Ministry Update and News – May 2025

Brothers and sisters,

I appreciate all of you, your prayers, and your support. 2024 was a full year and 2025 has already marked many changes in my life.

Job Changes

In January, my workplace told me that the end of the month would be my last day working with them. I am incredibly grateful for the flexibility they gave me over the years to go and do all of the missions trips. By God’s grace, I found work less than a month later, and am praying that they will be as flexible with ministry as before. It is certainly more hours of work, and I miss the extra time, but God is teaching me to be a wiser steward of my time. Please pray that the Lord will open doors for me to share the gospel at my new job, and that the Lord multiplies my time so that I am able to do all the things He has called me to do.

Ministry Changes

SOS has given birth! We have started a new ministry named Hope Ministries International https://hopeministriesintl.org/, which will cover all ministry in Central America that we have previously been doing. If you are interested in helping or serving, check out our website or ask me any questions.

I am still planning on going on some trips with SOS Ministries where time permits. It has been quite the adventure, and I am thankful for Mike and everyone at SOS who helped me grow into the missionary I am today. May the Lord continue to bless and keep the ministry.

Upcoming Trips

·         July 18 – August 2 – Spanish Language Trip to Central America (dates are flexible)

·         August 2 to 12 – Medical Missions Trip to Honduras and Guatemala

·         December – Christmas Trips to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala

Ministry Review

Below are some brief vignettes from the previous year. Thank you for being a part of it!

Youth Conferences (March 2024)

Last March we had a set of youth conferences during holy week, with hundreds of youth, both Christians and otherwise, coming out to hear the gospel and to experience the love of Christ. Friends from Mexico and El Salvador ran the conferences, and I had the privilege of seeing the Lord work.

I remember having the opportunity to meet and pray with a young-man who was experiencing some horrific things in his family – he had to leave early to step in to protect his mom from his abusive father. He was so grateful for someone taking the time to talk to and pray for him.

Medical Trips (August 2024)

We had the privilege of serving 950+ medical patients, preaching the gospel to anyone who would hear us for those who came. Our schedule was full, the work was exhausting, and the team – mostly made of El Salvadorians showed an incredible amount of growth. I am excited to work with them again this Summer. Click here for the full story.

Medical Clinics and Evangelism Trip (October-November 2024)

A few months later, I was able to travel with a different group to do ministry in some villages, and I had the privilege of working with some team members who wanted to learn how to share the love of Christ.

At the first village, we arrived to set up the medical clinic and I was surprised to see that the area around was already full of people and noise, since there was a massive school event at the same time.

I’ll be honest, in my flesh I was bothered that there would be so much chaos – it took me a while to warm up and realize that the Lord had brought them there to hear the gospel.

I wandered through the displays at the event with a team member who wanted to learn how to share the gospel and we got into a conversation with several Salvadorians. The team member shared her testimony about how she had come to the Lord, and we proceeded to talk with the same group for the next several hours.

We repeated this several times with members of the team, leading them in sharing the gospel, and it was awesome to see how quickly they picked it up and shared their heart with others.

God has not called me to evangelize only, but to disciple others – to encourage them in sharing the most important message of God’s love revealed through Jesus Christ, that they may truly live. May the Lord continue to use me to encourage others.

Christmas Trip (December 2025)

We managed to give thousands of Christmas gifts to kids across the three countries, visiting new locations and watching the ministry continue to grow.

Night to Shine (February 2025)

This past February, we had our third annual Night to Shine event in El Salvador and our second in Guatemala, sponsored by the Tebow Foundation. God used us to reach out to around 300 special needs people and their families and friends.

We prepared the red carpet, incredible food, music, and an incredible celebration. God has made each one of them and given them purpose and value. It brought me to tears to see them as they walked.

It was simply right. God has called us to build up, to bring joy, and to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, and we will continue to do so.

An Invitation

With such incredible things happening, I would be remiss if I did not invite you to participate with us.

Will you consider supporting the Central American ministry? Would you pray for us, donate to our upcoming summer missions trip for medicines and school supplies, or even come yourself to experience the joy of serving others and sharing the gospel.

Keep praying that the Lord does incredible things! Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

-          Paul

2024 Summer Missions

 

Dear brothers and sisters,

Thank you so much for your prayers and support for the ministry! By God’s grace, we had another incredible team and an incredible trip to Central America for three weeks in July and August.

