Day 5. Wednesday, March 16th, 2011. Today was a very eventful day. Today was the last day of work here in Coban. We wrapped up our series on the Armor of God and did more door knocking and Bible studies.
Day 5. Today we did a variety of things. The first thing we did was visit a member of the church who unfortunately had been unfaithful. When we arrived at her house, only her son of 15 was home. Byron and brother Darvin spoke to him for a good while showing him what I would call tough love in an attempt to spur him on in his faith and get him involved in the church again.
We also paid a visit to some contacts brother Darvin had. There was a woman who had a sick daughter and another man who worked for a major food company who had a sick wife. We offered prayers and scriptures of comfort to these two people. After this, we had lunch at brother Darvin's home and began some more door knocking. This is when it got interesting and the pace was picked up.
On one block alone, we knocked several doors. When me, Jared, and brother Darvin we met a man who went to a local Pentecostal church called "Puerta de las Ovejas" or "Door of the sheep." The conversation started because we invited him to our series on the armor of God and the question came up what church we were affiliated with. After this, a theological discussion got started. Not because of different churches but it came down to the guy believing what he had been told without verifying it with the Scriptures. Most of the problem which caused the debate was because he refused to look at the Bible and the authority of the Bible. Things did not go well here. We wrapped up that block and went on to pick up some tea that we all wanted.
The last event of the afternoon was when brother Darvin had me lead a study with his sister about the gospel message. Jordan, Jared, and Tony were also present and they helped read some Scriptures. I pray more comes of this study I had with brother Darvin's sister. After this, we went back to the house and got ready for the evening activities.
Tonight was great! Jordan delivered an excellent concluding sermon on the sword of the Spirit as being the only piece of the armor we use to attack and not for defense. Byron did the translating for Jordan. It was after the closing prayer that I think it sank in for all of us, we would be saying goodbye to these people that we have fallen in love with. Brother Darvin and his family (all pictured above)
This whole campaign has been quite an amazing experience. We are taking these next few days off until Sunday where Jared and Tony have to handle the Teen and Adult Bible classes and me and Jordan have to do the morning and evening sermons. These next couple of R & R days will be spent preparing for that. However, we do have plans to go somewhere with brother Darvin tomorrow. Return to Guatemala City Friday and spend Saturday touring Guatemala city concluding with dinner at a member of the Guatemala congregation's (Linda Vista) home Saturday night.
We are definitely going to miss Coban and the congregation here. We have fallen in love with this place and with the people we have met. This has been quite a unique campaign getting to be immersed into another culture and I could honestly not have asked for a better group of guys to have come up here with who are seeking to do the Lord's work however they can. THANKS JARED, TONY, AND JORDAN!! But Brother Darvin, his family, and the members of the Coban Church of Christ (Iglesia de Cristo) are what have made this experience so amazing for us.
These people will always hold a special place in our heart, especially the children such as brother Darvin's youngest daughters, Camila and Alyson (On Darvin's lap in the picture). These two girls are bundles of joy and all four of us had so much fun with them. Ale (Pictured top right), Darvin's oldest daughter is probably one of the most polite and caring 13 year old girls I have ever met. She goes out of her way to serve others. She even cleaned up Jared's mess mentioned in my last blog. We teased Jared for that one too saying he made the girl clean up his mess. Still get a kick out of that. But Ale (or Alejandrina) is very mature for her age and actually looks older than she is. Lili (Top Center), Darvin's wife is very much a servant at heart and even helped me and Tony roll our shirt sleeves up in a presentable manner. She also filled our bellies with some great food this week. Daniel (Top left), Darvin's only son is a quiet boy but when you talk to him he is very polite and also willing to help out where he can. And then there is Darvin himself (Seated above). This man loves his family and helping the Lord's church by going out and evangelizing in the community. He was very encouraging to me while I was here and I can safely say I will miss him. Look forward to spending the day with him tomorrow.
As this has gone long enough. My closing thoughts are that Coban is a wonderful place. There is a lot of potential for the gospel to be spread here in this city of 60000 people. I will miss Coban and the church here and I pray I have another opportunity to come back here in the future. Love y'all! Sorry this was kind of long but thanks for reading!!!
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