God is Moving - stories from Joseph

We are so excited to share a couple of amazing stories from this past month.  We know that many of you give sacrificially to support the ministry God has called us to, so we want to be sure that you get to know some of the ways we are seeing God move!

Before I get to the most recent stories, I (Joseph) want to thank the Lord for the work He allowed us to be a part of when a team from Osborne Baptist Church joined me and the local team (who I am calling the Guate22 team) for a week this month.  Ronnie Bullins, Justin Mize and Phillip Raeburn came from Eden, NC, and worked hard to God’s glory. The Guate22 team that went on the trip was Dany Garcia, Jesús Sanchez, Marbin Flores and Geovanni. We were also blessed to have José Rubí with us from La Ceiba, Honduras.  All of these brothers poured their hearts into kingdom business to glorify God each day. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with each of them.  We witnessed the work of the Holy Spirit in Huehuetenango as we joined Jesus Sanchez and his family in the work that they are doing there.  God clearly led us to those that He had prepared to hear and respond to the gospel.  We saw a whole family get right with God together. We also saw 12 salvations, trained 10 in evangelism and discipleship, and had 2 baptisms. We prayed with many more people along the way and came home knowing that we did not waste a minute. We planted many gospel seeds and we ask the Lord to bring the growth.  

Back row (left to right): Ronnie Bullins, Justin Mize, Marbin Flores, Jose Rubi, Geovanni, and me
Front row (left to right): Dany Garcia and Phillip Raeburn

Jesus Sanchez and his wife, Adali

The first story I want to share is from that trip.  We had been planning the trip for a few months. In the planning process, I needed to find translators. I was waiting for one translator to get time off so he could join us. Well, that did not work out. The week before the trip, I reached out to a guy I met in Zacapa, named Geovanni. He was a translator for another Guatemala based ministry, Hope of Life, and I had only met and worked with him for one day while in Zacapa. So, I called and invited him to travel with us as a translator. By the second day of the trip, he had heard the gospel multiple times. I asked him if he had considered following Jesus. He said he was thinking about it but was worried that he would “mess it up.” I told him there was no doubt about that! I encouraged him to put his faith in Jesus’ work alone and not in his own ability to be righteous. I left him to think on that. Later in the day, we were talking to a man and wife about baptism using the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39), and Geovanni who was listening in quietly came to us and said, “I believe in Jesus and I want to be baptized.” So, he and the woman we were talking to were both baptized!  When Geovanni returned home, he shared with his dad what happened to him and shared the gospel with him. His dad surrendered his life to Christ right then! Geovanni called me asking for direction on starting with discipleship. Praise the Lord!

A few days after returning from the trip, I met with Geovanni, along with Dany and Marbin (who had also traveled with us) for discipleship.  We were joined by a man named Charlie, who works at our family’s favorite restaurant in the nearby market.  During our meeting, Charlie realized he was far from God and decided to put his faith in Jesus! He is now planning to share the gospel with some of the women that also work at the restaurant!  After spending time with Charlie, the rest of us went out to share the gospel together. Geovanni was nervous but he really wanted to obey King Jesus and he did. Please pray for Geovanni as he continues following Jesus. Please pray for him to grow in his faith so that he can disciple his dad and continue sharing the gospel with others.

This is the team eating dinner the night before heading out to Huehuetenango.  That's Charlie in the foreground.

And a bonus story… our van was with the mechanic so I had to take an Uber home that night.  After pulling into our neighborhood, I asked the driver, Wilmer, if I could share something with him.  He was open and listened intently as I shared the gospel using the 3 circles.  When I asked him where he found himself (close to God or far from God), he began crying.  He said he knew he was far from God, but had never realized it before.  I was witnessing the Holy Spirit piercing this man’s heart right in front of my eyes.  Through tears, Wilmer prayed to repent of his sins and surrender his life to Christ!  Praise God!  Please pray that he will continue in the faith and be willing to receive discipleship. 

