And he gave… pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Ephesians 4:11-12

May the Lord bless you all, thank you for your prayers for us! Reflecting during our recent visit to the States, we were humbled by the generosity and intense love demonstrated by those who hosted us. It is truly a privilege to serve the Lord with the support of so many believers.

In the church ministry, it feels like we have recently crossed an exciting milestone. Raquel and I have until now done everything ourselves in the church ministry. I often have to laugh with a bit of embarrassment after trying to vocalize, play the piano, and advance the PowerPoint slides during our congregational singing. And things really start to go south when one of the girls breaks away from her seat and attempts to climb on my lap during the singing!

The kids really want to serve in the music ministry

But in the last few months, partly in connection with us recruiting helpers for our absence while we visited the USA, a few of the families in church have shown a desire to step up and begin to serve in the church. A point I’ve made repeatedly during our current series in the book of Romans is that serving in the local church is an essential part of the Christian walk toward God. And I believe equipping our believers to serve God is one of the primary goals as I disciple our individuals. As you pray for us and our ministry, pray for those who we’re encouraging to serve alongside us.

One family volunteered to handle all the cleaning at church

In our 7-week trip to the USA we were able to present the ministry in 11 new churches, as well as give updates to 5 supporting churches. Almost all of these churches were Hispanic-culture churches, and it was really a blessing to see what the Lord is doing in these ministries. The churches we visited were gracious and exuded love for missions. We were challenged by the example of many young Hispanic pastors who are putting tremendous energy into their growing churches. Many of these pastors were busy planting 2nd churches in addition to their primary ministry, at tremendous personal sacrifice. We met many who will be partnering with our ministry in prayer, and we trust the Lord will direct some of these new churches to partner with us financially as well.

Ministries visited on this trip. You can click the map to interact on Google Maps

As we head into the summer period, pray for us as we will be busy organizing as many church activities for youth, couples, and families as we can. There are always more things to do than time to do them, but we’re excited to see the church growing in each of these demographics!

Our auditorium is starting to fill up, praise the Lord!

Thank you for your prayers! God bless,
David
Psalm 34:3

A recent church lunch

I’m increasingly emphasizing exercise as a component of spiritual health. Here I’m running with a man from church

In the USA, the kids arriving at home after one of many trips to churches