Faithfulness in Preaching

Faithful brothers put together the funding for a soccer court in Honduras years ago, and we started hosting sporting events there regularly. I remember at each event young men would share the gospel with the attendees, planting seeds. After years of this faithful work, one of the young men who frequently attended these events finally came to the Lord last year. He said that his conversion has not been easy with him losing friends due to his new faith in Christ, but that he desires to be faithful.

Bittersweet Faithfulness

A few days before the majority of the team arrived, this same young man married Pastor Hector’s daughter. If you remember, Pastor Hector’s wife Marina passed away a few short months ago, and Hector was talking about how difficult it has been to lose her, but how important it has been that people keep coming to encourage and bless him. He told us that he wanted give up at points, but God has given him the strength to go on with the mission.

And yet God has blessed him with a new son – and the new couple are staying with Hector at La Esperanza to help him care for the place, and they desire to be faithful to the Lord and the ministry. Please pray for this young couple, for Hector, and that other young men will also come to the Lord.

Sharing the Love of Christ in Schools

Our first team dedicated their time to visiting schools near our Hope Center in El Salvador, and our very first day took us to a school that had been closed off until last year because the surrounding area had been so violent that no one could get in. By God’s grace the area is now so calm, that a teacher at the school invited us to come because he knew how much the students needed the gospel, and we gladly went. The students were extremely receptive to the message of Christ’s love – and they are practically orphans because so many of their parents are either dead or in prison.

Is this not what the scripture says is a part of true religion – to look after orphans and widows in their distress? (James 1:27)

And yes, for those of you wondering, we did bring a unicorn as part of the program and part of the ministry to the kids. We visited seven schools and have been invited back to every one for next year. Will you pray and consider being a part next time?

Landslide

We got word that a family with special needs kids had been through a mudslide. The woman has two special needs children, recently lost her husband, and lives with her sister on the side of a steep hill. Both kids have attended the Night to Shine event by the Tim Tebow Foundation, and miraculously, even though the mudslide came in the middle of the night, one of her kids was at a friend’s house, and the sister named Paula was covered up to her neck in mud and managed to get pulled out.

We were able to share the gospel and hope with Paula, and she asked for a Bible. Please pray that salvation will come to this entire family, and that the Lord will help them.

Meeting Physical and Spiritual Needs

Our second team had the pleasure of serving about 700-900 patients in Honduras and Guatemala – the days were so full we had trouble keeping track of numbers some days. We had a team of doctors, a nurse, a dentist, dental hygienists, an optometrist, a Christian counselor, evangelists, receptionists, and a dedicated team working the pharmacy that even included one of our local elders in Honduras.

We had a team from five different countries, and even sent our first team of three from Guatemala!

One team member said that their favorite part of the trip was “so many people from different countries, different languages, different cultures, different denominations…. All working together for one purpose, and one goal - to minister to people’s physical needs, so that we could minister to their spiritual needs. It was amazing. And the love that we have for each other transcends all language barriers.”

The entire team came together for such a time as this – when many were suffering from a dengue outbreak, our team was able to help many who were suffering from other ailments, like a boy who had a grain of corn stuck in his nose for two years. No medical professional was able to even find it, but our doctor from Mexico was able to get it out within minutes, freeing him from his affliction.

Changes

One of the communities we visit in Guatemala was so unruly that all of the teachers quit. Last year when we visited, the kids were standoffish and the community seemed suspicious of us. The school where we ran the medical clinics was filthy and abandoned. We prayed that the Lord would bring change and new teachers. The Lord answered our prayers! This time when we visited, the kids ran up to hug us, and the school now has several teachers.

Our pastor Bladimir regularly visits, along with another missionary, and we can see the change the Lord has brought through the sharing of the gospel. Please pray that the Lord continues to transform this community, and that we are able to plant a permanent church there.

The Lord is Good

These are just some of the stories God gave us during the trip, and there are many others, but a limited amount of space. It is such a privilege to serve our Savior together, and we are looking forward to the December trip. Please continue to pray for Central America: our leaders, our brothers and sisters, and those who need the gospel.

Grace and peace to you all,
Paul

Joy in the Midst of Chaos

Our SOS Christmas Trip was quite the thriller. A few months before, I was wondering if we would even have a missions trip at all, and then suddenly we went from maybe going to El Salvador to the doors opening for all three countries. Between the coronavirus and hurricanes destroying the bridge on the road to Honduras, it seemed like every door was shutting.

