Ruth

Two weeks ago we were proud to be a part of a mission team that came from Texas to minister here in Gracias. The team consisted of 10 members. The vision was to split the team up for the first part of the week. One part of the team stayed in Gracias at the hotel and hosted a Sunday School Training Conference for the pastors and church leaders. There were over 40 in attendance for the 2 ½ day conference. The second part of the team slit into pairs and went to three villages. The vision was to make house visits, invite families to church, and if possible share the Gospel.  I was teamed up Bert and George. We were sent to a village near the radio station called La Puerta.

We stopped at the first house in the village and had a great visit with the family. As we were walking to the next house we noticed two young people working in a field of corn. The corn harvest for most people ended about a month ago. All the corn crops were wilted and brown. I walked to the edge of the gate hoping the two workers would see me and come over to us, but they just kept working. So we decided to walk through the field and talk with them. As we got closer we announced ourselves making sure they knew we were coming with good intentions. Bert began to visit with the two workers and asked if they knew what happened after death. He talked with them for a while and then turned to me and said he was not sure where to go from here. So I said, “Lets share the Gospel”. So I began to share the message of Jesus with the two workers and after we talked a little longer they both indicated they wanted to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.

After we prayed with the couple and visited a little while longer I realized we had been so distracted that we failed to ask their names. The young man said his name as Naphtali. I asked the young women what her name was and she said Ruth. I started laughing. How amazing is God! The Ruth of Honduras was gleaning corn from the fields to help support her family, just like the Ruth of the Old Testament was gleaning grain for her family.

The rest of the week was amazing.  The team was part of a three day revival in six villages. Overall 23 people accepted Christ, 7 reconciled with God, and 1 man was called to start a church in another village. There was also two house churches started over the course of the week.

When we get discouraged about living here or do not see the progress we would like, it is stories like this that we can look at and know that God is at work here and is using us in the process.   We are so thankful for the times that we clearly see Him.

-Shannon