Back when we were younger, Elias and I would go on mission trips, and the leader of those trips would always end each day by singing the hymn entitled "God's Family." At the time, I never really took to heart the words of that song, nor did I even appreciate the different brethren from around the world working together for one purpose that week, to seek and save the lost. Embarrassingly enough, I even distinctly remember asking the director one time to NOT sing that song, because I was "tired" of singing it. WOO, the audacity and immaturity of my young, inexperienced self. Although worlds apart, we were joined together in one family by our one true faith. How glorious, and TODAY the Iglesia de Cristo at West End was reminded of this beautiful family that we have in Christ once again. Ephesians 2:19 "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." We are overjoyed to report to you today that we had another family to join us for worship services. We will never grow tired of that feeling that swells in our hearts when we see new faces walk through those double doors. This family has a very unique story. The "Grandmother" of the family had actually heard about our ministry several months before we even moved to St. Louis, and she began visiting West End and their English services, because she couldn't contain her excitement. She had been living in St. Louis for 39 years and had been waiting all that time for a Spanish speaking Church of Christ to come along. Before Elias began preaching here in June, she went to visit the Dominican Republic where she is from, and told the elders she would be back. Well, today we finally got to meet this sweet sister, along with her daughter, son-in-law, and precious 8 month old granddaughter. She was so happy to see us that she invited the Hispanic brethren over this Thursday for a fellowship meal full of delicious D.R. goodies. YUM! So today, in our worship services we had SIX different countries represented. We were able to worship with brethren born in the Dominican Republic, Spain, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States! How amazing is that...let that sink in for just a second. Our faith unites us like no other common thread. I can't help but think this is how it was back in ancient Bible times. So today, September 16, 2018 we broke our record of "Spanish Speaking" families in attendance, and number of countries represented. To God be all the glory and honor. He is doing wonderful things in the city of St. Louis. Thank you for your continued prayers and support as we need them so greatly. We were actually hoping to see two other families we had met this week passing out flyers to come through that door, but what a sweet surprise to meet another fellow sister in Christ. We have high hopes to see the other families next week. God bless you everyone.
Attendance:16 Flyers passed out: 602 Bible Studies: 6
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Four Months. It's been four months since we moved from Memphis to St. Louis, and in some ways it feels like we've always lived here, and in other ways it seems like we've just arrived. Now that we have settled and school has started, we have a daily routine going, and we are beginning to be known around the community, it almost seems as if we are stuck in a "Ground Hog Day" effect. 1. Pass out Flyers 2. Invite the contacts to service or a Bible study 3. Sometimes we get phone numbers and names 4. Hope, Pray, Wait for them to arrive Sunday 5. Repeat While, we enjoy this pattern of work very, very much, somedays we loose our vision of what we are doing here in this big city. Satan begins to put little lies in our heads that what we are doing is not enough, and that we may fail. But then, something happens, God gives us a little reminder of why we are here, and what our purpose truly is in this ministry. After a few weeks of the before mentioned pattern of evangelism, we were encouraged by a few events that we wanted to share with you in this week's blog. First of all, we had a familiar face study with us on Wednesday. We are so thankful for Anderson Maestri and his efforts here in St. Louis. He was the one who gave one of our Hispanic families our contact information, and they were have been faithful since day one. It was nice to have another person to help Elias lead prayer as well during Bible study. Speaking of Wednesday night, we were soooo excited to see that sweet couple in the front row in the above picture. Nancy and Moises from Guatemala came for the first time ever on Wednesday night. What a nice surprise to see them walk through those doors. They also told Elias that they are so excited to come each time we meet, because they are learning so much about the Word of God. They are soaking it all up, and we pray that one day they will be baptized, but for now, we are so thankful they continue to attend services. Throughout these past couple of weeks we have also met some truly wonderful contacts in the streets, stores, and businesses. Some of which seemed very promising. We've branched out to new locations like community help centers, and even the health department/Wic to find new faces and to offer our translating services in hopes of sharing God's word to those in need. Our vision for this ministry has become clear again, and we know that God has a big plan for the church here in St. Louis. We just have to be patient, and do the little things daily to see the big changes in the future. We have named our blog post vision not only for the plan for our ministry, but also we have spent the last few weeks with our third, energetic son working with his poor sight. Here he is pictured below after a good visit with the doctors at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He has progressive myopia and currently has a prescription of -9.5 with astigmatisms. We were told at this appointment that he was a good candidate for an interocular lens implant and we scheduled another consultation with the surgeon in October. Since that doctor visit, we have found a wonderful answer to our prayers. We have found a Vision Therapist who has answered all our questions and concerns we had about the surgery and has advised us to wait, and let him try to STOP the myopia from progressing before we even consider surgery. So tomorrow we start working with Dr. Lant to do vision exercises once a month to help this sweet boy stay at a -10 diopter and not progress like most children do at his age to be even more near sighted. We pray that this therapy is just what he needs, and that in the future when his eyes have fully grown and technology advances to have an implantable lens that not only corrects the myopia but also his astigmatism, then he can have the surgery and no longer need his glasses. For now, Dr. Lant is extremely happy with his prescription and how well his brain is processing what he is seeing while using them. He informed us that there are some cases where the glasses just don't help a child, and we are thankful that little man is not one of those cases. We are so thankful to have moved to St. Louis where we have met the right team of doctors that will help our boy to be able to function as a normal child.
Attendance: 15, 9 Flyers: 550 Bible Studies: 6 |
AuthorElias and Kristi Roque have been married for 9 years and during this time have planted/grown 4 congregations. They have 4 boys 7 and under working alongside them. Archives
April 2024
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