Itineration

As we travel, visit family and friends, make new friends, and visit with churches and supporters, it never ceases to amaze me how amazing God is. There are so many faithful people who are serving Him, and He allows us the unique opportunity to meet many of His servants.

Let me give you a couple of examples: Danny and Sherry Brown at Brookside Assembly are ministering as pastors in their church and as adoptive parents in their home. They love people, young and old, and are making a difference in Hazelwood, MO and the St. Louis area. Dwayne and Renee Corbin are one of the teams for Reality Ministries in the U.S. In fact, they are the president (I think that's the correct title) of the ministry in the U.S. They work with two drama ministries called, "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" and "Last Chance." They are changing lives all over the country as they present the Gospel message in a vivid way. Pastor Duncan Ahrens and family are pastors in Staunton, IL. As we went to visit with Dwayne and Renee as they presented HGHF in Staunton, Pastor Duncan invited us to lunch, and then asked us to come and minister at their church in August. His heart is to reach the lost, and through Harvest Time Assembly (and the Assembly of God in Gillespie) they are doing just that. Many people are coming to know Christ.

As we continue to itinerate, we are so honored to meet many people like these three families. Our schedule is busy, but we have many dates still open. If you would like for us to come visit your church, please let us know. If you have a small group or Bible study in your home, let us know. We would love to come and minister with you.

Here is our schedule for the rest of March and April:

March 14: a.m. Sorento Assembly of God; Sorento, IL

p.m. New Life Assembly of God; Coffeen, IL

March 21: a.m. Giddings, TX

afternoon: possible Spanish service, Giddings, TX

March 28: open

April 4: open

April 11: a.m. Grace Assembly of God, Kansas City, MO

p.m. open

April 18: open

April 25: a.m. River of Life Assembly of God: Boonville, MO

p.m. open

April 28: 7 p.m. Assembly of God; Dexter, MO

Hope to see some of you at one of these services. Please be praying with us that God will continue to open up opportunities for ministry.

Blessings to you all,

Charley

Upcoming Schedule for Mattix Family

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on our schedule for February.

Feb. 7: Sunday a.m. service; Harvest Time First Assembly, Perryton, TX
Feb. 16: Noon; Kansas City Sectional Council
Feb. 21: Sunday evening service; Exeter Assembly, Exeter, MO
Feb. 22: 11 a.m; Cape Girardeau Sectional Council
Feb. 22: 5 p.m.; Kennett Sectional Council
Feb. 23: 10 a.m.; Park Hills Sectional Council
Feb. 23: 3 p.m.; St. Louis Sectional Council
Feb. 25: 10 a.m.; Sullivan Sectional Council
Feb. 25; 3 p.m.; Sedalia Sectional Council
Feb. 26; 12 p.m.; Clinton Sectional Council
Feb. 26; 6 p.m.; Joplin Sectional Council
Feb. 28; Sunday a.m. service; First Assembly, Lebanon, MO
Feb. 29; Noon; West Plains Sectional Council
Feb. 29; 6:30 p.m.; Van Buren Sectional Council
Feb. 30; 10:30 a.m.; Springfield South Sectional Council
Feb. 30; Noon; Springfield North Sectional Council

As you can see, we are busy with many meetings during the week; however, we still need more services at churches. We have 3 services scheduled in February, and we need to have at least 10. We are looking to fill the dates of the 14th, 21st (Sunday morning), 28th (Sunday evening service), and all Wednesday dates (10th, 17th, & 24th). If you can help us pray that these dates will be filled, we would really appreciate it.

In order to raise our budget to return to Paraguay, we need to average at least 10 services per month. Please pray that this will happen for our ministry.

If you are a pastor or on the mission's committee of your church, would you please consider helping us with a service. We would love to minister to you and your congregation and share what God is doing in Paraguay.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.

Blessings,
Charley

Itineration/Furlough

In case you haven't heard, yet, we are home for our second itineration/furlough. We finished our first-term in Paraguay, and now we are back to raise more funds to return to the work in Paraguay.

