August News

Dear friends and family,

What a wonderful month we had in Guatemala.  

Giovanni Avendaño, IPM’s missionary church planter in Guatemala, asked us to come for a month because he knew that the module format that we often use would not work well with his people.  Instead, we would teach a series over the course of a month.  Charlie taught on Biblical counseling for two hours on Tuesday nights in their Bible institute.  Joan taught on teaching for two hours on Wednesday nights following prayer meeting.  We also taught in the monthly men’s and women’s meetings.  On weekends, Charlie preached, we both taught Sunday school, and we were both involved in the teen meetings.  It was a busy, yet rewarding schedule.

But the main question we want to answer upon our return is not “What did the Farleys do?” but “What did God do?”  While there may be things we will never know about, here are some of the things we do know.

• One child asked the Lord to save him.  He talked to his parents during the week, and the on Sunday asked the pastor if he could be saved.
• Four people were baptized.  Three were adults, and one was a teenager.  It was a day of joyous celebration.  As Giovanni said, “I want to make a big deal about the important things in people’s lives.”  So we spent the afternoon together as a church family.  After the baptism in a swimming pool, the children went swimming and adults played soccer.  The rest sat around and shared stories.  Then one family, whose child’s birthday was that day, passed out bags of candy to everyone and hung up piñatas, one for the girls to break and one for the boys.  Then we all sang “Happy Birthday” and had cake.
  
  
• Another church has been started since our last time in Guatemala.  According to Giovanni, it is taking a lot more work to get this one up and running than the other two he started.  Yet he is confident that the Lord led them to do this, and that the Lord will build his church in San Raymundo.
• God granted safety and health throughout our trip.  While Joan battled a couple minor things while we were there, she was able to teach whenever it was her turn.
• God opened the door for us to teach in the public school.  The principal, one of the new people in the church, asked if we would go teach English and the gospel.  Charlie used English sentences to talk of the gospel with the older grades, and Joan used colors and then taught the wordless book to the younger grades.  The following Sunday ten children from the school showed up in church.
• God used us in our teaching.  Over and over people thanked us for what they had learned and talked of how they were already applying it in their everyday lives. 
• We saw obvious change in one young woman’s life after a brief time of counseling with her.
• God is building a strong church in the small town of Cerro Alto.  Three new couples recently started attending, and Giovanni is taking them through discipleship classes. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for us while we were gone. 

Your co-laborers in the Gospel,

Charlie and Joan Farley