July 1015 Prayer Letter

July 2015

Dear Praying Friends,

As we reach the half-way point of the year, God keeps reminding us of his presence and guidance in our lives. Even in the midst of some difficulties, we are thankful to report many of the blessings that God has poured on us.  

We would like to start out the letter by asking you to pray for the families of our church. Right now, El Salvador is in the midst of a great problem with gang-related crime. It looks like the gangs have waged war on the government. One of our families, who own a store, was recently threatened by gangs. They were asked to pay them a certain amount of money or suffer the consequences (being killed). It turns out that the gangs would use this money to buy weapons. These types of situations are becoming more increasingly common. Thankfully, our family has not had to deal personally with these gangs but, the way things are going, it is probably only a matter of time. In all of this, we have a great God who protects us and gives us wisdom in difficult times. 

God continues to give us the strength to keep serving, and seeing fruit in the different areas of ministry. Very recently, the men of the Bible institute went door-knocking in one of the neighborhoods near the church. Steve had the great joy of seeing a teenager (Cristian) receive Christ as his Savior. Also, please pray for Luis, Esaú and Ricardo, that they would be even more rooted in Christ. They have recently completed the discipleship course with Steve, and seem excited to serve in the church.  We are thankful to report that three men (Wilfredo, Mauricio, and Gustavo) are in line to graduate from the Bible Institute by the end of the year.  Please pray for them and for the ministry in general, that those that receive Christ would be discipled, that those that are discipled would study in the Bible Institute, and that those that complete the Bible Institute would be used greatly of the Lord.

This past month, Steve´s grandmother, who lived in our city, passed on to eternity. We are glad that she accepted Christ as her Savior a few years back. However, she couldn’t completely let go of her religious traditions. This was reflected in the funeral.  We felt quite uncomfortable at the funeral because of this. But at the moment when things were awkward, suddenly a group of our church ladies showed up to be there for us. It was a huge relief, encouragement, and just what we needed in that moment. When fellow Christians rally around someone in a difficult time, it becomes a bit easier.  We are grateful for the Women´s Ministry in our church, how these ladies have grown in maturity and are willing to help in a time of need.  We have personally benefited from this.

Caleb has had a number of health problems including stomach issues, and strep throat. He had a serious fall off of a set of stairs and landed on his wrist. An X-ray revealed hyper-extended tendons but no broken bones. After realizing the height of his fall and the seeing the concrete he landed on, we are amazed that his injuries were not more severe. Thank you for praying for our families’ health and safety. We felt your prayers and are thankful.

April 2015

                               April 2015

 

Dear praying friends,

It is with great joy that we are writing to you this month, as we have seen the Lord work in extraordinary ways.  God has been faithful in giving the increase, as the congregation of the church keeps growing in maturity and numbers.  This month also marks our 9^th anniversary in this country, and we are thankful for His strength that allows us to keep going even in the midst of difficulty and trials. 

Several weeks ago, a lady (Imelda) and her daughter (Raquel) started coming to the Sunday evening church services.  We recognized them right away because they live close to the church.  About seven years ago, as Steve was door-knocking in the neighborhood, we came in contact with this family.  This is when Roberto (Imelda’s oldest son) received Christ as his Savior.  Soon after, he started the discipleship lessons, and would attend some of the church services.  The rest of the family was not interested in spiritual things.  Nevertheless, we did what we could to help them and show them Christ’s love. They never forgot some of the ways we reached out to them. After some serious difficulties in their lives, they realized their need to receive Christ as Savior. They are now part of our church, seven years after trying to reach them.  The mom and daughter are studying one-on-one discipleship lessons. Roberto is about to start studying again next week. We are grateful to see God bringing forth fruit from seeds planted many years ago!

As we keep planting the seed of God’s Word (5,500 doors knocked and over 400 people witnessed to with the Gospel every three months), please pray that we would be diligent in reaping and being faithful stewards of God’s harvest.

More familiar faces showed up at our church services recently. This time, it was a family that was part of our church over four years ago.  They left our church on friendly terms, but they were looking for something “bigger and better”, and only came to find confusion and disappointment.  They have returned, apologizing for leaving, saying that they wish they would have never left. They are both now studying one-on-one discipleship lessons with us. Please pray for this couple (Esaú and Ruth) as they have been through great trials, and need to understand the importance of resting in the Lord.

Our youngest son, Joshua (4 yrs old) has had a rather rough start to the year health-wise. Since January, he has had chikungunya, rotavirus, chicken pox, and parasites. We are grateful that none of these problems were serious. Please pray that things start improving for our little guy. We took him to the doctor this week, and the doctor says he is doing well right now.  As always, we covet your prayers for our family´s health and well being. Also, please remember to pray for us as parents to have wisdom raising our three children to have sweet spirits and servant´s hearts.

