Picture from our latest drama!

Here are some pictures that I promised to put on our blog from our last drama. The first picture shows as we were beginning to set up for the drama. As you can see, the church isn't very big. It was really tight, but it worked out. They were a great group of people to work with.The next picture shows Kaylee's buddy, Spot;) She does a great job running our spotlight for us. In fact, the whole family does a great job.
Our equipment in the church waiting to be opened and placed where it needs to be. Lots of work still left to do.
Me, trying to figure out how to get the computer, video, and sound working. Sherry and Chaz offering moral support :D
This is a picture from the first practice. I am trying to explain something to the angels and other actors.
Part of the first practice. This is the opening scene as they are beating Jesus (the actor who plays Jesus, not the real Jesus :) and getting ready to crucify him.
Our actor, who played Satan, laughing up at heaven. He did a really great job during the drama. He was focused, kept praying and seeking God, and he wants to do the drama, one day, in our large national soccer stadium.
More of the first practice with Jesus entering with the cross.
The day after the first practice, we began to set up the scenery. Nery and Pastor Francisco are trying to figure out how to hang the mylar.

The first piece going up.

Starting to get everything covered up.

This is how we laid it out before putting it all up.

Sherry and Chariti working on the entrance to heaven. They and Kaylee did such an awesome job decorating the scenery.

Here is how it looked. The finished product. Sherry and Kaylee working on the microphones. We had one broken after one of the actresses decided to throw it down on the concrete, tiled floor. Emotion and excitement got the best of her, I guess.

Taking a break while waiting for the electrician to finish up his work so that I could get the lighting all set up.

Here is the light switches for our drama, here in Paraguay. Our dimmer pack fried during our first drama. So, we had to rig up something new.

The other end of the lighting solution where we plug all of the lights in.

Chaz, taking a break with Vicente, drinking some tereré and chatting.

Sherry all smiles because the sound, video, and lighting are all working. Charit took this behind-the-scenes photo of Satan telling the audience that he hates them. Dramatic, but effective.
Praying before our first or second night of the drama. The prayer time was really amazing. This church knows how to pray. Thus the reason for 120 new believers in God's family.
Sherry painting our devil's face while everyone else is praying.
Praying for the devil :D
From left: Chaz' profile, Nery, & Vicente. Vicente cooked up some ribs for us on Thursday afternoon to thank us for doing the drama at their church. YUMMY!
The first night, old lady scene in heaven.
The reason why we do the drama. This is a picture of the altar call from the third night. I had to climb the steps into heaven so that everyone could fit in the front. It was so awesome to see people weeping before God.

Third Night

I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to God for all He did for us, this weekend. This was the third night for our drama presentation of "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames." The crowd starting arriving around 6:00 p.m. By 6:30, it was full. In a building that can only hold about 80-90 small chairs, 200 people crammed into the small space to watch the drama. This church went all out inviting unsaved people. I couldn't believe the effort that these amazing people went to so that their family and friends would have an opportunity to know Jesus. 

We actually started this one at around 7 p.m. People were still coming, but we started the drama. It went really well. We didn't have any major glitches with the technical side, and everyone did really well. It went really smoothly. I attribute that to the constant prayer by all of the actors, pastors, and lay people of the church. There was always someone in the back room and in the front of the church, praying. It was what really made this drama, successful.

There are so many testimonies to share, but it would take up a lot of space and time. I will be sharing more, later this week, but I am exhausted, tonight. Suffice it to say, for now, that the total of salvations came in at, officially, 120 people. 66 more salvations, tonight. What is amazing is that out of that total, 30 are family members of the cast!!!! Praise God!

Blessings to all,

Charley

Second Night

Tonight was the second of three nights. I am learning that nothing goes as planned here. When we arrived, we set up all the equipment, and everything was working great. The microphones all worked, the lights all worked, sound and video was all working great. I was encouraged to find everything working fine. When prayer time came, I went to the room where all of the cast was supposed to be and found about 10 people there waiting for prayer. I became a little discouraged. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was raining. When it rains in Paraguay, normally noone comes to any type of service. I began to wonder if that meant that the cast wouldn't come, as well.

