Re: Spring Break 2011

Sembradores de Cristo Newsletter Spring Break 2011

¡Gloria a Dios! The Elliott family and Sembradores de Cristo Spring Break team 2011 are all safely back in the good old USA. We experienced great joy this past week as we served the Lord passionately as one unified body/team in Christ. We witnessed great victories, great movements by the Holy Spirit, great divine appointments, and definitely great trials and tribulations. James 1:2, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” 2 Timothy 2:3, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” God brought us some true “soldiers of Christ” this week. Before we even left last Saturday the enemy had tried to do everything he could to keep Sister Sarah Broecker from coming on this trip. Her connecting flight from NY to Houston kept getting delayed and was ultimately cancelled. She didn’t give up. She got on a standby list to Austin behind three other candidates. Praise God! They listened to her plight and gave her the priority. Once she got to Austin she realized she didn’t have her license meaning she couldn’t rent a car. I gave up sleep that Friday night before our departure and went to San Antonio to pick her up at 1:00 A.M. The last time Sarah had come to Zacatecas she had also missed a flight and they ended up losing her baggage-baggage she never recovered. Sarah is the sister who constructed our website and painted the famous “La Paloma” and “La Ballena” letters on the ministry vehicles. She is a dear friend of ours and faithful supporter of our ministry. God brought her and two other professional photographers together this past week so get ready for the pictures I will be sending soon. Before I give a detailed summary of this past week’s ministry in the black heart of Mexico let me share with you-that there were four baptism participants on two separate dates, Wednesday and Friday!

Sunday-I sent most of the team to do shopping and deliver the gospel materials to the Benedict missionary family while Brother/Professor Lynn Brandenberger and I did some agricultural work. Our host had recently planted some new peach trees in a different area so we took soil samples, and also took time to go to a nearby river to discuss the possibility of future irrigation in this area of dry-land farming. My father and Lynn spent time discussing the possibility of experimenting with wells and drop irrigation in the future. Please pray about this great possibility of helping the men/area out in the future. We had our first service that evening in Parral. Attendance was good and the Holy Spirit poured out His Spirit on the people. Many of the elderly came forward for prayer for healing. Unfortunately, prior to the service, I found our one faithful man Gabriel in the bar drinking. He did, however, come to the service. He has obviously returned to his old habits. We must pray for him that he will repent and truly give his whole life to Christ. After the service, Francisca and Delia (the two Parral baptismal candidates) desperately wanted to speak to me. They let us know that the local men had really been giving them a hard time for being Christians. They asked us if we could change the baptism location so that those men wouldn’t show up and make fun. We explained to them that they had to be willing to take any criticism the enemy would send them for making the decision to follow Christ no matter the cost. Some of the most religious folk of the area had even spread false rumors-that the Christians try to drown baptism candidates. We knew that satan was going to do everything he could to stop the baptisms from occurring. After the preaching and prayer I gave the invitation for those who wanted to be baptized and no one was interested. I could also see Francisca and Delia quivering as I mentioned their decision. One lady that had been faithful to almost every service the last two summers and had shown fruits of repentance said, “I’m not doing that, I have God in my heart.” I told her, “If you have God in your heart, then you will obey Him.” She didn’t like that and took off.

Monday-Monday and Wednesday were my two personal favorites. God had spoken to me to take the team out to the peach orchards and cry out for rain. We spent a good hour crying out to the Lord for rain even laying our hands on the trees and speaking a great harvest over them. After we had separated out to pray on an individual basis to pray we came back together and the Lord told me to have the group “SHOUT” like the Israelites did at the fall of Jericho. The group did that and interceded wholeheartedly for a physical and spiritual rain. There have now been two straights years of great drought and terrible harvest. Our first summer to visit the area, in May 2006, a believer had asked us to go out and pray for rain and lay hands on his peach trees. That summer was one of their rainiest ever. I remember how hard it was to go from village to village through the drenched/flooded dirt roads. I believe the Lord responded to us and gave us a sign that he is going to send the rain. Later that afternoon as we ministered in another village storm clouds were forming-I’ve never seen any storm clouds in March. March is always the driest month of the year in Zacatecas. We gathered the folks together in Villa Hermosa and had a great time ministering to the children and adults. We were able to distribute some hand-made blankets from a sister in Oklahoma and some backpacks to some of the kids and youth that weren’t present in December. From there we continued on to Monte de los Garcia where we also had a great service. Here we also distributed backpacks and blankets and made the invitation to Friday’s baptisms. It was great to see Luis Ramirez’s family all together at the service once again. They didn’t make the decision to be baptized but did want to accompany us on Friday even asking for a ride. I’m so blessed to see Luis’s whole family coming to the services together. Luis’s wife only recently gave her life to Christ as you might recall. I’m seeing over and over in this missionary journey that God works through relationships folks. We now have a great/established relationship with Luis after these three years. Now his whole family, even wife and son-in-law have given their lives to Christ. Martin, his son-in-law, was the one who had formerly tried to disturb our services at the volleyball court-now never misses a service with his wife. He honored me by asking me to write a letter of recommendation for him for some paperwork he’s working on.

