I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last blogged. A lot has happened since then.
We went to our first church where we held the "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" drama. The name of the church is Centro Cristiano de Adoración (Christian Worship Center). Pastor Prudencio Rodriguez and the church family are a very welcoming and friendly church. Above are some pictures from the drama.
The first picture is of the front of the church before setting up for the drama. The next one is Kaylee showing off the first sheet of Mylar before we set it up. The next one is the first and second sheet of Mylar going up to cover the high wall in front and to the left. The next picture is Chariti working hard at moving the cross where it needs to be. Then, you see Chaz with his new friend Alé. Then next one shows the front of the church during the first night of the drama. You can see the entrance into heaven and the angels and Jesus. The next one is of our Satan, Ivan. He did a really good job portraying Satan and ordering the demons to drag people off to "hell." The next picture shows the area for 'el infierno' or hell (you have to look at it side ways to get the full effect). The next one is of me giving the altar call (Yes, I still need to use notes to remind myself of how to say some things correctly in Spanish). The last picture is from the first night's altar call.
I must say that I am so proud of my family. My wife, Sherry, worked tirelessly decorating, setting up, running the sound, lights, and video, and doing so much more. Chariti was in charge of all the props and costumes. I never even had to think about either of these the entire weekend. She did an amazing job. Chaz' job was to run up on stage in between scenes and get all the props off the stage and put other ones on for the next scene. Again, I never even noticed him doing it. He did well. Kaylee ran the spotlight. She was always on time and knew when to turn it on and off. They all worked just as long and hard as we did at setting everything up, taping wires down, putting up Mylar, decorating the front, running wires, plugging things in, and general running errands and cleaning up. I must say that I received many comments from church members and the pastoral staff about how hard our children worked this past weekend. Everything they did was worth it, and they played a huge part in seeing people come to know the Lord.
I am also grateful to God for His mercy and His help. We were able to witness 50 in the altar the first night with 31 signing cards saying they accepted Christ, 30 the second night with 21 signing cards, and 80 the third night with 31 signing cards. Now, many of the people in the altars left without signing cards. I tried to explain, in my limited Spanish, that they were not joining the church by filling out the cards, but I think it scared a lot of them off. It is something that CCA, the church, wanted to do. Also, it is a way to follow up and help disciple people after they accept Christ. So, for sure, we saw 83 new brothers and sisters, but it could have been as high as 150 or more souls. God knows for sure, but we are hearing many reports of changed lives. On the first night, we saw four young Catholic members come to receive Jesus as their personal Savior. They all told us that they loved God, but they never really knew what Jesus had done for them until they saw this drama.
I will leave you with this one story. One of our actresses is the widow of a very famous Paraguayan actor. I still can't spell his name. So, I won't try. She was not a Christian, but before the first night, I asked all the cast members who wanted to accept Christ to raise their hands. She did, and she is now our sister. That is not the end of the story. She invited her children to the drama. The first night, her son, also an actor (TV and movie), and his family came to the altar and all accepted Christ. The second night, one of her daughters and her family all came and accepted Christ. The last night, the rest of her children came, with their families, and they all accepted Christ as their personal Savior. You should have seen the tears of joy that this special lady had after the third night. She told me that she is happier than she has ever been because she knows that her entire family are now Christians.
The weekend was difficult. We had many problems with lights, video, sound, and most of the equipment. It never went as smoothly as we wanted it to go. But it was all worth it! For me, it would have been worth all the work just to see this widow, mother, and grandmother see her entire family come to Jesus. Our God is bigger than any difficulty, any language barrier, and any thing that tries to get in our way to spread the message of Jesus Christ. Thank you to all who have been praying for us and supporting our family as we serve Him in Paraguay. Your faithfulness has seen many people come to know the Lord.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Blessings,
Charley