“But God.”

It’s an amazing little phrase. In Ephesians 2, we were children of wrath who were lost and dead in our sins, and then suddenly in verse 4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us…”

We went from doomed to saved with those two words.

God does the same to this day in so many other ways, like how He opened every door for our team to experience the joy of serving Him and being with our family in Central America.

Every day leading to the trip was a new challenge – finding COVID tests, getting the results by the day of travel, making sure the tests were done at the right times, and the saga of two of our team members who were 5 minutes from missing their flight.

“But God.”

It was awesome having the team together that first night, realizing that none of us should have been there and yet the Lord opened the door for all of us there to come. And thus began our tour of joy…

A small event

Our first stop on the tour was in Guatemala, where from the first night’s church service, two people stepped forward in repentance toward Christ, and that set the tone for us. The next day we celebrated by baptizing eight into the Name, and the next, we were to have the second annual Christmas party. The last time we’d had about 180 people show up, so we figured we might have a few more this time.

 

The Christmas party began with a smaller crowd that kept growing… and growing. We eventually left the estimate at somewhere over 600 people based on the gifts we’d given out (and as always the Lord guarded the numbers so we had what we needed to reach them all). The people we met were hungry for something, including a man who told me that he knew the Lord had brought them there that day so he could hear about the Lord.

Not only did we experience the joy of seeing so many people come to hear the gospel and receive a Christmas gift, we also got to participate in the baptism of eight new members of the church – one of whom had come to church through the ministry and has brought the gospel back to her own village two hours away – a village with no witness for the gospel that now has a lamp shining there. Please be praying for the Lord to open doors of ministry there.

A church of joy

If the Lord had not been on our side, there is no way we would have been able to make the crossing into Honduras. All on the same day, we received our COVID test results, arrived at the border to a chaotic new process, and barely made it only because the bus driver drove to speak to the border personnel five minutes before it closed. Yet somehow we were standing on the porch of the church there that night, hearing all of the amazing things the Lord has done there.

Since the pandemic started, people have persecuted and mocked our leaders in Honduras for refusing to close the church. Most of the other churches closed in fear, but the church remained open. Local village leaders who have hated us from the beginning called the authorities to shut down the church.

But God always makes the enemy’s plans backfire.

Instead of closing the doors, the brothers decided to divide up the church into the various communities it represents and meet in small groups. Instead of shrinking and suffering from COVID, the church more than doubled in size. They baptized fifty people in just in the past few months, and over 150 people now attend the various home groups, including 25-35 from a new community. As of December, not a single member of the church had contracted COVID.

As a side note, the church responded to their enemies by helping them with a construction project to build a road to their houses. That’s what it means to walk with the Lord – loving your enemies as He commanded us (Matthew 5:38-48).

In the United States, we have backup plans and the ability to meet online (although I would say we have missed out on the face to face). In Honduras they didn’t have the option, but they wanted to remain obedient to the Lord by meeting together no matter what the cost, and He has blessed them incredibly in spite of the trials. I witnessed the joy on their faces for myself – join with them in faith, tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.

What it means to be a shepherd

After the hurricanes hit, the bridge to one of our local communities washed out completely, leaving a writhing, brown river between the church members and their leader, Pedro. He was so burdened for his people that he and his son now brave the river (up to chest high water) multiple times a week so that they will hear a message of encouragement and be fed the word of God.

I have felt weary in the work before and not wanted to drive 15 minutes to meet with people. There is no hour walk, no rivers to be forded, and I have not wanted to obey. Pedro on the other hand does so for the joy of the Lord’s work.

The church in Honduras is known for their prayer, and as Pedro reminded us, their protection is found on their knees. Truly as the scriptures say, “In Your presence there is fullness of joy.” (Ps. 16:11)

The joy famine

As someone who had his joy robbed many times by the chaos of 2020, I believe that the lack of joy in the church here comes down to two main things.

1. We do not spend time with the Lord

2. We do not accompany Him in His work

The church in Honduras is marked as a church of prayer by almost everyone who visits from the states. They are certainly not perfect, but they trust in the Lord. They have found what we did not, perhaps because we looked for joy in our comfort and security here. I know personally I spent too much time reading the news rather than His good news.

