The Harvest Is Plentiful

0:00 I'm gonna give an overview of the trip. I'll weave some of my experience in, but Elena and Jordan and Christian and Ray are gonna talk about a few of the specifics that we did. So you got to see the pictures, which was good, because I'm gonna go through some of the order of what we did and some of the, overview, and then they'll fill in some of those, details. I'd say this... The the trip started with Ray's passion, for the Lord.

0:26 So I'm I'm really grateful for Ray for organizing that, because it it really changed not only our lives that went, but, many people professed, the Lord which changed their their life here on earth and their eternity. So bro, I'm I'm really grateful, you know, for all your efforts in that. So Elena decided to go and, she was all on it right from the beginning, and I thought, wow, this is my opportunity to spend ten days with Elena, on a mission trip. I'm like, oh, this is good. Mindy gave me the thumbs up, so away I went.

0:57 Then we met in Columbus, and and Ray kinda scared me a little bit because he's going over the trip and, he was talking about how one of the women there called called him a lazy worker last time they were in the mission trip because they were laboring all day and he wanted to have dinner. And she said, no, we're going to, you know, a couple more villages, and I'm like, woah. I'm a little spiritually out of shape. And then it's like you're gonna go up to the mountains two hours every day, and I'm thinking that we're walking, you know, up there. I'm like, I'm physically out of shape too.

1:28 So I started to get a little little, nervous about, going on the trip. But late night packing, and then 4AM, we're up and ready to head to the airport and go out to Mexico. So two flights and then through Mexican, customs, no problem. Wait a few hours, which tended to be a theme in Mexico, and then, on our way with the bus trip. They're not showing.

1:55 Hey, guys.

2:01 So so we load on the bus. We we drive for a couple hours. We arrive at prayer meeting, a two hour prayer meeting. And I'm still on American, you know, production, you know, efficiency kind of mindset. And, like, eight different times, people are asking for prayer because someone's driving in the mountains.

2:19 And I'm thinking, why don't we just pray once for, like, all the people who are driving the mountains? We'll get that one done and, you know, we can, you know, pray about other things.

2:28 Do you wanna

2:29 see? Yeah. Show one.

2:30 Yeah. So I'm gonna show like a view of how it was on the road. I think it may have been on the slideshow, but this is how, it looked a lot of times.

2:40 So Most of the time. So so after we drove through the mountains, I changed my mind and said, let's pray for every individual who's driving on the mountain. We, this is one place you don't have to put up signs about don't text and drive. So we we visited a woman who had become a Christian, and she was getting some grief from the, the people in her village. So we were going there to encourage her, but you get one, you get 10.

3:09 So her family sits down, and we share the gospel with with the family. And, the grandfather prays to receive Christ. So one of the kids who was a teenager came in towards the end of of our sharing the gospel, and we share with him, and he prays to receive Christ. But prior to that, we learned that he just got out of the hospital. He was in there for thirty days with a broken back because he was in a truck carrying, goods with his friends to Mexico City to sell, and the driver fell asleep and rolled off, and and the truck rolled and rolled and rolled.

3:43 He was in the middle of all the goods, so he didn't... He bounced less. Two of the people died. The other people were paralyzed. He was the only one who who will be able to work and and and to walk out of the out of the group.

3:59 So God's spirit is physical life, but then also gave him the opportunity for eternal life, which was amazing. So we get back after, that was Saturday, so we get back... No, that was was another day. They all mixed together now. But we get placed, in a few homes when we go up into the mountains and...

4:41 But we get there and it's Terre's Village, one of the one of the, Aztec Indians who had gotten saved and is now in the Rio Blanco church. And we talked to three guys who are building a wall And we go over there and they stop, all three of them, they talk to us for for over a half hour. And I'm thinking, American minds, I'm like, that's an hour and a half man hours on the job that they just sat down and and just talked to us with no sense of being in a hurry, and they got to hear the gospel. But it was slow because I would have to talk to somebody like Jordan who spoke English and Spanish, and then he would have to talk to somebody who spoke Spanish and Nahuat, and then that person would have to speak in Nahuat to the person, and then it would have to come all the way back. So translation was was a little slow, but he got to hear the gospel.

