GOD IS OUR STRONGHOLD

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Ps. 18:2 ESV)

I am thankful to God for good health over my 50 years. About six weeks ago, I began to realize I had been going too hard in the ministry. I had been teaching almost every day for the first five weeks of the semester. For various reasons, I had three bad nights of sleep in a row, and as a result my nervous system got dysregulated. That started more than a month of insomnia in which I was sleeping at most three hours per night and often less. The strange thing was that God allowed me to continue teaching like always, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be sustainable.

 

I wanted to thank all who prayed for my recovery. By God’s grace I am now sleeping almost like normal. In all this God also taught me several valuable lessons about compassion, pride, dependence on God with respect to things that were making me anxious, and love for others. To him be the glory!

Nicolas M. came to church three Sundays ago!

TRIP TO THE AMAZON

Last month we went to Leticia, on the border of Colombia, Brazil and Peru, with our ABWE team. It was encouraging to spend time together and hear what God is doing in Medellin and Leticia, where our other teammates live.

Some of you may remember that 30 years ago I traveled to Leticia, and then Benjamin Constant in Brazil, on my first trip to Colombia. As I looked at the great Amazon, I was reminded of God’s great faithfulness. The river hasn’t changed much; it’s still immense and always moving, but our lives have changed a lot. We’ve been married almost 28 years and have four kids. By God’s grace the ministry in Colombia has grown steadily since then.

Although much changes, the gospel doesn’t. We still rejoice to preach the message of Christ’s coming, perfect life, death for us on the cross, burial and glorious resurrection. His coming is closer than it was before, and we are privileged to represent him here in Colombia.

CULTURAL NOTE

Please continue to pray for the elections here in Colombia. The congressional elections were peacefully held last month. The first round of the presidential elections is scheduled for May 31st, and the second for June 21st. From my point of view, if the candidate backed by the current president wins, the country will face a difficult challenge on many fronts.

KIDS’ CORNER

The boys enjoyed their time on the Amazon with the other MKs. Thousands of parrots flock to the town square at 5:30 p. m., which is a wonderful sight.

Pray for Eliana as she is looking for a new job at the end of the current school year.

Yours for Colombia and the gospel,

Jonathan, Holly, Marcos, and Jason Boyd

Prayer Requests

-For the salvation of Nicolas and Hernando, who have continued to attend the Story of Hope Bible study with Pastor Nelson

-For the presidential elections in May and June

-I am currently at a leadership summit in Arequipa, Peru. Please pray for the following people with whom I was able to share the gospel here; each showed great interest in the message: Paul, Carla, and Karol