Hispanic Women's Bible Study

Hello Friends and Family,
First and foremost, praise the Lord for He is holy, completely other, none like Him, good, righteous, faithful, just, and abounding in steadfast love! He makes known His ways that we might know Him. He loves His Church, and great is His gracious choice! Praise the Lord for the gift of not having to be under the wrath of God for eternity because of the slaughtering of the Lamb, and the resurrection. Our God is living and He is powerful. Praise God for subjecting Himself to be human that we may be personally connected to Him, intimately as His children.
I write to tell of one tiny aspect of the Lord showing His beauty to me and His holiness and complete GODNESS. May 8, 2009, some friends of mine got together to go evangelizing (the semester had just come to an end- why we could spend all day evangelizing). We had a bible study that morning and had decided to go get lunch before going out to the mall to evangelize. My sole influence in my regeneration and disciple me through my junior high and high school years, Jonathan Murdock (missionary in Mexico City and former youth pastor), had come to the states for a month and came up to Fort Worth for my birthday and to go evangelizing with us. He desired to go eat Mexican food because he missed being home. We ended up going to Taqueria Vallarta on Seminary Dr. which is where this all began. He had been the day before with Dr. Calvert ( a professor at Southwestern) and they began a conversation with Esperanza and Claudia, the end of the conversation resulted in Jonathan promising them he’d bring them Bibles. We came back May 8th and he brought them the Bibles back. They asked for someone to teach them about the Bible and Jonathan pulled me up to talk with them, and I told them I would do so. I had a commitment during the summer, but when I come back for the school year then I would definitely be commited to teaching them. I had met with the women throughout the month of August just attempting to find a time to do the Bible Study. (It became very hard, and we could not find a day.) I began praying that the Lord would provide an opportunity for us to teach the ladies, and if this isn’t where He wants us then to show us how to interact with them.
The girl that I am working with is Alma Alfaro. She is also a student at the college, and she is from Guatemala. I asked her to translate for me and she came with me on Monday night to meet with the women at the Taqueria. Alma and I went in with nothing prepared and prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide our words and that our hearts would be compelled to love these women and be broken for their lost souls. Claudia was off of work, but Esperanza was there. It was a rainy day so there were not many customers and it was around 3 or 4 so no one was really there to eat. We asked for Esperanza and she came out. We simply asked if she could talk. She said yes with a delight on her face. We got to know her a little bit. She has one daughter who is twenty months (she will be two on December 17th). She asked me where my family was (because I brought my parents there to eat previously). My response was simple, that my family doesn’t live in Fort Worth, they live in Salado, TX two and a half hours away. She said “Oh, you’re alone just like me. We should spend time together so that we won’t be alone anymore.” My heart was broken. She finished by telling us that she has no family, no friends, and no loved ones around. Just her little girl, her job, and a new boyfriend who she doesn’t know how long he will stay around because he doesn’t understand Spanish (he’s white). I told her that I would love to spend time with her and her daughter. I asked her about her Bible that Jonathan had given her, and she said that when her mother had visited from Mexico that she gave it to her mother. So, currently she is in need of a Spanish Bible which will be provided for her soon. Finally, we got around to talking to her about what she believes. She says that she was raised Catholic, but she believes that every person who goes to church is a “good person”. She also said that all people who go to a church, mosque, temple, whatever, worship the same god… just in different ways. ( I believe that part of this is because she said she has a Muslim friend who has been teaching her the Islamic faith for… 6 years)I then asked her if she believed the Bible to be true. She said yes, and then after that said that she believes one is saved by the sacraments. Sad and ironic. I told her that the Bible says in Romans that “none is righteous no not one” and that no one is a “good person” apart from the standard of Christ. She then got very upset (because this “bad person” thing didn’t sit well with her) and asked… “How can everyone be bad and both of you be good?” The grace of the Lord hit my heart and I was suddenly broken by the profound words of this woman, and the remembrance of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We had JUST said that EVERYONE is bad, and yet she had distinguished us as good. Right at that moment of me rejoicing in my heart of the opportunity to share with her about the costly grace that our Lord has given the saints by the wrath of the Father being poured out on Jesus…. She got called back into work. She then said, as she was rushing up to go back to work, “I am convinced I am a bad person, please teach me about this on Monday.” We discussed meeting later during the week and we then left. With heavy hearts Ally and I began discussing the brokenness for her and the false prophets around the world, and we prayed.
Thursday, I met with Esperanza at the Taqueria and went with her to her ESL classes (English as a Second Language). There were about 35 people there, none of which had their citizenship. It was a sad thing to see, but also a hopeful one (with the thought of what the Lord could do in these women hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ). The first thirty minutes was spent teaching Esperanza English on the computer (helped me brush up on my English and Spanish alike!) and acted as a personal tutor teaching her things like negative responses “don’t, doesn’t, no” and positive responses and introductions. The second portion of the class was in a classroom setting and the teacher went through reading and dialoging. (Introductions was a main portion of the class.) Everyone went around and said that “ Hi, my name is Maria (there were a million of them!) I am from MEXICO.” I then had to stand up and say my name and I was the only one from the United States there other than the teacher (who looked super Spanish, but born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas). We then left (one of my friends at the college, Dana, went with me, she did homework in the library!) and the women were in the parking lot talking and I forgot my keys. When I came back Dana was speaking with them about what she was in school for. We then discussed what I was in school for and I told them I had the same degree as Dana, but our concentrations are different, and I told them my concentration was in missions. They then asked if the bible study was a part of my school. I told them no. The looks on their faces were so confused. Then, “Do you get paid?” No. …. Dumbfounded. Well…. We don’t understand. You have spent so much time with us this week and you’re teaching us on Mondays…. Why? We didn’t even know you before this and you picked us out? My simple response was that I loved them and that is only through the cross of Jesus. We love because He first loved us. And I felt that no more was necessary. We then took her friend home and I brought Esperanza to Southwestern and showed her my job. Her daughter was thrilled to see the pool, and I told her that I would take her swimming any time, and if she wanted to work out we could work out together. We played with her daughter in the basketball court for about 15 minutes and threw the ball around and Esperanza and I shot some hoops for a little while and then we left. We got to know each other a little more and by the grace of God grew a little closer. She is dear to my heart. I invited her to dinner with my friends and I Saturday night and I am praying that God will grant that.
Prayer:
-For the salvation of these women’s soul, that they may be desperate before God and become constantly dependent upon Him. That they may live lives of obedience and raw submission to Him, and that they would know joy and peace like never before. That they would be godly mothers to their children and that generations would see Jesus through them.
-The Bible Study- For the preparation beforehand, for the submission of my heart to the Lord, and for the night itself. That the Lord would reveal Himself to each of these women and that they would have a constant yearning for more. For the children to be around godly women taking care of them during this time.
-Language barriers- that the Lord would grant quick learning and that both sides would gain from this to further the Gospel message..
- for a place to hold the Bible Study. As of right now there are a few potential temporary places on campus, but praying for an eventual permanent place for ministry.
-Men to rise up and reach the unreached men who are believing false messages around the Fort Worth area that they may lead families the way a godly man should in the way of our King.
“Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.” Ezekiel 37:12-14
SOLI DEO GLORIA.