5:27 Terry's family was right across the street.

5:29 This is a...

5:30 Oh, okay. And that's in his carpentry shop. So we get there, they're out in the field, and and the ant says, yeah, they'll be back in a few moments. And then, they request permission to, you know, to talk with them, and they say, what about? And Terry says, we'd like to share the gospel, you know, with you.

5:44 And they they let us in. So for over forty five minutes, we're sharing the gospel with, with her two uncles. And for me, I've shared the gospel conversations a lot, so it didn't seem that out of the the norm. It wasn't like that impactful until later in the week realizing that her uncles had been closed to the gospel for for for a long time and she had been praying. We show up and we get an open door to share the gospel which was neat.

6:11 But for her, her family who was not open to the gospel heard the gospel for forty five minutes and and were interactive. And for me, that was a start of of god really reminding me, you know, of the power of the gospel to change lives.

6:28 And they gave us pears afterwards.

6:30 Yeah. Yeah. We we said we wanna take photos, big smiles, they pull out, you know, way up in the mountains, they pull up their smartphones and they want pictures too. Then we then we go back down the mountain and it's Sunday, the the... It's for Sunday service.

6:49 Over 250 to 300 people are there for the Lord's Supper and, you know, for the preaching. Ray gave a passionate passionate message of which we kind of found some of the verses in English that he was speaking from, so that's about what we heard. But, but Ray did a lot of preaching. Our host took us on a hike, and it was a 300 foot waterfall, 500 steps down, and we go down, then it was about a three mile hike. You know, we could eat wild oranges, limes, guava, sugarcane, drink from a mountain stream, and then we walked back to the bottom of those 500 steps and realized we gotta go up too.

7:36 So we we... It was a breathtaking view and and breathtaking steps. Getting this ready for the mountains. So Monday, we we, we load up all of our stuff and we we go out to the mountains. It's about a two hour drive through some of the pictures you saw.

7:53 At the top of the hill, we hear get out. Like, what? Get out. Don't think we're gonna make this one. So everybody on the the on the white bus, gets out at the top of the hill, we walk down the hill, the bus skids, slides, skids, slides down the hill until the bottom, and then we continue on our way.

8:13 Did you have to go back up that hill afterwards or... We did, but that... But it had rained, so it was kinda slick. While you're driving, you're you're a few you're a few feet away from from sharp and steep drop offs, quite frequently. Now I was thinking my mind, pray for us individually, pray for us individually.

8:46 Two medicine teams.

8:47 Two. But there was two, there was four or five doctors and Four. Four doctors? Okay. And, and also dentists.

8:54 And they saw over 600 patients throughout that week. And, it was interesting because you got the translation issue. So by the time the doctor finds out what it is, starts feeling the woman's shoulder to the bewilderment of the patient who has a sore elbow, you know, but translation did make it through eventually. And while the patients were were waiting, they were listening to the Jesus film, because they would wait for hours, you know, because the line was long and, you know, there's only two doctors at each station. And, they would hear the gospel in their language, through the Jesus film, and they watched so intently.

9:36 And then they get to hear the gospel from from us who preached, you know, in between the the movie and then, afterwards. And and many many prayed to receive Christ. But the medical team, they were so compassionate, but they drew out people that that would not have come out for the other, you know, ways that we were trying to to meet people. So praise the Lord for the medical team. The soccer team, we would go out to who knows where because you're driving for a couple hours to play soccer in the villages because it's very popular, and then we would take the opportunity, to share.

10:08 They play a very controlled game because if they kick the ball like Americans do in practice and the ball goes flying over the net, it goes flying down the mountain. And, so it... There was a lot of running after balls, but, it was fun. So 16 of us pull up to a pickup truck and... No one picture of that?

10:28 So 16 pull up up, on the football... On the soccer team, pull up to a pickup truck, three are in the front seat, 13 of us are in the the bed of the, the pickup truck with a with a top on it. And for about two hours through through these roads, was, was quite, interesting and and knee aching. But, but many prayed to receive Christ through that ministry. And then the clown you saw there was not like entertainment we went to.

