"I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead…” Apostles Creed
This past week we celebrated, we celebrated with painted eggs, chocolate bunnies and many people celebrated with new outfits. We celebrated with family, with neighbors and with friends. Yet this year we are celebrating not just another holiday, but because of five new communities that have recently received the “Good News” that you read above in the excerpt from the Apostles Creed. The Good News that Jesus not only conquered the power of sin and the sting of death, but He is coming again for those of us who believe.
Just a few weeks ago a rather large group of church planters, pastors and missionaries made the trek to Yaapi to take advantage of several open doors for the Gospel. There were 17 servants in total who participated in the outreach, each one helped in their own special way. They drove in 4x4’s, took canoes, hiked and even forded rain swelled rivers to share the message of Easter. The life, the death on the cross, the empty tomb and the Blessed Hope were shared in a chronological format with five villages that had been waiting to have their first opportunity to rejoice. They preached in each village for three days, starting at Creation and ending with Jesus. The pastors and missionaries stayed those nights telling the Gospel story and praying for the Holy Spirit to do His part and convict those who were hearing the message of their sin. The final result, over 60 souls accepted the offer of salvation and relationship with Jesus. Over 60 souls that confessed that they too believe in the real message of Easter.
We are thankful for your part in this story, because we could not do it without you and your continued faithfulness. Because you have given so faithfully and prayed there are now five new villages that have the beginnings of a local church. We always teach that you can have a church without a building, but you cannot have a church without souls and now we have the souls to start. This outreach is part of a three year process that will, little by little, lead these villages to have a healthy and thriving church in their community with their own local church leaders. Our vision is to plant 100 new churches over the next 10 years and you are a part of it each time you give and every time you lift us up in prayer. Thank you again for helping us to celebrate the real message of Easter this year in the jungles of Ecuador.
Joil and Leah Marbut
Drew, Will, Emelia and Aidan