Manning the Trenches

It's been a week of super hard work.  After such a victorious Sunday on January 2nd, and a pretty good service on Wednesday the 5th, the devil really hit us hard.  As I've always feared in starting the church here in Arteaga, we had a few wolves come to the church and began attacking the new sheep.  It started right after Christmas, and came to a head right after the service on January 2nd.

Two wolves--one man and one woman of different families began criticizing me, the church, and other attendees.  They began by saying horrible things about others, not just me, but to other people in the church.  Since everyone is either newly born again or not at all, it really did damage.  We've lost 3 complete families as a result of it.  However, the two wolves were members of 2 of the families, and I had to publicly ran the wolf-man out after he publicly began hurting others.  The wolf-woman voluntarily took her family out after spewing negative rhetoric to the baby sheep.

I was discouraged to be honest on Sunday morning.  The wolves didn't come, but they had hurt others already, and the word had gotten around that there was problems (already!) in the church.  So, our attendance went down from our average of 40 on Sunday morning to 20.  I wept before the people before the service starting, calling for a season of prayer at the altar before we could start the service.  We prayed God would keep His church in Arteaga pure, and protected from the wolves.  We had a great service afterwards and God spoke to hearts.  I was still so discouraged, but did my best to be joyful in front of the people and encourage them to press on.

Monday morning during my devotions I wept again, talking to The Lord about why I was so discouraged.  As I prayed, however, I realized that God gave me exactly what I had been asking for before Sunday, and then again at church that day.  I had been praying the entire week before that God would keep the wolves away and protect His sheep, and that He did.  So, after spending time with The Lord and pouring my heart out to Him, I realized He had done exactly what I had been asking for and that I should be happy as I trust Him.

Now, we're in the process of bringing the wounded sheep back and reconciling them.  It's hard for me to admit that even that we're such a young church we have had such a nasty problem, but hopefully as I humble myself to the people and apologize to them for not keeping the wolves away soon enough, they will grow in the faith and remain in church.

We've also had a member of our family in the hospital for two weeks, and we've been taking turns visiting, staying, and taking care of him.  He has one kidney, which is a transplant, and the other was removed a long time ago.  The remaining kidney (the transplant) has quit working and he needs yet another.  The problem is that here in Mexico, that means no hope for you.  They will normally just let you die because there aren't enough resources to go around for everyone.  For example, they've already removed both of his kidneys and given him one new one--to them he's not worth the time, money, and attention.  He needs to be on 24 hour dialysis for the rest of his life, but they won't do the surgery to put the "stuff" in place.  They've promised for 2 weeks to "do it tomorrow" but still haven't.  After they do that, they'll keep him for a couple days and then send him home to be on dialysis at home.

So, for our family and extended family, it's been difficult.  We've seen 6 people in our immediate family here in Mexico get saved recently, and they can't understand why this, why now.

Trials are one of our proofs of being christians, and chastisement as well.  I've learned through the trial in the church and family that I need to be at the throne of God 3X as much as I had been, and in the Bible 2X as much as I had been.  I want God to use us for His honor and glory, and be a good leader/under shepherd.

On a victorious note, my brother in law Rogelio (who got saved last February) is still making great strides and changes in his life.  He's reading his Bible each day, preparing questions, taking notes, and praying (with a prayer list) each day.  He makes me so proud.  His family is following his example and allowing The Lord to change them, too (especially his wife in her submission to him).

Tonight will be interesting, in seeing who comes and who doesn't.  Sunday will be the "proof" of the final results of the wolves--we're praying that no matter what we'll give God the glory.