10:54 It was one of the brothers who was a professional clown. He would go out and do about a thirty minute, gig in in the villages and and and people would just come. And, and then the gospel and testimonies, you know, were shared, multiple times. So after that first day, we go back to sing and share, which was incredible, hearing the power of God, in the gospel through his through his, workers, to those that need to hear it. And it was continuing to to soften my heart and remind me the things I I believe, but got dim in the power of the gospel and and the need to proclaim it.

11:39 So after we we have a singing chair, 16 of us walk down a dirt road, to reside with a family of five, with one bathroom and a five gallon hot water tank and one small trash can which, carries, the the used toilet paper, which is customary in Mexico. So space was, was at a, minimum, but it did prepare us for what we were gonna see because there was, two room houses where four to 11 people live. The the the... They cook over an open fire, so the smoke is filling the room, which is their living room, which is their bedroom, which is their... Just about every room, so much that your eyes are watering.

12:25 And that was in so many of the villages that we went into. Just a few other highlights, and cooking was incredible. I went there to lose some weight and, they just did not allow it. They feed you and they feed you and you have to eat it because they... It's, you know, just part of their their giving expression.

12:43 So we get home at, 10:30 at night, you know, to host house and that... And they've got a full meal, and it was so good. It was so good. They they are incredible, incredible cooks. Lack of sleep.

12:57 American brothers, we love to stay up talking late. The Indian brothers that were there, they get up at, 05:30 in the morning, so I was in the room with two Indian brothers. So I was up with the Americans till twelve, 12:30, and then up with with these guys, you know, at the at the crack of dawn, yeah, we we rode on adrenaline, I think, most of the week. Mountain entrepreneurs. This is a toll booths Mexican style.

13:37 One road washed out, they brought a bunch of rocks in, and they put a barricade in there. So you go by and the barricade's there, if you want the barricade gone, you pay a toll fee. Quite the entrepreneurs. Banos, you might have heard that from, word from, our Peru trip with Loretta, his bathroom. Jordan had an experience with the Festival of Flies.

14:01 These are not mountain five star, outhouses. Against your will and eventually you do need to use the facility. And Jordan goes in and and hears some buzzing, you know, swats a fly and then he hears more buzzing and and looks up and it's like a blanket of flies. Out of there. Hit the cornfields.

14:25 Facilities are are a deep hole with a hole in the floor and it was rainy, and the wood structures are mostly concealed, so it's mostly private. Welcome to the mountains. Don't let that deter you though next year. Yeah, sorry. What will you see in the mountains?

14:44 If you like to eat dogs, you'll never go hungry. There were free range organic dogs everywhere. They they... Nobody owns them. They just roam.

14:55 They're rather interesting, but they don't bother anybody. The mountaintops were absolutely scenic and beautiful. Nothing like I've seen before. You see the mountain snow caps, layer of clouds, and then the mountains below, there was a city that was perpetually in the clouds. They call it the City Of Clouds.

15:11 Very interesting. Cornfields everywhere on these mountains. Growing up twelve feet tall on on steep... I don't even know how they walked, but there's cornfields everywhere. So that's kind of an overview.

15:25 My impression, I wanted to read verse, thirty six and thirty seven before I pass it along of, Matthew nine. After Jesus healed, after he healed people, he was teaching people, he was calling disciples, he was raising the dead, and and this is Jesus' comment. But when he saw the multitude, he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the labors are few. Therefore, pray the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.

15:59 I always believed it, but on this trip, I felt it because there are so many unreached groups, and these guys go up there, 30 missionaries, five times a week preaching the gospel from morning till night and then driving back down the mountain. Seeing so many people respond and open to the gospel, it it... I I felt the verse. The harvest is plentiful. You know, here in America, the closeness, we we run into more often than the openness.

16:26 It wasn't so on this trip. The harvest is plentiful. The laborers are few. And God really opened to my heart to to that truth. So Sure.

16:36 Sure. Yeah.

16:37 Go ahead.

16:38 So I'm just going to be kind of fast, but I can tell you more details. But I was on a medical team for three days, and then a fourth day a couple days later, which was really cool. It started off in this subtropical area, oranges and bananas and all kinds of cool stuff. So this was the first, like I said, the site, this was the first clinic. It was very, not very modern at all.