Really, our joy is God Himself, and I have been seeing that clearly as I’ve spent the last two weeks under quarantine. Those weeks began with a great loneliness but ended in great joy, as I have spent more and more time with Him. I’ll leave you with this passage:

Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Psalm 43:3-4

Joy is found in no one else, because no one else loved us enough to redeem us from our sins as He did. Press on to Know Him above all else.

Grace and peace, the last (and slowest) of His people to learn,

- Paul

Prayer Requests:

- For the churches in Central America to grow and flourish and for the leadership to remain faithful and full of joy.

- For the construction project in Guatemala for a community center, building for church services, and place for training and after school programs. More on this later.

- For the Lord to give me personal wisdom in how to live my life for Him.

- For the Lord to provide funds for a bridge to the village in Honduras

- For a structure for our church in Guatemala (more on that soon!)

Upcoming Events:

- April 17^th – Rainbow village ministry

- July 10^th to August 8^th – Summer Missions trip to Central America. Dates subject to change

September 2020 - My God Did Not Stop Working

I’m writing this report to you from my home office – a reminder of the things that have swept our nation. I have to admit, as an extrovert, it’s a lot harder for me to get going when the morning commute is a room away. But I was just encouraged thinking that – yes, our country social distanced and shut down work places, but God did not stop working (John 5:17).

By God’s grace and the generosity of His people we were able to share food with hundreds of families in five countries during the hardest months of the crisis, and by His grace I’ve been a part of some ministries to some of the poor here in our own community. God truly has not forgotten us during this time.

I was in a meeting the other day with some young adults, and one of them blessed me by praying and asking God to show our group how to reach out to those around us – to do His work. It is encouraging to see that God is still working in the hearts of His people, so let’s take a brief tour, and consider how God may use you in this time to be an agent of reconciliation.

Guatemala

Thank the Lord, our churches in Central America are allowed to meet again this Sunday! In Guatemala, they’ll be limited to 10-20 people per service due to the distancing rule and the small space they have. So, they will be meeting for three hour long services tomorrow (that’s a lot of work).

Throughout the crisis Vlademir and his family have been able to deliver bags of aid to hurting families, and the local police even helped with the deliveries! The people have given their thanks again and again that the church around the world has remembered them. When one part of the body suffers, we all do.

Young Bladito is still teaching music classes three times weekly to a small group of students – along with one who has yet to meet the Lord but is attending services. Pray for two of the students who had to drop out of classes to help support their family, because the economic situation in Guatemala is still very severe.

A new ministry

The Lord has some amazing ways of opening up new ministries. One of the women who came to faith took the gospel back to her parents back in her hometown, and by God’s grace, the parents have come to faith and are being discipled in the Lord now. Their community is two hours of hard driving away, and there is no gospel-preaching church in the entire community.

El Salvador – First church service in months

In El Salvador, they are having their first church service in months tomorrow, and they are hoping it will be a huge encouragement to those who have been isolated all this time. They’re also hoping to begin visiting and encouraging the family of God now that things are opening back up.

We are hoping by God’s grace to visit them soon to encourage them. Pray that the Lord gives the perfect timing for that.

Honduras – What man intends for evil…

In Honduras, our central church is located in a community whose leaders despise the gospel and want to see the church gone. Because of their threats and pressure, very few people from the town have been coming.

Seeing their opportunity during the early days of the pandemic, they got local authorities to shut down services even before a single case had appeared in the region. Perhaps they thought they had succeeded, but the Lord had other ideas. For the believer who is in Christ, resurrection always comes after suffering, because He rose from the tomb where they'd placed Him. 

Now, instead of meeting in one big service, each of our six elders carried the gospel back to their community and began small Bible studies and discipleship classes there. The Bible studies have each grown, and now they’ve even opened up a ministry in Corralito, a new community that had no church. The ministry there is still growing, so please pray for them!

Meanwhile in the original community that shut down the church services, curious people have been attending the bible studies – some out of boredom and some because they have been led by the Lord. Recently, a man came to faith who is a former murderer but has been redeemed. If Jesus can save such a hard man in such a hard community, imagine what He can do here!

He truly is able to do more than we could ever ask or think! Praise be to our God!

