Dear Praying Friends,
Summer has gotten off to a great start here in the Southern Hemisphere! While most of our relatives and friends are currently surviving snowstorms and enduring snow days, we are soaking in the sun and enduring high summer temperatures of 88°F! We have spiced up the summers of our teenagers by making it the summer of competitions! Many of our teenagers have both parents working outside of the home, and it’s important that they stay busy. We’ve divided our teens into three teams, and they are competing all summer. Some of the ways they are earning points are through service projects, soul winning, attending church and teen services faithfully, helping in churches and Bible studies, and attending their teams’ prayer meetings. We have chosen three young men to each lead a group, and so far they are exceeding our expectations in so many ways. Many of our teams have showed up at the different churches we have planted here ready to paint, clean, organize, and serve in whatever way they can. They have been a blessing to many a pastor and Bible-study leader. It has been a personal blessing to see the teams meeting together to pray and read the Bible. Our teenagers have also reached out to others teenagers in the area. Many have brought friends who have gotten saved and started participating in our program.
Starting this summer with our three teams of teenagers, we expanded our soul-winning focus to three different locations. Each team goes soul winning together, one in Alto Peru, another in San Genaro, and the third team right in Villa Marina around our church. It’s so exciting each week to hear the stories of people they were able to reach for Christ. This past Saturday we visited with the group in San Genaro, and the Lord allowed 24 people to receive Christ as their personal Saviour. We are constantly reminded that the harvest truly is plentiful!
We started a new Bible study in the homes of one of our faithful families, hoping to be able to reach the father for Christ. Please pray for this study and particularly that Andres would come to know Christ. Because of the Latin culture, there are also many relatives who live in the same home whom we are hoping to reach with the Gospel. Denise opens up her living room so we can have a place to study and yet hasn’t stayed for a study yet. Steeped in Catholic traditions, the family is a little bit resistant to this new idea of studying the Bible. Please pray that God will move in their hearts and open doors for them to know the Truth. This picture is from a night in which we had a group visiting from First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.
In His service,
Daniel and Heather Kokubun