Dear Praying Friends,
It is an exciting time to be writing a prayer letter. The Lord has done so much in people’s lives since we last wrote. More people are taking steps to grow in their faith, and God is allowing us to develop various areas of the ministry. On a personal level, our family is very thrilled about some new developments.
In our last letter, we wrote about Marlon Escobar. He was saved in December of last year. Thank you for praying for him. He was baptized two months ago, and is now starting to get more involved in the ministry. Also, his brother Mauricio has been coming to church with his girlfriend Dora. He expressed to us the desire to let God order his life. If the Lord permits Mauricio and Dora, who have two small children, will get married in our church this month. Mauricio also has started discipleship lessons with Steve. Please pray for the continued spiritual growth of these two brothers, and that we would be able to reach more of their family.
About 2 months ago, a young man named Santiago was led to the Lord. He has been studying the discipleship lessons for over a month now, and his spiritual growth has been evident. By God’s grace, Santiago was baptized this past Sunday, and he has expressed a desire to learn how to lead people to Christ. Please pray for his spiritual growth.
It is exciting to see how God is answering prayers in both the men’s and women’s ministries. Every Wednesday evening, the men of the church get together to pray. We thank God that the group of men that get together to pray is steadily growing. This is strengthening the group’s faith since we are seeing answers to prayer on a regular basis. If the Lord permits, it is our desire to start a Bible institute next year, so that these men could be trained further to serve the Lord. Also, Christine has started a Bible study with some of the women of the church. Every first and third Tuesday of every month, Christine teaches the ladies about marriage and motherhood from a Biblical perspective. We pray that the Lord would continue to touch the hearts of the men and women of the church to fulfill God’s will for their lives.
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support. One burden that God has placed on our hearts since the beginning has to do with the development of world missions in El Salvador. God has already used El Salvador in a great way when it comes to world missions. We believe that so much more could be done. With the Lord’s help, we are trying to foster a heart for world missions in our church, and believe God will allow us to eventually train and send missionaries. Currently, we are helping to support nine Salvadoran missionary families on a monthly basis. Some live in El Salvador, and some are in Europe and Asia. We are currently helping to support a Salvadoran Baptist church planter in Romania. There is no doubt in our minds that if we continue to be faithful to the Lord, that He will eventually raise up many more missionary families from El Salvador to different parts of the world. Obviously, your faithful prayers and support are going a long way in making this vision a reality.
Finally, we are thankful to God for giving us a new baby. Christine is two months pregnant. Please pray for us as we prepare for this new addition. Rosa is excited about having a new sibling. Her first reaction to the news was: “Are you serious?” Please pray for our little girl as she started Kindergarten in a Christian school three weeks ago. Caleb is growing, and can pretty much say anything he wants to say. God has kept us healthy over the past few months. May the Lord greatly bless you.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
July Baptism Celebration
The previous post (July prayer letter) mentioned that Marlon would be baptized soon. He was baptized last Sunday.
This is Marlon and Carla's little boy, Anthony, that has kidney failure. Please keep him your prayers. 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
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
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The past month of ministry
We had a visitor this month, he is pictured here with our family. Scott took all of these pictures you are about to see of our ministry over the past month. He took pictures of things that I take for granted, since I see them everyday. I am glad that I get to share these with you.
This sticker is very common to see on front doors. It says "We are missionaries with Christ and Mary." El Salvador is still a very Catholic country.
And here is another proclamation of faithfulness to Mary.
Steve, out soul-winning. Every front door has a "porton" in front of it, which is a door of bars. This door is very important to protect your home from being robbed in a crime-soaked country. It adds a level of security.
In the front of this group, you can see Wiliam and Mareleny. They are some of our faithful members. Wiliam is now discipling another man named Israel.
Juan Carlos, part of our soul winning group from San Miguel, is witnessing to the tortilla lady. In front of her is the big bowl of corn dough that she is frying into corn tortillas. This is probably the most common food here.
Stevito, out soul winning with Uncle Steve. He is a fearless soul winner, and frequently leads more adults to Christ than anyone else in our group.
Our most faithful teenager, Jose Luis. He is also Caleb's best friend :)
The man with his head turned is Israel, who is being discipled by Wiliam.
