Jonathan & Anna Saliba
Oct 1, 2023
One of the frustrations we’ve had since moving into a new house is that the neighborhood guards who sit right outside our house seem to change constantly. We’ve actually asked some of you to pray for their salvation, but they would move away before we could have a spiritual talk with them. We were able to give a Bible, a tract, and a church invitation to most of them, but that was about it. After realizing how quickly they changed, we made a point to be even more intentional with them.
Jonathan & Felix
Felix was an especially friendly and happy person, which made him easy to talk to. When Jonathan told him “if you want to talk about spiritual things sometime, we can go have coffee,” his big smile turned to sadness and he answered, “You know, I might look happy because I consider it part of my job, but I’m hiding a lot of guilt and emptiness inside.” It turned out Felix had been raised by his Christian grandmother, but had never given his life to Jesus. He had lived completely for himself to the extreme, and his combat experiences in the military also added a lot to the condemnation he felt.
It was clear that God was working on him long before Jonathan showed up, so that when they met for coffee, Felix said, “it’s like I just need someone to show me how I can be forgiven.” In that meeting, Jonathan explained the Gospel right from the Bible and made sure Felix understood it. At the end when Jonathan asked him if he was going to give his life to Jesus, he answered, “yes, but I want to do it on Sunday so my ‘woman’ can see and maybe also follow Jesus.”
Felix arrived to church on Sunday with Esmeralda and his friend Abel. When Felix raised his hand during the invitation, Jonathan led him to the back room to review the Gospel, and Felix was still just as convinced as before. He prayed then and there for forgiveness and salvation, and started his new life with Jesus. Please join Felix and us in praying for Esmeralda’s salvation as well.
Felix & Esmeralda with our family
We’ve been hoping to start a Bible study for almost a year now. We worry that without visas we might start something and not be able to see it through, but the time hasn’t been wasted. We’ve been working to share the Gospel, and people are being saved. In fact, this month we’re also giving thanks for the salvation of Nalfy, one of the moms from the soccer ministry one of our deacons started. Four others have also been saved since we wrote last.
Pureza, one of the members of our church, is arranging for us to be invited to preach the gospel in her village. She was saved several years ago, and has become more and more concerned about the salvation of her friends and family back home. Hopefully this will happen soon, so be praying for this great opportunity
As always, our visa problems continue, and yet somehow we’ve still been able to be in Colombia a lot lately. It makes it very hard to plan though, so continue to pray.
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