Hello to all of our readers and supporters. We know that it has been longer than normal since our last blog post, but we have some big changes happening all at once, and we wanted to make sure they were in place before we let the world know. So let me just get right to it, because I like blogs that get right to the point. Anyone else with me on that? Change 1: Elias and I decided to sell our beloved home in Wentzville. Although the house was very well fit for the size of our family, the location is a little too far from where the majority of the Spanish contacts are coming from. We knew that we wanted to live in Wentzville for the schools and the proximity to my family to be able to help with the boys, but all in all, we were spending too much gas money, and too much time driving back and forth. Sometimes we would drive from Wentzville to St. Charles, back to Wentzville to pick up the big boys from school, and back to Overland for door knocking in one day. Which is doable, but not practical. Change 2: We sold our home! We are so excited that we were able to sell our home in less than 3 weeks, and we officially closed on that home August 1st. We are HOMELESS! Which I never thought I would be excited to say, but since we have looked at over 40 houses near the church building and anything off HWY 364 really, and haven't found anything that we could fit into as a family of 6 or afford, we have moved in temporarily with my hospitable parents. We know that God has the right house out there for us, but the market is just too high right now, and the choices too few for us to consider purchasing a home within our budget. So we are thankful for the space my parents have loaned out to us, and for their patience as well. Living with four grandsons under the age of 9 is not an easy undertaking. The boys however, would like to stay here forever. Change 3: Since the boys would not know excatly what school they would inevitably end up attending, Elias and I began entertaining the idea of Homeschooling our children. This idea has been pushed around and fought so much within our own minds ever since Eli became school age, but I am a public school teacher at heart, and the thought of taking on schooling four boys on my own was kind of terrifying. What if I ruin them for life? What if I am not capable? But through a lot of prayer, research, and a great homeschool support group at our congregation at West End, we were able to push those fears aside and take the leap to begin our Homeschool Journey. I can do a separate blog about the reasons why we chose to homeschool, and answer all your questions you may have for us if you'd like, but for now let me just say, the boys are LOVING being together as a family, Bible time over breakfast with Papi before he goes to work, and being done with core work before LUNCH! This will also allow us significant time to evangelize throughout the week as well as travel abroud for misson trips and outreach efforts without effecting their schooling. WIN WIN! (here are a few pics of our first day of homeschool) Change 4: Our very first neice on the Roque side was born August 1st. Agness Cristina came into this world through a lot of strength, stamina, and prayer on behalf of her strong mother Claudia. She was in the Hospital for 5 days, and in Honduras no one can be with you while you are laboring, so we were left to sit and wait, and pray. God had a hand in the birth of this tiny sweetheart weighing in at 4.9 pounds. Claudia was told the entire pregnancy she would have a c-section due to her high blood pressure and other risks, but last minute at 38 weeks she was sent to the public hosptial to give birth naturally. To say she was unprepared, would be an understatement. Long story short, Baby Christy was born safe and sound, and mom and baby are recovering at home. Please continue to pray for them as they heal, and a big thank you to all our friends and family who prayed for Claudia while she was in the hospital. The doctor literally saved her and the baby's life by being in the right hallway at the right time. God is faithful. In the midst of these big changes, we have had some pretty encouraging moments by the visit of several old friends throughout the summer. Friends from Nashville, Memphis, and Freed-Hardeman have come to vacation in St. Louis, and we are so thankful they called us to give us a big hug and push to keep working hard for the Kingdom. Also during these changes, our contacts and opportunites to meet new people have continued to grow. This saturday, we were able to attend a Back to School Fair with the Foristell Church of Christ where literally hundreds of people were given free school supplies along with lierature about the Gospel in English and Spanish. We continue to see great benefits from changing our Sunday services to 5 p.m. Mainly that our members Lilly, Edgar, and Raul can be there at every service to take the Lord's supper. Our brother Edgar serves on the Lord's supper table each Sunday, and they have been a constant encouragemnt to us. Please continue to pray for the Hispanics in this community. Catholism is strong, and the world has done a great job of keeping our contacts either "Too busy" or "too set in tradition" to come on a regular basis. We know the Lord is working, we just need to keep spreading his Gospel message daily. May God bless you, and thank you for reading our blog. Please leave us a comment below!
9 Comments
After nearly 20 days of continuous campaign work, we are finally home. It has been such a blessing (a tiring blessing) to be able to door knock, evangelize, provide for the needy, and encourage fellow brethren both here at West End, and in the streets of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Although having our two large campaigns back to back was very exhausting, it helped us see that the church at West End and the church at Tegucigalpa, Honduras was very much the same. Both congregations were striving to seek and save the lost. No matter what language we speak, we have a Love and purpose that is a universal language, The Gospel of Christ. Over the course of our campaign in Honduras, we were able to conduct 63 Bible Studies with 83 people. We had 3 baptisms and 2 restorations as a result of those Bible studies. The members and visitors of the churches of La Canada and San Miguel were blessed with socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, hair accessories and combs. To say they were grateful, would be an understatement. The children of Villa Claudia were given a Bible lesson and a meal to feed their hungry bellies. These children live in a government funded community with their mothers and are in great need of food, clothing, and sometimes care. (see pictures below). The congregation at San Miguel church of Christ was our main focus during this particular campaign. The members were given a short Marriage seminar Saturday evening, and then a gospel meeting each night there after on the topic "Living with God in a world who rejects God." The children were also taught lessons on the life of Jesus. (see photos below) Our new sisters in Christ were a little timid of the baptistry, but overcame their fears knowing it was more important to push those fears aside and receive their salvation. Most of people we study with have never been in a bathtub let alone a baptistry. The door knocking is always my favorite part. You never know who you are going to meet, and it never ceases to amaze me just how receptive these wonderful people are to hear the Gospel. Almost every door we knocked on, we were invited inside to sit down and study the Bible. Praise God. His truth was preached over the entire department of San Miguel, Tegu. Eli was given the opportunity to serve as well on this mission, and we are so proud of his willingness to jump right in and serve. He was able to lead singing in Spanish, give a devotional to encourage the team, and help out around the kitchen and clinic. He did not complain about the heat or the changes in schedule, but he was your typical kid at every dull moment he would ask to play a game on his Roque Families phones...insert eyeroll...even in Honduras. None of these successes would have been possible without our amazing, go with the flow, never complaining, always willing to jump in and help TEAM. This also includes our "team" of contributors who were not able to attend this mission trip in person, but they sent their love with their monetary donations that helped bring 12 preachers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to help us canvas the area. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this trip possible.