Our Sunday kids class is rather small, but mighty! These kids have each memorized 10 verses and are getting ready to memorize a second batch of 10 verses. This Sunday we have a party to celebrate their accomplishment.
The lady with the pink shirt is named Tita. She has completed the discipleship lessons, and is now starting to disciple a new convert in the next week with Christine.
A home along the railroad tracks. This property is owned by the government. Since the railroad does not run on these tracks anymore, it has become home to thousands of poor and homeless. They construct homes out of whatever materials they can find.
This is one of those families. Notice the bed springs that the girl has her hand resting on? It is very common to see these acting as a fence around the shacks. This family comes to our church. The children that come are Miguel, Pablo, and Morenita. The mother, pictured in the background, is named Morena.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Missions Conference Pictures
Singing about Missions. This is a view from the side of the main room where the adults meet. We are praying we can find a bigger building in the near future. We are usually over-flowing with people on Saturdays. Our Sunday services are not usually as full.
Monica, Pimpo and Estevito, along with Rosa and Caleb. They are standing outside of our church building (which is actually a house that we rent).
The banner says "Hasta lo ultimo de la tierra" , which means "Unto the uttermost part of the earth" This is about 15 minutes into the service...people were still trickling in. That's how it is here! Everybody is usually in place by the time the preaching starts.
Christine and Steve, with our guest missionary, Luis Castro, and his wife and daughter.
Steve Cerna and Luis Castro, who was a missionary in Mexico for 15 years. He now serves here in El Salvador. Steve learns so much from him, he has so much experience with church planting.
Some of our "bus kids". It took me five tries to get theses boys all smiling and looking at the camera. I made it very silly, acting crazy to get them to look at me...it finally worked. These four boys are the most energetic of all the kids who come. Pablo, Denis, Kevin, and Malaquias.
Monica, Pimpo and Estevito, along with Rosa and Caleb. They are standing outside of our church building (which is actually a house that we rent).
The banner says "Hasta lo ultimo de la tierra" , which means "Unto the uttermost part of the earth" This is about 15 minutes into the service...people were still trickling in. That's how it is here! Everybody is usually in place by the time the preaching starts.
Christine and Steve, with our guest missionary, Luis Castro, and his wife and daughter.
Steve Cerna and Luis Castro, who was a missionary in Mexico for 15 years. He now serves here in El Salvador. Steve learns so much from him, he has so much experience with church planting.
Some of our "bus kids". It took me five tries to get theses boys all smiling and looking at the camera. I made it very silly, acting crazy to get them to look at me...it finally worked. These four boys are the most energetic of all the kids who come. Pablo, Denis, Kevin, and Malaquias.
April Prayer Letter
Dear Praying Friends,
It is a great pleasure to be able to share the many blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us lately. Although we have been tempted to be discouraged, God continues to manifest His love toward us. Over the past few months there were two activities that have really encouraged us, God is opening doors as we go door-knocking, and our family has been strengthened.
Last month, we were able to have our first missions conference. It was the first time Steve taught faith promise to the church members. As a result of the conference, the church has committed to give $70.00 per month to missions. This is a huge blessing considering the current size of the church, and the economic struggles of many of the members. In fact, the church has started supporting its first missionary with $50.00 per month. Please pray that the church would continue to be excited about missions. We are excited about these developments, and have no doubt that God will allow us to eventually take on many more missionaries.
Just last week we had another teen activity. We took the boys of our church to play soccer and to eat dinner. Ten kids showed up for the activity. It is a blessing to see some teens being more faithful. One of our faithful teens (José Luis Alabí) taught Sunday school for two weeks, and is very involved in our door-knocking ministry. Please pray that God would use us to impact the lives of more teens.
We are excited about the door God has opened us through door-knocking. Originally, the goal was to knock on the doors of 25% of the city twice this year. However, after the first three months of the year, things have gone so well that now we will attempt to knock on 90-100% of the doors of the city this year. This is an ambitious task, seeing that there are only about five door-knockers in the church, and it is a city of about 400,000 people. Nevertheless, in God’s strength, we believe that it can be done. Eventually, the experience will lay a good foundation for training workers, and for knocking on all the doors of the city several times per year.
