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
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This week has been FILLED with so many things, it will be hard to list them all so I will try to keep it to the highlights. First of all, thank you so much for clicking on our link to read our blog. It keeps us going knowing there are supporters and readers out there praying for us and the Lord's work here in St. Louis. Monday we were able to pass out flyers to several local congregations. We would love for their members to take a few and pass them out to their friends, acquaintances, and people they see in the stores while they are out and about. We have dropped off flyers at West End, Foristell, St. Peters, Arnold, Collinsville, Overland, Florissant, and the Christian Academy of Greater St. Louis. We have plans to go by other congregations and store fronts tomorrow. We would like to leave our invitations with anyone who is willing to pass them out, so if your congregation would like to have some flyers, please leave us a comment or message below. This will help us tremendously in spreading the word about our services. Tuesday Elias and Ruth Roque, or better known as "Lito and Lita" arrived in St. Louis to give us more man power, and of course see the grandbabies. After a good American BBQ and fireworks Wednesday, they were ready to get to work. We began in the Overland area, where we found several people going about their errands. We met a group of people at one Grocery store that were from Honduras, and actually one man used to be a taxi driver in the exact same town as Elias was back in his taxiing days. What are the odds? They were very receptive, and they talked about the Church of Christ for 20 minutes in the hot sun. Did you know it is currently 15* warmer here than in Tegucigalpa, Honduras...a Central American country closer to the equator. Yeah, that's hot. Anyway, so there were two women who own their own business by making Honduran food and selling it a la carte. So we exchanged numbers, and she has already messaged Kristi to tell her she was excited to meet us. They did mention they were members of the Maranta church there in Overland. It is the only other Spanish speaking services we have come across in the whole city so far. She mentioned they were so large that they have to have two services. I wonder how we can get Elias in there to preach to the masses and bring them all to salvation at once...pure "Day of Pentecost" style. Hmmm.... Friday we were able to evangelize to several contacts that my grandmother had gotten for us. We actually met an American lady who overheard the name of the Church and said, "Did you say West End Church of Christ?" She went on to explain that the preacher there, Matt, came to her aide last year when her home had burned down and she needed to buy soap to bathe her babies. He just took her to Wal-Mart, and got her what she needed. She said she would never forget that day, and the name of that church. She was so thankful for Matt and she said she has been meaning to visit us. This goes to show you never know what could come out of a good deed, even a whole year later. Unfortunately, the rest of Friday was not the kind of exciting we had hoped for. Elias Sr. was helping clean up hot wheels toys when his feet slipped out from under him and knocked him plus the farm bench directly on top of his finger. The impact crushed the bones into pieces at the top of his middle finger, and completely twisted the skin of his finger pads and nail around. Needless to say it was pretty gory and immediately I knew we had to go to the ER. The staff was very attentive to him, and everyone came in to get a good look at the damage. 100 stitches and 5 hours later we walked out of the ER with a splint wrapped in gauze and a 9 am apt with the specialist Monday Morning. The doctor said he will most likely need surgery to repair the damage, but we have high hopes that God is already healing his finger. Now I just need him to rest. He is still trying to clean up after his grandsons and do everything for himself. I want to draw your attention to the middle photo of the nice nurse who so patiently was trying to put his finger back together. During this moment he leaned over to me, and whispered, "Make sure you invite her to church." He is as good as it gets folks. Also side note: I now know what it will be like when one of my boys has a similar incident. I mean with 4 boys people keep telling me the odds are pretty great that we will have an ER visit in our life time. I had never seen stitches nor did I know what to do, but I made sure I took notes. I also have a lot more respect for ER nurses, doctors, and staff. It takes a brave person to deal with trauma, especially on little children. I do not want to go back there anytime soon. My momma heart was hurting for the children I saw in there that night. Sunday has been a great day so far. We were able to hear a wonderful sermon from Elias Sr. "For what purpose did God choose me?" and we had a Spanish speaking visitor from Great Oaks surprise us by attending worship with us. Cindy has been such an encourager to us, and she has dedicated her precious time to helping people learn English through Friends Speak there in Memphis. So in all today our Attendance was 10 (Raul and Lilly were unable to make it this morning but Edgar was there by himself. So proud of him).
