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Peggy Spoonts West sent a message to the members of We Care Ministries.
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As of Sunday afternoon the We Care team had knocked 2188 doors and found 938 people home. They conducted 154 Gospel presentations with 190 people, resulting in 25 who obeyed the Gospel and one restoration. 83 people were helped with food. This translates into one out of every two doors knocked found someone home. One out of every 6 people found home resulted in a Gospel presentation and one out of every six presentations resulted in a baptism. 58 cadre from 17 states participated in the campaign.
27 rescued in Arizona
Meet part of the 27 new Christians, surrounded by the elders at Sierra Vista, Arizona!
The team of Don Sterling (cadre), Sharon Moore (cadre), and Craig Suby (cadre) knocked on the door of Tiffany Conroy and her mother and sister. Tiffany had been wanting to be baptized. Her mother and sister had been baptized, but Tiffany had not. The team presented the Gospel to them and Tiffany wanted to obey the Gospel, so she did so.
On Thursday Tommy and Bebie Key (cadre) and Donna Black (local) went again to Will Burns’ fiancé, Meghan, who had listened to the Gospel presentation when Will and Gary first heard it. One thing that was holding her back was the fact that she had a fear of the water. She did not know what went on in a baptism. After coming to the building and seeing what it was like, she decided she could do that and she wanted Will to do the baptism. She then obeyed the Gospel. Then at 4:00 on Friday afternoon she and Will had a wedding at the church building and became husband and wife.
Joshua Brandon, the twelve-year-old son of Lisa Brandon, had been saying he wanted to obey the Gospel earlier in the week. Lisa brought Joshua, her husband, David, her daughter, Jennifer, and Jennifer’s fiancé, Cody, to supper on Friday evening. Reggie Gardner (cadre) took them and presented the Gospel to them very thoroughly. Both Joshua and Jennifer decided to put Jesus on in baptism.
The team of Don Sterling (cadre), Sylvia Davis (cadre), and Isabel Black (local) knocked on Terry Ricard’s door. He knew what the Gospel was and had obeyed it some time ago, but had walked away. He said he had had a lot of things happen in his life and had gone away from the Lord, but he wanted to be restored back to God.
Friday saw the results of many days of teaching. Don and Sharon Brock (cadre) knocked on Natalie Bunton’s door one day and asked her if she knew anyone who needed food. She said she did so they gave her a box of groceries and invited her to come for Hatch chili, which was being served for lunch that day. After lunch Don, Sharon, and Nikky Price (local) took her aside and presented the Gospel to her. She saw the truth and wanted to obey then, but she had to pick her children up at the bus stop and had to leave. It took awhile to work out a time she could come and obey, but on Friday she was able to put Christ on in baptism.
One of the members here, Steve Rumburg, went out with Reggie Gardner (cadre) one day and heard the Gospel presentation. He was so impressed with it he wanted Reggie to share it with his son, Austin Rumburn. Mark Black, one of the elders here, got with Steve and they decided to have Austin and Graham, another young man, get together and present the Gospel to both of them. Austin was not willing to come and listen, so his father talked to him about coming in the room while Reggie presented it to Graham. Austin agreed to do so. As Reggie got into the presentation, Austin acted as if he were not interested at all. In fact, he got a piece of paper and started folding it into what looked like a paper airplane. After the presentation Austin began to explain the piece of paper. He told a story about two individuals who wanted to go to heaven, but only one person had a ticket. The other person did not have a ticket. Then he tore the paper in two and started unfolding it. On one half of the paper was written the word “hell” and on the other half was the picture of a cross. So, Austin was saying he wanted a ticket to heaven. He had already decided that about three-fourths of the way through the presentation. Reggie then asked him if he wanted to obey the Gospel and he replied, “Yes.” They then came and Steve then baptized his own son, Austin.
On Wednesday morning the team of Jim Smith (cadre), Kinzel May (cadre), and Donna Stevens (local) knocked the door of Carole Inman. They told them they were looking for someone who needed food and asked if they knew anyone. She told them that while she had been living somewhere else, someone had come in and stripped all of her carpet out and tore down some of the doors in the house. She called the police and they said since she had left it unattended they would not make a report on it so she couldn’t turn it in to insurance. She had a very friendly, welcoming home. Brian Inman, her grandson who she has raised, and his wife, Angelina, live with her and have great respect for her. She also has raised Brian’s brother. They all wanted to do what God wants them to do, but they did not want to make a hasty decision. They wanted to think through what had been presented. Carole attended meals and services three evenings and Brian and Angelina attended twice. After the Thursday night service Carole was persuaded that she should obey the Gospel, but needed to bring an extension for her oxygen tank so it would reach into the baptistery. She came back the next day for lunch and then obeyed the Gospel. That evening she and Brian and Angelina returned and after the service Brian and Angelina were very moved and decided to obey the Gospel. They are already planning on how they can teach Brian’s brother the Gospel.