17:03 Saw a ton of people, a lot of people were, had all kinds of sicknesses that you'd never even have here. One of the things that moved me was I worked with kids for about maybe eight years now and it was really sad to see the kids the same age as the Sparkies that I have worked with suffering and having worms. And one thing that was really moving was a little girl about, I don't know, maybe two years old. She came in, it was on the last day actually, and she was vomiting and I'm very... Have a weak stomach so I moved away.

17:43 But I noticed that she was more dry heaving than anything and it was kind of weird and then they're like, oh, they called all the doctors over and it ended up that she had a worm that was coming out and it was about six to eight inches long and it was really disturbing to me to see that. And so I told some of the people on the trip as well that it was very hard to see these kind of things because I really like children and to see them suffering with things like worms that nobody here has. It was really sad and I was all a little depressed for a little bit, but then these guys, this is Sergio. He speaks Nahua and Spanish as well. The whole time...

18:26 I didn't realize this because I was translating most of the time during the medical trip, which is something else I didn't realize I could do, but that was cool. I know a lot more Spanish than I realized, so that was fun and exciting. But the whole time while we were inside doing the medical stuff, these guys were preaching. Every single person who came in to be serviced was preached to. So a lot of people got saved too.

18:48 We didn't realize until later, like it would be the end of the night, we'd hear them talking because I knew what they were saying for the most part and they'd be talking about numbers and I thought they were talking about how many people we helped that day but they were actually saying how many people, professed Christ as their savior that day. So, every night on those three days and the fourth day as well it was like that. This is one of the doctors, Prakash, and then this is the other doctor with the backwards hat, Robin. And usually as you can see here it was three way translation, it would be English. This guy was bilingual, so to Spanish, Spanish to Nahuatl, to the lady, and then back again.

19:29 So it was frustrating. I was very mentally exhausted at the end of the day as was most people. These are just random pictures of the people. The other thing I want to talk about though, because the medical trip was very moving to me and it was a great experience. The clown thing was very cool to me too though.

20:10 But one of them is that people just in America just... We have movies and other things to entertain ourselves with. So... Yeah. But when you come into a village and they actually told the mayor, I believe it would have been like the mayor, that we have like a clown show.

20:24 We wanna talk and entertain the children, and he was so excited and they announce it on these loudspeakers and tons and tons of people. So the kids just came literally from out of the mountains, so it was really cool. So he was doing his thing and and I have video of this and I'm gonna give everyone who wants a video that actually has video and interviews and some more stuff. You can see this more in action. So it's really cool.

20:46 He does... You know, they laugh and they're just rolling in laughter. But it was really cool because then he transitions... He always transitions to some type of almost like a dark humor about death. There's always a bit where he's like, it's almost, yeah, like a a thing on death and it's funny, but it's about death.

21:04 And he always transitions into that or something about where do you wanna go and he he... He's really clever in how he brings in the gospel, and then he'll just start presenting the gospel. And so what happened was we... And they do like little jousting tournaments. And what happened was later...

21:21 I don't know if I have a picture of it. Okay. Yeah. So we... Me and Scott, gave our testimony, it went from English to Spanish to Nahuatl.

21:29 So this girl, like I said, I don't know if you guys saw on the slideshow, but she was randomly chosen from the crowd to translate for us because we forgot translator, which I thought was ridiculous. But we learned later that it was a good thing because she presented the gospel to her people and herself in the meantime. And I think I have a picture of her. That's her. Later, we learned that she not only accepted Christ but several of her friends professed salvation as well and as well, she is the spiritual leader which from what I understand was kind of like a youth group leader for the children.

22:07 So that's pretty incredible that we randomly, supposedly randomly picked her out of the crowd to... So yeah, but this... The whole thing with the clowns and I'm excited to show some video later It was really cool because I I told him to. He really kinda showed me a different... What what it...

22:30 Like a different aspect of what it means to be a fool for Christ. Yeah. That was one of the things that really moved me because he's literally being a fool as a clown, but he also is doing something that, you know, would be foolish and presenting the gospel to the world. So that really kinda gave me a new perspective. And then I just wanna close.