I am so excited to tell our readers about our very first door knocking campaign and Gospel meeting that I hardly know where to start. From the give away day to the wonderful guest speakers, or perhaps the countless volunteer work or the delicious meals shared while having a Bible Study. It all was truly more than we ever expected. God is working friends. We began our campaign on Thursday Morning bright and early. Some volunteers even beat us to the building where we made some last minute organizational changes, and at 10 am, the doors opened. We met 12 families that day, roughly 30 Spanish speaking people walked through our doors and were given an invitation to worship services. And unlike last time, we had each guest register in our handy-dandy....NOTEBOOK. While the parents were "shopping" the children were fed a warm meal accompanied with cookies and lemonade. The parents later joined them, while Elias, Carlos, or Wayne studied the Bible with them around the table. Every family was able to listen to the Word without rejection. (OH did I mention Carlos Hughes from South Carolina along with his wife Mari, Dallas and her two teenagers, Wayne Brewer from Mayblevalle, AR and a Maria, Roberto, and Evelyn joined us from out of state to help door knock and evangelize? What a blessing!) We closed down the give away around 3:30 pm, and prepared for the first night of the Gospel meeting. Aaron Baker delivered a great sermon on Raising a Christian Family in a World without God. What was most shocking to the Spanish speaking brethren and us is the amount of support we received from the English-speaking Congregation. We had so many come to support us Thursday and Friday nights at the meeting we almost cried. It was so empowering and encouraging to see our friends and family walk through those doors and shake our hands. Thank you to all who came to support our meeting. You meant so much to us. Friday, we got up, and did it all over again. Being at the building from 9 am to 9 pm with four children is not for the faint of heart, and I am so thankful to all the people who showed compassion and forgiveness and mercy to my sons while they were "trying" to help, play, waste energy and time, and not eat every cookie they saw on the counter. I am most thankful to my mother who rescued them Saturday night, when they were holding on only by threads. She took them home, fed them, bathed them, and put them to bed in our home while she waited for us to arrive. GOD BLESS HER TEN FOLD. What would we do without family or church family? Friday, we saw around 5 families, 15 people, and lots of items were cleared out of our give away stash. Josh Robinson delivered a message on how Christians are to live in this modern world. Thank you JOSH! Saturday we saw another 8 families or around 20 people come to our give away. Every family that walked through the door this weekend was a new face to us. We had never met them before, and several people are actively looking for a place to Worship on Sunday mornings. We had a delicious meal of Lasagna and salad to feed them all this day, and they were so appreciative, especially of the homemade cookies. Saturday evening, Christian Torres, or Hannibal Church of Christ came to speak to us and encourage us on how to stay the path in a world without Christ, followed by Carlos Hughes and his sermon on finding your salvation in this modern world. All of our speakers did a fantastic job of studying and bringing us the Word. Sunday was a day to remember. It was the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY of our meeting here at West End as the Iglesia de Cristo. What a very special day it was! We had two families come back to Worship with us from the give away days earlier that week. They had many questions, and Elias was able to sit down with them and answer those questions. They said they would be back next week also! We couldn't end this post without a huge shout out to the people who pitched in to help make this event a success. We met over 25 families, 60 plus people, door knocked 50 doors, and conducted over 12 Bible studies, several of which will be on-going. What a blessing! We had volunteers come up and stay with us from 9 am to 9 pm each night! We did not even have to ask for help, and there they were buying more food, cleaning more tables, speaking Spanish to our guests. Our helpers who have been in the "business" for many years could not express enough how they had never seen such love and support from a congregation to a Hispanic Ministry that is just starting out. God bless each one of you. We are forever grateful.
The Roque Family We were blessed this Memorial Weekend with a visit from the youth group at North Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, TN. This group of teenagers worked so hard to get all of our give away items organized, mail 500 flyers (hand sealed and addressed), and pass out some invitations personally out in the community. We honestly could not have done it all without them and the brave chaperones that accompanied them. We also had a hardworking and dedicated crew from West End that chipped in to help feed the group of 50 volunteers on two separate days. Not only did they feed them, but they served them, cleaned up after them, and supplied them with all their needs while they were here. Being a last minute event, we were not sure anyone else would have time to help us this holiday weekend, but we were blown away once again of the generosity and servanthood of the members here. Thank you to all that helped make this preparation day a success. We could not have pulled it off without you. Our Give Away Day and Gospel Meeting event is now all set up and ready to deliver. Thank you to all the local congregations and members who donated items, food, and their time to help make this event happen. We will begin on June 6th-8th.
9 am-12pm Give away. Lunch at 12. 1-4 pm Give Away. Dinner at 5 pm. 6:30-8:00 Gospel Meeting The Campaign will end Sunday Morning on June 9th followed by a fellowship meal with the Entire congregation. If you would like to attend the Gospel Meeting, we will have an English speaker on Thursday and Friday nights that will be translated into Spanish. Also, during the campaign we have two groups from Hispanic congregations coming to help us door knock. One is from Maybelville, AR and the other is from Greer, SC. We are so excited to have these preachers and their members with us to help conduct Bible studies and door knock during our campaign. Please continue to pray for this work, that their hearts are ready and softened to hear the Gospel, and that our groups arrive safely. Thank you again The Roque Family As some of you already know, we are anxiously preparing for our very first door knocking campaign/Gospel meeting. We are very excited to announce the speakers and topics listed above in our newly printed flyer. If you would like to come to our services to help support our campaign, that would be so encouraging to us. Our speakers and lessons will be translated Thursday and Friday night. We also have some brave volunteers that are going to be door knocking with us Thursday June 6th -Saturday June 8th. If you would like to help please contact us and let us know. You're assistance is greatly needed. If door knocking isn't your thing, then we will be having a GIVE AWAY DAY each morning of the campaign as well. We need helpers to help organize the donations, entertain the children while their parents are shopping or having a Bible study, trucks to help deliver the donations from other neighboring congregations, and help serving lunch as well as Dinner. We have also contacted various congregations to help provide lunch and dinner for our volunteers of around 30 people per meal. If this is something you would like to assist with as well, please let us know.
We look forward to all God has planned for the Hispanic Congregation this summer at West End. May God bless you. Help...its a word that seems to be the theme of our mission efforts over the past several weeks. Lots of individuals in the community need our help, aid was given to our ministry through several different outlets, and we have a new young man who has come to us from Mexico named Enrique that has been a great help to Elias during worship services. We are so thankful to the ladies Bible class at Arnold Church of Christ for supplying us with Spanish Bibles to give out to the community and to have in our Auditorium. Thank you again ladies. We are also very thankful for all the people who are helping us plan our first ever door knocking campaign here in St. Louis. The Campaign will be June 6th-9th, and our next blog post will be dedicated to giving out all the details and needs that we have in order to make this outreach a success. A young woman from Gautemala greatly needed our help on Tuesday morning. Elias had been studying with them in their home over the past months, but he hadn't heard from them recently. Until Tuesday morning. She called Elias with an anxious voice, petitioning him to translate for her at a local clinic. She had no one else to turn to, exhausted all her other resources, and she was feeling very very ill. She needed answers, and thanks to the People's Clinic in St. Louis, she received some attention, and was sent immediately to St. Luke's ER for care. She is in the advanced stages of Hypothyroidism, and her Thyroid is bulging out of her throat. She has too many symptoms to list, and she has currently been held in the Hospital for 5 days. Elias spent the entire day trying to help the doctors understand the severity of her case, and we are so thankful the doctors finally listened. She is receiving treatment now at St. Luke's, but she hasn't improved enough to be released. Please pray for her and her family as her husband has taken off work to be with her at the Hospital. They kept thanking Elias over and over again for all his time and help. Enrique! Enrique is a new face to our ministry here at West End. He comes to us from Columbia, MO where he's lived for the past year, but originally from Mexico. His father and brothers are preachers of the Gospel, and he is no stranger to mission work. He has helped his father begin many churches of Christ in Mexico, and evangelism is not foreign to him. He also is a talented song leader and enjoys preaching. We are so thankful Enrique found our location through a Facebook invitation. He had been looking for a Church of Christ in the area, and was overjoyed to finally find a place he can call home. Thank you Enrique for committing to helping us in services, evangelism, and outreach. Our Honduras Mission Campaign preparation is in full swing. We leave on June 14-21st, and we have at least 6 dedicated souls commit to joining us on the trip. Most of these hard workers are first time mission trip-ers, and we love a trip that has newbies. The excitement and passion they bring for saving souls and helping others is unmatched. We have also had several donations thus far for our benevolence efforts this year. We are asking for new socks of all sizes, toothbrushes, and travel toothpaste, hair-bows and hair-ties, and new brushes or combs. These are different than our school supplies and flip-flops we normally ask for, but also still very needed. There will be a donation spot designated for us at the Trivia Night at St. Peter's Church of Christ on May 11th. We hope to see you there.