We were supposed to start the drama at 6:30, again. 7:00 p.m. came around and we were still missing the dad from the Christian family scene, one of our secerataries, a businessman, 2 teens, a drug addict, our satan, our head angel, and 4 or 5 angels. I was beginning to wonder what was going on. How could I question what God was doing? At around 7:15, a group of about 20 people showed up, filling up the rest of the space in the auditorium. They were all friends of our devil. Every last one of them were unbelievers! He had invited them from his neighborhood. God knew that if we started at 6:30, they would have missed almost all of the drama. And wouldn't you know that every last one of them came forward to pray to accept Christ as their Savior.

Also, we had a huge crowd, tonight. I think almost every seat was taken. When I first gave the invitation, no one came forward. I inwardly prayed. Talked some more. Gave another invitation, and no one came forward. I prayed some more. Talked a little more, and gave another invitation. One gentleman came forward. I looked him in the eye and told him thank you for coming. Then, it was like a floodgate opened. More than 40 people, in a tiny church that can hold about 80 people, came forward. It was all I could do to keep from crying as I watched this miracle displayed before me. I sure am grateful to God for this opportunity to serve Him. It is so awesome! That makes for a total of 54 salvations in two nights! Can't wait for tomorrow night!

Oh, by the way, another testimony from last night. I told you (or you can read about it) about the police officer who gave his heart to the Lord. Well, I just put it together today that if the microphone would not have been broken by the young lady last night, I would not have walked around the church to tell Sherry that it was broken. Then, I would never have seen the officer crying, and I wouldn't have asked the pastor to go and talk to the officer. Who knows? Maybe he wouldn't have asked Jesus into his heart. Who knew that a broken microphone could be used of God to make sure that someone is given the chance to accept Christ? I promise to look for more "broken microphones" the rest of my life. 

Blessings to all,

Charley

First Night

Tonight was the first night of our latest drama. It was very challenging and amazing. I am always amazed at how God works no matter how much goes wrong. One of our guardian or centurion angels didn't get to the church until 30 minutes after we were supposed to start the drama. The hour to start was 6:30 p.m. We started at 7:30 p.m. In the opening scene, one of our drug addict girls, twisted her leg and had to be carried out by one of the other actors. She still did her scene, and she seemed better after the drama. She got so excited and emotional about being dragged off to hell that she forgot to gently place her microphone on the tile floor. She threw it down, instead, and the microphone didn't work the rest of the night. So, some of the actors had to yell our their parts instead of using a microphone. We are dreaming of some day having the headsets or lapel mikes for the actors. If someone has any spare lapel mikes or headsets, we would love to have them in Paraguay. We will be home for itineration in 2010, and we would love to help you get rid of some old lapel or headset mikes (hint-hint:D). The rest of the drama went well, and the church is really excited. One of the pastors came to me and said that they have never seen anything like this before in their church.

God worked some amazing things. 10 people responded to the altar call. There were only about 30 in attendance. Hey, I just realized, 10 is pretty good. 1/3 of the audience accepted Christ! Awesome! WOW! God really is good! After I sent all of the group back with the cast so that the cast could meet them, pray for them, and help them in their new lives, a young couple came forward and asked me to pray with them. They didn't want to miss heaven, and they wanted to accept Christ. I prayed with them and sent them back to meet the cast and pastors of the church. 

Then, pastor called me over as I was re-setting the mikes, lights, props, etc. to talk with a man. As I got close, I smelled a really strong odor that almost knocked me over. I realized, immediately, that this man was as drunk as a skunk. I think I might have become a little tipsy just from the smell. He began quoting scriptures and talking about what Jesus and Peter did and said. I couldn't understand half of what he said, but he started crying and talking about how he appreciated me so much for coming and doing this drama. He knows that he needs Jesus. I asked him to be honest with me and tell me if he wanted to live for Jesus. He said, "Yes!" So, we prayed together and he asked Jesus into his heart. He talked for several minutes more about MANY different things. Pastor Francisco and I hugged him (getting the remains of vomit transferred to our shirts -oh, the joys of ministry:), and we prayed for him, again. He walked out a little straighter and with a little more of a smile. I am praying that God work a miracle in his life.