22:51 I can talk a lot more but I... We have... Or we have a lot of time. We don't have much time. I just want to close with the verse that was kinda on my mind the whole week.

22:59 Philippians two five through we'll say eight. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And we don't have to die on the cross, obviously, because that's been already done, but we are told to take up our cross. And before I came on the trip, I came mainly because I wanted to take pictures and see Mexico, I'll be honest, because I've never been to Mexico.

23:38 I didn't... I had no intentions of being very involved, but almost right away my heart changed and it was just really moving to me. I actually didn't want to leave, like I never thought I would want to live in Mexico but I don't see why that would be a bad idea. It was really cool for me because I really saw in the local missionaries and our team as well what it meant to be a servant to other people. And, obviously, Christ was a servant to all of us.

24:35 But it ended up being a blessing because they canceled all of their Independence Day celebrations, which were Monday and Tuesday. So they were supposed to be celebrating, but they canceled. So we got to take the time that they were going to be celebrating their country's independence to share the gospel with all the kids in the school. So that was really interesting. They did the clown show, which Jordan and my dad have talked about.

24:59 And it was... I have no idea what they talked about because I could not understand a word of it, but it looked interesting and the kids absolutely loved it. The school is up at about 10,000 feet, so it was a little chilly. But with the rain, it just was a very different climate than everybody else had gone to. So that was interesting to me.

25:19 After we finished at the school, the kids were super open and loving to hear testimonies and to see how light skinned and hairy we are. They just thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen. We were able to give testimonies and give them pamphlets and they just loved any attention that they could get. We went to a local house that they served us hot chocolate, which was not hot chocolate, but it was interesting and fresh corn tortillas, which this was a hot chocolate. And then they made us tortillas in their house.

25:55 It was the same smoke filled house that my dad had talked about earlier. We... After we went there, we went to a couple other houses. We went to some of the poorest houses that I'd ever seen. They were all dirt floor.

26:08 Some of the houses didn't even have complete walls. They were just cardboard put against a bunch of different sticks and logs and anything that they could just keep cover with. It was really cold too. But we were able to share the gospel. Again, I couldn't understand what exactly they told them, but they were encouraged.

26:28 The one place we went to was a younger woman in her twenties and her older mother. We had talked to them, and she translated to her mom what we said in Spanish. And then we went up to her uncle's house, which is up the mountain just a little ways we walked there. And he and his wife, she was Catholic. She was very Catholic and didn't really listen to what we had to say, but she definitely heard it.

26:51 But he just was encouraged, and I think that the two of them were lights to their community and to their family around them. We also went to a a home that had about seven kids that I found out that I was having to talk to about five minutes before we got there. So that was a new experience for me too. But they're just very receiving people. They're very loving and will listen even if you're not sure what you're saying.

27:18 But it was it was different giving my testimony to people that I never seen before. I don't even know exactly what the translators told them. It could have been something totally different than what I was saying.

27:31 We were true to you. We were true to you.

27:36 But the last house we went to was actually the front of a store in the mountains. It was very remote. And they went to a couple houses to invite people to come to their little bible study, but nobody ended up coming. It was just one lady and her daughter. So we ended up praying for her and her daughter who had been getting bullied a lot in school, and that was a big issue.

27:58 But just seeing the different culture and how the struggles that they deal with are so much different than we are was just eye opening for me, and I'm just so thankful for the opportunity that I had to just share the gospel and to love people that were there and that were so accepting.

29:10 That from the very beginning, when when we got to the to the villages, like to this one where it got rained out, suddenly the whole town was inside this building hearing the gospel. And I was like, wow. We were like, man, lord, rained and rained and rained and why didn't you stop the rain? And when we got through like, oh, now we know. You had this whole mass that was gonna come into this room bigger than this just packed with families.

29:37 And every one of them heard the gospel, including their leaders, the teachers, everyone. And and we're

29:44 like, wow.

29:45 Sorry about telling you to stop the rain, you know. It was just amazing. Then afterward they would stay to talk. Nobody ran off. They wanted to know more.

