God At Work

Furlough is on the near horizon. We are a week away from loading kids and suitcases in our van and driving across the country to Puerto Vallarta. After some time with fellow missionaries we will board an airplane and take a direct flight to Edmonton. A few weeks on the prairies and then it is off to Abbotsford, a trip up to Vernon, a quick couple days in Hamilton.

All in all, it will be two months away from home, and while we look forward to seeing family and friends, it’s not easy to put our life here on hold for a couple months. That includes the various ministry activities which we will have to restart when we return in September. Thankfully, we have found a local pastor willing to lead bible studies on Sunday so that the doors (or door) of the outreach centre will not have to be closed in our absence. 

But even in this, God is teaching us to trust in Him and to give up “our” ministry to His sovereignty. We know that God doesn’t need us, and that is a grace because it means the failure and success of the ministry doesn’t depend on us. And it is a grace to know that while we are absent, God’s Spirit will be at work here. 

It is also a grace (God gives grace upon grace as you know) to look back on our first year and a half in Santa Barbara and reflect on how God has been working in us and through us. The fruit has not been abundant and we cannot report multitudes of conversions, or any for that matter. But we do see progress and we feel God prodding us along. 

We began our work here with a book table in the local market, hoping to use that as a way to make connections and be part of the community. While it hasn’t been a huge success, especially in a culture that does not read much, there have been positives.

One example is a young lady we met not long after we started. She spoke good English, gave us helpful advice, and was always friendly to us. She said she believed in God, but it seemed her faith did not go too far beyond that. We invited her to church and to the woman’s bible study, but she never came. 

Then one night last week, in a time of need she came to us for help. She also mentioned that she had been going to a Mormon church, but that she stopped and she still believed in God. We could see that God was doing something in her, and he used us in a small way. We’d love to say that now she attends church or that she gave her life to Christ, but she doesn’t and she didn’t. Even so, it is a step in the right direction and we will have to wait and see what God does. 

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Several months after starting the book table, we found a storefront to rent and use as an outreach centre. Currently, we use it for the Sunday evening service, English classes, and a Saturday morning kids’ club. I also try to use it as an office so that the doors are open more often and I can meet with people. 

I’d love to say that I’ve had lots of people drop in to chat or ask more about our ministry, but again, that hasn’t been the case. And yet, there have been a few.

Recently, as I was busy working on my laptop preparing for Sunday, a man stopped on his way past and took a hesitant step inside. He asked me if I could help him. I offered him a seat and he began to tell me about his situation. His wife had kicked him out of the house for drinking too much and now he was living just up the road with Marcos, a man I knew quite well, and who had recommended that he talk to me. That was quite something, especially since Marcos never takes any of my advice. 

In the end I was able to share the gospel with him and offered to meet with him again. He hasn’t come back yet and I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t. Even so, it was encouraging that he was willing to seek me out. That is not something that likely would have happened a year and a half ago when we were new and unknown in the community.

I could give more examples, like the guy down the street who listens to Black Sabbath and recently asked me for prayer, or the lady at the fruit store who shed a tear when she heard we were leaving for a few months. But suffice it to say that while we have not experienced conversions or church growth or new disciples, we have seen God at work. And we trust and pray that He continues to do His work here, even while we are gone.