Look What the Lord has Done!

I promise that you won't forget a beautiful face like this
as long as you live!

How do you think she and her family feel about what God's doing in La Angostura?

The truth is that the Lord has turned a church that was once forsaken into an oasis in the desert. A pastor moved his six-person family from a comfortable life in San Salvador into a shack made out of aluminum; he is now father to hundreds of children and pastor to a people that only the Lord cared about before. Let's ask ourselves- would we have even heard of the people of La Angostura if the Lord had not purposed in His will to do a miraculous work in their lives? Would we have invested our time, prayer, and finances in this village of fishermen and farmers if the Lord had not invested His love and amazing grace into that community first? Most of us can't even point out its general area on a map- God knows the count of every single hair on the head of every single man, woman, and child there!

The story is actually really funny if you think about it; of course, it's only after you imagine the despair of the people who were involved in the church from the beginning- getting kicked around, forced out of meeting places, being abandoned by former leaders, persecuted by various cults in the area- that's not funny. The thing that makes us all laugh is the fact that even when there were only seven people left in the church, the church was still praying, and the Lord sent us good-old American citizens! So often we as human beings can be so focused on our own little world that we forget God's warning: "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."- Matthew 25:41-43.

Even though the Lord used us (and that completely blows our minds!), I beg you with all of my heart to come and meet the people of Calvary Chapel: La Angostura! Look in their faces... do you see extreme poverty? hopelessness? hunger? Nope... what you will see are two eyes beaming with love and excitement! I promise that when I first arrived here most of the children who you see in the pictures below were reserved, some of them were beggars, some of them would mock us and laugh at us. Now they are our guides when we hand out tracts in the community! Now they try to offer what little they can to bless US! Now they practice the few words and phrases that they've learned in English with us! The Lord is powerful to save people, to change lives, and to exceed everything that we could ever ask for or think of in His complete power and goodness!

We forget sometimes that, by nature, we don't deserve even to have a roof over our heads or food to eat. That goes for the people of La Angostura as well. Without the Lord's intervention, they are sinners just like you and me. The fact that they now praise the Lord with shelter over their heads from the rain should bring us to tears! Do you remember the last time that you were forced to sit out in the torrential rain or blistering sun- not because man had forced you to- but because you were compelled by a heart that wanted nothing more than to praise and worship the God that created you?

So far, a complete sanctuary has been built and is the largest and tallest building around for miles. I foresee that in only a few months we will see a big sign on top of it during the service that says, "Standing room only". Praise God!

There are also restrooms on the facility now. From the back of the bathroom, they are planning to build classroom after classroom until they can build no more! In time, we'll see a beautiful children's program open up that will minister to hundreds if not thousands.

Calvary Chapel Spring Valley from Las Vegas, NV had the honor of being the first missions team to minister in the new building.

Wouldn't you know that this baptismal was built even before the sanctuary itself!!

David and Edwin... best of friends! They forced me to take this picture of them... but I doubt they ever imagined that it would end up on the world wide web :-)

Thank you so much everyone and God bless!

Please remember to pray for La Angostura, Pastor Manuel and his family, and healings in the church.

Love you all!

Brennan