Monday, October 11, 2010

Patience and Persevering

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. James 5: 7, 8

Hello everyone,
We hope all is well with you and your families. I am so excited to write this update to you because of all the new things the Lord has been doing here. As some of you already know Chelly’s sister and husband, Darwin, have come to join the work here in Costa Rica! Annie arrived here in the first part of July and later her husband joined her in the first part of September. They came from Peru after helping another church plant there. It has been awesome to have Darwin and Annie here to help with the “tilling of the ground.” Darwin has a huge heart to evangelize (not just a heart but a gift), and Annie has been playing worship for the church. We cannot fully express the joy that we have by having them here! Also while they have been here Darwin and Annie have had their first baby! They had a little girl named Mery Angelica Torres on the 18th of September.
It is so nice to have family close by.
Here are a few great things that have happened in the last few months:
• Joel, the 16 yr old that I have been teaching, is doing great and continuing to grow closer to his Savior. Right now he is learning how to study the Bible the Inductively. He loves it and is learning a lot in Scripture. He has also been going out on his own to share his faith, even when I am not around!
• 2 weeks ago we started Sunday morning services!! We are going through Genesis right now and will continue to move through the Old Testament unless the Lord gives us another direction He wants to go.
• We have a new couple that has been joining us for the last few weeks. Please be praying for these two, they have a long way to go in their marriage.
• Soña and Carlos are doing great! They just had a new granddaughter this last week. Their other daughter, Yenri, is getting married in January.
• We are almost done going through Acts in our Wednesday studies, only three more chapters and then on to Romans. It has been great to see Soña, Carlos, Yendri, and Camila grow in their faith and understanding about the beginning of the church.
We are so excited to see what the Lord is going to be doing in the next few months! We have 4 guys coming down from the States to help us for a whole year; we are super excited about this! We think that the next year is going to explode with fruit. We are so excited and can’t wait to see what the Lord has for the people here.
Some things that you can be praying for:
• Darwin, Joel and I are going to be going into town weekly to share Jesus with the people. We really need prayer that the Holy Spirit over flow us for this work.
• Darwin and I would like to get a men’s study going on Tuesday nights. We plan on renting a synthetic, indoor field to play soccer on. We want to have a 45-60 min study with the guys before we play.
• In January, with the help of the 4 guys coming down, we hope to get a youth group going on Friday nights. Pray for the youth here, Darwin and Annie were walking in the park one evening observing the youth. They watched as many of the youth smoked pot and crack. These kids have nothing to do here in the night or on the weekends.
• That Annie and Darwin will get their Costa Rican Residency.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for praying for us. Please don’t forget your call where you are and be encouraged to continue on in the strength of the Lord.
In our Savior,
Schockey Family