08/06/2011: A Cup of Blessings

A Cup of Blessings

In Panama

 

“ ‘But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ Romans 8: 11. O how precious are these words to every bereaved soul! Christ is our Guide and Comforter, who comforts us in all our tribulations. When He gives us a bitter draught to drink, He also holds a cup of blessing to our lips. He fills the heart with submission, with joy and peace in believing, and enables us to say submissively, Not my will, but Thy will, O Lord, be done.”  Selected Messages, vol. 2, 270.

Br. Ice and Dr. Pedrol on their way to the meeting at the Indian reservation.

Praise the Lord for the cup of blessings that Christ offers every time we have to experience a bitter trial. Thus far in this year of 2011, we have had many challenges and, at the same time, new opportunities for service. The first challenge was our water supply. This affected our drinking water as well as the other water we use. We had to get our drinking water from a friend, and water for cleaning was brought in by truck from a creek at the end of the property. Praise the Lord, water was finally supplied to the house. The next incident was that a power pole fell that supplied power to the house. The blessing was that we had no appliances burn out.

 

At the end of last year our active Bible worker asked for a leave of absence so he could help his mother at her farm during the summer since it was hard to find reliable agricultural help. That meant that one of us had to do the visitations and Bible studies. Our schedule was already full, but the Lord had blessings in store for us as we undertook this work. Many individuals in the homes we visited have health challenges. People who were not interested in Bible studies now have an interest because of the councils we have been sharing with them on health.

Brother ice being introduced at the meeting in the Indian reservation.

A Catholic lady named Danilla is an example of how this worked. We started visiting her home because one of her daughters wanted to study Bible prophecy. The daughter was not always available for study, so on those days we told Bible stories to the younger children in the family. Danilla would not listen to these stories but allowed us to tell them to her children. One day she had a concern about an epidemic of diarrhea that was going on among her children. I asked her if she had ever used charcoal to treat diarrhea. She said that she had heard about it but did not know where to obtain some. I just happened to have some in my bag and left some with her. She was very appreciative of the charcoal. One time when we were visiting in the home, I noticed Danilla had a pen in hand, and I asked her what she was doing. She said she was preparing lessons to present on Sunday to the children of her church. As we conversed, I encouraged her to study the scriptures since she is a leader in her church. She agreed to have studies on Bible prophecy with us.

Danielle tells a story to the Indians.

The first time we visited Alva, she let us know she was Catholic. We told her we were only there to study the Bible with her.During one of our visits, her one-year-old daughter had diarrhea. We shared charcoal with her and instructed her how to use it. When we returned the following week, she was excited about how quickly the charcoal stopped the diarrhea. Alva is a very enthusiastic Bible student. She studies every piece of literature that we leave her. After studying the topic of the Sabbath, I asked her if she had ever studied this topic before. She stated that, yes, she had studied it but not as in-depth as we had presented it that day. She indicated that she would give the Sabbath further study.

As we work, opportunities for service are opening up. A representative of the health department came to our home one day, and we talked about health and about the people in the community. He asked if we could help him by being the health promoters for this community. He plans to return and share with us what our responsibilities would be. Please pray for us as we need to make a decision about this request. We want to be involved, but we realize that the public health department may promote certain health practices that may be contrary to God’s method of healing and preventing disease. At the same time we realize that it is an opportunity to let the community know about God’s laws of health and how they can have a healthier lifestyle.

Indians listening to the health talk.

Another request is to be involved in giving health talks to the indigenous people at the Indian reservation. We took a medical missionary trip to the reservation where we talked about the use of water and did demonstrations of some water treatments. The Indians came to us and requested to have health seminars for their people. They told us that their people needed to learn these things.

A big blessing to our district is our new pastor. This new pastor embraces the health message and is very enthusiastic. He sees the ministry that is being done by Living Springs as a blessing. The pastor wants us to plan cooking classes for the church.

We want to thank all of our partners in ministry for your faithfulness. Please pray for us, that we continuously say with submission, joy and peace, “Not my will, but Thy will, O Lord, be done.”

 

By Zaida Acosta. Email: 4asaved2serve@gmail.com. Support for Acostas can be sent through Mission Projects International, PO Box 59656, Renton, WA 98058. Mark your donations “Panama.”

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