We sincerely thank all our supporters for joining us in this journey. Many of you are giving of your hard-earned money and many of you are praying for the work that is going on. Thank you very much.  If you would like to see more pictures or baptism videos from our trip, check out the recent posts on our facebook page (facebook name: JosephandChristySaleeby  https://www.facebook.com/csaleeby)  Stay tuned in the next few months as we plan to launch our vision for Guate22!

Please continue to pray:

• For more workers in the harvest in all 22 departments of Guatemala.
• For Jesús Sánchez and his family and the ministry in Huehuetenango.
• For the brothers on the GUATE22 team as they grow and develop their own ministries
• For our brother Jose Rubí as he seeks NoPlaceLeft in La Ceiba, Honduras.

Two Year Anniversary in Guatemala

It’s hard to believe that this Tuesday is the 2-year anniversary of our move to Guatemala.  It has been a most unexpected adventure with many ups and downs, but we can confidently say that the Lord continues to be faithful to every one of His promises.  Christy and the girls are 3 weeks into a new homeschool year and finally able to speak Spanish well enough to build friendships with people at church and in the neighborhood. 

The girls play soccer in the park most days after school.  The neighborhood kids were so excited when someone gave us a set of portable goals!  Our girls have had many opportunities to both speak the gospel to these kids and to stand firm in their convictions despite opposition and temptation.  

I (Joseph) am truly thankful that the Lord has given me the language as well.  I am able to build discipleship relationships and lead trainings in Spanish.  Thank you to everyone that prayed for this miracle!  But even greater than that, it has been thrilling to witness the Lord bringing about movement right before our very eyes.  We are praising Him for raising up workers in the harvest and moving in the hearts of men, women and children all around us.  

Here are a couple of brief stories…

Dany is a young man that lives in a village in Patzún, Chimaltenango, with his wife and 2 small children.  He works in his family’s hardware store business and helps with the youth at his uncle’s church.  Dany recently accompanied me to Huehuetenango to train a church there in evangelism and discipleship.  (This was the church of a brother named Jesús that we met through working with God in the Streets.)  Since that trip, we have seen him return to his home and become very active in the training and discipleship of his pastor and church. They have formed a team of 8 who are faithful to go share the gospel and begin discipleship.  Dany is so committed to following Jesus and fishing for men that he and his family are sacrificing an already meager income so that he can spend time sharing the gospel and discipling others. 

Training in Huehuetenango

From left to right: me, Salvador (see story below), Jesús and Dany.  We are in Huehuetenango, right at the border of Mexico.

Here is Dany back at home training his church.

Also, last year I met and trained Salvador Archila. We have stayed in touch since. He recently told me of a new church plant in a small town in El Progreso La Union, Zacapa.  Salvador trained a few people there using the NoPlaceLeft/NingunLugarSinAlacanzar tools and methods.  After receiving the training, they went out and shared the gospel and saw 16 salvations in one day. They immediately began to gather and said, “We are church.”  Please pray for them as they develop. This town had no evangelical church before now. I will go and see for myself next week and will ask the Lord for discernment there. Also, if this is truly a new church plant, then I need to learn something from them.  I am asking the Lord to help me see how He (the Lord) did that!  Salvador is so committed to following Jesus and fishing for men that he and his family are also sacrificing an already meager income so that he can spend time sharing the gospel and doing discipleship. 

Our family with Salvador

 

This week, Dany and I will be joined by a brother who came all the way from Colombia, as well as Jesús from Huehuetenango, to train in both the above locations (Patzún and El Progreso).  We hope to be an encouragement and to help them with their discipleship and leadership development.  We will be focused on training trainers as they will train others in various parts of Guatemala. We have invited many local pastors and laymen to come to the training in Patzún and anticipate at least 25 people in the training.

For anyone interested in getting involved:

1. You can join us through financial support. We need more faithful givers to meet our family needs. See the info in the right-hand margin of our blog homepage for how to give.
2. You can come and see what the Lord is doing. If you are physically capable and want to come please contact us and arrange a trip to see how the Lord is moving.
3. You can pray. We need constant prayer for endurance and discernment to follow the work of the Holy Spirit.  Some specific prayer requests for this week:

·        For the work to be done this week and the weeks following.  

