Israel Alvarez Prayer Letter: Spring Soul-Winning Push

As is usual around this time each year, we have been very busy. Each spring we have our annual soul-winning push to get the Gospel out to as many people as we can. We were blessed this April to have a missions team from Longview Baptist Temple of Longview, Texas, here to help us with this outreach. During their 9-day stay, we were able to present the Gospel at 6 schools. We had 30 minutes at each school to sing, play games, present the Gospel, and pass out a new Bible to everyone. We held village services each night in the villages surrounding our church. It was incredible how many people the Lord allowed to come to these meetings. In one village alone, over 150 people came out to hear the Gospel and receive an invitation to church. Fifteen new people have visited our church this week as a result of our efforts to get the Gospel out. Please pray that our visitors will return and grow in their faith.

We are happy to announce that we have finally started a church in the district of Corozal. We know many of you have been praying for God’s timing and provision. The group from Longview Baptist Temple helped us get the word out about our first service, which we held on April 8. We must be honest and say that our nerves were a bit shaky as the big day neared. That first Sunday, Tonya and I prayed the whole way to church that at least one family would show up. Can you believe that God brought 74 people to church that morning?! It was amazing to see family after family climb up the church stairs to find a seat. Many people trusted Christ that morning, and 3 were baptized in the ocean following the service. We are thrilled to follow up on these new converts and encourage them to grow and be faithful.

On Easter Sunday, we had our annual Sunrise Service. A wonderful crowd showed up, and we spent time remembering the Resurrection of our Saviour. After the service, we went to a lagoon for fun, fellowship, and baptisms. Three young people, who have been faithful for many years, decided to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. This was an extra special blessing, since we have been praying for these young teens for a few years.

All in all during our spring soul-winning push, we presented the Gospel to over 5,000 people, gave away 2,500 Bibles, saw countless people trust Christ as their Saviour, saw 6 people baptized, and had 89 visitors visit our services in both churches.

Let me not forget to mention that before our soul-winning push, we held our third Missions Conference. Our church now supports eight missionaries! Our people give to missions by selling food after each service and giving the proceeds to missionaries and through Faith Promise giving. What a blessing it is to see our people give and desire the Gospel to reach beyond Belize.

Again we would like to thank the missions team from Longview Baptist Temple. The young people were such a blessing and encouragement. We truly appreciate all they did and gave for our ministry.

We feel your prayers across the miles. Thank you for faithfully supporting our ministry. May there be much fruit to your account. God bless you.

Israel and Tonya Alvarez