If you have any questions or want to join us on a mission trip, there is still time to go! We are going to be able to have 10-15 local preachers join us on our evangelism team throughout the week, teach kids a VBS style class, host a gospel meeting, and seminar. Letters from the Foristell 1st-3rd Grade Girls below: We are so close to seeing nicer weather, and we cannot wait for Spring. This past week we were able to finally get the family out of the house and join Elias on his weekly Bible study efforts. He has been studying on Thursday nights with a new family that has just arrived from Honduras. We received their contact information from a member at West End, and we are so thankful he decided to reach out to this family and us. Marcos, the father, his wife and four children, his sister, and a couple other men are living in a home in St. Peter's, MO. The first day we randomly showed up at their home with some Honduran cream to welcome them to the United States and offer any translating help they needed for schools or work. They were so thankful they immediately invited us inside to sit at their dining room table and talk. They were open to an encouraging scripture reading from the Bible, song, and prayer. They even invited us back the next Thursday. Fast forward to the next week, Marco's son recognized us as we knocked on the door, and immediately invited us inside. We had brought Bibles that were donated to us through some very generous supporters. They were given to Marcos, his wife, his son Patrick, and his sister. They were so thankful and excited to have their very own Sword. Here is a picture of some of the Bibles for evangelism, and the blue hard back Bibles were donated for our worship services. We were also able to purchase a GIANT print Bible for another brother who is having trouble seeing. The Bible study lasted two whole hours. The boys were so good and patient, and we ended up studying with 5 people there. What an exciting night! This past Sunday we were so excited to see Marcos and his family walk through those double doors. It always brings such a big smile to our faces when we get to study with someone, and they ACTUALLY COME to worship services on Sunday. It feels like our efforts are not in vein. Thank you to everyone who has sent us contacts or given us locations of Hispanic families in the area. You never know what they may lead to. God bless you all.
In our last blog entry, we told the story of a U-haul packed with furniture a very generous couple had donated to our ministry. We wanted to let you know about some fruit that became of that labor. We met Freddy, his family, and friends at his apartment that day. He had just moved into the area, his belongings were few, and his needs were great. They gladly accepted all of the furniture pieces we had left in the truck, and we gave them our invitations with our contact information on the back. Fast forward to Saturday, Freddy called Elias, and asked if he could use "his" truck to transport some more donations he was able to find. After explaining how the U-Haul was rented, Elias drove to Freddy's house, helped him rent a pick-up truck, and helped load and unload a couple couches and other household items. After they were finished returning the truck, Freddy wanted to thank Elias by feeding him a delicious Guatamalen soup complete with vegetables and chicken feet...yum...flavorful. During their dinner, Elias had an very inquisitive Bible study between Freddy and his wife. They had lots of questions, and they were pleasantly surprised that their questions could be answered using the Bible. They enjoyed it so much that they invited Elias back for another Bible study last Thursday. The study lasted 2 hours and they invited him to return again this Thursday. What a great contact we were able to find because of the generosity of one couple. Another big piece of news we wanted to share with you is that this past Sunday, we had our first Bilingual service in our Spanish room at West End. One Sunday a month, Elias is inviting four or so families from the English speaking congregation to come worship with us. Elias translates the prayers, we sing the same song but in two languages at one time, and the sermon is translated on paper for the English speakers. We then had a friends and family potluck meal following services. The love and joy that we all felt during and after worship services Sunday was so great. We were able to connect some families, and introduce some new friends to our members. We had a visiting couple from Lemay Ferry Church of Christ come as well. The husband is from Honduras and she grew up in Illinois. They have an adorable little son, and they traveled from around the Granite City area to be with us. The wife had been translating the sermons for her husband, and she speaks fluent Spanish. They had been told about our congregation, and said they finally decided it was time for the husband to worship in a language he understands. It was very nice getting to know them more over lunch, along with several of our English speaking brethren. We want to personally thank all of our supporters, in particular this week those that make it possible for us to have an evangelism fund. Without your contribution, we would have never been able to rent that U-Haul, to load up the donations, to meet Freddy and his wife, and to begin teaching them the truth. Thank you so much for your generosity. May God Bless The Roque Family It has been an unusual, cold, long winter so far for St. Louis, and it's not even Spring just yet. The weather forecast is calling for more snow this week. We had to delay services this past Sunday until 2 pm due to Ice, and it is predicted to snow again this Sunday. We admit that this weather has caused a drop in our usual Sunday attendance. Hermana Lilly did make the trek out to worship, and it was so good to see her. On a "warmer" note, we wanted to tell you about our exciting Saturday. A friend of a friend donated several furniture pieces to us this past weekend. She and her husband are moving to Denver, and they wanted to downsize tremendously. Instead of selling it, she wanted to give the pieces to a good cause. So we rented a small UHaul, packed it up tight, and headed to the Overland area to see what evangelism we could do. God blessed us with a chilly but SUNNY day. At this point we will take the cold with the sunshine. It has been cloudy so much these days. First we went to our members' houses, and they were able to add some important pieces to their homes. They were so thankful, but there were several items left to give away. Nancy was able to give us a lead on a few Hispanic families down the street that could use our help. We were happy to see that 5 people came to meet us outside these apartments. We invited them to services, gave them invitations, and let them know that the furniture was completely free. They were a little shocked to hear that they could just grab any piece they wanted, and that there was no "catch." Several of these men in the picture above had recently moved into the area and had nothing but a table in their apartment. They were so excited to use these shelves for their shoes, clothing, and bathroom items. They all were wanting the ONE mattress that was donated, but they were civil about it, and let the first person who claimed it have it without complaint. We then were about to invite 10 more people, most of them HONDURAN, at this delicious Honduran restaurant we discovered down the street. The boys were so excited to eat their huge Baliadas filled with eggs, beans, cheese, and cream. Elias was happy to have some Honduran Soda with Tajaditas (fried green banana chips). YUM! The waitresses and customers were so nice, and each accepted our invitation with a smile. Elias was also excited to meet fellow Hondurans to discuss the delicious food and the bone chilling weather. Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement. It's been a slow winter due to the weather, but we are anxiously waiting for Spring to come so that we can knock on doors again, walk around the neighborhoods, and just get the kids out in general. For now, Elias and his nightly Bible studies with visitors are going well, and he looks forward to them with anticipation each week. We love you all.
The Roque Family The new year has started off with so many exciting things for the Hispanic Ministry, that it is hard to decide where to begin. So, let's just start at the very beginning. We are happy to report that we are currently working with 5 different families in the St. Louis/St. Charles Co. area. The exciting part is that each of these families have come to know about the congregation in a different way of advertisement. Our first family received word of us through a friend and fellow Spanish speaker. Our second family found our flyer in the Mexican Grocery store in Overland, MO. Our third family came because someone had told her about the work "possibly" starting back in February 2018. We still aren't sure who that was, but thank you. Our 5th family received our personal invitation through a mailer sent out to all St. Charles Co Spanish speaking names on record. Finally, the 5th family came to us through an invitation Elias puts up twice a week on the Spanish speaking St. Louis Facebook Group. Not all of those 5 families have been to worship all at the same time, but we have high hopes that one day soon they will all be together with us on Sunday morning. It is so encouraging to know that all of our outreach efforts have been successful in some way. God is good. I do not believe we have introduced you to our 5th family yet. His name is Castulo. He and his teenage daughter Daisy had been living in St. Louis for two years without a place to worship. He was overjoyed to find our invitation on the Facebook page, and now he drives 45 minutes from all the way downtown St. Louis off Cherokee St. to worship with us. He was baptized while living in Mexico and he now is looking forward to converting his brother and friends here in MO. A picture of him will be coming soon.
