Dámaris and I are on a whirlwind tour of Central America with Dr. Joe Jordan and Word of Life (Palabra de Vida).  Well, if you could have seen us in the Palabra de Vida (PDV) van in Mexico City, it was more like watching grass grow than a whirlwind, but we have been doing two-a-days since we landed Friday night in Mexico.  A brunch Saturday morning with nearly 300, a concert that night in a theater, then Sunday morning in a church, Then, Sunday night in the beautiful PDV facility in Queretaro, Mexico that the Lord provided.  A “mir-ACK-el” as Leo Di Gilio, the director, describes it.

Monday, we flew to Guatemala City (in Guatemala, for the geographically challenged), where Dámaris did a radio interview, and then we were headed to the Police Academy.  Later this week, we fly to Nicaragua, then Honduras, then Tampa and home on Monday, 11/1/10.  Lord willing.

This is a straight-up evangelistic tour.  Everywhere we go, Dámaris sings, Joe Jordan preaches, then throws out the net.  The lifeline.   “If you were to die right now, do you really know where you would be going?  Ven a Cristo.”  At every event, dozens have made decisions for Christ.  Even in smaller crowds, even in the church on Sunday morning, there have been folk who were lost, and now are in the Family of God.

So, after being stuck in more traffic, we pulled into the Police Academy.  Marcelo, an Argentine who heads a PDV camp facility nearby and works with Clubes Biblicos (Bible Clubs) in the local churches, has a connection with the 2nd in command at the academy.  A Christian, this academy commander told Joe Jordan, “Talk to them like they were your own kids.”  About 600 young police cadets poured into the gym and pulled up their own spot of cement, sitting and listening respectfully.  After making some comment about the rival soccer teams of Argentina and Guatemala, which elicited a quick and deafening shout, Marcelo introduced Joe and Dámaris, and the night began.

Dámaris couldn’t help mentioning that our son graduated from the Naval Academy after she saw them march and run in formation, in uniform and in step.  After she sang her first song, they immediately roared for more… literally.  Dámaris sang four or five songs from her Spanish CDs, giving a bit of her testimony in between, then gave Joe the mic.  Immediately, Joe asked them to bow their heads and began to pray.  This is not a Christian school, mind you.  This is the Police Academy!  Even if just out of respect, they all bowed their heads and listened reverently.  It was beautiful to see.

After a brief prayer, Joe addressed them with a frankness and a kindness that the Holy Spirit has given him.  When he speaks, you know that he cares for each one of those cadets, just like Jesus cares for them.  Another request to bow your heads, then he asked them to repeat a prayer of salvation and repentance in their hearts, silently.

“While everyone’s head is still bowed, if you prayed that prayer with me, raise your hand.”  Out of reverence, I didn’t take pictures of the raised hands, but it had to be at least 100 of them.  Maybe more.  Marcelo had a whole team of counselors with him, trained at PDV, and Joe asked the cadets who raised their hands to find one of the counselors and talk to them.  Easy to spot the counselors, they were not in a uniform.  Each counselor had a bunch of cadets surrounding them, and a bunch of them came to Dámaris, too.

It was a wonderful night, and when we left, they had counted 103 salvation forms that had been filled in with contact information for the PDV folk to follow up with.  Glorious!

Who got arrested?  The cadets, of course.  Stopped in their tracks by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A church tonight, a crack-of-dawn breakfast with businessmen tomorrow, then a flight to Nicaragua.  Pray for us, but mostly pray for those folk who need to hear the Good News in the next few days through this terrific opportunity that the Lord has given us.

Here are just a few of the over 300 pictures I took…

1 Comment

1. 

   Praise the Lord!
   Continuing to pray that you will be blessed as you share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through your life and song.

   Comment by Rhonda — October 26, 2010 @ 6:09 pm

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