The Fields are Ripe, Harvest Time is HERE!

The last 3 weeks have been really amazing. Karina spent her last week here, just about non-stop every day with Dominican friends. I was busy doing estimating work in the daytime, but we spent time every night with Dominicans. Following having 4 visitors from the neighborhood at church with us, we set up a Bible Study for Monday night, Feb. 16 @ Juan Luis and Juana's house. More people showed up than we expected. We took turns reading, mostly passages from John about the character and purpose of Jesus. It went REALLY well. Karina had to leave the next day, but I continued to visit and talk each day with the family from Calle Cuatra. (4th St.) I ate rice, beans and chicken about every day at one house or another. The family is pictured below from the 1st Bible Study. It included 2 brothers, a sister, a mother, both of the brothers' spouses, a niece and a nephew. This pictures shows part of the group...

I continued to meet daily, eating in one home or another, beans, rice and chicken! They knew Karina was gone and so they adopted and fed me! Our conversation often covered topics from the Bible. We also just had great fellowship. Our Monday night Bible study continued the next week, covering more questions that they had, and spending again, most of our time in the Book of John. Then we read through several passages in Acts, including the story in Acts 16 about Paul and Silas in jail in Philippi. The two brothers, Juan Luis and Victor (the guys that have been working in our yard), Juan Luis' spouse Juana and their sister Leonis all wanted to be baptized. We made plans for the next evening, after work, for us to all go to the river. Dave, our neighbor has been reaching out to the brothers since fall of 2007. We spent time with them last year as well, but it really has been God working in their lives over the last few weeks that moved them to this decision. Here we are on the river bank, reading from Romans 6, discussing what we're about to do...

Once in the water, the guys were baptized. Victor is with me, Juan Luis with Dave. "Yo te bautizo en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espirtu Santo, para perdón tus pecados y para recibir el Espiritu Santo."

Then the ladies stepped in.

I baptized Leonis... &

Dave baptized Juana.

This journey had taken these sisters in law and made them sisters in Christ. They were SOOOOOO happy! So were Dave and I!! (I forgot to mention the angels rejoicing as well.)

Then only God could have predicted this. A nearby youth came up and asked us if he could be baptized as well!! The youth minister met with him for awhile, then after more discussion with Dave and I, all in Spanish of course, Dave and I baptized him together.

With God, all things are possible. To top it off, he works 5 days a week, less than a block from the youth minister! They exchanged numbers and he's becoming part of the youth group! Here's the "visible" happy group! (Couldn't get a picture with the angels.)

That day didn't end there. Just as in Acts 16, we ate together, then took in a boxing match. (well the eating together happened in Acts) Here the Dominican lands a good left on the Cuban boxer.

Well, that was last week, this week was more food and fellowship. I had rice and chicken, or rice and rooster every day. Since they fight roosters down here, I joked that we were eating the "gallo perdido", the rooster that lost! Earlier today, I helped out at Juan Luis and Juana's house. They had some sand delivered and used some left over cement from work at my house, to pave the floor in their house. I encouraged Juan Luis to put an address out front so the sand would be delivered...

He's training a plant to provide him some shade. We didn't read about the worm in Job. I don't want him to worry about his plant.

Here's the street view this morning...

It didn't take long to attract spectators...

Inside, Juan Luis, or Topo as they call him, is working to level out the dirt, but also to dig a ditch at the top side there. That's the neighbor's block house, so because the roof doesn't meet and it rains inside, he planned for a trough for water to run out.

Here's the back yard...

Mother and daughter in law were enjoying watching the work.

Victor did the smoothing while Topo did all the mixing.

Juana was coming out of the bathroom after inspecting one of the new lights I mounted. Before today, they only had one bulb on a cord and moved it from one room to another, stretching the cord to the ONE outlet in the house. I installed a triple switch and now they have a bathroom, dining room and kitchen/bedroom light. (the plan is to move the kitchen to a front room later, but for now it's in the bedroom.) Topo and Juana have been together 14 years. Topo is 30 now.

There's more I could write. There's no end to the good that God is doing down here. Lives are changing. Stay tuned for more...

En Cristo,

Ken