We are also so glad to announce that we have begun in home Bible studies with these families. They took a few months to warm up to us, but we have already enjoyed some great studies together, some delicious seafood soup (which as you can see below is very adventurous for my taste, but it was so good), cheesecake, and Venezuelan holiday bread made with love from these families. On Monday nights, Elias will be studying in the homes of two of our Overland families, Tuesday nights he will be studying downtown with Castulo's family, and Thursdays he will be studying with Oscar from Venezuela. Elias is right in his happy place with his week filling up with study and evangelism. We are so thankful to have gained the trust and friendship of our visiting families, and we hope to grow closer as a brothers and sisters in Christ as we follow the example of the First-Century Christians and meet together in their homes. Please continue to pray for this work and the brethren here in St. Louis, MO. May God bless you this week and thank you for reading. As the year comes to an end, we wanted to give you a quick update on what's been happening in our Hispanic Ministry here at West End church of Christ. Over the past three weeks, Elias has been studying with a young man named Oscar. He is the son of our visitor Jill. If you remember from our previous blog posts she is the woman from Venezuela who saved our post card invitation in her purse for several months and then came to visit us one Sunday for "confession." Oscar is 20 years old and was in need of some guidance per his mother's request. He was very willing to have some studies with Elias, and his older sister was able to accompany him as well. As a result of these studies, Oscar, his sister Fabiola and her son Lukas, Jill his mother, and Cruz his grandmother have all been attending services with us at West End. It is always so exciting to see new faces walk through those doors on Sunday morning, and yesterday was no different. Because Oscar has wanted a change in his life, he has encouraged his entire family to set new spiritual goals for 2019. Elias passed out the church calendar with events for the entire year, and our new friends were already making plans to attend each one of them. They were especially excited about our spring retreat coming in April. Our end of the month, Sunday fellowship meal was filled with lots of laughter, great conversation, and Venezuelan corn bread. Delicious! We were too busy fellowshipping to get any pictures this week, but hopefully next week we can introduce them to you officially. Please continue to pray for the four families that we are working with so far here in St. Louis, and also for the future families that are searching for the truth this new year. God bless.
The Roque Family What a whirlwind December has been thus far, and it's only just begun! We are so excited to report to you today about our "Give it Away Day" that we had this past Saturday. We were blessed to received lots of donations from gently used clothes, shoes, hats, and books to brand new in the box toys, coats, diapers, wipes, and food. We are so thankful to have had so many donations from many of the surrounding congregations as well as from our own at West End. Elias and I spent the weeks leading up to the give away day posting flyers in all the authentic Mexican Grocery stores from Overland to Wentzville. We passed them out to any Hispanic we met out and about, and our two families that attend services even took some to give to their friends and family. Elias posted on Hispanic social media groups daily inviting people from St. Louis area to come. The Thursday before the give away, Lilly and Edgar, Nancy and Moises came to help us organize and set up all the donations. We enjoyed some time together doing the Lord's work. What a blessing it was! Elias was also able to study with one of them about what the scriptures had to say about instrumental music. It was a big eye opener for him, and he was grateful for the study when Elias concluded. Saturday, the day of the give away, Elias and I woke up and prayed that at least a few families had received the flyer and were planning to come and take some of the many items we had waiting for them. Hot dogs, buns, chips, cookies, and drinks were prepared and waiting to be eaten. Our team of helpers were armed at the door with invitations to our Hispanic services, and then we waited... Thankfully, we did not have to wait very long before our first families arrived, and they just kept coming. Each family took away 4-5 bags of donations along with full stomachs. We met several Honduran families which was exciting for Elias to talk Honduran food with them, and Elias was even able to have an hour long Bible study with a man while eating their hot dogs and chips. This man had said he had never ever in his life read the Bible. So of course Elias was happy to change that for him. All in all we had 42 Latinos walk through the doors of the West End Church building that day. Most of which lived in St. Charles. They had seen our flyers at the Mexican grocery stores, and even took pictures of it and saved it in their phone. Success...now 42 Spanish speaking people know where the building is located, that a Spanish speaking service is located in that building, and that we are dedicated to helping and caring for others. What a tremendous event. We had double of what we were hoping for. We could not conclude this post without a big big BIG shout out to Matt and Shana Steward and their children for helping us at this event. Matt just called us the night before and asked when he could be there. Without them, clean up would have taken all - day- long, but with their help we were done in a couple hours. I personally am so thankful because our four boys were so so ready to take a nap. We look forward to meeting these families again, some of which have invited us over to their homes for some good Honduran cooking. God is so good, and we pray that the souls of these 42 people will be forever changed by this one small act of Kindness. On a completely unrelated note, we were able to have success in another area of our lives. Elias was awarded his US Citizenship last Friday at the courthouse in downtown St. Louis. It was a day that we will never forget. Thank you to all our friends and family for your prayers on this matter. This is a huge weight lifted off our shoulders.
This week's blog post will be two weeks in one. It has been a very busy, but exciting time in so many areas of our ministry, life, seasons, etc. We have loved getting to be in MO this year and getting to enjoy the early snow falls. The kids are a little baffled as to why they still have to go to school when there is snow on the ground....we aren't in Kansas, I mean Memphis anymore Todo. We were able to share a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast with our Hispanic members and ministry staff at West End after Services a couple Sundays ago. It was so fun watching them eat a traditional American meal complete with turkey and dressing, all the fixings and a pumpkin pie! They commented that they did not know how to prepare pies or a turkey for that matter, and even the dressing was something new to their taste buds. So much fun! We were so thankful to get to know them a little better this week, to have some English speaking families join us for lunch to meet them, and to share our delicious food. We had invited a few other families to our meal, but they did not attend. Maybe one day... The snow was so beautiful! We had around 12" of powder perfect snowman building snow. The kids were overjoyed with their snowball fights, and it wasn't too cold outside to play in it. Memories were made for sure. Even Elias got in on the action and built his first snowman ever! This snow has slowed our door knocking program down just a schmidge, but we were able to contact 5-6 new families this week at our yearly Give Away Day at West End. This event was so well planned and organized with a ton of wonderful helpers doing so many things to make it run so smoothly. Gently used donations were accepted, they were all organized and folded, food boxes were prepared, money was donated for Schnucks gift cards, toys and baby items (diapers, wipes, baby food etc.), and invitations were given to local schools in the area to hand out to needy families. We were so excited to see around 55 families walk through our door Saturday morning (5 or so of those being Spanish speaking). They all left with bags full of clothes, shoes, toys, books, food, and lots of love. We are so thankful for all the hard work and effort the congregation at West End put into making this event such a success.
On a sad note, our lovely Aura has moved back to New York to be with her other daughter for a few months. We were sad to see her go, but we are thankful to have gotten to know her and hope to see her again soon. We are so excited to let you know that the ENTIRE family of one of our members came on Sunday. Their 19 year old son who hasn't been able to attend services yet all these months decided to come and worship with us. Our hearts were bursting when we saw him walk through those doors. We felt like we knew him already, although we had never met him in person. I am certain his parents were just as overjoyed to have their entire family in services together. God has been working through so many people to help this ministry be a success, and we see all your efforts and are so grateful for them. Thank you to everyone. May God bless you this Holiday season and we will be checking back in in a couple of weeks. If we could give one adjective to describe our week this week it would be...encouraging. Our week was filled with exciting evangelism, activities in the church and in other congregations, motivational sermons, meeting new friends, all while changing into a new beautiful new season. God is so very good. His creation can literally take your breath away. This photo was taken on our drive to visit the grandparents. Earlier in the week, we decided to hand out flyers near the Walmart off 94 in St. Charles. When you go to Walmart, around 7-9 p.m. the day before a holiday is to begin, you are bound to find said store bustling with people, and many of those were Hispanics (some of my fellow last minute shoppers). So what better way to get our flyers in the hands of these Hispanics than to use our lovely four sons (I mean four little humans saying "Invitamos a la Iglesia," who can resist?). Little man is still learning how to actually "give" away the flyer without shouting his pelican screams, warning them that the flyer is "MINE." Sigh, he needs work, but don't we all? The people were delighted, for the most part, to accept the invitations with a smile, and some even asked more details about the address and service times. Encouraging. Later on in the week, we were able to visit some of our usual stores where we needed to refill some of our flyers. What we are finding out about these stores, is that the people are beginning to recognize us, and they are familiar with our names, the work, and the church. One store clerk even mentioned that she was telling a customer about us, and our congregation. She was inviting people for us! Elias had even been asking them what prayers they needed, and some were willing to pray with us there on the spot. Encouraging.
