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Traveling for the Lord,  Jim and Donna Smith |
We Care campaign in Hope, Arkansas
What a blessing it was to be in Hope, Arkansas in May, 2007. Much seed was planted, training was done, and many new friends were made. We were privileged to worship at the Iglesia de Christo in Hope. This small church, with an attendance of 65 to 70, was very zealous. Since every adult member worked, only one local couple plus the preacher and his wife were available to go door knocking with us. This couple took their vacation at this time and, in addition to door knocking every morning and afternoon, cooked most of the morning and noon meals and cleaned the kitchen afterwards. One other lady was able to go out a few hours on several mornings.
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Donna and I studied first with Lisa and H Walker. They were very open and could see the Gospel and that they needed it. However, they were very honest and admitted that they needed first to determine that they were going to try to live the Christian life, for it would do them no good to be baptized and then go right back to living the way they were. We left them thinking about what they wanted to do. |
The next day we found Neville Poe. He was presently attending the Pentecostal Church of God, but his father and brother were members of the church of Christ and his mother was Pentecostal. We studied with him one morning and he had to stop and go to work.
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Our last Bible study was with Julianna. Donna and I had Estela with us. Julianna spoke
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The Spanish speaking students from the School of Preaching in Little Rock came Saturday for the training, then came back the next Friday and Saturday to knock doors. Other studies were going on also, but while we were there no one was baptized. One brother was restored and one sister asked for prayers. Our next campaign will be in Waynesboro, Virginia. We will travel about 1200 miles one way. Please be praying for us. Yours in His service, Jim and Donna Smith |
There were seven of the cadre at this campaign. Along with Marco Senoret, the We Care leader for Spanish campaigns, who speaks fluent Spanish, there was Leon Garza from New Mexico. Leon speaks fluent Spanish also. Michael Moore from Kansas, Norma Richardson from Oklahoma City, and Nora Price, also from Oklahoma City, all spoke no Spanish at all. I speak a tiny little bit and Donna speaks none. We would try to take one Spanish speaking person with us and if an English speaking person opened the door we would talk to them and if a Spanish speaking person opened the door then one of the ones who could speak to them did. The couple who went out with us, Alejo and Estela Chavez spoke no English but could understand some.
We didn’t think we would get to go back again while we were there, but Wednesday morning he called us bright and early to come back. After studying with him he felt he had followed the Gospel way of salvation, but was concerned that he was not worshipping in the correct church. Most of the congregation was elderly where he attended and he taught the Sunday school class. We could tell he was very devoted to them and felt he would be deserting them to leave. We encouraged him to study more and possibly teach the members where he is going. We left him Jim’s number to call for any concerns.
no English, so Estela got to present the Gospel for the first time. She read the questions and scriptures in Spanish while Julianna followed along. I helped Estela when she needed it, but she did an excellent job and needed very little help. Julianna was a Catholic but her brother was a Jehovah’s Witness and they were presently studying with her. I was able, through Estela, to show her a few scriptures from their Bible and we left her name with the Spanish preacher there.