Craig & Corina Saword
In January we had our seed-sower distribution in El Rosario, where we have been working. We completely canvassed the town with Romans 5:8 Seedsower texts, Vias, calendars, and gospel tracts and saw a good number of those invited, come out to the meetings. Bro Raul helped with the preaching of the gospel and we saw the Lords presence and His hand of blessing in our midst. Yansi's mom, dona Concha, professed to be saved. She had been coming to the meetings for the last four years, with a very strong-willed personality and somewhat mixed up with the occult. On the last night of the meetings, she sat by her unsaved husband and listened very attentively. When the meeting was over, she got up to leave and walked outside by the bus, when my wife went over and put her arm around her and asked what she was waiting for? With that she broke into tears and said, "I want to get saved tonight!" So we went back inside and, after reading many scriptures, we read Isaiah 53:5, "But he was wounded for our transgressions and was bruised for our iniquities." Sitting there sobbing she said, "He took my place, He died for me!" That was the very first time I have ever seen a genuine smile come over her face. We thank the Lord that the message is for whosoever, and He offers complete forgiveness. Her husband (Don Hugo) is the only family member not saved but has continued to come out to the gospel meetings since his wife professed to be saved.
We were in San Miguel for the Easter conference and truly enjoyed the fellowship with the Christians there. We stayed in Bro. Raul's house up on the San Miguel volcano with all the Christians from El Rosario. There were twenty-six, with just one shower, a bathroom, and no running water. There were many hammocks in the corridors and mattresses on the floor. Each night we would get together and Steve led the devotional on what we had learned that day and everybody had to give something they had gleaned from the meetings. San Miguel was very hot, as the rainy season was about to begin but we did cool off each night with a shower, using a cold bucket of water with a plastic dipper. Our theme at the conference was being Servants of God and how sometimes we do just what we have to do, not what we could do for Him!
Towards the end of April we went out to Mizata, with the help of brethren Glen Johnson & Jim Buck, to continue with the construction of some Sunday School rooms. Carlos and Ines have been working with the assembly, on Sundays, for the last couple of years, and have seen the assistance grow from a dozen children to close to one-hundred. The problem they had is that the hall is small and there was not enough room to divide up the different age groups. With the help of the Christians, we welded up the rafters and purlins, covered them with styrofoam insulation and then laid the corrugated tin roofing. On the inside, we set in a drop ceiling, with the fans and lights for each of the three class rooms and mounted two sets of folding doors for the divisions. For the power source we pulled wires through conduit from the main electrical box in the hall, to supply the power for the new building. We also built a retaining wall out of rocks at the back of these new classrooms to detain the dirt from being washed away with the heavy rains we get. We still need to purchase and install the windows and doors, pour the concrete for the floor, lay the ceramic tile, and form the cement sidewalks with a set of stairs down to the main hall. We look to the Lord that He will continue to provide that which is needed to see the project finished. With brother Glen and Jim's help, we were also able to install the folding curtains in Rosario for the divisions of the four classrooms.
In El Rosario there was a man who ran for mayor in the recent elections and won the position of an adviser. He was walking home after work, looking forward to being on the new city counsel, when a boy walked up from behind, who was no older than thirteen, according to the witnesses, pulled a gun at close range and shot him five times. Don Juan Pablo was fifty-nine-years-old and had lived in El Rosario all his life. There has been much turmoil in the town, because most believe it was done because of political opposition.
Presently we have been helping Bro. Carlos find a used engine for his 2003 Nissan Urvan, which is a 15 passenger van with a 3.0 diesel engine. He was driving home, after one of the meetings, when he noticed the temperature in the red zone. He pulled into a little garage where they fixed the radiator, but the real problem was that the engine block had cracked! We look to the Lord to provide for this need and for guidance in locating another used engine for the van.
We plan, in the Lord's will, to travel over to Comayagua, Honduras on July 1st. Bro. Melvin Mendez, born and raised in Honduras and is currently working in New Jersey, has had the exercise and desire that his family also hear the clear gospel message. The family live not far from one of the assemblies but have never shown much interest in attending. We will try to get permission from the local authorities to close the street down in front of their house, which ends in a dead end, set up some folding chairs, the loud speaker equipment, our two roads chart, and have a gospel meeting each night. During the day we plan to do personal visitation in the homes. We would value your prayers for these meetings, that the Lord might work in the hearts of Melvin's family, and that others might come and hear the word. In the Lord's will, we would like to travel north again this summer, as Danny is graduating from college with his A&P license and will be looking for a job. Jeffrey is halfway through his classes, studying to obtain his commercial license and Steven graduates from high school next month and is also looking for a college where he can continue his studies.
Please remember them in prayer that they will seek the Lord's guidance in their lives.
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