We were also blessed two Sundays ago with getting the chance to meet the sweet brethren of Pacific church of Christ. They were interested in learning more about the new Hispanic work in St. Louis, and it was so great to get to worship along side them, and show them the great things that God is doing through this ministry. Encouraging. Also, last Sunday, Elias was able to give a report on our recent mission efforts in Honduras to the West End congregation. What a blessing it was to be able to share with them the fruits of their labor throughout the campaign. If you aren't familiar with our report on the trip, please see our previous blog post. Encouraging. I, Kristi, was able to meet so many wonderful women at the St. Peter's church of Christ ladies day 2018. These women were so encouraging to me as I spoke. They decorated the tables beautifully, and the food/take home gifts were delicious! Thank you so much to these ladies for taking a chance on me and asking me to speak. It was so nice to be amongst such Godly, hard working women. Encouraging. And finally, we were able to spend the final day of this week, fellowshipping with our brethren at the church of Christ in Foristell, MO. There was a hayride/ bonfire at my parents' house, and Elias and I were asked to be Judges for the chili cook-off. What a fun time we had! From the delicious food, to pumpkin bowling, to messy egg tosses, and lots of laughter. It is so wonderful to be amongst friends and fellow Christians. Encouraging. Thank you for your continued prayers. Today, Sunday, we were blessed to worship with all three of our families for an attendance of 11 people. Elias was able to encourage them so much by preparing a very appropriate and timely lesson on being pioneers of faith. Almost all of the Hispanic contacts we make in this ministry are first generation Christians, and they sometimes can see the path to Christianity difficult and heavy laden. But today, Elias was able to present to them through God's word a lesson of encouragement for today, and the potential future of their families. Encouraging. Over the past four months, the congregation at West End has sent out almost 2000 postcards to homes that were registered with some sort of Spanish speaking background. Over these past few months, we were very curious as to just how effective these mailers are, and were they arriving at homes that actually did speak Spanish? Were the people reading the invitation to come and join us at the Iglesia de Cristo, or were they just tossing them in the trash? I know I am guilty of throwing away particular post cards that arrive in our own personal mailbox even before I come into the home. Why should our invitation be any different?
We had heard from a few different contacts we had met in the stores or restaurants that they had seen our invitation before, and they recognized it as one that had arrived to their homes earlier in the month. That was encouraging, but we still had not seen anyone actually walk through our doors just solely because of the invitation they had received in the mail...until SUNDAY. It was a normal Sunday morning for us, four boys were struggling to get out of bed, let's face it...four boys, and two tired parents. Any other day of the week, they are bright eyed and bushy tailed around 7:00 a.m., but Sunday roles around, it's 8:00 a.m., and I have to pry their eyeballs open with a toothpick. We managed to successfully get out the door, each little man tie and shoes on, hair combed, teeth brushed, bananas for breakfast, and only one minor casualty (Eli's belt). We arrived at the building early and with just enough time to have a few melt downs before Bible class, but we made it. Then it happened. As Elias began his Bible class we noticed a certain unknown phone number was calling his church office for the second time, and he looked at me quickly and said, "Kristi can you answer that? Someone could be lost and looking for directions to the building." So, I picked up the phone, and in my very American accented Spanish proceeded to have a conversation with the sweet woman on the other line who later I would find out was named Jill. She asked me in a few different ways what time the "Mass" started, and when could she sign up for a time to attend "confession." Wanting her to come and at least meet us for a Bible study, I explained to her that our worship service is at 10 am and she could meet with the preacher afterward for a counseling session. Long story short, after worship services Sunday morning, Jill and her mother Cruz (from Venezuela) spent 1.5 hours in Bible study and counseling with Elias. He was able to explain to them what the Church of Christ was, and he helped them through some tough family situations they were experiencing. These woman came out of that study so excited, that she asked us for more invitations so she could invite all her friends, family, and co-workers. She said she would be back on Wednesday with her grandson, and she looked forward to studying the Bible with Elias more. Before she left, we asked her how she had heard about the Iglesia de Cristo here at West End. She said that a personal invitation was mailed to her address in O'Fallon, MO. When it arrived she was curious about the church, because the only other Spanish speaking worship service she had been to was very far away and not to her liking. She had kept it in her purse for two months. She pulled it out often to read it and study it. She even decided to take a snapshot of the address and phone number just in case she ever lost it. She confessed that several times she picked up the phone to call us, but decided against it, but when she woke up this Sunday, she immediately said, "Today is the day. I am going." And she did. Please join us in prayer for Jill and her family, for her mother Cruz, for Nancy, Nancy jr. and Moises, for Lilly Edgar and Raul, and also for Elizabeth and her mother and husband. All these people have taken the time to walk through our doors, and we pray that one day they are core members of the Iglesia de Cristo here at West End. Please pray for their hearts that they may be softened and ready to hear the Gospel, and that they will dedicate their lives to Christ. God bless you and thank you everyone who has helped us already so much in this ministry. The Roque Family Honduras Mission Trip 2018 is in the books. We returned late Saturday evening safe and sound, and our flights were surprisingly on time, and with a little race through the airport we were able to make both connections to and from Houston with all 7 carry ons, 7 backpacks, 2 car seats, 2 strollers, 4 kids, 3 adults, and a partridge in a pear tree. To say that we felt like the Mcallister Family in the classic movie Home Alone, would be a pretty accurate statement. We were so thankful to have my cousin Whitney with us to help throw a few kids over her shoulder while we ran, or we may have had a "KEVIN!!!" moment. Anyway...back to the mission... We had a very successful trip with lots of wonderful things accomplished. Just to give you a snapshot of our week, here are some numbers to throw at you... Bible Studies: 105 People in those Studies: 212 Visitors to the church: 17 Restorations: 7 Cerro Grande: 40 children Monday attendance: 80 Monday VBS: 19 Tuesday Attendance: 89 Tuesday VBS: 25 Wednesday Attendance: 102 Wednesday VBS: 32 Benevolence: 175 backpacks filled with School supplies 300 pairs of flip-flops 50 bags of food for 50 families to last them 2 weeks ($600 worth) 150 Bibles God is so good. There were so many families blessed by this mission work, and the church in La Canada has grown in more ways than one. The construction on the children's classroom above the first floor was officially completed while we were there. It turned out beautiful. It now has a roof, doors, and windows, and the metal steps have been ordered and should be arriving soon. The construction team worked so hard, even with the set-back of the rain that we had, they completed the project with flying colors. Sunday we were able to complete our Seminar in two different congregations. The Iglesia de Cristo en San Miguel and in La Canada. The seminar consisted of three different sessions of about "Caring for the People of God" which was chosen in order to break the cycle of living in sin that seems to so easily consume the churches in Honduras. 