We have been missionaries in Guatemala for 15 years, and 2020 was the most challenging. I am sure you could say the same, no matter the country where you find yourself. Here in Guatemala, we struggled with lockdowns, curfews, a nationwide mask mandate, church closures, and airport and public transportation shutdowns, to name a few. Despite the difficult circumstances, we were still able to have services in the homes of our people, go door-to-door soul winning, hold 15 Bible Clubs for children throughout our city, and see 6 new families added to our church. This past Sunday, I decided to hold our Sunday morning service inside for the first time since the church building reopened four months ago, and to my surprise, we did not fit. With 147 people present, we had a higher attendance than we did on a normal Sunday morning before the COVID-19 shutdown.
Rolando and Alejandrina, along with their five children, started coming to our church because we were able to help them with a bag of food in their time of need. Even though Alejandrina grew up in church all her life, she had never understood what salvation by grace through faith really meant. When she understood, not only did she put her faith and trust in Jesus alone for salvation and truly get saved, but she also started going out soul winning and sharing her faith with others. This Sunday she is going to get baptized and is extremely excited about getting more involved in church. Please pray for this dear family, as their son Neisan, who is only six months old, was just diagnosed with a brain disorder.
Geidy Guzmán has been coming to our church, along with her husband and three children, for the last two years. Even though she professed to be saved, she never really gave a clear testimony of salvation. Since I have experienced that many of our people have realized they were lost after going soul winning several times, I encouraged her to go soul winning once a week with the ladies. Last Monday she called me and told me she wanted to share something with me. She told me that she had just realized after studying the Bible that she had never made the “prayer of faith” for salvation. She realized that although she had experienced the hand of God in her life and had grown up in church, she had never put her faith in Jesus alone for salvation. That night she prayed the “prayer of faith” and was gloriously saved. She, too, will be getting baptized this Sunday.
We love you and greatly appreciate your faithfulness through these trying times. Please continue to pray for our family and the Iglesia Bautista Bíblica Independiente as we go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
His for souls,
Daniel and Misty Wilder, Lydia, Charity, Emily, Hannah, Serenity, and Benjamin