Flyers passed out: 263 Bible Studies: 1 Flyers mailed out: 2,000 May God Bless YOU this week, and please continue to pray for us. The Roque Family What a productive week it has been. We are so thankful for all the people who have chipped in this week with their time, knowledge, and patience to help us get the mailers out to the 3,000 Spanish Speaking addresses. We are excited to see if any contacts receive our invitation and say "OH finally! We have been waiting for a church to come to this area. Let's GO!" We may have high hopes, but Lord willing we will have some new contacts from this type of advertisement. We could not have gotten the labels for these mailers printed without two important people. Joe Roznos, who knows about everything that is everything in Technology, made up a step by step instruction on how to do a mail merge. WOW, thank you Microsoft for that amazing software. We were able to put a spread sheet of 3000 addresses into label format in a matter of well, what should have been minute. ha! Then once we had the labels ready to print we enlisted the good help of our "fill-in" secretary Mrs. Brenda Estes. She worked with us so diligently and never cried once...at least in front of us. We had several set backs from changing out wireless internet routers to not knowing the operating code on the fancy copy machine, but we did it! After 6 hours of trying...we did it. That was in fact, a labor of love. Mrs. Brenda then proceeded to label and stamp over 700 of those mailers on her own, and set up for the rest of them to be labeled by other members of the English speaking congregation. So thank you to everyone who has helped us get these invitations out! You are so wonderful. Wednesday Bible Study isn't something we had planned to begin just yet, but when your members say "Nos vemos el Miercoles," (see you Wednesday) you get the classroom ready and begin lessons on basic Bible knowledge. These brethren have been thirsting for answers to why they believe what they believe. Even though they are already baptized, they need some tools to help them grow, and it has been great to see their "OOOH that's why" moments. Especially from Raul their 21 year old son. He has really been listening and writing down things he's wanted to remember, and he even gave Elias the sweetest compliment. He said, "Brother, if we could just get the people here to listen to you preach, I know they would love you and want to stay. You are the best preacher I have ever heard." How encouraging. Also Feliz Cumpleaños a mi! It was so nice to celebrate my birthday with my friends and family after 16 years of living in the Volunteer State. My boys spoiled me rotten, and it really turned into a Birthday Week. 34 has already been very good to me. Thank you God for all my blessings (which included eating at my all time favorite fast food restaurant that is only in St. Louis, LIONS CHOICE! Best Roast Beef sandwich you'll ever put in your mouth!) We had great evangelism this week. We were able to visit several more businesses, and leave flyers at several places for people to pick up as they leave. Saturday was the most encouraging. We visited a Mexican Store and Restaurant just down the road. We met a man working in the butcher section, and he set up a Bible study for Monday at 10 a.m. at the office. We then went to eat at the restaurant and meet more people, and our waitress was a middle aged lady (who we later on found out was the wife of the butcher) when we gave her the invitation said, "Is this a Christian church? Because we have been looking for a place to worship that follows what the Bible says. We used to live in Arkansas and worked in the fields with the Mininites and we really liked the studies they gave us directly from the Bible. I have a 20 year old daughter, and two sons 15-10 years old, and a one month old, and I would love to get them back into a church." We exchanged numbers and said we would see them on Sunday.
Sunday was a great Lord's day. We were able to Worship with our family, a Spanish speaking American member, and our faithful Cano family. Our new friends did not attend, but we have high hopes to see them again on Monday for our Bible Study. Attendance: 9 Bible Studies: 1 Flyers Passed out: 231 May God Bless you this week, and please continue to pray for us as we try to find the Spanish speaking souls that are ready to hear the Gospel. This week has been full of finding places to pass out flyers and meet new contacts. We have learned many differences this week between St. Louis vs our last two TN locations.
