Ocotber 2014 Prayer Letter

October 2014

Dear Praying Friends,

It is hard to believe we are already halfway through October. The weather has become cooler here, a nice change of pace for us. When I say cool, I mean the temperature dips to the low 70’s at night.  At this time of year, we begin to reflect on how the year has passed, and we focus on what God has done.

We celebrated our church’s 6-year-anniversary on October 4.  We had a special speaker come, and enjoyed cake as a church family. The Ladies ministry organized a special choir for the celebration.  Some of the ladies said that they wanted to thank God for all He has done, and a great way to do that would be through a song of thanksgiving.  It was a memorable day for all of us.

Developing preachers is something that we have been praying for and working towards since the beginning.  Although it has been a long road with lots of disappointments, we can say that it was worth all of the effort over the past 6 years.  We now have four men who have been trained to preach through the Bible Institute. They take turns preaching every once in a while and we feel that it is a time of excitement in our church.  Our people are catching the vision that God can use anyone for His work.  We have quite an assortment of men that are training in the Bible Institute. Some do not have a High School education; others have a difficult time reading; others have dark pasts.  But through these men, our church sees directly that education and position are not what matters to God.  Steve was invited to preach at a sister church in another city here in El Salvador. He was able to accept the invitation without hesitation, knowing the men could take care of our church service that Sunday. This is a big part of our heart’s burden; please pray for these men to continue developing into what God wants them to be.

In El Salvador, the school year ends October 31.  Our kids are getting excited that there is only a little bit of school left, then they have the equivalent of what is summer break in the States.  They will start a new school year in January.  We are thankful for the opportunity to put our kids in a good school here, it has helped Caleb considerably. In his first year at school, his Spanish has developed at an incredible speed.  He has picked up so much by being immersed in the language.  Rosa is finishing up third grade, the equivalent of fourth grade in the States, and in another year, Joshua will start school.  We are so thankful that, for the most part, our kids fit in with other children here.  Because of their abilities with Spanish, they do not deal with being the “foreigners” around other children. This helps make our job a little bit easier.  Please continue to pray for our kids. As all of you parents know, there are always challenges to raising kids properly.  

Thank you for your prayers for us and our church people. We know that these prayers fuel us to keep going forward. 

Serving Christ in El Salvador,

The Cerna Family