STAR Team 2010, Update #2

July 13, 2010

Dear prayer partners,

There are not very many breaks in the schedule here at Camp STAR Team Honduras. I took off with Pastor Martinez last night for the mission church that he is pastoring. He is a student at the Master’s Seminary branch school here in Honduras. We crossed San Pedro Sula at the tail end of rush hour so traffic was pretty heavy. His little Hyundai had a problem with the front seat so I sat with my knees crunched up to the dash board. A large contingent of STAR Team members followed us since they didn’t all have meetings to go to last night. There were about 75 people at the Tabernacle Baptist Church. They had a very interesting song service. Then I got up to preach. Raoul, a fifteen year old student, translated for me. We both had microphones, but neither one seemed to work, at least not at the same time. I don’t really have a problem because, as my kids would attest to, I can yell if I have to. The Lord really seemed to give me freedom to preach a message on the Pharisee and the tax collector. We got back to our hotel after 9 pm and went to the hotel restaurant for supper. I don’t know if it came from a full day of ministry or the 2 hour time zone difference, but we all crashed without much fuss when we had finished eating.

If our first full day in Honduras (yesterday) was spent taking care of logistics and getting acclimated to our surroundings, day 2 was all business. We had our team meeting at 8 am. Several gave reports of yesterday’s victories. One member of our group who speaks on drug addiction in the public schools had 48 decisions for Christ in 4 schools yesterday. Another couple led 10 members of one family to the Lord in their house last night. The afternoon VBS had fewer children than expected, but 3 children asked Jesus to be their Savior. Many people heard the gospel and several other decisions were made for Christ. Our people are really excited to be here. By 9 am, everyone was assigned to a church or ministry and we were all on our way to some part of San Pedro Sula, a bustling city of about 1 million people. I was picked up by Pastor Raphael. He only owns a motorcycle (a 125 cc variety). My translator, Alejandro, told me that Pastor Raphael was willing to call a taxi if I didn’t want to climb on the back of the motorcycle. I was really worried that he meant that both of us were going to get on the back, but he said he would take me to the community and then come back and get Alejandro. Raphael weighs over 200 lbs and so do I. I am sure that the already tired shock absorbers started groaning before I even got on. There were at least 20 speed bumps on the road and just as many potholes. I was trying to hold my book bag on my shoulder and grip the pastor with the other hand. If he had zigged at the wrong moment, I would have slid right off the back without any trouble at all. We made it to the community called “Philippe Zelaya” where the church is located. Pastor Raphael had arranged 3 visits for the morning and 3 for the afternoon. We talked to 4 unsaved people in the first 4 visits. Each one clearly understood the gospel and admitted their need to be saved. In each case, the person, resisted the call to trust Christ by stating that they needed more time. Pray for Pedro, a fifty year old man who was under deep conviction and for Marissa who said she wasn’t ready to have her life changed. We had 4 decisions from people who were saved but had not been walking with the Lord. Carlos, Angel, Julian and Argentina all prayed to rededicate their lives to the Lord.

At the close of our visits we went by the church, Tabernacle Baptist Church (not the same one as last night), and saw the VBS club in full swing. What a blessing to see our team working so smoothly with the translators God has sent. The kids were loving it. Many lives are being changed this week.

In just about 2 hours, I will be heading back to Tabernacle Baptist Church for the evening service. I will be preaching again, but will have a different translator. If you can picture me on the motorcycle again, pray for traveling safety and for power in preaching. We desire more than anything to see people come to know Christ and get serious about their walk with the Lord. Thank you for praying. The devil trembles when God’s people pray.

Dios ti bendiga. (God bless you – hope the spelling is close).

Evan Drake