Go and Tell

“Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” Jesus in the Gospel of Luke

Where do I begin? My mind is racing, my soul is full and my heart is overflowing. Let me just say that in our 20+ years of missionary life, this week’s church planting/pastor’s meeting was one of my all-time highlights when we took a special time for an old fashioned testimony service.

One leader testified of God’s provision for his family during difficult times, sending the finances at just the right time. Another about how God had healed him from his paralytic state, literally raised him off his sick bed and how He is now using him to plant a new work. Another shared of an entire river region that was closed to the Gospel and has recently opened its doors and are ready to receive the message of salvation. Another pastor shared of the spiritual growth that is taking place using our oral Bible teaching method and how his newest church plant is about to install deacons that will serve the congregation. And yet another brother told of a recent trip where he laid hands and prayed for the healing of a former prominent witch doctor who was swelled up with infection to the point of not being able to walk, the next morning he was well! Completely healed! The testimonies went on and on, it was a joy to listen to what they had “seen and heard”.

You see, our goal is simple, we want to keep pushing further and further into the unreached areas in the jungles of Ecuador. Driving the long hard miles in 4x4’s, riding in canoes and hiking through the deep mud to make sure that every man, woman and child in our harvest field has heard the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. Over the next 10 years that will mean planting at least 100 new churches throughout the jungle. To do this we will need to train more pastors and mobilize church planters, we will need to purchase printed materials and more.
All this to say that sincerely we cannot do it without people and churches like you. To mobilize a church planter for one month is only $150. To train a new leader only costs $700 for books and studies. And to plant a church in a village that has never heard only costs $3500!

So many of you have been faithful to pray for us and financially back our efforts, if you could have seen what I saw and heard what I heard in that meeting room last Tuesday, I truly believe you would have said only one thing, “It was worth it all”.

Yet I am sure that one day in heaven, when you see the untold numbers of sinners saved by grace because of your generosity those will be the only words to come out of your mouth.

Thank you for believing with us for the harvest!

Your missionaries,
Joil and Leah Marbut
Drew, Will, Emelia and Aidan

Part of the Easter Message

"I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead…” Apostles Creed

This past week we celebrated, we celebrated with painted eggs, chocolate bunnies and many people celebrated with new outfits. We celebrated with family, with neighbors and with friends. Yet this year we are celebrating not just another holiday, but because of five new communities that have recently received the “Good News” that you read above in the excerpt from the Apostles Creed. The Good News that Jesus not only conquered the power of sin and the sting of death, but He is coming again for those of us who believe.

Just a few weeks ago a rather large group of church planters, pastors and missionaries made the trek to Yaapi to take advantage of several open doors for the Gospel. There were 17 servants in total who participated in the outreach, each one helped in their own special way. They drove in 4x4’s, took canoes, hiked and even forded rain swelled rivers to share the message of Easter. The life, the death on the cross, the empty tomb and the Blessed Hope were shared in a chronological format with five villages that had been waiting to have their first opportunity to rejoice. They preached in each village for three days, starting at Creation and ending with Jesus. The pastors and missionaries stayed those nights telling the Gospel story and praying for the Holy Spirit to do His part and convict those who were hearing the message of their sin. The final result, over 60 souls accepted the offer of salvation and relationship with Jesus. Over 60 souls that confessed that they too believe in the real message of Easter.

We are thankful for your part in this story, because we could not do it without you and your continued faithfulness. Because you have given so faithfully and prayed there are now five new villages that have the beginnings of a local church. We always teach that you can have a church without a building, but you cannot have a church without souls and now we have the souls to start. This outreach is part of a three year process that will, little by little, lead these villages to have a healthy and thriving church in their community with their own local church leaders. Our vision is to plant 100 new churches over the next 10 years and you are a part of it each time you give and every time you lift us up in prayer. Thank you again for helping us to celebrate the real message of Easter this year in the jungles of Ecuador.

Joil and Leah Marbut

Drew, Will, Emelia and Aidan

Christmas in the Jungle

What an amazing and packed full year we have had, it has been such a blessing!

