Last Saturday, El, our friend and brother in Christ, passed away. His death was totally unexpected, and leaves our hearts with mixed emotions. We are saddened because his faith and his testimony for Christ was the strongest of the believers here. El was always reading God’s Word and sharing the gems he would find. On numerous occasions, neighbors would question his faith and he would always reply, “Come by my house this afternoon and I will show you from the Bible.” This last month, El mentioned several times to us missionaries, “When I die, I know that I will go to heaven.” Without a doubt, he was ready to die because he had placed his faith in Christ alone. It saddens our hearts that he is no longer with us. On the other hand, we rejoice because his testimony is still pointing people to Christ. We also rejoice because he is the first Agutaynen, as far as we know, to step on the streets of gold.
El was faithfully helping our partner Manfred with lesson preparation and actively co-teaching with Manfred in an Agutaynen home Bible study. Every Sunday, El would play his banjo during our meetings. Since El died last Saturday, our meeting the following day was full of tears. Stephen shared a short message from Hebrews 11 and added El’s name to the list of men and women who showed their faith through their lives. El, like Enoch, was pleasing to God.
Please pray that many will be saved through the death of El. And praise the Lord that El’s wife is standing strong in her faith in Christ alone during this difficult time.