·        For protection of our minds, protection of our families, and for unity in the team.  

·        For more workers in the harvest and more fruit from the harvest.

·        For safe travel for all involved. 

·        For us to see an unmistakable movement of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.

We sincerely thank you all for your love and support!

Discipleship - update and encouragement from Joseph

It has been a long time since we have posted a blog. There has been a lot to report on but little time to write it out. The Lord has blessed in many ways. I will do my best to stick to the highlights. As you may know our ministry model is very simple. We exist to make disciples, teach them to make disciples and disciple others until we see no place left (noplaceleft.net) in Guatemala. We have been working to achieve this by networking with local pastors and missionaries in various parts of the country. We offer free training on sharing the gospel and discipleship.  We give them the tools and ask them to continue the work. So far, we have heard from the locals that they are seeing fruit and their congregations are getting involved in the gospel ministry. We have trained in churches with dirt floors and only 5 attended and in nice churches with AC and up to 60 people. We have trained in homes and in garages. The main idea has been to encourage and equip all believers to be the church of Christ and to take the gospel into their homes, offices, farming fields and ball fields. We have heard stories of this happening and that is exciting.

About seven or eight months ago, as we were training others to make multiplying disciples, I asked the Lord to give me a “Timothy” - someone that I could invest a great deal of time in and see the Lord working and moving him to live a life on mission. Our faithful God answered with a young man named Mario. Mario was already a believer, but he dealt with many typical youthful temptations in his walk and struggled to grow and stay faithful to Jesus. God put an interest in Mario to work with me and learn from me. Mario even asked if I could spend time with him. So, I received Mario as a gift from the Lord and begged the Lord to show me how to love Mario well. The Lord used me to teach Mario how to share the gospel, study the bible, and teach others to do the same. Mario is actively seeking opportunities to share the gospel and is now looking for his own Timothy. He has a sincere hunger and desire for the Word of God which has kept me on my toes. Mario now has his own in-home bible study and from his group another has started.  They are also using the same tools for evangelism and discipleship. I have no claim or boast in this at all. I completely credit the Spirit of God and the Word of God in Mario for this great work. The only reason I am able to see this work take place is by the grace of God. I asked and committed the time to do it and God was faithful to move.

I was once challenged to read the New Testament and observe Jesus’ model of discipleship. As I read and observed Jesus’ example, I began to see and understand that discipleship is God’s plan for expanding His Kingdom here on earth. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells the disciples to go, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to do the same. The most valuable ingredient that one can offer in discipleship is TIME - time to sit with someone pointing them to Jesus in the scriptures, as well as spending time to model sharing the gospel and discipleship. The Word of God and the Spirit of God will do the work.

I am now seeking another “Timothy” to invest in. I pray for another Mario who has a sincere desire for the Word of God. It takes a real commitment of time for someone to decide they will follow Jesus. Many people in many cultures struggle to provide for their families. So, I am aware that I am asking a lot of someone to follow Jesus with abandon. But Jesus asked the same of his followers. He even told them to leave their stuff behind. Some left their homes, families, their jobs and their money to follow Jesus. This should tell us that we truly have nothing to offer.  He just wants our obedient hearts to follow and He will put what we need in our hands, in our bellies, and on our feet. Even though we are here, I often feel ill-equipped and out-numbered but I know that His grace is sufficient. I am here and He is my strength. He is working in the hearts of men even more than we can see or tell.

I admit that although I have been one who is passionate to persuade others to follow Jesus, I have been very weak in the area of discipleship. I am convinced that we all have time that could be used investing in another “Timothy”.  So, I will end this post with an encouragement to consider your days and redeem the time that you have left.  Ask God for a “Timothy”, invest the time, and trust the Word of God and the Spirit of God.  Then you will see what He does in and through you.

I also want to thank those of you who have come alongside us to support us financially and through prayer.  We thank God for each one of you.  You are a major blessing and encouragement to us.  We believe that the Lord will continue to use your investment to reach people with the hope of the gospel!