The Lord has blessed our efforts. People have been coming to church from different areas of the city. Just recently we led a young man (Marlon Escobar) to Christ at the door of his home. Shortly after receiving Christ, he quit playing rock music in a band, married the woman he was living with, and started the discipleship course with Steve. He has been coming to church over the past month. Please pray for Marlon as he continues to learn about God, and mature. There is no doubt in our hearts that there are many more Marlons throughout the city, and that God will lead us to them.
Rosa has the same passion for souls as her Daddy. Before going door-knocking with Steve this past week, she announced that she planned on winning four souls for Christ. Rosa isn’t quite fluent in Spanish to do this, but the desire is certainly there. We believe that in a few years, she will be Steve’s favorite soul-winning partner.
Caleb has shown us what a difference there is in raising a boy. He keeps us quite busy pulling him down from tables, chairs, steps, and anything else he can climb. He is not quite as outgoing as Rosa, and prefers to be with his Mommy. That is, unless there is something to climb nearby!
Continue to pray that God gives us His direction in our ministry and our family. We ask you to pray for the developing teen ministry, door-knocking efforts, and for God to lead us to more men like Marlon. We also ask you to pray that our marriage will continue to be strong, and for discernment and wisdom raising Rosa and Caleb.
Yours For Christ,
The Cernas
It is a great pleasure to be able to share the many blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us lately. Although we have been tempted to be discouraged, God continues to manifest His love toward us. Over the past few months there were two activities that have really encouraged us, God is opening doors as we go door-knocking, and our family has been strengthened.
Last month, we were able to have our first missions conference. It was the first time Steve taught faith promise to the church members. As a result of the conference, the church has committed to give $70.00 per month to missions. This is a huge blessing considering the current size of the church, and the economic struggles of many of the members. In fact, the church has started supporting its first missionary with $50.00 per month. Please pray that the church would continue to be excited about missions. We are excited about these developments, and have no doubt that God will allow us to eventually take on many more missionaries.
Just last week we had another teen activity. We took the boys of our church to play soccer and to eat dinner. Ten kids showed up for the activity. It is a blessing to see some teens being more faithful. One of our faithful teens (José Luis Alabí) taught Sunday school for two weeks, and is very involved in our door-knocking ministry. Please pray that God would use us to impact the lives of more teens.
We are excited about the door God has opened us through door-knocking. Originally, the goal was to knock on the doors of 25% of the city twice this year. However, after the first three months of the year, things have gone so well that now we will attempt to knock on 90-100% of the doors of the city this year. This is an ambitious task, seeing that there are only about five door-knockers in the church, and it is a city of about 400,000 people. Nevertheless, in God’s strength, we believe that it can be done. Eventually, the experience will lay a good foundation for training workers, and for knocking on all the doors of the city several times per year.
The Lord has blessed our efforts. People have been coming to church from different areas of the city. Just recently we led a young man (Marlon Escobar) to Christ at the door of his home. Shortly after receiving Christ, he quit playing rock music in a band, married the woman he was living with, and started the discipleship course with Steve. He has been coming to church over the past month. Please pray for Marlon as he continues to learn about God, and mature. There is no doubt in our hearts that there are many more Marlons throughout the city, and that God will lead us to them.
Rosa has the same passion for souls as her Daddy. Before going door-knocking with Steve this past week, she announced that she planned on winning four souls for Christ. Rosa isn’t quite fluent in Spanish to do this, but the desire is certainly there. We believe that in a few years, she will be Steve’s favorite soul-winning partner.
Caleb has shown us what a difference there is in raising a boy. He keeps us quite busy pulling him down from tables, chairs, steps, and anything else he can climb. He is not quite as outgoing as Rosa, and prefers to be with his Mommy. That is, unless there is something to climb nearby!
Continue to pray that God gives us His direction in our ministry and our family. We ask you to pray for the developing teen ministry, door-knocking efforts, and for God to lead us to more men like Marlon. We also ask you to pray that our marriage will continue to be strong, and for discernment and wisdom raising Rosa and Caleb.
Yours For Christ,
The Cernas
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