Thursday...Part 2

We went back to Alfredo's again for a dinner party. The Ticos wanted to barbeque for us. We had shishkebob and some kind of sausage. It was really funny to watch how many guys had advice for how to cook the food. The old adage "Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth" thankfully wasn't realized. Ironically, Elias ended up cooking a lot of the food. In the same outdoor patio area, we moved the tables all the way back and set up chairs in rows as many more people came than we expected, approximatley 25 men from teenagers to old men...man of which were unsaved.

Doug shared a stirring testimony of three traumatic experiences that he believes God used as a "wake up call" so that he would start getting serious about growing in his faith and being a leader in his home and church. He shared the unbelieveable details of how he fell out of a tree stand some 25 feet up in a tree, miraculously not landing on his head but rather on his hip...the best place to land for that kind of fall. The doctors told him he wouldn't walk for a long time. They would be proven wrong. Though seriously hurt, God healed him in such a profound way that he was back hunting in that same treestand only three weeks later. True to his nature, Doug really connected with the men that were present. The language barrier wasn't a barrier at all. He pointed the men to a number of Scripture passages about how faith was to be proven by action (James), that God doesn't want luke warm Christians (Revelations), and that men of God are willing to perform the greatest of sacrifices in service to their Redeemer even to the point of sacrificing their only son (Genesis).

Doug was followed by Randall's testimony. Randall shared his radical conversion. From a serial adulterer and drug addict to a man that was confronted by a God who loves sinners even when there is nothing lovely about them. This was an incredible event as he had invited many of the men who were there to come and hear his story for the first time. Men were challenged by the good news that no one is too sinful to be beyond the reach of the loving power of Jesus Christ.


I wish everyone could have seen the evangelism that took place that night. There were conversations about the cross in pockets throughout the back yard and patio. I had the extraordinary pleasure of being used by God to speak to Adrian, one of Randall's friends that hand come. Adrian is a 24-year old man who was really affected by Randall's testimony. He spoke very good English and so I was able to speak clearly to him without the aid of a translator. Adrian

thanked me for our coming as Paraiso was in need of much help. I told him it was he that needed help, that he was in grave danger as he was getting closer, day by day, to an appointment with God. God who is getting more and more angry at his sin. I was able to share with him for some 30 minutes about he gift that was available to him in the perfect Jesus Christ dying as a Substitute. I urged him in the strongest of terms that he was in a desparate state and did not want to endure God's wrath and did not have to, if he would repent of his sin and trust in the Savior. Here's the part that was incredible...he thanked me and said, "No one has ever told me this before." Though he didn't repent that night. He heard the gospel. Pray that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction and repentance. Pray that God will save this young man from the wrath to come.

In Christ,

Jeff