1. There are no specific neighborhoods or streets that have a majority of Spanish-speaking people. In Memphis and Mt. Juliet, we knew that if we wanted to spend an entire day door knocking and passing out invitations we could drive to a few specific areas and all the doors we knocked on would be Hispanics. The more we ask around here, the more we find out that this is not the case here in St. Charles County. Every Hispanic we have asked says the same thing, "We are scattered all over, and there is no specific area to door knock." So...new strategy. 2. There are several Mexican Grocery stores all the way from Wentzville to the Overland area that we visited this week. The stores were HOPPIN! We were able to pass out around 80 flyers just by visiting the people coming to purchase food at these places. We even had a Bible study right in front of one of the locations with 3 Puerto Rican men who were on their "Happy Hour." On this particular occasion we really felt the impact of the words Jesus spoke in Mark 2:17 " When Jesus heard it, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." The men were very attentive to the scriptures being quoted, and had several questions. The study lasted about 30 minutes, and we left feeling like at least these men will go home thinking twice about the life they are living. The most interesting fact about the study was that these men KNEW several things about the Bible, and confessed to us that the life they were currently living wasn't the life God wanted them to live. It was beautiful. It was easier to talk and study with these men, than with the men/women we met who confessed to already have a place of worship. They did nothing short of throw the invitation back at our faces and send us on our merry way. (On a unrelated note, since we were evangelizing at most places this week that involved Hispanic food, our grocery bill/waste lines are growing. We felt like if the owners were letting us leave our tracts at their store, that we should at least thank them by buying something...or at least that is how we justified buying Honduran soda, cheese, and Mexican fajita nachos. We need an intervention...asap. :) 3. For the first time in our ministry, we have been given a way to send out mailers to Spanish-Speaking people. We have a family-friend who is a librarian. She is good at what she does, and she was able to give us a list of almost 3,000 names in St. Charles Co. alone that are supposedly Spanish households. The mailers are printed, the mail merge has been created, and this week we are going to be working on making and printing out those labels to stick on the mailers. We have even had some volunteers offer to help us stick the labels on the mailers. We are so excited about this type of evangelism. Just maybe, someone who receives the mailer has been waiting for an Iglesia de Cristo to come to town. Prayers are appreciated for this effort. 4. From what we have observed thus far, the types of Hispanics here in St. Louis are doing well. They have stable jobs, paperwork, nice homes, and appear to be more self-sufficient than the Hispanic community in Memphis. This makes it a little harder to reach out, because offering them a food pantry or clothing closet is almost offensive to them. We want to be a place that feeds the hungry or clothes the needy, but in the last 3 weeks we haven't found anyone in need. I know they are here, but just not as prevalent as Memphis. Because they seem to be doing well on their own, most of the people do not see an immediate need for God and His Salvation. How very sad. Although there are many differences to these cities, there are some things that remain very the same. 1. There are so many different highways, and the GPS is our very best friend. (Even though I grew up here its been 16 years since I have lived here). 2. The weather is so unpredictable, and the humidity is unbearable at times. Even though Honduras is closer to the equator, it feels hotter here, and spring lasted 1.2 seconds. Now the forecast says 100* for Friday. 3. It's easy to get discouraged. Even though we worked so hard this week passing out more than 80 flyers, we had our faithful family of 2 show up for worship service. We had several people say they were coming, but 10 am on Sunday comes around, and those people did not come to worship. Time, patience, and endurance are all things we are going to need a never ending supply of in this ministry. 