Firstly, Thank you to everyone who is part of what God is doing through us!
Jesus is changing lives!
We saw awesome things happen in July & August, thank you, Jesus!
Our OneLife team was invited to El Salvador for their first international youth and young adults’ retreat. They wanted our team to talk about being citizens of heaven and how that looks on earth. It was scary and exciting! Our team could tell that God wanted to do something new.
This was also the first camp ever that our Jiquilisco church site was able to attend!
This was huge and never achievable before. The Jiquilisco church site is in a very difficult community, and the team in El Salvador did fundraising months before to send anyone to camp who could go.
You can read more about their experience later in this update.
We went to El Salvador very prayerfully, hoping to see a new and truly consuming commitment to Jesus. There is a lot of love for the idea of Jesus, and admiration for what He has done and does for us, but that is not the same thing as surrendering your life, really following Him.
He says those who love Him will obey Him. That cannot happen without the work of the Holy Spirit in our own hearts and lives, that calling to repentance and returning to the Father.
The trip came with trials and victories, as you’ve probably experienced this when you have tried to do anything in obedience. I feel like the enemy always tries to use exhaustion, bacteria, dehydration and misunderstandings to cause issues. Love, perseverance, prayer and humility are almost always required to keep going.
If there isn’t a battle you probably aren’t on the battlefield. Or the tactics are more subtle.
Once we got to the retreat, it was clear that the enemy had also come armed for war. You might think those fighting God’s purposes are the “sinners”, but the reality is, Jesus’ greatest opponents were pharisees and scholars, those who thought they were “godly”. That is why even Peter was seen speaking for the devil, because good intentions do not = God. Jesus thinks differently.
So, from the start we spent a lot of time praying, both that we wouldn’t get distracted or tricked by the enemy, and that others would hear and obey when the Holy Spirit moved on their hearts, especially about the new things. Change is required for new results, and that requires effort and seeking the Lord.
We saw a lot of opposition over the first two days, but by the evening of the second day, it was time for decisions. A call was made to which no one initially responded: to surrender to the Lord, to be filled with His Holy Spirit to be a witness (that is why the Spirit was sent). So, the speaker turned over the service to the leaders to close. But before they could close, in silence slowly one by one people began to respond. They would walk up to the front and just start having a personal interaction with Jesus. There was no noise, no speaking, no singing. The lights were on. A few may have been crying, but it was just people honestly choosing Jesus, in what for some might seem like an atmosphere inconducive to the move of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t need our human made strategies, He just asks for obedience, to follow His lead unashamedly.
People stood, kneeled or however they felt the Lord tell them to do for a long time just talking to the Lord as the Holy Spirit moved upon each one. I’m sure, if my own experience tells anything, there was repentance, a shedding of the fear of other’s opinions, releasing of offenses, surrender and reaching out. It was beautiful, sincere, and simple.
After a while many things happened, but notably people began to pray for one another. We were putting into action what God has called His children to do. I can’t even accurately tell you what all went on, but hearts were softening and responding to the Holy Spirit. At the beginning there were many who resisted the call, and some who were just tired in their flesh, but the Holy Spirit conquered. And as people began to pray for one another, you could see even more happening. People who refused to participate before were finally feeling His presence and starting to go pray for others as well. There is no way for me to know all that happened, but I know God was offering an opportunity for many to return to Him.
The next day, you could see the results when we had the baptisms. We had 22 youth who decided to follow Jesus and to publicly show that.
As I mentioned above, this is the first year that the youth from our Jiquilisco church site were able to come to camp. It was such a huge leap forward for their community. It was their first time ever to experience something like that. Several things had to be explained to them, for instance: crying for joy, some of them could only relate crying to pain or punishment, until they experienced tears of joy and love for Jesus after being baptized. This new experience definitely came with a learning curve. The leadership team from their church site had to instruct, correct, help and watch out for them throughout the retreat. The other youth also had to learn to be understanding and loving. There was a lot of prayer and work involved in it.
But the Lord is always faithful, and He allowed us to see that with our own eyes.
The youth from Jiquilisco were so impacted! The day we returned from camp, you could see the true, deep joy in their lives, that light that only Jesus can make in you! It was very striking for me personally. And anyone who has every visited that community would understand this a little better. They actually had joy and love!
Many of them surrendered to Christ, and many were baptized to the joy of everyone there! It was so amazing to see, things only God can do in a person!
And now they have returned to their everyday lives and need our prayers.
We have all lived through trials and struggles, and know that the enemy will try to take them off course, to remove those seeds Jesus has planted in them. Some of them have circumstances that we could not even imagine. But Jesus is their hope!
Please join us in interceding for their eternity and current situations. Please pray that Jesus will give them the strength, in His Spirit, to rise above their circumstances, and not lose hope, but hold fast to their hope in Him!
I am so grateful for what God is doing all around the world and especially for what I was just able to witness. Jesus is faithful. His word says if we, His people, will humble ourselves, seek Him and turn from our wicked ways, then He will heal our land and forgive our sins.
The task falls on us to seek the Lord and welcome His Spirit to come and overhaul our lives and hearts.
Jesus, please help us! Spirit, please bring us to repentance!
Thank you for being a part of seeing the Holy Spirit move in El Salvador!