Tuesday-Before we left the house we had our first flat of the trip. The Lord moved on our behalf, however, and we were able to get the tire changed very quickly in Jerez before our trip to Monte Escobedo area. Our Sembradores team trip finances were very low yet our team stepped it up and helped us purchase a tire (hallelujah). We now have a “Base 2” in Laguna Grande, Zacatecas-a 10 minute drive from the town of Monte Escobedo where brother Joe Bonilla lives. Sister Guadalupe Villarreal is the only believer in the town of Laguna Grande and has a brother who has an available house for us to use. Praise God! Now we don’t have to make the 2 hr trek back and forth from Palmas Altas when we are working in that area. We spent time with her husband taking soil samples from the area and even jumping from hay bales-ha! Her husband, like Angel Garcia in Palmas Altas, is a great family man that is not saved. The service that night in Monte Escobedo was fantastic. Brother Joe’s daughter Erika shared an incredible testimony. The night that her Dad Joe had had the epileptic attack (I shared about before the trip) she had been right there and had cried out to God that He would heal her Dad and not take him from her. She said he had had a pulse but would not react to anything. After Joe had come out of his convulsions he said he saw a great light-wow! She said that she had told the Lord she would do anything for Him if He would heal her Dad. The Holy Spirit really moved that night touching Sister Guadalupe who like Francisca and Delia had suffered much persecution in Laguna Grande. We placed our hands on Brother Joe and declared freedom over him from any epileptic seizures. My wife even had a word from the Lord for him, that just as the Syrian general Naaman had been healed of his leprosy after washing himself seven times in the Jordan River that Joe would be completely freed from any future epileptic attacks upon his baptism. We were trying to locate an Internet café in Laguna Grande and stopped to ask some guys outside of a bar if they could help us find one. One of them said, “At that window homey!” My first thought was to keep moving as the guy looked to weigh over 350 lbs and pretty dangerous from my former law enforcement experience. Interesting enough, as we were inside the Internet café the Holy Spirit send him to us. He spoke perfect English and shared some of his life troubles with us. He started talking about how he was scared to travel in Mexico due to the drug war. The Holy Spirit told me, “He’s afraid because he has reason to be afraid-due to the mess he’s gotten himself into.” We shared the gospel with him and gave him an opportunity to receive Christ. He told us he would look for us if he wanted to. I asked him if he were die tonight if he knew where he would go. I remember few people who have answered so honestly-immediately pointing his finger downward. The Holy Spirit told me to tell him that his heart was beating really fast because satan was telling him that he would never be able to stop doing drugs & alcohol-that he was beyond being freed from his past. He recognized that that was true and that he truly wanted to be free. Please pray for Frankie of Laguna Grande, Monte Escobedo, Zacatecas that he will get saved before it’s too late. We came out of the Internet café amazed at what had happened-that the same man that had scared us was sent to us by God, we didn’t even have to go to him-what a divine appointment!

Wednesday-Erika and her mother Aurora had originally battled with their decision to be baptized but by the end of the service on Tuesday were without a doubt committed to a decision. We decided instead of having them come all the way out to Parral for the baptisms on Friday like the original plan to do it right there in Monte Escobedo on Wednesday. Brother Joe is supposed to be on bed rest right now after his epileptic attacks and not be traveling. Part of the morning we spent evangelizing in a colonia of Monte Escobedo. Before that we went up to a beautiful outlook over the city to pray over the city. As we left the city to go up the Lord had told me to stop at that same colonia on the way back in. As we drove in and parked there were some loud drunks making a ruckus. The Lord told me, “He’s mine” as we got out. We had barely finished separating into groups and praying when he came over. He happened to be from Laguna Grande-Hallelujah! What joy it gave Guadalupe to hear that he prayed to received Christ! My team stayed in that area. I got the people from the bar together and shared the gospel with them. One was very drunk and wouldn’t let me talk while a police truck kept watching him and us. After telling him nicely to wait to talk to me till after the service, the bar owner ( a women) made him leave. I found out afterwards that she was angry with him for not paying his bill. The drunken guy told me, “You can’t prove that what you’re saying really happened.” I said that’s exactly the point-it’s faith to believe that it did. After he took off three or four of them prayed to receive Christ-another one happened to be from Laguna Grande-another great testimony for Sister Guadalupe. The bar owner really nicely explained to me that she understood everything we were saying but would never leave “the virgin.” She then, however, then said that she would go to the service anyway-hallelujah! The baptisms went great. The Bonilla family took us to a beautiful little lake outside Monte Escobedo. All three-Joe, Aurora, and Erika were baptized wholeheartedly-praise the Lord! I was a little nervous myself as it was my first time to baptize anyone. My father-in-law helped walk me through it, however. This was my most joyful moment of all the 5 years of ministry in Zacatecas. Since the baptism and our following fellowship time took a little longer than we had planned most folks had already gone by the time we got back to Joe’s house for the service. Sister Joan shared her testimony of having been freed from the demons behind the saint “idols” in Taiwan which opened up the floor for many to declare the freedom/peace they had experienced since having ridden themselves of all the idols in their households. We prayed with the Bonilla family and encouraged them to continue in the study and application of God’s Word in their lives.

