September 20, 2007
Dear Praying Friends,
In our last
letter I was thrilled to report concerning Mario, the 20 year old whom I
led to the Lord. Mario has been faithful and Satan has been
throwing everything at him that he can. A few weeks ago Mario was on his
way to his dad's home when four men beat and robbed him. I had just put
Mario through a self-defense class, as he is one of the three men I have
hired as guards at our church property. Mario was able to take down two
of the assailants but couldn't handle all four. Then on his way to work
a few nights ago he was struck and knocked off his bicycle. The man
tried to steal it from him but Mario prevailed and made it onto the
church property. Last night I asked Mario if he has had any more trouble
and he laughed and said no because everyone is afraid of him now. He
weighs just over 100 pounds so this was a joke. Please pray for the
safety and continued faithfulness of our dear people. We are about to
finish our security wall and will then put razor wire on top of it. Even
this is not good enough and sadly it is necessary to have armed guards
24/7. It is not just to keep our building and supplies from walking away
at night. I have fear for the safety of our people, as roaming
gangs of thugs seem to be too much for the police to keep under control.
A Christian doctor in the area has told me that if we can lead Alan, the
man who lives directly across the road from our property, to the Lord,
most of the problems in our barrio will disappear. Please pray for
Alan; and pray for me also. Alan's lack of education causes his Spanish
to be almost completely un-comprehensible to me. This is a
hindrance that I must be able to overcome.
I am excited about
another development in our new church. Alex and Marjuri have decided
that their living arrangement is not honoring to the Lord. I will have
the privilege of performing my :first wedding ceremony the 29th of
September.
Because so few people
have a Bible, and no one can afford one, I hand out copies of all the
Scriptures I will be using in the message. We have received our first
shipment of free Bibles from BEAMS. However we have put one requirement
upon the folks. Before they can receive a Bible they must be able to
quote, in order, the names all 66 books of the Bible. What a thrill to
see the folks carrying their list of the books of the Bible with them
everywhere they go and working hard on this assignment. Everyone wants a
Bible! Carla, a 10-year-old girl whom Krista led to the Lord is one of
the few who already had her own Bible. When I ask people to read a
particular Scripture during a lesson, Carla will not read it off the
paper, she likes to look it up and read it from the Bible itself. Bless
her heart.
We are taking a two-week
break in October. Our son, Eli will be ordained October 11th and he has
asked me to preach the charge. His proud papa can't turn him down! Two
of our missionary friends will fill the pulpit for me but our own people
will take care of Sunday school. What a joy to see our folks eager to
put into practice the things they are learning.
We covet your prayers and thank you for you love and support,
Ken and Krista Dowell