From over 3,000 kids in VBS throughout the summer to 150 Pastors and leaders Christmas retreat with their families last week, it only begins to scratch the surface of what God has done in our neck of the woods this year. From every church planted, to every child reached with the gospel, to every water well installed and each girl rescued, it just wouldn't be possible to end this year without giving glory to the one who makes it all possible, Jesus Christ!

We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve and be part of something amazing! We also thank YOU! Without your prayers and support, we just couldn't do it.

Because of faithful supporters like you, we were able to host a Christmas Retreat for Pastors and leaders from over 60 villages along with their families, totaling over 150 people and distribute 4,000 christmas gifts for kids throughout the jungle.

What a great time of fellowship, prayer and celebration! We want to wish you a most blessed Christmas season.

Joil and Leah Marbut

Drew, Will, Emelia and Aidan

Did you know that there are over 500 Shuar villages yet to be reached? Each week we have church planting teams made up of pastors and leaders who visit different parts of the jungle to evangelize and teach. Pray with us that in 2019 we are able to send more workers, visit more villages, plant more churches and that many will come to know Christ!

A NAME YOU WILL WANT TO REMEMBER

“THEN ALL WHO HEARD WERE AMAZED, AND SAID, ‘IS THIS NOT HE WHO DESTROYED THOSE WHO CALLED ON THIS NAME…’” ACTS 8

 

We are so thankful for so much it is sometimes a challenge to rely it all. We are constantly asked “How many people have been saved?” Or “How many churches have you planted?” And each time we write a newsletter we are challenged by our own questions, “Do we tell them about the new villages we are working in?”, “Do we focus on the hundreds of new converts who have been baptized in water this year?”, “How about the 120+ bible school students who are all preparing to plant and pastor churches?”, “But maybe they would enjoy hearing about the water wells we have continued to install, that has brought clean water to untold thousands?” Or “Do we tell them about the altar call that broke a church?” (This one is too good to pass over, stay tuned and very soon this story will follow) but this month rather than focusing on a number, we want to share a name, one single man who lives in the remote Ecuadorian jungle.  

We met about three weeks ago in Sucua, when his daughter, one of our church planters, rushed up to introduce us and said, “This is my father and he desperately needs to speak with you”. It was Sunday morning and I was in a rush to preach several times that day, but I saw her urgency and decided to sit down with them. He said, “My name is Bolivar and on October the 3rd I had a vision. In the middle of the night God visited me in my hut dressed in white and surrounded by the purest white light. He asked me to get up and follow him, so I did. As we walked together he told me ‘This is your final warning, you must turn your back on the work of the devil and serve me’. I asked Him 'Why?' and He told me to look behind us and there I saw my father and brother in a boiling lake of fire. God told me that the same fate awaited me, if I did not turn from my ways. This vision was repeated three times that night and the final time I awoke yelling ‘Satan be gone’. So from that day forward I have no longer practiced shamanism (witchcraft) and I knew immediately that I had to talk with you Pastor Joil. Now can you tell me how I can be saved?”  

Come to find out, Bolivar had been one of the most well known shamans or witchdoctors in the entire area, he was a witchdoctor of witchdoctors, from a long line of practitioners. Recently at a leadership event he shared his testimony and there was an audible gasp when he professed that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior. The response of the 50+ church leaders, all from area where he had practiced his craft, was both electric and tangible.  Several got up and told stories of his persecutions and mistreatments, but the tears of those sharing those passed stories told the story of joy in his conversion. He was received with arms wide-open into fellowship with those he had formerly mocked and harmed. We cannot help but to stand amazed that the God that was on the road to Damascus, who knocked Saul, the greatest persecutor of the church, to the ground, is still in the supernatural business and that He is willing to do the impossible things that are out of realm of our possibilities to reach the lost.  

We are so thankful that the God of eternity has never met a “lost cause”. Not even His greatest enemy is safe from the power of the Good News. We are thankful that you partner with us so faithfully, it is because of your prayers and financial support that we are able to reach the ends of the earth with the Gospel. Together we are changing eternity.  

With thankful hearts,

Joil and Leah Marbut 

Drew, Will, Emelia & Aidan