29:56 Alright? So so that was Tuesday. So then I thought, okay, that's pretty good. I don't think the Lord will top that on Wednesday. Well then we go to this village, this town, and and the the mayor in charge of that town was excited.

30:08 He started announcing to everyone, hey, there's some clowns here. Everybody come and hear them. And he kept announcing it for about thirty, forty minutes. And the whole town came down. I I was like, wow.

30:21 Over 200 people. And and and so the Abel... The the the evangelist preached a tremendous gospel. Then there was so many people that we couldn't deal with, so we we separated them into three teams. He took the people on his left, a guy named Bobby, one of...

30:38 That was with us, took the people in the middle, and I took everybody on the right hand side because there were just too many people. And each of us took groups and we were giving them the gospel. And within those groups, after explaining the gospel to them, several of them said, I wanna trust the Lord. I was like, wow. Their eyes were big and they were ready.

30:56 Of course, I could speak the language, Spanish, so they were able to to listen. Then behind them were the moms. And after I'd I'd finished praying with the children, the moms were sitting there staring. So I'm like, oh, I think they wanna hear more too. So I started talking to the moms.

31:11 And several of them, after we talked for a while, they were like, I I I wanna believe that message too. And so we prayed with them. And that that was just my group. The middle group, the same thing, and the other group, the same. And here's the interesting thing about it, nobody would leave.

31:26 And more people kept talking to us and and every one of us were were were evangelizing and talking to the people. Alright? So two and a half, three hours later, we were just drained and, still people kept coming. And it was just amazing. That was Wednesday.

31:44 So Thursday, Christian and I were... Had the privilege of going into a prison. You saw the the thing. So missionary says, we've been praying that they will let you come in because they haven't let anybody come in for months that's not a Mexican citizen. We're US citizens.

31:59 So they let us in. And then Christian found out he was gonna be baptizing. He didn't have a change of clothes, so we had to bring our own swimming pool to baptize him. So we brought in the pool. The poles and everything, we put it together.

32:13 The prisoners themselves filled it up with water. Then the... There was supposed to be 10, but one guy chickened out. So so nine of them lined up right there. You gotta picture a wall like this, this way, that way, this way, three floors high, full of prisoners, and in the bottom it was full of prisoners.

32:30 The administrative was there, the guards were there, everybody was there, and they were baptizing, and each one them confess... Confessing with their voice out loud, Jesus as their savior, and then they would baptize him. It was it was amazing. I was translating for Christian when he would, you know, talk to a guy and then baptize him. They were all there.

32:48 And once they were done baptizing, I was given the honor of preaching the gospel for about twenty minutes. So you can just picture all around everywhere, people on the sides, everywhere hearing the gospel. When I was done, several people said, I wanna trust the Lord. I said, wow. It was amazing.

33:23 We got to a restaurant to eat to refresh ourselves. Then we said, okay, now we're gonna do a clown show in the plaza. And so we were actually so tired and we got there and we kinda have kinda have out of energy, but we were gonna do it. Right? Well, to our surprise, the crowds came and a lot of them.

33:43 And Abel, the clown again, did his thing, and they were hearing the gospel. And then after that, I was like, Christian, get over here. Give your testimony. So he started sharing how Christ saved them. And the crowds wouldn't leave.

33:54 They were all over hearing his testimony. Then afterwards, the evangelists that were with us were in crowd speaking to groups of people everywhere. And we kept talking and talking, until, you know, really we're just like, wow. So we're Christian now, we're like just couldn't glorify the lord enough. Right, Christian?

34:11 For what we saw that day. And I'm just giving you a little glimpse. Alright? And then and then Friday, again, we get to a village, the crowds coming. That's when Jordan was there and and Scott.

34:23 The whole village comes out. It was packed. They hear the gospel, and the translator that we picked out heard it in Spanish and then said it in Nahua. She had never heard the gospel, but hearing it twice over, she trusted the Lord. I thought, man, that's clever, Lord.

34:39 You know? We didn't bring a translator with us and now what? And we're like, ugh. But God, that's alright. I'm gonna use one of them.

34:47 And I'm gonna save her and some some of them. We're just, like, wow. Just amazed. And the thing is that you... In the past, like I said, with all my teams in the past, they would leave after you preach.