1. Caring for my Salvation in Christ 2. Caring for the new generation of Christ 3. Caring for my relationship with others in Christ Our children's VBS and Gospel Meetings became known around the community and people came from miles around...literally. Our teams planned their lessons, crafts, snacks, and meals and their hard work and dedication paid off. The children learned about what it meant to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They learned it in a song, in sign language, and memory verse. A mission trip is never complete without a few setbacks and unexpected road blocks...and this year that road block was literal. We are thankful that God was able to help us work around those unexpected schedule changes and still complete all the projects we came to complete in Honduras. Set back #1: The rain. It rained, and rained, and rained. For the first 3 days of the campaign it rain, relentlessly. I have never witnessed a rain that never let up even for a minute for about 60 hours. Because of this rain several things had to be rearranged in our schedule. The road was washed away to Villa Claudia (one place of government housing that we were going to pass out the backpacks) and we could not do our Saturday VBS there, we even tried to just go pick up the kids and bring them back to camp, but this resulted with a bus stuck in the mud and a dent in the rental van. So we moved our benevolence to Wednesday afternoon...and it all worked out. We spent the day, Saturday, instead organizing the rice, beans, powdered milk, coffee, chicken bullion cubes, Maseca, shortening, oatmeal, salt, ketchup, pasta, and spaghetti sauce that we were able to purchase for 50 families. For only $12 a bag, we were able to feed these 50 families for 2 whole weeks. Thank you to everyone who donated to this cause. Speaking of donations, it was so exciting to see the look on the children's faces when they received their backpacks and school supplies, plus a surprise pair of flip-flops. I was able to witness personally the outrageous prices of the backpacks and school supplies there. The backpacks alone were around 700 L for nothing super fancy which comes out to around $30. That is crazy! There were so many flip-flops that we were able to let the moms, dads, grandmas, aunts and uncles, and their baby dolls, jk, pick out a pair to use. They were so excited to have shoes that people in the streets were coming out of their houses to see what the commotion was all about. Set back #2: because of the rain, the electricity was out for around 15 hours total. Luckily we had our flashlights, and we were able to go to worship semi-decent looking, even if we had to take cold showers, and go with frizzy hair. Set back #3 the road was closed due to construction at the bottom of the small mountain where the church sits. Which means everything that we did or brought to the church building had to go from the top down, which isn't so bad going down...but going up is a whole different story. Our knees and muscles are sore in places we never knew we had muscles. Personally it was my first time to carry a toddler up that mountain, and ouch! I am sure the Latinos were thinking we were nothing short of out of shape gringos...which may be slightly true for some of us. There were some more individual set backs that some of our team members had, but they were able to overcome them with grace, and thankfully the entire team is now home safe and sound and back to the old grindstone. After a tiring but encouraging week, we have come to several conclusions. They are: 1. Although it was extra tiring taking all four of our boys to Honduras, it was so beneficial for them and us. They were able to keep the Honduran children entertained while we were preparing lesson crafts etc. They were also able to be examples to them in the class, most days they were good examples :), pray and lead songs in Spanish, help get our foot in the door for Bible studies (who's going to look dangerous when they have four crazy boys running around them), and they were able to help clean up trash and carry things down the mountain for us. It was truly a growing experience for them. We pray that one day they will be leading these mission teams to Honduras. 2. Be Flexible! We may have had the groups prepared, schedule planned, and our ducks in a row months before we embarked on our trip, but we quickly learned that all our organization can fall apart with one swift rain storm. Being flexible, and not stressing out about the little things can make all the difference amongst what could turn into a sea of chaos. 3. Each congregation and area of location has their own unique obstacles. Not all churches have the same schedules, communities, problems, members, or financial circumstances. We need to remember this when we plan a mission trip. When you are planning your trip, make sure you ask the local preachers what schedule the community has as far as time in their homes, work schedules, meal schedules, daily activities, and try to plan evangelism around them. YOU CANNOT expect for the locals to conform to your rigorous, americanized way of life, it will just cause unwanted stress. We want to thank each and every person who contributed to our mission efforts, and made this trip possible. We could not have made it happen without you and your generosity. May God bless you ten fold. We love you and thank you again. The Roque Family. The passports have been purchased. Our vaccinations are up to date. We've begun our probiotic supplements. We've spent our life savings in tiny bottles of travel sized liquids (kidding), and our bags are packed ( in carry-ons this year since they decided to charge $25 now even for luggage on an international flight, and I am not sure how I am going to repack our dirty clothes once the trip is over). Honduras Here we Come!
These past two weeks have flown by as we have been evangelizing, making new friendships, and preparing for our Honduran mission trip that begins this Thursday. We have been packing our 6 army duffle bags full of benevolence items for the children in Tegucigalpa, and we are blown away by the generosity that has been shown to us and the people of Honduras. I cannot wait to show you all the pictures and stories of our trip when we return. After 3 years of absence from the Honduran mission trip, the boys and I are ready to help translate, teach kids classes, and see our family. This will be the first time that our two youngest boys will get to experience Honduras. Please pray for us, we are sorely outnumbered on the airplane ride, and it's a very early flight. We are loaded down with snacks, stickers, electronics, and bubblegum to help ease the craziness. 4 am is going to come early for them Thursday morning. We also ask for you to remember us in prayer throughout this week and the next. We have some specific requests that you petition on our behalf. Please pray for the: gospel meeting seminar vbs and children's classes evangelism efforts restoration efforts safe travels easy immigration passage going and coming health and safety of our team health and safety of our children specifically safe travels of the 7 Latino preachers attending the hearts to be softened and ready to hear the Gospel our families in the US to be safe while we are away our flights to be on-time and to arrive safely We greatly appreciate your support in our Mission efforts here and abroad. Your prayers have already made all the difference. Our mission work here in St. Louis continues to move steadily. Our new family from the D.R. was caught in a predicament as her husband left town for the week for a work commitment and took the car keys with him. So Elias was able to pick them up from University City Sunday morning, and we had all our families in attendance once again. We had a wonderful time chatting and getting to know our new family at the potluck following services. The rice they brought was delicious too! We are so thankful to have two bilingual members from West End fill in for Elias this week while we are away on Mission. Kyle Crews and Paul Sanchez have so graciously and bravely offered to lead singing, pray, preach, and teach Bible class Wednesday night and Sunday morning. If you see them, please give them a pat of encouragement and a quick Thank you! We are so blessed to be able to leave the congregation in such good hands, especially this early in our ministry. We will leave you this week with a sweet picture of our littlest love with his new friend. She walks back and forth during services asking for snacks or toys from Abel, and he usually isn't too obliged to share. (Frankly, when he sees her coming, he tends to start saying NOOO, "DOOE" or "Go!" and pointing for her to go back to her mom). But this time, Abel shared his veggie straws, coloring books, and goldfish gladly, and I was thankful to sneak this sweet picture of them. 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 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 We are so thankful for all the prayers and comments of encouragement that everyone poured out for us this past week. We felt them, and we are so excited to share with you how they are working! Monday was our very first "official" home Bible study that was scheduled in advance. The first couple to accept our invitation, set up a date and time, and follow through with their commitment. But it wouldn't be a Roque Ministry experience if the Bible study didn't have an interesting tale to it...so here it is... Elias had misplaced his work phone on Monday afternoon, and instead of looking too hard for it, he continued working and when 5:30 rolled around we headed out to the Lindenwood area. We arrived on time for the study, and the man was actually in his yard. He seemed surprised to see us, but who isn't a little stunned when they see 6 people climbing out of a clown car. As we are unloading the trusty mini van, the man walks over to us and says, "Oh, I am so sorry, I sent you a text message and left you a voicemail on your phone. We are unable to have the Bible study today because...(insert here excuse, excuse, excuse followed by excuses for the rest of the week including spending time with their dog). So we explain to him that we couldn't find his work phone, and we missed the messages and we were so sorry to interrupt their plans (side note, he was still in his pajamas, so we weren't sure exactly where he was supposedly headed to). Elias then strikes up a conversation with him, in true Elias fashion, and they end up "studying" outside by our van for A FULL HOUR! The man might not have noticed, but they were reading scripture and discussing catholicism like old friends. So we will mark our first home Bible study as a SUCCESS! (Take note of the hot wheels cars tired from racing, gold fish container on the bumper, and cute babies running wild...this is us, doing our thing with 4 crazy boys along for the ride). Wednesday we were blessed to have both Lilly AND Edgar in Bible study with us. Edgar had been absent for a couple of weeks with "stomach issues," and we are thankful he was able to join us again, and so was Lilly.