Yours in Christ, The Cernas

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

August 2014 Prayer Letter

August 2014

Dear Praying Friends,

It is with great thankfulness that we write this letter.  In the last couple of months, the Lord has provided us with countless blessings both in the ministry and with our family. Of course we want to share these with you, and mention some critical prayer requests as well.

First of all, we want to thank God for Parkview Baptist Church in Palm Coast, Fl. This church brought a group of teens with them on a mission´s trip. In just one week the group painted a large portion of our church building, had a two-night children’s activity, and a teen activity. Our church is always blessed whenever a group comes from the States. It always gives us the opportunity to see more visitors (as they’re curious to see the Americans) come to church, and to minister to more people.

Over the past few years, it has been a bit of a struggle to get people baptized because of how impractical the pool we have used is. Thankfully, we’ve finally found a solution to this issue. Three weeks ago Steve got together with three other men of our church and they built a baptistery that looks like it will last, for a fairly inexpensive price. It is always a blessing when church members come together to take care a need. As a result, we will be celebrating baptisms at the end of the month. Please pray that Douglas, Herlinda, Wendy, Valeria, Jessica and Berenice will continue to grow and serve the Lord after their baptism.

The church’s evangelistic efforts have remained strong. Right now, our church is averaging about 4,000 tracts distributed per month, and about 200 people hear the gospel by our soul winners each month. A few weeks ago, Steve was knocking on doors about five blocks from our church and a man named William Pacheco received Christ as his Savior. What was particularly special about this profession of faith was that William prayed on his own to receive Christ! Please pray that he would grow in the Lord, and that we will continue to find those that are ready to receive salvation.

Last time, we shared the story of Douglas, the twelve year old with cancer.  When the biopsy results were finally available (they were two weeks late), the doctors told Douglas that he in fact did NOT have cancer!  They are waiting on a few more tests to come in, but it looks like he is going to be fine.  He found out on Wednesday afternoon, and was in church that night to give a testimony of God’s strength through a big trial. Please continue to pray for the spiritual growth of Douglas, his mother Herlinda, and for his brother David. Please pray for the salvation of Douglas´ father, Alberto.

Our family is doing well. The excitement of having a church come visit is a highlight of the year for our kids, so they have been quite happy. We have also been feeling grateful for our health. With so many people sick around us, we know we should not take our health for granted.  Thank you for praying for Steve´s mother. Her cancer treatments are complete.  She will have tests done in the near future to see if the results are favorable.  Please continue to pray for her as she recovers from very strong treatments. Please pray for good news from the doctors.  Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our family and ministry.

January 2015 Prayer Letter

January 2015

Dear praying friends,

                The beginning of the year has brought many blessings both in our family and in the ministry.  We are thankful for what God is doing in the lives of many of the church members and for how He continues to open doors for us to reach others with the Gospel.

                Just two weeks ago, one of the missionaries that our church supports (Rubén Darío González) came to one of our services to preach. He and his family have been serving in Romania for about 20 years.  To the best of anyone’s knowledge, they were the first Latin American Spanish family to serve as Baptist missionaries in Eastern Europe.  It is always a great blessing to see a Salvadoran family being greatly used of God.  My prayer is that the members of our church would be so impacted by God’s call in their lives, that our church will finally send missionaries to the furthest regions of the world. 

                The church Bible institute has started its first quarter of the year, and there are 5 men enrolled.  Please pray for three of these men who will graduate at the end of this year if they pass the remaining course work.  These men are preaching regularly at the church, and we are excited at the prospect of starting another church in this city sometime in the future.  We also ask you to   pray that God would bring more men to the institute, and who will surrender their lives to do what God wants them to do. 

                We are also thankful for how God is allowing us to see people receive Christ.  About 2 months ago, the ex-husband of a lady who had been a member of our church for a few years came to visit for a Wednesday evening service. None of us had ever met him before, and did not know who he was when he came.  While dealing with him after the service, we found out that he had come with the purpose of receiving Christ as his Savior!  Since he received Christ, he has been faithfully attending services, and Steve has started the discipleship course with him.  Please pray for this man (Juan Ricardo Arévalo) and for our church as we are in the process of knocking on 20,000 doors this year.  We praise God that we have already seen 4 professions of faith from these efforts, and we pray that many of these decisions turn out to be disciples for Christ.      

                The school year starts in January here, and our kids were excited to get back and start a new year. Caleb is in preparatory, the equivalent of first grade.  Rosa started fourth grade.  Joshua is homeschooling with Christine. We have found that it is best to give our kids a good base in the English language before we send them to a Spanish speaking school.  Our prayer is that they will have mastery over both languages.  We are amazed at the strides Caleb and Rosa have made in being able to communicate and understand the culture here. Since English is their first language, it makes us laugh when they naturally do something very Salvadoran (a gesture or an expression) without even thinking about it.  Please continue to pray for us as we raise our kids. Thank you for your continued prayers.