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for our nation – these are difficult, turbulent times. Pray that we will be a light and an encouragement because, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
• Pray for Alex – he has a ton on his shoulders as a supervisor of medical issues in his community, leading his church, and leading his family. Pray that God gives him the strength to press on.
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  Pray that God keeps our brothers and sisters strong in the faith
• Pray for protection from the virus and the violence in the area
• Pray for the new community in Guatemala and for Vlademir and his family to press on
• Pray for the elders in Honduras that they press on in the ministry in their communities without growing weary
• Pray for unity in the church in Honduras – many who came to faith bring a lot of baggage with them, and some of them were formerly enemies and are now worshipping in the same church. While this is awesome, it can be difficult at times.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Keep pressing on!

- Paul

God is Faithful

These are unprecedented times.

The night before I was to leave for our latest El Salvador trip, I got a message from Alex (our Latin American Director) saying that the president of El Salvador was about to make an announcement. Within an hour, Alex sent me a somber voicemail informing us that the President of El Salvador had closed the borders. There was no March trip.

I was shocked; we’ve never had an entire nation shut its doors to all travel before. Reluctantly, we called everyone and told them the news. It was discouraging for us and for our friends in Central America, but it is good to remember that we serve the Living God who always provides for His people.

The God who Provides

We had the smallest team we’d had in over 10 years this past December, and in fact the numbers were even smaller before the Lord provided some last-minute people (even as we got on the plane to leave).

Our small team leaving for Honduras

Each person who comes means we can give out more gifts, because each person brings a bag full of supplies. I remember trying to figure out how on earth we would visit all the villages we normally do, but God provided as always.

Several people decided to “adopt a village” and provide the funds for all the gifts for an entire community by donating. My church provided all the gifts for the annual Christmas Party in El Salvador, and God multiplied everything.

We saw last year how God miraculously supplied the gifts in one village, but this year we saw Him do that in three villages where the lines of people were impossibly long for the gifts we had left. We’d brought an extra 20 gifts beyond the biggest crowd we’d ever seen, still there were more people than gifts! Every time we ran low, we prayed that God would provide, and every time we handed out the last gift to the last person in line – the exact amount. We never ran out early.

Blessing a village after we'd left

Overall we ended up with enough extra gifts for our Salvadorian brothers to give to two churches and two extra villages after we left. God not only supplied for our immediate needs, He provided an abundance. Tell me that God in heaven doesn’t know our needs and provide when we seek Him first.

I also wanted to say that I am very thankful for Sherry Carlson, her church, and her family. God has used them to give a huge supply of Christmas gifts every year since I started coming in 2005. Having completed the work well, they will be retiring. Thanks ya’ll for all the years! You’ve blessed us a lot and I pray God blesses you in all your new adventures!

The God who Gathers

In Guatemala, we celebrated our first Christmas program ever at the new mission. We were expecting 50-60 to show up. God sent 180 people (no social distancing there!). The looks on the kids faces, receiving their first ever SOS Christmas gift, were precious. They excitedly showed off the contents of their bags to anyone who would look.

Most importantly, it shows the hunger and need in this region. We are looking to build a worship center in hopes of using it for after school programs – with a soccer field and space to train and raise up future Guatemalan missionaries. Pray with me that God will provide the funds for this project to lift off the ground, and let me know if there’s any way you want to help.

The God Who Plans Small Teams

Because our teams have been so small, it’s given us more opportunities to invite our Salvadorian brothers to come with us and have them share more of the work, and it’s been awesome to see them taking ownership and quite honestly – doing a far better job at the Christmas Programs than I ever could.

Our Salvadorian brothers in Honduras

They really engage the kids – knowing the native language and the culture, and we were blessed to see one of the young men step up into leadership. He went from being shy to leading hundreds of kids in song and teaching them the word of God.

This is the second time in two trips that God raised up one of our Salvadorian youth to grow in his faith and to do the work of the ministry, and we already have some from Honduras who are wanting to step up into ministry as well.

Is this not what it means to make disciples? We are called not only to make converts, but to raise them up to follow Jesus wherever He goes, and that means ministering the gospel to these precious little ones. Despite the language and cultural differences, God has been making our multi-national teams one, just as Jesus prayed in John 17.

The God Who Overcomes Death

I know these times are hard, but there are two things in this life we can count on.

1. Death is certain unless Jesus comes back first
2. Jesus is coming back to reverse death

We know that these days we are living in the shadow of death, but we also know that Jesus walks with us, and those of us who have put our faith in Him will never see death, just as He promised (John 8:51).