Jim Smith (cadre), met Jesus Elias the first Friday of the campaign. They up a study but he wanted to attend the church service so he came Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The presentation would start around 5:30 and it would last until around 8:00. He had made the decision to obey on Friday so he came and brought his family to observe his obedience to the Gospel. Jesus has been reading his Bible for about 4 months and he has been reading it intensely because in 4 months he has learned a lot of Bible. He is very sincere about his obedience to God. He has been setting aside much of Sunday for the purpose of prayer and calls Sunday his “Prayer Day.”
The Lord has blessed us with more! We have now had 20 to obey the gospel and one restoration in sunny southern Arizona. There have been 14-18 teams of three going out every morning and afternoon, with as many as 5 studies occurring even during the preaching at night. Larry's sermons have been interrupted 3 times one night and twice last night for those wanting to obey. That always fires him up! Thanks for your prayers; keep them going for the new souls and the church's afterCare of these precious babes in Christ. |
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Late Thursday evening Tommy and Bebie Key (cadre) and Hope Smith (local) brought Gary Smithson and Will Burns to obey the Gospel. Their story actually started earlier Thursday when Tommy, Melissa Lindsey (cadre) and Dave Telgren (cadre) were canvassing the streets. They met a gentleman who referred them to a disabled veteran who might need help. Later in the day Tommy, Bebie and Hope started making calls on the referrals they had. They called the disabled veteran who told them he did not need anything but a couple next door to him may need some help. They went there and found Gary and his wife, along with their friend, Will. After giving them a box of food, Tommy asked if he could share the Gospel with them. Will wanted to hear the presentation when his wife, Megan, could be there, so he invited them to his house later that evening. When the team got to Will’s house Gary was also there to listen. At the end of the presentation Gary and Will were ready to obey the Gospel. Megan wanted to think about it some more so Gary and Will came to the building to obey the Gospel.
On Saturday the team of Reggie Gardner (cadre), Syble West (cadre), and Keith Fouts (cadre) were referred to Dakota by his father. They went to find Dakota to offer him some groceries. His mother-in-law, Lisa Brandon, answered the door. Reggie proceeded to get her salvation story and then asked to share his story with her. She invited him in and he gave the Gospel Presentation to Lisa. She had been baptized before, but had never obeyed the Gospel and she wanted to. Reggie then brought her to the building to obey.
On Friday the team of David Gant (cadre), Sharon Moore (cadre) and Michael Hyman (cadre) knocked on the door of Ron and Martha Eisenlord. They had an appointment and had to leave, but said the team could return Saturday at 2 p.m. David returned with Shelly Heilman (local) on Saturday with and went through the Gospel presentation with them. At the end Martha immediately said, “I want to do it.” When Ron was asked to give an answer, he paused a moment, then said, “I want to obey also.” What a joy to see a family united in their obedience to the Gospel.
On Monday the team of Don Sterling (cadre), Craig Suby (cadre), and Isabel Black (local) met Bertha Gonzales, who is 83 years old. They presented the gospel to her and she wanted to think about it. They left and came back on Tuesday to see her. She opened the door and said she was going to decline. The kept talking to her and after a little bit she got a smile on her face and changed her mind. They brought her to the building to obey the Gospel. When they took her back home she told them, “I know you love me because of your persistence.”
The team of Harold and Roberta Neely (cadre) and John Telgren (cadre) were on a street where they could not get in to many doors. They finally met Jamie Munoz and asked her the question. She said she was not sure she would go to heaven and it did not bother her, but her husband, Ramon, might be interested. As they talked more they found out that she was trying to put together a baby bed, but did not have the hardware for it. They went to her house to see if they could help, then went to the hardware store to try to get things for it. When they came back her husband, Ramon, had come in. They then saw they needed more hardware so the men went back to the store and Roberta stayed and asked Ramon the question. He had no religious background but had been searching. Roberta proceeded to present the Gospel to him. The family then decided to come and eat supper at the building and stay for the preaching service. However, one of the children started running a fever, so Jamie took the children home and Ramon stayed for the preaching. After hearing the Gospel presented again, he then obeyed it.
The wife of Gary Smithson, Megan Geryart-Smithson, was not in on the Gospel presentation that Gary heard earlier in the week, but she wanted to be baptized. She came to services Tuesday evening and Tommy and Bebie Key (cadre) and Donna Black (local) presented the Gospel to her so she would fully understand what it was and why it should be obeyed. She stayed with her resolve to respond to the Gospel and put Christ on in baptism that evening, interrupting Larry’s sermon to obey.
One of the new Christians, Lisa Brandon, had been attending the services since she obeyed the Gospel. On Tuesday evening her daughter, Stephanie, and Stephanie’s husband, Dakota, came to eat supper. Reggie had presented the Gospel to Lisa, so he took them aside and presented the Gospel to them. They were very interested in it and when asked if they wanted to respond to the Gospel, the said they did. They interrupted Larry’s sermon again to do so.
