In the month of July, we had a great Teen Camp that God used to encourage and build lives. Several people made decisions to give themselves for the service of the Lord. It was such an encouragement to pass time with our spiritual family from La Paz. The picture below is of those who participated during the camp and helped pass out flyers and win souls in preparation for our opening service. Please pray for churches to be planted and missionaries to be sent out as a result of this camp.

Our new church, Iglesia Bautista Luz del Evangelio (Gospel Light Baptist Church), has been planted! On Opening Day, we had 48 in attendance, with 7 saved and 1 baptized. We are knocking doors every day, seeing people saved daily, and striving to get our converts through the doors. I have longed to start this new work for the Lord, and now I am absolutely thrilled to see it become a reality. Please pray that our attendance would grow so we can build a strong Sunday school program to teach God’s Word.

Two young men recently moved into our church to learn from our ministry as it grows. We have now started our seminary, and I am training them for full-time Christian service. Because they are some of our converts who grew up in our church in La Paz, the transition to come work with us was seamless. In the picture to the right, you can see how we look before we go out knocking doors in the blazing Santa Cruz sun. Please pray for God’s power, blessing, and protection on Joel (on the right), Rodrigo (on the left), and me as we diligently work together to fulfill the Great Commission!

After starting the church, I figured that instead of waiting for people to come to our church, we would go out and bring them in, so we have now started our first bus route called “Route Blue”! I have already made the bus signs for “Route Green,” “Route Orange,” and “Route Yellow.” All we need now are the workers and buses to start those routes! Each color represents different areas of the city where we will send buses to pick up people. Please pray for our new bus routes as we strive to make zealous disciples to multiply our efforts to reach more people.

While knocking doors, I met Victor, a 40-year-old man searching for God. He was very open to hearing the Gospel, so I witnessed to him, and he got saved. Sunday morning, Victor was sitting in front of his house, waiting for me to pick him up, with a big smile on his face. That morning, we had 19 visitors come to church! Please fervently pray that we would continually see visitors in church, with people saved and baptized!

Thank you to those of you who graciously gave extra to help with starting the church, buying chairs, and building a roof for our auditorium. Your investment will enable us to fulfill our orders from the Lord to march devotedly forward and ardently reach as many people as possible before His return.

– Xavier Lopez