But knowing that our time on this earth is short, how will we spend it? No matter what happens to us, we are walking in history here – people will write about this great and terrible event. Will we look back on this time knowing we followed our Lord and ministered to the needy (with all wisdom of course!) or will we look back and realize we wasted it sitting at home or hoarding what we thought was ours (Psalm 100:3).

Let us purse Him and ask how we can minister to others. Let us not embrace fear (Isaiah 8:12) but let us realize that the love of God never lets us down (1 John 4:18). If we are in Christ, death has no sting, no victory, because not even the power of death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

Press on my brothers and sisters,
- Paul

P.S. The Covid-19 social distancing measures and oil crisis are hitting our countries very hard. Many from Africa are telling me that people are getting desperate and that food is hard to find, but for a dollar a day, you can provide food for someone who may otherwise go hungry. You may even save their life. If you are interested in donating to our Covid-19 relief funds, please let me know.

The Greatest Need

To all my prayer partners who support me in the work,

Thanks so much for everything you do and all your encouragement. Keep pressing on in the work; keep praying for me and I invite you as always to come serve with us to see these things with your own eyes and to hear these stories with your own ears.

Our next trip to Central America will be on December 3^rd. Please pray that God goes before us and continues to opens incredible doors for ministry there.

Having been on two trips with medical clinics this year, I can say I’m really encouraged by what I’ve seen. God does incredible things when we minister to people’s physical needs while also ministering to their spiritual needs.

In the places we visit, receiving quality medical care is either too expensive for people to afford, or it is simply unavailable. Many of us (myself included), groan when we have to visit the doctor, but imagine for just a moment that you are sick and didn’t know why. Your condition is getting worse and you have no hope of receiving any care – and how helpless you would feel. We do not know how blessed we are here in the States.

Seeing our blessings and the suffering of others should motivate us to go meet that need, especially knowing the Lord’s words: “I was sick, and you visited Me” (Matt 25:36b), and by God’s grace, we are doing that very thing.

Yet it is not enough to meet people in their physical needs, because humanity has a far deeper sickness – one of the heart (Jer. 17:9). Here in the States, we have access to nearly every luxury, but we are not happy, nor are we satisfied. Our heart is sick beyond cure and we all have a deep-seated need for a relationship with God – a relationship we cannot have because we love the darkness of sin rather than the holiness of God.

Enter Jesus – the great physician. He not only healed people’s physical brokenness, but he also died on the cross, rescuing us from sin and death, and providing us with a way to live forever. A doctor may be able to heal for a short time and extend life, but only Jesus can give us eternal life. (Do you believe this?)

Since we do believe this, we go in the steps of our Lord, healing the sick in His Name and preaching the good news of life in Christ.

Africa – January 2019

Back in January, we brought a medical team to Africa, seeing hundreds of patients in several villages throughout the area where we serve. The crowd would arrive, and we would begin with a worship service, preaching the gospel, fielding questions from the curious, and praying over the village.

Then we set up the medical clinic, setting up a table where patients would get their vitals taken, wait for the doctor in the “waiting room” (sometimes under a tree), receive medical care and medicine, and visit what we dubbed as “the prayer chair” – where people could come and ask for prayer.

Of course, the prayer chair is voluntary, but I didn’t notice a single person avoid it. In fact, excited villagers made it a point to guide anyone who seemed unaware over to the chair.

In one village, we didn’t have enough people to translate for both the prayer chair and the clinic. Then a girl from the city who just so happened to be visiting the village volunteered to help us translate. When we were done praying for everyone, she took her seat in the chair, expectantly, “Ok, my turn; I need some prayer.”

We were overwhelmed by the response: even in the village where the villagers have rejected the truth and made it difficult for believers to come to church, the chief and his brother came to us both for medical care and prayer. Oh how powerful it is to love your enemies and to do good to them, and the example our Lord set for us in this when He died for His enemies (that’s us).

A note on the prosperity gospel

In one village we held a worship service before the clinic that many excited people attended, then opened it up for a Q&A with the people. One man stood up and asked, “What do I do if I want to go to church but don’t have enough money to put in the offering plate?”

Another woman asked the same thing. What would you tell them?

We were stunned, but quickly responded – the gift of God is free. God doesn’t require us to give what we do not have, and when Jesus came for us, He bought us with His precious blood and we freely receive His gift.