4. Its amazing how encouraging it is to work with an English-Speaking congregation full of members willing to help. We had several needs these past two weeks, and without missing a beat those needs were met. We needed a classroom for Bible class, computer help, mailer help, label help, location help, tract ordering help, and encouragement. So many people stepped up to the plate, and they were willing to give their time to further this work. God bless each and every one of them. This week we forgot to take many pictures, but here is a picture of our new Bible study room for Wednesdays and Sunday mornings. Thank you to West End for letting us have this room to feel welcome and at home. Please continue to pray for us and the hearts of the community here in St. Louis. It has been an exciting week getting to know our city. I cannot believe it is Monday already. It just flew by. We were able to serve our brethren and our community in several ways this week, and we are excited to share our week with our readers/supporters. Please continue to pray for our work, and for us to find the Spanish speaking people who are ready to hear the gospel. Our post cards are ready and being printed this week. Bruce Vanhook did a fabulous job, and whipped this up in no time. It's beautiful. We have had so many people ask if we have something they can pass out to their friends and people they encounter in the stores and businesses. That is such a blessing to have everyone working together for this great work. Our invitation: At the beginning of the week, we were able to attend a Cardinal Baseball game! By the generosity of one of our great families at Great Oaks. The boys were spell bound the entire game. We were so close to the field, ate hot dogs and slushes, and we WON 4-1 against the Padres. It was a beautiful night. We were also thankful to get to have our first visitors from Memphis stay in our guest room for a few days. Vicky and Stan, Lucas and Antonio Elkins came to visit us along with her parents Guille and Antonio from Peru. It was such a blessing to see them again. West End was able to find a classroom for us to use on Wednesdays, so Elias and Papa Antonio were able to clean that out and get it ready for Bible study. We had planned to start having Bible studies on Wednesdays later on in our ministry when we had more attendees, but when the first couple asked us if they could come to study with us on Wednesdays, Elias was happy to teach them. My favorite moment from the class was when the bell rang to end the class and the family told Elias, "Por Favor Sigue Hermano" "Please keep going brother." So he did. We were so excited to be able to sign up as volunteers at our local Ronald McDonald House this week. We went to our training session, and met several Hispanic families who were receiving treatment. We passed out flyers, encouraged them, and we offered to pick them up for services Sunday. The majority of their patients speak Spanish. We are so excited to be able to get involved with this great organization. After a day of passing out flyers Thursday, we invited Lilly, Edgar, and their son Raul to come and eat dinner with us. We loved getting to know them better. We made them a feast of all things American. You know, bbq pork steaks, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob (with butter not mayonnaise although they asked for it), green beans, and bread. We threw in a little Latino flare with a TRES LECHES cake for dessert. The boys helped set the table, Elias grilled the pork steaks (not without a good lightning in the sky and a grease fire), and Isaac helped me make the cake. Abel unfortunately helped by getting a double ear infection and a 102* fever. Luckily, our uncles who are chiropractors live 3 and 5 minutes away. So he was able to get adjusted and our sweet Dr. Owen from Memphis called us in some antibiotics. Note to self: we need to find a pediatrician here STAT. To finish out our week, we were able to attend the youth lock-in at Foristell Church of Christ. I, Kristi, got roped into chaperoning, and let me tell you....I am too old for that kind of all night fun. Who invented the Lock-in, and why why do we stay up all night??? Don't get me wrong, the pizza, popcorn, 3 hour nerf-gun war, and devo/singing in the dark were very awesome, but come 4:00 a.m. I was feeling pretty zomibie-ish. Elias luckily took the boys home around 9 pm to sleep and I was able to get a cat nap Saturday Morning. I have a new appreciation for Youth Ministers. I don't know how you do it. Also, on a personal note. I was able to travel with my mom to Sikeston, Mo Sunday to worship with my Grandfather for Father's Day, and visit my sick grandmother. She is improving, but she still is not able to walk or even stand. Please keep her in your prayers. What an exciting/encouraging week of evangelism it has been. St. Charles County is full of Hispanics that are searching for something. They're searching for a place to belong, or a place where they can meet other Spanish-speaking friends, or really mostly they are searching for just a non-catholic worship service. Since we are the ONLY Spanish speaking Church of Christ in the entire Metropolitan Area, we have such an awesome network or Churches helping us canvas the area and filter all their contacts into one central location...our Iglesia de Cristo en West End. How amazing is that?!
