Looking back on the past two weeks, the words of Paul come to mind in Colossians 4:3 praying, that God would open unto us a door, to speak forth Christ! San Francisco, Gotera is located about a 3-hour drive northeast of the capital city of San Salvador, with a population of around 21,000 people. This is the second time we have canvased the city of Gotera with gospel literature. Our first involvement was in January of 2014 where we thanked the Lord for an open ear of the people, towards the gospel message.

We continued with weekly meetings in a rented building since the first out reach.
Our average seed sower day starts at 5:30 with wake up call & cold showers. The devotional starts at 7:00 am, and then breakfast at 8:00 am. The five groups would then go in the busses and vans, and pick up the children from their area for children's meeting. From 10:00-11:30 am was the children class where there was an average of 250 children that came out consecutively on a daily basis. The young people took up the life of Joseph, emphasizing the comparison to the Life of our Lord Jesus! At 12:00 noon was lunchtime, and each seed sower had to learn a consecutive verse each day from James 3: starting at verse 1, before getting in line to get the meal! By the last day, they had learned the first 11 verses about the tongue and its dangers.
From 1:30- 4:45 pm the groups would return to their assigned areas, and we first distributed the John 3:16 texts, when the areas have been fully covered then we continued with the Romans 5:8 text. After covering each house with the two texts, we then continued with the red Spanish Via magazines, and then we finished up the last few days with the 2016 calendars which had with a Bible verse for each month, and the theme was light in the darkness, and Christ being the light of the world! Over the course of two weeks the groups would remain the same each day, and go to the same areas, to help create a closer contact with the people, over the course of the two weeks. There was a total of 60 seed sowers came to help with this effort, mostly nationals, but a few from the north as well! At 4:45 pm we would start to pick up people for the gospel meeting (Danny was wondering if the Ford 12 passenger van was just a suggested capacity from Ford!)
From 5:30 - 7:00 pm was gospel meeting with an average of about 100 unsaved, from the area, which came out each night. Every night someone would stay after the meeting to ask more about the message or ask to have a personal visit in their homes. We give all the praise to him for the good number who confessed Christ as their personal Savior! (Grandpa used to say don't count the fish yet, as there might be some sardines, but ask me a year from now!!) Please pray for the ones that were under the sound of the gospel every night, that the seed that was planted might give fruit in due season. By 9:00 pm back to the house for supper, after everyone was taken back home, and 11:00 pm lights out for the night. Other doors, were also opened for us, as it was the first time, Danny's group was given permission to hand out tracks in the military barracks! There are also two schools in the area and some of the teachers that came out to the gospel meetings, invited us to go to their schools and have Bible lessons with the whole school present. We talked with the directors, and they will set up a weekly meeting to teach the students from first to twelfth grades. We hope this will give you just a glimpse of the work that was done, so you can pray more earnestly for the work in Gotera.
Pray for the tranquility of Gotera, sadly on the last day of our seed sowers our group was a witness on the last day of our seed sowers, when a boy on a motorbike was shot in front of some of the young people, who were walking to our bus, which was waiting to take them to the class. Her parents came a while later to pick her up and take her to the hospital, where the boy had been admitted. We later heard that this girl, Maria Elena was the family with the boy who was shot. While she was at the hospital news spread that the boy had died. When she heard the news, she fainted and then she had to be hospitalized! I guess the Doctors knew her condition as she had been admitted before with this same condition. She had come to most of the meetings of the special series and was convinced, but not converted! After seeing death so close, she decided to accept urgently Gods plan of salvation, professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His finished work on the cross on our her behalf!

Dad had surgery on his left shoulder in early January, due to a torn tendon. After the surgery, his health declined even worse, because of internal haemorrhaging, that the Doctor felt was a result from some of the strong pain medication that he had prescribed. He has had to wear a shoulder brace for a month and a half and now is in therapy every day to try and regain the mobility in his shoulder once again.
Please pray for special gospel meetings in El Rosario with Brother Raul and myself, starting on the 21st of Feb each night for two weeks, Lord willing. Steve, our son, has been working with the young people with a special class for them on Saturdays and has seen some very positive results, with those in their teens enjoying the Bible study on the life of Paul. There have been over 20 attending the class with about 1/3 of them still unsaved! So we look to the Lord that in his mercy we would see them out under the sound of the gospel, and finding rest in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yesterday Brother Antonio Ochoa (one of the national workers) had an accident in San Miguel, with the van he uses in Lord's work. He said a truck was hauling sand and hit him in the left corner of the van, destroying most of the external accessories, hood, grille, lights, bumper and left fender. We were thankful no one was hurt, and the radiator and frame were not harmed. Insurance is expensive and still not compulsory to have, so everyone ends up fending for himself. We will try and get to some of the salvage yards tomorrow to see if we can find enough parts to make it road worthy again!
Prayer requests:
Pray for the owner of the house where we were renting for the seed sowers. He is hospitalized, and the doctors' prognoses are not giving him much hope. His name is Dr. Paz.
Pray for the two neurological disorders that I have been diagnosed with, that they would be retained in its present condition, and not hinder us in our desire to spread the gospel.
Spring 2016
Written by Craig & Corina Saword - EL SALVADOR