End of the Year Dinner

We planned a dinner to celebrate the end of the year. For the past two years, a sister church of ours has planned the dinner, prepared the food, and served our church. They have done so much for us, helping us to get started. But this year, we decided to plan everything and do all of the work ourselves. Almost every person in this picture cooked, served, decorated, and/or cleaned up afterwards. We served over 130 people, many of which were visitors. This was our big evangelistic push, and our people were eager to help make this happen. It was very encouraging for us. We watched as plans had to be changed and people had to be flexible when a bigger crowd came than we expected. Everyone maintained a sweet spirit and servant's heart. We were amazed to see how well everyone worked together.

December Baptisms

Hermana Julia is 86 years old, and insisted she be baptized before she goes to Heaven. It was a big blessing to see her obedient heart. Steve led her to the Lord about 2 years ago. Before that, when you visited her house, you would see all of the Catholic icons in her home. After salvation, she got rid of them.

This is Wilfredo, who was brought to church by his friend Santiago. Both men are in the middle of the discipleship series right now.

This is Hollanda. She was saved about a year ago. She recently completed the discipleship series and faithfully attends our Ladies Bible Study.

Christine led Cristian to the Lord last October and he was very excited to get baptized, following the examples of his parents and older brothers. He is one of those kids that is always ready to answer all of the review questions after a lesson in Sunday School.

Here is Steve with four of the five that were baptized (and Caleb, who decided he should be in the picture too).

Preacher "boys"

Wiliam Cuellar is preaching his first message. This was a very exciting day for us, to see our "preacher boys" behind the pulpit for the first time.

Gustavo also preached for the first time last Sunday. Although he is a soft spoken man, he did an excellent job his first time preaching.

November Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,

We would like to start our letter by thanking you for your prayers. Rosa is thriving in school, and we are amazed at how well her Spanish has developed over the past three months. Although she is half Salvadoran, she definitely stands out at school because of her excellent English, her light skin tone, and her height. She enjoys being called the “new kid” at school.

Caleb had his second birthday last month. Many of you may remember that Caleb was almost born on the same day of our first church service. We had our first service at Misión Bautista Central at 4 in the afternoon, and Christine gave birth to Caleb a little after midnight. October is a special month for our family and our ministry.

Christine’s pregnancy is going very smoothly. We ask you to pray for the birth of our third baby in early April of next year. The baby will be born here in El Salvador. Obviously, the experience is very different from the States. Christine knows what to expect this time around, since Caleb was born here also. Please pray for a healthy baby, and for Christine.

Since we just celebrated the two year anniversary of the church, we have been reminiscing over the first two years. We are so grateful for all the new people God has brought to our church, and for the strong foundation that is being laid through discipleship and other teaching. Our Ladies Bible study has been in session for three months now. We started with three faithful ladies. Now, we have six ladies coming. We are excited about the growth, the sweet spirit the ladies have, and for their eagerness to learn. Please pray for Christine as she studies and prepares lessons to share with them.

The men have a prayer service each Wednesday. The attendance to that meeting has more than doubled, as has the attendance to Saturday Soul-winning. We have some good faithful men that are starting to learn to preach in the month of November. Please pray for Wiliam and Gustavo as they begin to write sermons. Pray that they will always rely on God to share His Word with others.

We have been sharing the story of Marlon Escobar with you. His brother Mauricio has been saved and baptized, as has his girlfriend Dora. We are excited to tell you that they got married. Steve was one of the witnesses to the ceremony on Friday, October 22. Mauricio is excited to start serving in the church any way now that he is married. Marlon´s wife, Carla, has begun discipleship lessons with Christine. We are very happy about this because it has taken her about three months to finally make this decision. She also attended her first Ladies Bible Study this week. We are thrilled with the way God is working in this family.

Still speaking of the Escobar Family, we have more good news to share. Marlon and Mauricio’s father accepted Christ as his Savior last Saturday. This was certainly a result of the change he has seen in his son’s lives. He has also begun the discipleship lessons. Out of seven adults that live in that home, we have reached and are discipling five of them. Praise God for his power to change lives. Please continue to keep the Escobar family in your prayers. Pray that they will continue to grow spiritually.

We thank you again for your prayers and faithful support. Have a wonderful Christmas.

Yours in Christ,
The Cernas

Mauricio and Dora's Wedding Day!

This is Mauricio's mom, Mauricio, and Dora, on the day of their wedding. They are waiting outside of the courthouse.

Here is Steve with Mauricio and Marlon. Steve found Marlon while door-knocking last December. Since then, almost all of his family has come to know Christ as Savior.

Steve, Mauricio, Dora, and Dora's friend, Vanessa. Steve and Vanessa were the witnesses.

Dora, signing the certificate.

Happily Married! Pray as we help teach this young couple (he's 24, she's 20) learn how to trust in God for a happy marriage. Pray for their two young children also, named Natali and Esteven.

King David is crowned

My sister sends me craft supplies every once in a while. She happened to send very fancy "jewels" recently, which turned out to be perfect for making crowns when we studied about David becoming king. I can't tell you how excited the kids were to make these crowns. If anyone wants to send us something, some craft supplies are always a good idea!

This is Nati, Dora and Mauricio's oldest child.

This is Michele, Marlon's oldest.

This is Cristian, the son of one of our most faithful families, the Cuellars.

Mauricio and Dora

This is Mauricio, and his girlfriend Dora. For those of you that have been following our prayer letters, you will be happy to know that this is Marlon's brother! Marlon has had such a changed life, that his brother has positively been affected.
They were baptized two weeks ago. We are excited that they are getting married within the next few weeks, and are faithfully bringing their children to church. They really want to do what is right and we are enjoying teaching them what we can.
Christine is discipling Dora, and they have completed 7 lessons so far. Steve has completed 6 lessons so far with Mauricio.