April Prayer Letter

 

Dear praying friends,

 

The month of April begins the hottest season of the year. Today, the high is 99 degrees. This temperature will stay consistent until around October. But don’t feel bad for us; we don’t usually mind the heat. God has placed us in the right country. We would have suffered in an icy cold country!  We have had some exciting events take place at our church. We would like to share these with you and ask you to continue to pray as we serve the Lord in El Salvador.

 

In March, our dear friend Luis Castro passed on to Heaven. While we are sad for the loss of an insightful, experienced mentor, we are happy that he is no longer in pain. Please continue to pray for Aracely, his widow.  We thought a lot of Luis Castro as we held our Missions Conference. He preached for our first Conference four years ago.  Thankfully, the church is continuing its burden for missions, as they have committed to give more than last year.

 

By God’s grace, it looks like we are making strides with soul-winning. This month of April we have seen more decisions to receive Christ than the last three months combined.  Steve led a man (Roberto) to Christ who is now being discipled by one of the faithful members of the church.  Steve has also started to disciple a man (Francisco) that he led to Christ a few weeks ago.  Please pray for us as we follow-up on these converts, and that we could see more fruit that remains from this door-knocking ministry. 

 

The Bible institute concluded its second official quarter at the end of March.  We thank the Lord that three men were able to finish the two courses (Personal Evangelism and Local Church Philosophy).  At the beginning of this new quarter there are five men registered to take the next two courses (Book of Acts and Bible Doctrines).  Please pray that these men would continue to be interested in learning the Bible, that God eventually will bring in many more men to be trained, and that Steve would have the necessary wisdom to develop and teach the courses.  As Paul told Titus to “ordain elders in every city (Titus 1:5),” it is our prayer that God uses us to ordain preachers (start churches) in every major city of El Salvador.    

 

A few months ago, we mentioned that for one reason or another, we had lost all of our children’s workers. We are grateful to report that now we have gained a teacher and one helper. Please pray for us as we develop new workers. It looks as if we have two more potential workers in the near future. This is a huge need and we are glad that it looks like it is being filled.

 

The new helper that we mentioned is our own daughter, Rosa. She is helping with a combined nursery/preschool class. She makes sure the children say “please” before they receive their snack. It is also fun to watch her as she sings the children’s songs and motivates them to participate in the action songs. We are sure that one day, she will be an excellent children’s ministry worker. She is getting a lot of experience at a young age. Our boys are doing well. We celebrated Joshua’s second birthday last week and are getting ready to put Caleb in school. They are healthy and doing well. It is a constant challenge to raise them properly, and we ask you to pray for us in this area.

 

Thanks you for your prayers and faithful support.

The Cernas

Baby Shower Sunday Afternoon

In the past two weeks, we've had a wedding (pictures to come) and a baby shower. Between rehearsals and extra cleaning and planning and cooking...whew! It has been a busy two weeks. Now we have a little time to recover before we start planning our Missions Conference (end of March).  Since I was the hostess, I had little time for pictures. But I couldn't resist grabbing my camera for the "Daddy Diaper Game". I've never heard those ladies laugh so hard at my husband (Steve) and the father of the new baby (Elton). Let's just say that we were all glad those were plastic baby dolls and not live babies!                -Christine

February Prayer Letter

                                                                                                                                         February 2013

 

Dear Praying Friends,

             Although this opportunity is year-round, the New Year brings us the desire to do better in all areas of life.  In particular, we are working to improve our effectiveness in ministry and family life. We would like to share these with you this month, along with a little bit of news about some Salvadorans we care about and ask you to pray for.

            The New Year brought a new cycle of Bible Institute courses.  Steve has been busily translating materials, forming the core classes that he will use for years to come. We thank God it has been a good start to the new quarter.  After class one night, one of the men blurted out, “If I keep coming to these classes, I am going to start being wise!”  We ask you to pray for that indeed, these men do become wise with Godly wisdom.

            We are planning our Missions Conference for the beginning of March. We will tell you how it went in our next prayer letter.  In the past, we have mentioned a Salvadoran man who was a missionary to Mexico, named Luis Castro.  He is gravely ill and is not expected to live. Although we know he will be much better off in Heaven, we know his family will need your prayers when he does pass on.  Please pray for Aracely, his wife, and Ruth, his daughter.  He has been a huge encouragement to our church and a mentor for Steve. Thank you for remembering his family when you pray for us.

            We are certain that many of you remember the lady whose husband was killed by extortionists over a year ago.  We wanted to share an update on her family.  As you can imagine, the trials were great for this lady.  She had some serious problems in addition to her husband’s death. But she remained faithful, bringing her boys to church, coming to soul-winning visitation, and serving in the church.  God brought another man into her life, and they are preparing their wedding!  This lady told Christine, “There were many times that I did not want to come to church. I had many trials, it was so hard. But God helped me remain faithful. Now I feel he is mercifully blessing me in a great way.” Please continue to pray for her and her three sons that are still home.  This will be a happy time for them, but also a time of transition for her boys.

            As for our family, we would like to share how we have been doing. We have started to have a “Family Meeting” every week in order to be more proactive with our growing children. We discuss how they did that week (in obedience, chores, etc). We praise them for successes and challenge them in areas they need to work on.  Our kids look forward to this time. We make it special with a yummy treat at the end.  We’ve noticed a difference in our oldest children. Please pray for us as we try to find ways to teach them, connect with them, and raise them with Biblical principles.

           Thank you for helping keep us in El Salvador with your prayers and support. We are grateful for each and every one of you!