So what happens if you don’t have enough money? You come anyway. It’s not about the money – it never was. God desires us to give out of joy, not obligation. Should we give? Absolutely. How could we not give back out of gratitude for what He has done for us. But if we cannot, there is no reason a person should feel any less welcome.

This is the result of the prosperity gospel and some who preach not for the love of the Lord and not in obedience to His command to make disciples, but out of a desire to make profits. Having traveled the world, I've seen this message preached where men use piety as a means of making money (1 Timothy 6:5b).

Whenever I am asked about a church, I always advise people to flee any pastor who says that the gift of God can be bought with “seed money” or that you can buy His blessing. It’s a gift (Romans 6:23b), and any pastor who has freely received this gift should freely give it (Matthew 10:8).

As for those who asked the questions, they were overjoyed when they heard that they could freely attend church and freely enjoy the blessings of God, because although Jesus Christ was rich, He became poor for our sakes.

Guatemala and Honduras – July 2019

I had been hoping to get a medical trip together for some time now, and a friend of mine told me that there were some people who might be willing to put together a medical mission for this summer.

With a brand new church plant in Guatemala starting, I knew this would be a great opportunity to minister to the community there.

God opened every door and the team formed in a few short weeks; it’s good to know that He is still creating things out of nothing. Even in El Salvador the few days before we left, God opened the doors for 5 more Salvadorians to join us for the work.

We arrived in Guatemala without incident and put the team up in hammocks around the family garden. It was incredible to be there, because we hadn’t even thought we could find accommodations so quickly for the team, and also because the sisters who live there hadn’t been on speaking terms before Jesus saved them both a few months prior.

There was an excitement in the air that night as we ate together with “glad and sincere hearts”. The next day, we came expecting a clinic that ended at lunch, then quickly realized that our local leaders hadn’t communicated an ending time. How often does the plan change?

We settled in for an amazing nine hours of seeing patients, praying for people, giving medicine, and sharing the gospel with those who wanted to talk. All the while, God renewed our strength to continue the work. All told we saw about 180 patients, which for a one-day clinic is a LOT of patients.

People kept coming throughout the day, and our waiting room seemed filled with an endless stream of people. Some had walked miles to come, and it was touching to see the compassionate care our doctors gave to them, and how the team from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States came together to care for the community (John 17:20-21).

One patient hadn’t been able to eat for 24 days; he came looking pale and frail. Our doctor gravely said, “Unless something changes, he’s not long for this world.” He gave him a pill for his pain and told him to come back later on for further care.

Rugged Honduran countryside

The man returned with a smile, his color once again healthy. He announced that he’d eaten and kept down a big meal for the first time in weeks, telling our doctor, “That pill you gave me worked!”

Amazed, the doctor said, “I didn’t give you a pill for that… just to take an edge off the pain. God healed you.”

The man left, glorifying God for his healing, and even as some of our team members talked to the man, God moved in the hearts of two team members to go speak his son. Even though he’d grown up in a Christian home, he had no hope for eternity, so our Honduran brother shared the gospel with him, and he made a profession of faith.

On the same day God spared the man and His son. That’s good news indeed, and this young man wasn’t the only one. Several made confessions of faith during conversations as our doctors worked to show the physical compassion of Christ.

Early on there was a concern that we wouldn’t be able to do enough to help, but since we left, people in the community have been telling our leaders how wonderful the clinic was. God is good.

We repeated the same thing in Honduras, and God miraculously healed seven people throughout the course of the trip. I’ve never experienced anything like that. I know Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), but I’d just never seen Him move like that.

Praying over believers about to get baptized

But the medicine or the healings won’t have the greatest effect, and they don’t fill our greatest need. All of us will one day die, no matter how good our health, and all of us will stand before the judgment seat and give an account.

Our greatest need isn’t health – it’s the gospel. The truth that we can have peace with God through Jesus Christ. The truth that even though we are all great sinners, He set us free from our bondage to sin and the wrath of God freely by giving His life on the cross.

To love people is a great thing, but there is no greater love than the One who laid down His life for His friends, and He fills our greatest need with Himself.

So I ask you dear reader, do you know Him?
Grace and peace to all in Christ,

- Paul, the least of His servants

Photo credits Mateo Cepeda. Thanks for all the hard work, brother!