Soto Family Prayer Update - Christ`s Covenant Church

Soto Family
Prayer Update
Studying for finals. View of Pico de Orizaba from Colorines Hello, dear brothers and sisters! We are praising our Lord for His faithfulness, as we have finished our first year of training at MITC! Medical mission at Colorines. Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in a medical mission at Colorines, a little town close to Cordoba, with a team of doctors from the U.S. It was a blessing! We were able to share the gospel and the love of our God with the people through this act of mercy. The month of June was kind of busy with all the final tests and projects, but we are finally done. The graduation itself involved a lot of work getting the place ready for all the guests that stay for 3 days. Some brothers from another Bible school in Guerrero came for this day, including our brother Jim Blomstrand who has been serving with them. It is really encouraging for us to see Jim – he is full of the love of Christ. We, the students, sang two songs at the graduation. We were a little nervous but Norma said we did a good job, praise God! MITC Soto-­‐mobile. I had a meeting with Pastor Liberato from Iglesia Ebenezer and brother Jimmy Roblero (youth pastor). They wanted to talk about asking the school for me to serve with them on weekends during the next school year (training at MITC includes ministering at churches in the area on weekends during second and third year). This is great and.....yeah, I feel a little nervous to be in front of a large group. I ask you to please pray for me that God will help me to overcome this. The Church ¨Ebenezer¨ needs Christ-­‐centered preaching. The brothers that preach understand theology and have fruits, but when they preach you can feel the emphasis on ¨doing better¨ without the great motivation “Christ died in your place,” and I can see many brothers and sisters really trying but they get discouraged, losing patience with others. There is some disagreement among the leaders that I think people can feel, and this brings confusion. I don’t want to sound very judgmental but after being part of the family of CCC and delighting with the teaching, I really want to, with the help of God, share the Gospel in grace and love. I have been using a brother’s shop to build a closet at the rental home. His name is Esteban and he is a carpenter. He is one of the preachers at the Church; it seems to me that through him God is leading our family to Iglesia Ebenezer. God allowed for us to become friends. Sometimes he stops by at our house, and we spend hours talking about God and the Church, sometimes until 3 a.m.! it’s a blessing! He has a lot of knowledge, and he loves God. I really want to serve this brother in any way I can. Please pray for him and his family. Our family is getting more tolerant of the bugs, or at least we thought so. After a month of good health we went back again to the doctor for medicine. Our little son Josue spent two days with a fever, to the point that we needed to give him showers with cold water through the night to lower the temperature. The doctor had some blood and urine tests done, and our little son had ¨tifoidea.¨ After a round of antibiotics he is doing better. Elias, a few days later, and then Norma, had the same symptoms, but now they are better. And I have had ear and throat infections, a reminder of our fragility and dependence of God Pastor Liberato Ebenezer Church We talked with our Brother Chris Berger a few weeks ago. He wanted to visit us but he couldn’t, so it looks like we are going to visit him. So looking forward! Last week we had another medical mission in a town called Ocotitlán. We had to wake up at 6 a.m. to get ready and then Elías started throwing up, so Norma had to stay at home taking care of him and Josué. I went by myself, and after carrying buckets of water from a house down the street for the ladies to clean the restrooms, I was all exited to start sharing the gospel with the people while they waited to be seen by the doctors, as I did the last time when I was asked to help translate since one of the translators that came with the team of doctors was sick. So, that’s what I did that day. There was so many people that the doctor had to see two patients at the same time with two translators, one on each side! Most of the diseases we saw were caused by malnutrition. Kids don´t have energy even to play. Sadly there is little we were able to do about this except for giving them some vitamins. Lord willing, this is the area where we will be serving this school year along with Ebenezer Church. They have been going on weekends to share the gospel for more than a year, and one family has opened their home to have Bible studies. Remember we told you on our last update about Don Fidel? Well he´s been our guest at home. He fell again on Sunday and needed a place to stay so he can be taken care of, so we have adopted him for a few days as¨ abuelito¨ (grandpa). Josué at the Dr. Ocotitlán Prayer Requests: -­‐For our bodies to get stronger. We still get sick very easily. -­‐For Norma (and the boys) as she will start homeschooling the boys this year. -­‐For growing in love for the lost and a deeper knowledge and relationship with our Lord, who is the reason why we do this. Translating -­‐God´s grace for this upcoming second year of training and for good relationships with students and staff. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer and support. Gracias!!!! THANK YOU!!
¨O Lord of Hosts, who is mighty as you are, o Lord, with your
Brother Esteban. faithfulness all around you? ¨
Carrying water to clean the restroom. Psalm 89:8 Part of the team. E-­‐mail: sotofamily@christscovenant.org Don Fidel