Pastor invited us to eat some hot dogs or panchos, as they are known here. They are not quite the same as in the States, but they aren't too bad. As we were eating, Pastor Francisco mentioned that a police man had accepted Christ, as well. Yesterday, Pastor went to the police station to let them know what was going on at the church. They offered to send a policeman to guard the church during the drama. He came, and I noticed that he was really watching the drama. One time, as I was running around trying to fix things and send cast members in to do their part, I noticed that he was crying. I asked the pastor to talk to him during the altar call. Pastor asked him what he thought about the drama. The policeman said that it was beautiful and amazing. They talked some more, and the policeman asked the pastor if he could accept Christ, too, even though he didn't go down front with the rest of the people. Pastor prayed with him. After I have my 2 panchos, I went out and asked the officer what happened to him tonight. He said, proudly and with a big smile, "I accepted Jesus as my Savior!" We talked, I prayed for him, and he allowed me to hug him. He was so proud to be a Christian! It was such a privilege and so awesome to see it happen!! 

The last thing about tonight, and I will finish. One of the other pastor's came to me, and said that in all they years he has been there, there has never been 10 people accept Christ in one service. Wow! 25 years of this church, and never have they seen 10 people accept Christ at one time. I actually felt a little defeated because ONLY 10 came forward. I learned a big lesson tonight. Even if it is only 1, it is still 1 soul that will spend eternity with Jesus Christ. 1 soul is worth all of the sweat, stress, work, problems, and everything!!! Thank you to all who are praying. The struggle begins anew tomorrow night at 6:30 (maybe :D) east coast time! Please continue to pray so that the enemy won't have a chance to keep away those who have their appointed time with God. We want more souls won for Jesus!!!!

Blessings to all,

Charley

Challenges and Salvations

It is time, once again, for another drama presentation. This one is at a very small Four Square Church in Barrio San Pablo. The title of this blog is "Challenges and Salvations." First, I will start with some of the challenges we have faced with this specific drama. The lighting has always been a problem, but on this one, it wasn't the only problem. The sound and video didn't work for the longest time until I was told by the electrician that we have too much stuff plugged into our transformers. Who would have thought that this would affect the sound and video? Well, I always learn something new each drama. The pastor of this church called in a professional electrician to help, and he has done a good job. The lights work with all the switches that we put in, and we should have lighting this weekend. The other problem, which we can't figure out, is the sound. In order to hear the sound from the computer, we have to crank it all the way up. Then, we we add the microphones for the actors, we get a nice big sound of feedback. Oh, well, we will try to work with it. Sherry is really good with adjusting on the fly. She will have her work cut out for her, this weekend. Please pray for all the technical problems!

Depsite all these problems, and a few more, God is really working overtime on this one. Thursday night was the dress rehearsal. After the rehearsal, I gave an altar call for salvation and rededications. 25 members of the cast rededicated their lives to Jesus. As we were praying with them afterwards, a young girl came up and asked if she could go to heaven. I asked her how she can get to heaven, and she said by asking Jesus to be the Lord of her life. We prayed and she asked Jesus into her heart. It was a beautiful God-moment. It was awesome! Her name is Monse (pronounced MOAN-SAY). Please pray for her new life. It is difficult to serve the Lord when the rest of your family are not Christians.

Tonight begins three straight nights of doing the drama. We are anticipating that God is going to do great things. The cast and crew are prayed up and ready to serve the Lord. They are ready to receive the new converts, and we are excited to see what God is going to do. Tonight, following an hour of prayer with the cast, we will begin a battle for lost souls. Please, please, please ask the Holy Spirit to take control of the entire weekend. There are many diving appointments that we would love to see happen. Please pray that God continues to speak to hearts and souls as they enter the church and are given the chance to either accept Christ or deny Him. Please pray that they accept Him!!!

Blessings to all,

Charley