We wanted to share with you a few stories from our busy week. Our spirits are up, and we are ready to get out there again this week and make even more contacts. Our next major task is to get our phone line set up at the office, and then we will add that number to our post card invitation. Then, hit up all the area churches of Christ and leave flyers for their members to take out with them as they grocery shop, work, and meet people. We have had several people already request these flyers because they are excited to help us spread the word about our Iglesia. What a huge help that will be! Ok, there is so much to tell you that it is hard to stay focused...but here we go.... After one of our long days of moving in, unpacking, and getting the church building set up we decided to go to Aldi for a late night grocery run....and I mean late night as in 8:30 p.m. with 4 kids that are 7 years old and under...one of those being 18 months old and they were ALL hungry and tired. What were we thinking???? So needless to say the entire store is "fascinated" by our side show circus. We are putting the essentials in our shopping cart (or buggy as my beloved Tennesseans would say), boy number 3 is throwing in some sugary cereals and begging for more chips, baby boy is being suspiciously quiet (we are trying to choose the "on sale" apples because we all know that they are only going to take 10 bites out of them and proclaim that they are "full" AND waste the rest. Every single time!) So baby boy decides to work his tiny hands in a way that I had no idea he can do, and open the egg carton and drop two eggs onto the FLOOR. I mean, seriously y'all, it was time to go home. So on our way out, we hear a couple speaking Spanish. Elias grabs a flyer and heads over to invite them (as I am left to fend for myself with these 4 vultures trying to bag my own groceries in boxes, because we forgot our Aldi bags...) So, long story short...the sweet lady is a volunteer at Ronald McDonald House and comes in contact with Hispanics all the time that are looking for a place to worship while their children are receiving treatment. She normally points them in the direction of the Catholic Church, but she said most people are asking for a non-catholic congregation. So she jotted down our church address and contact info. and said she would be sending them to us from now on. What?? This Aldi trip had a bigger purpose. Also, we are going to go to orientation there this Wednesday to become volunteers for the Latino community. What a good resource it will be for us! We were also able to meet several more contacts throughout the week, and we have set up our first two Bible studies for this Monday and Tuesday. God is good. We are finding the people are so receptive here. But the best part of the week was finding a family that are Members of the Church! They moved here from Nashville about 9 months ago, and were shocked that there was no Iglesia de Cristo in the entire area. They were congregating with an American church near by, and a mutual friend sent us their contact information. They met with us on Wednesday night, and were there with their son today for our first worship service! God has sent a family to help us, and to begin this new work together. What an encouragement it was to see their faces today as they walked through those double doors. Our first Worship service we had 15 people. 6 Roques, 3 Latino brethren, 2 bilingual members, and 4 English speakers who came to support our efforts. We never dreamed our first service would have gone so well. We even had Bible class at 9 a.m. The English speakers were so kind in welcoming this new family. So many people shook their hands and tried to communicate with them. The best compliment of the night was them saying, "It feels as if this Spanish congregation has always met here at West End. You would have never of guessed it was the first Sunday worship service." Please continue to pray for the Lord's word to be spread throughout St. Louis. Dios le Bendiga. Our Running Count is Tracts given: 47 Bible Studies: 0 Attendance: 15 Cannot wait to see what this week holds. To God be the Glory Amen! Roque Family. Family: We are here! So many changes have happened this week, and I had forgotten how hard it was to take up your roots and plant your life in a new city. We are officially living in our new home and are mostly settled. I still need to find a few things and get a working stove, but we are slowly finding our new normal. Church: The church at West End has been prepping for our first Sunday worship service which is June 10th, 2018. Lots of behind the scenes work has been done to get us off to a good start including new emails, tracts, invitations, website updates and contact lists. Our worship area is being set up with chairs, a pulpit, projector, screen, and Bibles! The men of the English speaking church have responded so quickly and energetically to supply our mission with all the necessary equipment for a successful start. Last evening, after Lads to Leaders practice, we were able to get to know our new Minister Team and their families at West End. We are so excited to work with such talented, good, genuine, passionate people. Side Note: Between the 3 families we have 10 young Children! The future of the church is looking bright. Mission: Since we moved from Memphis, we have been meeting Hispanics everywhere we go. We went to a River City Rascal game for a birthday party, and in the tent next to us was a Latino Family. The father's name was Isaias. He has 3 children, and he said that he is a Catholic. But he also said he liked to hear about God whenever he could get a chance. After, 45 minutes of conversation, teachings, and getting to know about him, we now have his contact information. We look forward to future Bible studies with his nice family. Please Pray for us. We are going to be working all week passing out flyers, and inviting people to our first Worship Service this coming Sunday June 10. Pray that the hearts of the souls we meet are softened and open to the truth, and that we are able to help them to find their salvation. |
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
May 2024
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