34:58 Nobody would leave. They would stay there to talk and talk. And then afterwards, I started talking to some teenagers, and Jordan Scott watching me, and they were just staring. And then once when I when I was done, they came in after pamphlets, they wanted to know more. And then we kept talking and talking, and we'll get home at night just drained but just full of joy.

35:18 And that's what... That was a trip all week long with every one of the four teams, they experienced the same thing. Something that I had never personally seen in my life. And I've done a lot of evangelism, a lot of trips, but, the Lord was just moving in a way that just was blowing me away. And starting with that first Sunday when I preached the word, four people, you know, said they wanted to trust the Lord.

35:40 And so we were just like, man. I was almost like, is this for real? And then I'm thinking, why am I doubting God? And it kept getting... Every day was the same thing.

35:53 And and the the reception, the people, hearing and and not running away. And then I'll give you one more story. This is little unusual, so you can hang in there for a little bit. Right? We were we were going to this village that was very resistant to the gospel.

36:09 The... And the evangelist warned us. They really hate the gospel there. There's only three Christians we're gonna visit. We have to encourage them.

36:15 So we get to the first house, and then the dad comes and he had an accident, machete in his hand. He was just all mad that we came to visit. And so one of the brothers with me preached the word, I translated, we encouraged that person, then we went to the next home. And to get to the home was a terrible climb. It was like 90 degree, you know, almost crawling and we couldn't breathe because the altitude was so high.

36:38 Beautiful views. So we finally get to the house, and then there was a... They said that the the man, the husband is very resistant. We're We're gonna have to talk to her outside. We can't go inside the village.

36:48 I mean, I'm sorry, her home. So we would talk to her outside and we looked to our left and there was the husband and two men. So, one of the evangelists, one of the guys with me on the team from Michigan, and I went to talk to them. We said, can can we talk to you? Just give us a little bit of time.

37:05 And after we talked to him for a while, who are you? And we explained, he was okay, I'll tell what, we're gonna give you thirty minutes and that's it. I was alright, Julio, the guy from Michigan, start. And I I was translating. Then they were just listening.

37:18 Thirty minutes went by, they didn't even realize it. Then I gave another thirty minute gospel prayer. Then the evangelist, when I was there, gave another thirty minute. They were there for an hour and a half. Didn't even realize it.

37:30 Then the evangelist said, are you ready to trust the lord? And they prayed. And then the guy says, I wanna welcome all of you to my home. We went inside their home and we drank coffee and whatever else they had, and some bread. And and the evangelist was like, we had never seen this.

37:47 He let us in the home. And we're like again, wow. I I personally had never seen the Lord move in such a powerful way. I'm still kinda like, man, Lord, the the things you did was just amazing. I never seen anything like it.

38:03 The team was totally united. Nobody was fighting, arguing. Uh-huh. Because I think God works when there's that kind of unity. We all had one thing in mind, we're gonna serve and and preach the gospel, and God blessed in in in tremendous ways.

38:18 And and so I'm still stunned at everything I saw because I had not seen that before. I've seen God save over there and do things, but not like this. And, so praise God for for what he did. It is all true because they they they showered in in prayer. We prayed constantly.

38:35 We're praying and praying. And so praise God. Thank you for for praying for us and for your support. A church in Austin gave $6,000 so that we can go and buy medicines. A church in Columbus brought, like, 5,000 with them.

38:51 We're able to give a big offering to other evangelist. Praise the Lord for that. And and, we left a lot of medicine and supplies for them, for their doctors. We were able to also give money to help for for their vehicles get torn up in those mountains. And so, what what a what a tremendous blessing it was, and, we we just are thanking the lord for what he did.

39:24 We'd be happy to share with us the lord. Father, thank you for for the gospel, and thank you because you sent us to people who were hungry to hear. No one threw a gospel track away. They were reading them and asking, and many of them were repenting and believing. How can we praise you enough for for what we saw and how you do?

39:47 Thank you, Lord. Thank you for this local congregation too who also gave a generous offering and and for the prayers and and for just this opportunity that you gave us to serve you. Be glorified, Lord, we pray in Jesus' blessed name. Amen.