Dear family in Christ,
May our all-powerful God bless your lives, your families and your ministries always. Thank you for your love and support for my family in this city of Tarija where we are working to make the name of Jesus known.
June was a very blessed month. We started visiting families, including one that we meet on our first visit to Tarija many years ago. I am referring to the family of Lourdes Anagua. She came to know the Gospel in Sucre and always had the desire that we would come to Tarija to visit her family and share the Gospel with them. Thanks to God, that day eventually came and we could accept her invitation. In that first visit so many years ago, we visited her humble home and met her brothers Samuel and Luis and her mother. They received us with a lot of love and hospitality. I was impressed because with the little they had, they offered it with much love and I really appreciated the wonderful time we had with them. We got to see many pretty sides of Tarija, did a lot together, evangelized, ate, joked and laughed together. It was a good time and it stayed in our hearts. I always had the desire to return to visit them again and God has opened that door once again. The team had put together bags of food to take to different families we know to help with their needs or made cakes for others. We went on a Saturday night to visit the Anagua family and to take them a bag of food. They were about ready to sit down at the table to eat dinner and there were various little pots with delicious smelling food that the mom had prepared with love for her sons. Luis had just returned from work. He and his brother work in housing construction. Samuel would come home awhile later after finishing up some work. Luis wanted to share his food with us and I told him we had already eaten. It was true, but also true that I thought it best not to eat and leave Samuel with nothing after he came home hungry from work. This, once again, impacted my heart. The little they had at the table they were willing to share with us. What an incredible family.
We talked and continued to visit after Samuel got home. We could not stop laughing about things that had happened on our first visit to their house. It was great seeing them and it encouraged me very much. I asked about Loudres and her son Liam (they have lived in Argentina the last couple of years) and they said she is doing well and working hard to help with the costs of the family here in Tarija. Luis was excited we where there with them and made a video call to Loudres so we could say hello.
The changes that God makes in each of us really can be seen in the lives of the people we know. Loudres was touched by God years ago and that had a special impact not only in her own life but also in the lives of her family. We hope that we can build a more fluid communication and connection with this family and that they will be a part of Christ’s family here in this city. Please pray for this family.
(Juan and I with the leaders in Sucre, Doddy (my son who lives in Honduras) and our guest speaker)
This month we dedicated time to the leaders in Sucre- to encourage each other and to see how we can be leaders in accordance with God’s heart. The team had the idea of doing a zoom study about leadership and we are doing this each Sunday at 4pm. The last Sunday we spoke about the impact of a leader. We invited Daniel Pirela, one of the leaders of church in Portoviejo Manabí, Ecuador, to give the study. He is from Venezuela but living in Ecuador and helping the church there. It was a special time together and we were encouraged and edified, thanks to God. We all need to learn better how to work in the vineyard of the Lord.
Blessings from God to all and a strong hug to all of you from all who are here collaborating on the expansion of God’s kingdom.
Pancho Torres