What an honor and privilege to be able to serve the Lord on the mission field! With much faith and prayer God has seen us through a very important time in the life of the ministry here.
After only 4 years on the field, the Lord has blessed us with being able to buy church property for the Lighthouse Baptist Church, the first church started in March 2004. The property was purchased last December and after much prayer the church and I decided to wait a year and stay in the building we were renting so we could save up to build. But God's ways are not our ways....
Within a week of deciding we were going to stay in the rented building, the owner called us letting us know that we needed to leave in a month. God was pushing us out and what we thought would be a comfortable place. He made it uncomfortable. We began to see the people raise the standard in their giving, in their faith and in the love. As we began to build something temporary on the property the men and women put their all into the work. During this same time we had a Mission's Conference scheduled. Our faith began to waver, but the Lord had other plans. The people promised to give way above last year's giving and the church was able to take on 4 new missionaries, making a total of 9 missionaries that the church is supporting monthly for $30 each!
Less than 1 month after the Mission's Conference a temporary structure (33 x 50 feet) was up and on Sunday, June 1, 2008 we held our very first service on the new land and in our own church building! It was an unusually cold day, but the Lord brought 232 people to that Inauguration Service! Several people made professions of faith and we had many visitors from the new area. The people were excited and as we prayed together for the future we know that our faith will be tested once again as we push on and build more buildings for Sunday school rooms and in the future a bigger more permanent auditorium where we can build a second floor. We are very thankful for the property that the Lord has given us and are planning on using it for the glory of God!
We thank you for your prayers for us and we encourage you to come down and visit. There is much work to be done here. Please keep up to date on our blog or signing up for our email newsletter by sending us an email at bush@reachingall.com.
Here to serve,
Jeff, Mindy, Lydia, Adriana and Johanna Bush