Thursday we had big plans to door knock the entire day in the B-E-A-Utiful weather we were...yes were...having, but a call from the school nurse quickly changed our outdoor plans, and we were stuck inside making chicken soup and giving sips of gatorade. Luckily, our oldest son only had a light touch of the stomach bug, and it lasted just a couple of hours. Saturday we were able to refill some of our cards at the local Mexican Stores, and invite some customers while we were at it. We aren't sure if people are throwing away our stacks of invitations, or truly taking them home, but we will continue to refill them in hopes of spreading the Gospel. Sunday was such an encouraging day. As many of you told us, we just needed to be patient, and guess what!!??! Our Guatemalan couple came back! They were there for class and services. They even commented to us how they had tried to finally answer our calls on Friday but the phone was going straight to voicemail. (Elias had called Sunday and left several text messages throughout the week with no response, and he always responded prior to our "truth" conversation). They even came to the office Friday to try to find Elias, but since that is his day off, and mamma works, no one was there. So our communication was off for a week, and we were blessed to be able to lean on God for his perfect timing, and along with all of your prayers, they have returned. To God be the Glory. Now we can rest assured that they know the truth, and they are hearing more truth, and maybe one day decide to take on the Lord in baptism. We also had a delightful Sunday afternoon lunch with the elders at West End. They came over for a true Honduran meal, made by a Honduran's Gringo Wife, but Honduran none the less. We truly enjoyed getting to know each other better, and spent a couple hours at the dinner table talking while the boys magically took care of themselves, and didn't fuss a single bit. HALLELUJAH. Some days the stars do align, and they behave themselves. Some...days... Thank you again for your fervent prayers, they mean so much to us. Please continue to pray for this ministry, and for God to lead us to the hearts that are ready to hear his Gospel. Attendance: 11 Tracks handed out:534 Bible Studies: 7 When I was thinking about writing this week's blog, there were so many thoughts running through my head. So many efforts that have open ended responses, so many contacts that are pending arrival, so many what ifs....but amongst all those thoughts stands out one encouraging truth, "There is no timing, like God's perfect timing." This week has had its fair share of ups and downs, excitements and disappointments, beginnings and endings, urgent care visits and sore muscles, but one thing is for certain, God is in complete control. Monday started the week off with such an exciting bang. We found a neighborhood filled with several Hispanic families. We went to knock those doors in the evening, but we were only able to come to the very first house. Why you may ask? Well, in the very first house lives a sweet couple who was struggling with family trials. They were so thankful to have met us, in that precise moment, because they had recently found out that a family member had been stealing from them. They were hurt, heartbroken, and saddened about the loss of a brother. Elias was able to study with them for 20 minutes. He was even able to set up another study for the following Monday at 6 pm. Thank you God for your perfect timing. Below is a picture of Elias and the couple standing outside their home studying. It was very convenient that there was a playground in the middle of the houses for the boys to play on while we chatted. It was a little different week for us, as mommy had to work 3 days this week for True Health Chiropractic. There were two marketing events that they asked her to attend, but while she marketed the Chiropractic office, she was able to invite some people to our Spanish services. We are so thankful for the flexible schedule evangelism allows us to shuffle around when we need to mix things up a bit. We are getting very good at tag-teaming!
We had big plans for reaching out to the Hispanic community in Wentzville, MO this past Saturday at a GMC union picnic. (There is a huge GMC plant in Wentzville with over 2,000 workers). However, we were unable to find any attendees that spoke Spanish, we did have a great time climbing a rock wall, and of course when there is free food involved it's always a win! However this fun-filled picnic was then followed by an Urgent Care visit for our littlest boy. His elbow was pulled out of socket, "Nurses Elbow," and thankfully the doctor had it popped back into place in a matter of excruciating seconds. The moment of truth from last week had come to realization today. Sunday Bible class rolled around at 9:00 and our friends from Guatemala had still not shown up. Our ever-faithful Lilly, was there though, front and center, ready to learn in her Cheesecake Factory uniform (she had come from work, just to return to work immediately after services....bless her heart). 10:00 am rolls around and all hopes of Moises and Nancy arriving with their baby girl were fading fast. Were they going to come, and say they were ready to be baptized for the remission of their sins? Unfortunately, they did not come to services today. Our fears of pushing them away with the truth became reality, but there is still hope. We are certain that last week was God's perfect timing to teach them the truth about their salvation, and we look forward to maybe one day them walking through our doors again, to tell us they are ready to wash their sins away. Until that time, we will remain optimistic, and thankful for the opportunity to teach a new soul the truth about God's word, before it was too late. Even though our new friends did not attend services today, Lilly did, and she needed us today. She needed something big. We are so thankful she was the only person in attendance during Bible class. God's perfect timing. As we were singing the opening song, she just began weeping. She poured her heart out to us during that 45 minutes, asking us to guide her through her struggles, and to tell her what God expects her to do. We were able to talk in confidence, because we were alone. We were able to comfort her, and hug her, and give her the advice she needed to return to her family with a new strength and endurance to carry on. God's perfect timing. August is here in full force, and all the back to school preparations are underway. This is the week in the St. Charles County area that our children go back to classes. We are excited to meet all our new friends and teachers, get back to our normal routine, and for our children to learn more so that they may be equipped to be able to study God's word. But behind the excitement, there is a little sadness. We have so enjoyed having our big boys with us this summer. They have learned so much about how to plant a church. They have gotten really good at passing out flyers, inviting people to church in Spanish, and singing in Spanish. We are really going to miss them while they are away studying. Speaking of our big boys, Eli had to step up today and fill in for our brother Edgar who was out ill. Our prayer for our boys is that they are always strong men of God and servants in the Lord's church, and today, I was able to get a glimpse of what we pray our future will look like on Sunday mornings with all 4 boys serving in Worship services alongside their father. If you'd like to hear a short clip of them singing in Spanish, please click the file below.
Throughout the week we met several Spanish speaking people that we were able to invite to services. Thursday, we spent the majority of the day as a family restocking our flyers in the stores in Overland, MO. We met so many nice people, and finally found a Mexican ice cream shop, and boy was it a perfect HOT/HUMID day for Helados y Paletas. Hermana Lilly met up with us to show us some good locations to pass out flyers since she lives in Overland, as does our other family from Guatemala. We are so glad the Page Extension is open because our building is located just off Harvestor and 364, which makes their drive 10 minutes!
