During my first discipleship, I was fed breakfast and it was a little before noon when I finished at Xiomara's house. I was getting ready to leave and she informed me that she was making lunch and would like for me to stay. Not being one to EVER turn down food and since it would be an offense to turn them down, I decided to stay. I ended up leaving the house at 2:00 in the afternoon instead of 11:45 like I had planned. Thankfully after six years on the mission field we have learned to be flexible.
My next stop was in a neighborhood called Cucuie. It is an area in the town of Santa Ana where a lot of people come to our church from. Everyone that comes from this area must be brought in our truck. We have been picking up people from this area for about two years now. We have seen many people that live in this neighborhood get saved. It is a dangerous neighborhood. Many who live here are use and sell drugs. There is a lot of crime, but God has blessed and we have been safe.
It is in this neighborhood that I have one teenage girl that I am discipling. Miss Audrey and Miss Vicky would also be starting to disciple four more converts. I was introducing them to the ladies they would disciple. We had gone to the all but one last house. We kept this house for last because the visit would take a long time. As is customary, we were invited in. As we entered the living room we saw two women we had never seen before. Cristina introduced us to them. Both women were quiet and we tried to talk to them. I invited them to church and the older women assured us that she had no need of God. The younger woman, 16 year old Doris, was very quiet and shy. While we were talking mostly to her mom, as they got ready to leave I invited Doris to come to the teen class that we have on Thursday nights. She mentioned that she wanted to go. We were very surprised as her mom was so dead set against ever setting foot in the door of the church. Cristina promised us that she would show us where Doris lived on Thursday night so we could pick her up. I let Doris know we would pick her up at 6:30 on Thursday night.
Thursday night rolled around and I, unfortunately, had told Doris the wrong time. We had to pick her up at 6:15. Since I didn't have a phone number to call her, we just hoped she would be ready. When we arrived at Cristina's house she wasn't there. We were a little frustrated, but decided to try and find Doris' house anyway. We started driving and in about half a mile we saw Cristina walking on the road. We picked her up and she informed us that Doris had been ready and waiting for us, but when we didn't show up she decided not to come. I didn't understand this as we were still early. It wasn't even 6:15 yet. As we drive by the house we saw Doris out front and tried to encourage her to come. She looked like she was going to change her mind, but her Mother called out, "She isn't going". I was definitely upset and decided to try and visit her another day.
The next Thursday rolled around. We were excited for church and to see what God would do. While we were not expecting to see Doris at church that night (her mom still was very cold to us), not only did she come, but her mom came too.
Since that Thursday, Doris has not missed a service. She comes out soulwinning with us and is so excited about being with us. Last Saturday during churchwide soulwinning, we started talking to her about what salvation is. She is not saved and since she has never been to church all is very new to her. We started giving her the plan of salvation, but had to stop when she told us that she had never heard the story of Jesus dying on the cross for her sins. She is so excited and open to the things of God, but we are going to have to start at square one.
Doris comes from a very poor family. Her dad died when she was young. Her mom and her live alone. There is no income so Doris has never been to school. Miss Vicky has started classes with her to teach her to read and write and is also slowly explaining the story of Jesus to her at the same time. Please continue to pray for Doris' salvation. It is exciting to see what God is doing in her life.
