actually teach this class himself.
 
Sunday presentations on 3 hours of sleep.
On Sunday we had 3 more presentations in the City of Irapuato about 2 hours away from the first city we went to. We again presented the 7 Principles in the morning to about 60 people. In the afternoon we did a presentation about the Center for Church Based Training founded by Dr. Gene Getz which helps local churches bring people to maturity and leadership. Later on, we taught a seminar on personal evangelism on how to present the gospel to children from the Evantell organization.

There are a lot more details about this trip. These are just some highlights. There is movement in those small churches...God is being glorified and as such, Satan is working hard to cause disunity in each of the churches, so please continue to pray. Thank you!!