A Good Beginning

Last Sunday we met with the new Nahuatl believers to study the Word of God.  Stop and let that sink in.  That could be the end of my blog and it would still be a pretty good entry.  For those of you who have been praying with our team since the beginning, I know you are rejoicing in the mighty things God is doing.  For those of you who are just joining in, let me tell you: it’s been a crazy ride, and God is faithful.

 

There would be 8 adults and about 20 kids in church if we were all present.  Last week we spent some time singing, studying, and talking about prayer–how we don’t need special words to address God, how we talk to him as a friend, how he always hears us, not just dutifully, but with delight in His children.  I asked Queen if she wanted to pray.  The Nahuatl are not super keen on standing out in public, speaking up, or drawing attention to themselves.  After a few giggles she said, “I wouldn’t know what to say.”  Her 10-year-old daughter answered, “Say whatever you want.”

 

She did.  And what she wanted to say to God was to ask him to save the ones in Las Moras who aren’t believing, the ones who aren’t listening, the ones who still don’t know.  After she was done, my friend Andrea said, “I will talk to God, too.”  She echoed what Queen had said, asking God that the believers would continue to draw together and learn.”

 

When they were done, Milo, one of the first believers here, reminded the community that gathering together is not the white people’s idea, or even his idea.  It is God’s idea for His family to encourage each other and be together.  He said that he has lost friends because of his decision to follow Christ, but that God has given him new friends now.

 

My heart was so moved by the meeting, and a few days later I was further encouraged by something a veteran missionary said in an email.  He had asked for an update on the believers and I had named them all, asking prayer for specific needs.  He wrote back and casually commented, “That’s how it happened in our town, too, just a few ladies at first and then the church grew from there.”  That statement reminded me that, even though there were long years–and recently dramatic build-up–to the moment of sharing the gospel, this is not the end.  God is just beginning to write the story of the Nahuatl church.  Stay tuned…and don’t stop praying.