Our visiting family from Guatemala had some questions about the classes they have been receiving Sunday Morning, and the moment of Truth had finally come. Elias had been giving them some time to read and listen to the word/classes, and today was the day where they were curious as to what the Bible teaches about salvation. We have to admit, this part of the work always makes us nervous. It is hard to tell someone that they have not been following correctly God's plan of salvation, and many of the times it's through no fault of their own. They had been following a man-made doctrine. It broke our hearts today to hear them say, "All this time, you think you are doing everything you can to follow what's right, God's Will, and to find out it was incorrect is hard to take." They said they needed to take the scriptures and study them this week on their own, and that they would make a decision soon. The good news is, they said they would see us next Sunday, but now only prayer and time will tell if they are truly ready to take on our Savior in baptism. We don't know if they will return or not, we can only pray, but Elias told them that he would rather be able to tell them here on earth while there was still time, than to see them on the other side and they say, "Why didn't you ever say anything to us about the Truth?" That would be even more unbearable. We hope to write to you next week of the good news, but if not we know that God gives the increase, and we have planted the seed. Please join us this week by praying for this sweet couple, and for their hearts to be open to the Word of God. May God Bless you all. Attendance: 9 Tracts: 437 Bible Studies: 6 Our Adventures this week have been Exciting. From Eating with New Friends to Inviting People at a Back to School fair. It has been one productive week. We are so thankful for all the new people we have met. Tuesday afternoon, we decided to make sure the two Mexican stores in Wentzville, MO had our flyers stocked and ready to pass out. We met the store owner, and were able to have several conversations with customers. One man in particular was excited to meet us, and asked if he could have a Bible. Of course at that particular moment, we didn't have any in the van. He didn't want to give out his number, but we gave him our information and told him to swing by the church for a copy. We haven't heard from him yet, but maybe one day. The boys have been troopers during our evangelism hours, but it does wear on them. Boy number two in particular thinks he is too big for naps, and usually ends up like this in the car during evening evangelism. Poor Buddy. Thursday was a wonderful night of fellowship with our new minister team and their families. We enjoyed each other's company over a typical Honduran meal. Needless to say, Elias was very proud to show them his home countries delicious food. It was a hit! Saturday was the big day! The Wentzville Back to School fair was crowded with over 700 people and 100 "business" booths handing out school supplies and their contact information. We were thankful to share a table with the brethren from the Church of Christ at Foristell, and they secured a spot right by the entrance. Man was it crowded! We gave out folders with our flyer information, a Church of Christ informational tract, a Spanish Bible Bookmark, and a Spanish inspirational card. We were able to personally hand out 50 flyers to Spanish speaking attendees, and we were giving away 3 Bibles to people who signed up with their contact information. We secured 20 names and phone numbers. Overall, I would say it was a successful day of evangelism. Sunday Morning was very encouraging. Our two Latino families were present, ready to learn and worship our Heavenly Father. We even had a visitor from Memphis, TN who attended our worship as well. We even had a new family come to visit us during Bible class hour. They spoke Italian, but I was able to pick up on several things they were asking us. They had recently moved from Dallas, and they had 3 children, and they were in need of some assistance. After securing them a Schnucks grocery card, we invited them to services, but they were too hungry they said, and they went on their way.
Please continue to pray for us as we try to find the Spanish-speaking souls that are ready to hear the Gospel. May God bless you this week readers. We are so thankful for you. Attendance: 15 Tracts: 417 Bible Studies: 5 Fried Chicken, Mac n Cheese, Green Beans, casseroles, casseroles, casseroles, pasta salads, and about 15 different pies lined the potluck tables after church this Sunday. We had our very first fellowship meal together with the English-Speaking congregation and it was delightful. Since our Spanish service meets in the fellowship hall, we were able to work together (all three families) after the final prayer to set up tables, chairs, food, and drinks. It was fun to share our different styles of foods, and they especially loved watching the English preacher Matt Stewart try their delicious authentic Mexican dish called Ceviche. Edgar is a chef, and his Ceviche was so good. Its a cold salad of shrimp, crab, avocado, and tomatoes with special seasonings. He even made his own white dressing to garnish it. Matt was so sweet to show his enthusiasm for tasting this new dish, and the just smiled and watched as he took his first bite. I do have to say, potluck meals together have become our new favorite combined activity. At Great Oaks Church of Christ, where we worshiped prior to this ministry, the English-speaking brethren would always scour the tables, looking for the tasty authentic Hispanic dishes. Food is definitely a universal language, and we love how it brings us together. Although there is a language barrier, the fellowship while eating was by far the best part. There was lots of laughing, smiling, serving, and getting to know one another. Earlier this week, we said good-bye to Ruth and Elias Roque Sr. They were so helpful in passing out invitations, but they needed to get back to host a seminar that started in Honduras the same day they arrived back in Tegucigalpa. Although Sunday was very encouraging, this week for evangelism was somewhat the opposite. We were just not in the right places at the right times. We only handed out about 10-20 flyers for the week, and those didn't seem very promising. We even went all the way downtown to the supposed "Hispanic Hot-Spot" on Cherokee street, and after surveying the area didn't see one Latino. We did see lots of bakeries and authentic businesses, and besides the fact that the area seemed dangerous for evangelism, it was mostly English-speaking people purchasing Pan Dulce and Tres Leches. We do, however, have several leads for this coming week, but you'll have to come back next week to read all about it. We are praying for God to lead us to the hearts that are ready to hear the Gospel. Meanwhile, back at West End, the members along with some helpful children, were preparing our tracts with labels. They now have our contact information and our ready to be passed out to those who may have specific questions about the Lord's church. We hope you have a blessed week, and thank you so much for taking the time to read our blog. It is so encouraging to know that people care about our ministry, and are excited to see what new adventures the week had brought us. Please leave a comment below to let us know you are here. May God bless you.
Sunday Attendance: 13 (our family, and 2 hispanic families) Flyers passed out: 323 Bible studies: 3 Matthew 9:37 "Then He said to His disciples, 'The Harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.'" This verse was sticking in the forefront of my mind this week, as we began canvassing more of St. Charles Co. and beyond. There are so many lost souls just in this city, not to mention the entire world, and it can be so overwhelming. We watch as the people go about their everyday lives, some clueless as to where their salvation lies. Every Sunday morning, as we back out of our driveway, Elias points out the vast number of houses with all their vehicles tucked nicely in their garages or driveways, resting away to prepare for the work week ahead. Not realizing that true rejuvenation cannot be found in their sleep number 31220000. It is nice to have help here this week. With Ruth and Elias, we were able to canvas more ground. We had some addresses that were given to the congregation through the last "Give it away" day in October, and we were able to reach out to them and invite them personally to services. Some of our English speaking members gave us a tip on where several Spanish speaking people lived near our building, so we were able to door knock there as well. Let me tell you, it was HOOOOOTTT. Like drinking the air hot, and the kids were troopers. They really enjoyed knocking the doors, and saying "Invitamos a la Iglesia." These pictures really say it all. What a joy to watch your children labor for the Lord. Almost unanimously, we find no matter what city we are in, that most Latinos are born into the Catholic religion. With this comes lots of different challenges, including but not limited to: 1. Being disowned from your family if you deny the Catholic heritage. 2. Not having ever read the Bible. (which sometimes is a good thing for us to start from scratch). 3. Being wrapped up in lots of traditions, including idolatry. Note... exhibit A in the picture below. There is even a picture of the current "pope" kissing Guatelupe in one of our Mexican stores. 4. Lots of people not even being open to accepting our invitation because of family traditions, and with cathalicism comes the freedom to drink, etc., a few hale Mary's, father-son-holy spirit, throw extra $$$ in their tithe, and they are good to go. This makes it hard for us in teaching our new converts morality. Our Monday Bible study has been rescheduled the last two Mondays due to a work conflict. But Elias was able to have a 20 minute conversation with him over the phone...which is super exciting. This family then asked about our worship services and said they would possibly see us Sunday. Maybe...
Speaking of Sunday!!!! We had another family to come visit us this week!!! They found our flyer in one of the Mexican Grocery stores, and after getting lost a few times, were able to find the church building and worship with us on Sunday. It was a husband and wife and small daughter from Guatemala. They were so precious. Prayers that they will continue to attend services with us. So we now have two Hispanic families that have attended our services. Attendance: 12 (Isaac was sick with a fever, so him Abel, and I stayed home) Flyers Passed out: 275 Bible Studies: 4 |
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
Categories |