We arrived home in December to spend Christmas with family in California. On January 3rd, we were supposed to have our first service in California City; however, I became very ill and we had to reshedule. I suppose that our bodies have to readjust to North America. Kayleee became very ill 2 weeks later, and now, Sherry is very ill.

God has been good to us despite the illnesses. We have already been to three churches, and we have seen God work in each one. On January 10th, we went up in the mountains to Running Springs Assembly of God, and 2 people rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ. It was awesome to see Him work. On January 17th, we visited First Assembly of God in Victorville, CA. In the 3 morning services, 18 people gave their lives to Jesus. Then, yesterday, January 24th, we were at Crossroads Assembly of God in Barstow, CA. It is their mission's convention time, and we opened the convention sharing what God has done in Paraguay and ministering. 7 people raised their hand to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is so awesome and humbling to be used by God. I never cease to be amazed at what he does for us and through us.

Our schedule for the next couple of weeks is as follows:

January 31st; California City, CA; New Life Assembly of God
February 7th; Perryton, TX; Harvest Time First Assembly of God

If you are in one of those areas, and would like to visit, please stop by for the services. We would love to see you.

Blessings,
Charley

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone! This year has been a year full of the grace of God. He has been amazing to this missionary family! We have seen His hand upon on our lives, protecting us, guiding us, and helping us as we learned to live and minister in Paraguay. He has now brought us back to the United States for a time of ministering in as many churches that will have us, visiting family and friends, and traveling across this great country meeting new people and making new friends.

To all of you who have been praying for us and supporting our ministry, we say a great big THANK YOU!!!! We pray that God blesses you for your faithfulness. There were many times, in the past couple of years, when we knew that you were praying for us. We felt your prayers when we went through difficult situations. I remember one time, I was struggling and nervous about giving the invitation after one of our drama presentations. It was one of those nights when the audience was cheering and clapping for the devil (in the drama, not the real one :), and it seemed like they were more excited to watch people being dragged off into hell than for those going to heaven. I didn't think anyone would respond to the altar call. As I stepped out to begin the invitation, a sense of peace and a calmness spread over me. I could feel God's presence. I could feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and I knew that you were praying for me. The amazing thing is that on that specific night, over 100 people responded to the altar call. Over the past two years, it was the biggest response, for one night, to the invitation to give their life to Jesus Christ.

That is just one example of God's grace upon our lives. This next year, we would like to visit with everyone, but we know it is not possible. Our plans are to post our schedule on Facebook, Twitter, and here on the blog. You can check out the schedule and if you are in a nearby town or in the area, please feel free to join us in that church. That way, we can visit and share what God is doing with as many as possible during 2010. As you probably know, our website is down. We have a MacBook, and I am trying to use iWeb to do a better website; however, it is not working too well. We do have our domain registered correctly, now. I just have to figure out how to get it published to the web.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel all over the United States. Currently, our van is broken down. It doesn't work, at all, and we don't have the money to purchase another one. For me, it doesn't seem smart to buy a new car only to try and sell it in a year. I would rather not have a monthly car payment, if we can help it. Please pray that our 2001 Pontiac Montana can be fixed well enough to last another 130,000 miles or so. Also, we will be moving back to the Springfield, MO area in February, and we need to make sure that our van can get us back their, safe and sound. Other prayer requests are: health, protection, rental home, raising funds to return to Paraguay, and that I don't gain any extra weight during itineration :)

Love to you all! Merry Christmas and may God bless you now and in the new year!

Charley

Website

Just a quick update: for those of you looking for our website, it is currently down. We are working on the situation and changing things to make it more user friendly and to be able to post video and pictures more easily. We are hoping that these changes will give everyone a better opportunity to see what is going on in Paraguay. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We hope to be up and running in early December.

Blessings,

Charley

What price are you willing to pay?

A couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to do the drama, "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames," again, in a church named Buenas Nuevas (Good News). I thought it was cool to share the Good News in a church named Good News.

Anyway, it was a rather unique experience for us. The cast, this time, was the Bible school students where I teach. Normally, we go into a church that has invited us, and we choose the cast from the volunteers that show up. Members or attendees in the church who want to share what God has done in their lives with others through this powerful drama. So, we went into this drama not knowing what to expect because we didn't get to meet with the church members or talk to the pastor too much beforehand.

The pastor of the church is an amazing person. He is the National Treasurer of the Assemblies of God in Paraguay. He opened the doors of his church to us, allowing us to use the facilities to do this outreach. Not only did he open the doors, but he encouraged his people to get involved in the discipleship process. They caught the vision of the drama and began inviting unsaved people. They put together packets of information with an invitation letter to a brindis or fellowship the following Monday after the drama. It was awesome!

Over the 3 nights of the drama, we saw 150 people come forward to give their lives to Jesus Christ! Now, Pastor Nery (the pastor's name) and I feel like there were more than 150 people, but we only have 150 cards filled out. The church people and some of the Bible school students worked hard at consolidating or following up on our new brothers and sisters in Christ. On Monday night, 50 people returned to the church for the fellowship and Pastor Nery gave them their first discipleship class. Also, thanks to the Arkansas and Southern California districts men's program, Light for the Lost, we were able to purchase a complete, hardback Bible for each and every one of them and all the others who have given their lives to Christ. We thank all of you who support Light for the Lost! Your new brothers and sisters in Christ thank you, as well.

There was one particular salvation that I thought was just amazing. It was amazing because of how God did it. We arrived early on Saturday evening before the 2nd night of the drama. There was a gentleman asleep on the ground in front of the church. Two of our students went up and talked to him. He was a homeless gentleman who didn't have a job, money, or clothes. It looked like he hadn't bathed in a while. The students and I invited him to come inside, and we would get him something to eat. He said that he was fine, and he wanted to come in, but he didn't have the proper clothes to go inside a church. We told him that it didn't matter what he was wearing, but he couldn't do it. He promised to come back the next night. We weren't sure that he would; however, as we were getting ready to start prayer time before the drama on Sunday night, in walks this man. He looked the same as yesterday, and he really felt uncomfortable. One of the students had brought some clothes for him with them. We took him to the shower. He showered, shaved, and ate some empanadas that we had purchased for him. He looked like a totally different person. He sat through the drama, and at the end, he came forward to accept Christ.

I often wonder, "What price do we place on a soul? How much would you give or pay to see one person saved?" Did we spend that much, really, to make him feel comfortable enough to enter the church and attend a drama that ended up changing his life forever? How much would you give in order that someone could hear the Gospel and be given the opportunity to meet Jesus? I know that I am willing to give my money, my abilities, my time, my love, and my life.

Oh, by the way, this man now has a job and is living in a small apartment while he is trying to get his life back together. If you don't think that Jesus can change lives, here is living proof that He CAN and WILL.

Blessings,
Charley

What is holding you back from running the race?

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to minister to a youth group in Capiatá, a city about 45 minutes from our home in Asunción. Chariti and Kaylee traveled with me, and we had a good time talking and visiting. They are good girls with great hearts and an amazing love for everyone we come into contact with here in Paraguay. Let me give you a glimpse of what it is like to travel, minister, do things with family, and other daily things that we do in Paraguay.

During the girls and my trip to Capiatá, we were driving along the road, encountering smells, sights, and sounds that just a little over 2 years ago, were so unfamiliar and even unknown. The smell of burning rubber or trash mixed with the smells of chicken cooking on open flames, pizzas in the traditional brick ovens, or chipa baking. The sights of children begging, teenagers attempting to wash the windshields of vehicles stopped at lights, families selling trinkets, toys, clothes, or whatever they can just to survive, jugglers with balls or fire-sticks trying to earn a few coins, homeless children with no shoes and torn clothes coming to your car window, putting their hands around their eyes, trying to peer in and ask for a coin, and many other sights. The sounds of cars honking, children crying, vendors selling their wares, policeman whistling and directing traffic, people watching and cheering for their favorite soccer team, etc. When driving in Paraguay, there is no end of sights, smells, or sounds.

