July Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,

We greet you from soggy El Salvador. We are in the middle of rainy season as we write to you. The upside of rainy season is the cooler weather we get to enjoy. The downside is that everything stays wet! Everything from our laundry, to our church that does not have a roof over the entire building! But we are also grateful that we are in the city, where the main roads are paved and we can still get around fairly well.

Last Monday, we invited Marlon Escobar and his family to our house for dinner. You may remember Marlon from our last prayer letter. His wife, Carla, was saved a few months back through another ministry in the capitol city. They have two children, Jamy and Anthony. Their little boy Anthony is two years old. He suffers from kidney failure and has had serious health struggles throughout his little life. While this is very sad, we are grateful that this trial is what God has used to bring this family to Him. Please pray for the health of Anthony Escobar.

We had a very nice time at our dinner. We talked about the struggles and joys of parenting, and we also shared testimonies. It looks like Carla will begin discipleship with Christine in the near future, while Marlon just finished the course and is now learning how to soul-win. Our prayer request is that this family will grow in the things of God and see His hand in their lives.

This story gets even better! Marlon and Carla live with many family members, as is quite normal in El Salvador. Besides Marlon’s family, Marlon’s brother has a wife and two children that live under the same roof. Also, Marlon’s parents share the same house. We have the opportunity to minister to this entire family. We are grateful that three other family members have come to church on different occasions. Please pray for us as we try to reach the rest of Marlon’s family.

We wanted to share with you that we had another Youth Activity a few weeks ago. It went well, and we ask you to continue to pray for us as we try to reach the teenagers of El Salvador. There are so many things pulling teenagers away from God, that it is not an easy ministry. But we will not give up, being fueled by your prayers and God’s power.

We are planning another baptismal service in the next few weeks, and we are praying that we will see Marlon get baptized. Also, a lady named Holanda has the need to get baptized. Christine is discipling her and spoke with her about baptism. She feels she “needs more time” and did not want to get baptized last time she had the opportunity. We ask you to pray that Marlon and Holanda will see the need to be baptized. We hope that in our next prayer letter, we can tell you that they have both been baptized!

Thank you again for your prayers for us. Thank you for praying for the people we are ministering to. Please uplift the Escobar family in prayer, and pray for their son’s health. Continue to pray for our Youth Group, that God will give us wisdom in ministering to the teens. Also pray for our upcoming baptismal service, that recent converts will take the next step in their spiritual walk. And as always, please uplift our family in prayer. Please pray God will keep all four of us strong, physically and spiritually.

The Cerna Family