Thursday-This was our Zacatecas shopping day. We went by and picked up Fransisca and Delia and they shared something terrible that had happened since our last visit. The main man that gives them trouble had killed one of their favorite puppy dogs just to make them feel bad. They were having second thoughts about their baptism since they felt so much hatred for him and his cohorts. They also shared with us that this man had called on Miguel the catechist to come and rile up the people against us in Parral. It was crazy because we were coming from such a spiritual high in Monte Escobedo to hear this. Remember that Miguel hadn’t bothered us the whole last summer. Miguel came that Monday and told the people at the “huizachito tree” that he and his cohorts would go and mess with the baptisms and the later service at the tree on Friday. We took his threats seriously and decided to move the baptisms to another location for security reasons without telling the rest of the village. We spent the whole day with Fransisca and Delia encouraging them in the Lord and praying for them.

Friday-This was the great awaited day for Fransisca and Delia’s baptisms in Parral. We had encouraged them all Thursday that neither Miguel nor his cohorts in Parral would do what they had said they would in disturbing our peaceful gathering. On the way to pick up the Ramirez family in Monte we had a flat #2-one random rock on the road penetrated an almost brand new $250 tire on “La Ballena”. After changing that we then headed to the baptism area. Then something occurred that you’re going to have a hard time believing. I gave a spiritual word on baptism, we sang, and made the invitation for Fransisca to come on down. The whole time I preached I saw her and Delia constantly fidgeting and watching the road to see if someone was coming. I called on Fransisca to come to the water. “I’m going to repent on my decision brother.” I couldn’t believe my ears-here we were all gathered together to rejoice with their decision to be baptized and she had waited till then to go back on her decision. We tried to encourage her to no avail. We then invited Delia and she said the same thing. They both declared that they had too much hate in their heart for the man who had killed their puppy and caused them so much harm that they couldn’t be baptized. All of this after having spent a whole day with them in Zacatecas encouraging them in the Lord-a decision they had made a long time ago that we had been discussing for quite some time. My heart sank to an all-time low and I literally did not know what to do. Here we were all gathered for this special moment and the candidates had rejected their opportunity/decision. Some four of us shared testimonies where we had had to forgive people who had been very evil to us-that it hadn’t been easy-that the Lord would help them do it. We urged them that being baptized didn’t mean you had to be perfect, just willing. They couldn’t get that in their heads. As I went up to change clothes my father-in-law preached to those present and my wife counseled Delia and Sister Angelina counseled Fransisca. We encouraged them that the enemy was not those men, that the enemy was satan. We told Delia that she would never be free from her bitterness until she gave it to God and “left it in the bottom of the sea.” I felt really discouraged but picked myself up while my father-in-law preached. I begin to praise God-that His will would be done. I even called upon the Lord asking him why this was happening-why I and others had spent time in prayer and fasting for this very event-and then for them to reject Him. Right after I had called everybody together to pray for the food my wife called me, “Benjamin, Benjamin! Delia is going to do it, she’s going to do it right now. It’ s hard for her to forgive them but she doesn’t want them to have the victory in her life.” We called everybody together quick-I didn’t even go change back into my clothes and dunk-al agua! After the baptisms Delia was smiling like we had never seen her smile. Fransisca still declined her opportunity as did the Ramirez family. All of them “hope” to be ready by the summer. They were explained thoroughly-that they will never be “ready” just need to be willing. Praise the Lord! I determined in my heart to praise God no matter what the outcome was. I don’t know any pastor or missionary who has went through something similar to what I went through that day. Miguel the catechist never showed up as I figured. Two young ladies from the village were there for a little while-according to Fransisca and Delia to stir up trouble-but took off way before the initial baptism attempt. We finished up in Fiesta! We ate, some swam, and some even went on a hike with Luis Ramirez. He took us to some 150 yr old unexcavated ruins of an old hot springs swimming pool. Zacatecas is full of unexpected surprises!

Please make the commitment to supporting our ministry with $50/mth so we can get to these people that need us so greatly on a full-time basis. Please e-mail me with your decision.

Special thanks-the Lord Jesus Christ, our monthly supporters, those who prayed for us this past week, all trip participants and their families/church families, & Sister Gene Shay of Stillwater, OK for the blankets

Much love in Christ, Brother Benjamin Elliott & the Sembradores de Cristo family

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