Chariti, Kaylee, and I were talking about different things like that as we traveled to the church. We have come to love all of these different sights, smells, and sounds. Some, of course, are more enjoyable than others. We started talking about going "home" in December. We can't believe that our first term is almost done, and it is time to head back and visit churches, family, and friends and allow God to minister through us as we attempt to raise our second budget. Paraguay, already, has become our home. Don't get me wrong. We love the United States, and it is our home, our country, our flag, our people, and our nation. However, God has given us such a great love for Paraguay and the people that it will be very difficult to leave here, even for such a short time to itinerate. We have learned so much in our short time here, and we are anticipating learning so much more when we return.

As we made our turn off of the main highway onto a side road to the church, I made a phone call to the pastor because I didn't know where the church was located. It was a dark road, paved with stones, and we were wondering if we had made a correct turn. The pastor told us to come eight more blocks and turn right. As the girls and I counted the blocks, we came to the eighth one and turned right. We drove for a while but never found a church. In fact, all we saw were homes. It was too dark to take any pictures of the houses, but my heart broke as I looked at some of them. Our home is a mission's owned home. It is nice with lots of space. Some of the homes that we saw were so small and so poorly constructed that I wondered how they stood up in a storm. Sometimes, twenty people will live in one of these tiny homes. It really makes you think about complaining about anything in your lives.

I have learned that when serving God, we never really lack what we need. Being in Paraguay has taught me to rely on God even more than ever before. Every time I speak, minister, or preach, I can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit as He ministers through me. At the youth service, after we finally found the church, I preached from Hebrews chapter 12. It follows the faith chapter in Hebrews. It talks about the great cloud of witnesses and putting off all thing that hinder us in running our race. Sometimes, we are more worried about the witnesses and what they think than the race we are running. I brought a large backpack to the church and several bricks. I asked a young person to run around the church with the backpack on during the entire sermon. I talked about the things that take our eyes off of the goal, the end of the race, the finish line, which is Jesus Christ.

There are things in our life that take our eyes off of the prize, the goal, Jesus. Simple things like tv shows, girlfriends or boyfriends, friends, materialism, etc. None of these are sins, but they can take time away from our relationship with Jesus. For example, I could complain or worry about things that go wrong in our house (i.e. pipes bursting, roof leaking, yard eroding, security), but then I must remember homes like we saw that night. Sometimes, our enemy takes simple things in our lives, problems, complaints, worries, lack of something, desires, etc., and uses them to take our focus off of Christ.

As I was preaching, I asked the pastor to add bricks to the backpack each time I mentioned something that can take your eyes off of Christ. It became harder and harder for the young man to run around the church as more bricks were added. I asked some of his friends to help carry the backpack and run with him. Sometimes, our friends help us carry the weight instead of get rid of it. Then, I asked a couple of the youth leaders to stop him at the altar, pray for him, and remove the weights from the backpack. As they removed them, they placed them on the altar. I told him that once we give God something, we shouldn't go back and don't need to go back to get it. It's placed at Jesus' feet, and we don't need to carry it around any more. Then, for the altar call, I asked each young person to take a brick and allow it to represent something that is taking your focus off of Jesus. Then, take the brick, place it on the altar, and give it to Jesus. It was amazing to watch these young people, crying as they placed the bricks on the altar, as Jesus ministered to them.

Is there something in your life that is taking your focus off of Jesus? Allow Him to take if from you. Allow Him to minister in your heart and life and be the main focus of your life and family. If you do, I promise you that your life will be so much happier.

Blessings to you,
Charley

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