What an experience that the Lord has permitted for me to have! My name is Jesse Altamirano. I am a 17-year-old senior at Thunderbird Adventist Academy.
I have enjoyed this mission trip to the fullest and I would like to share with you some of my experiences. The first experience that stands out to me was Friday night, the first time I got up to preach a full sermon in front of a Spanish-speaking church. Earlier that day my computer was giving me problems in that it would not show the slides on the projector. However, before leaving the hotel, it seemed to be working just fine. When I arrived at my site, my translator and I connected everything. However, the projector was giving me the same problem. In fact, the computer went into hibernate and did not leave hibernate until later. So I ended up having to preach by memory. So with my bilingual Bible on my side, I walked up to the pulpit, nervous as could be, and started to tell my audience about the prophecy in Daniel 2. Let me tell you, only by the Holy Spirit was Daniel 2 preached on that pulpit that night. Praise the Lord.
Another experience comes to my mind. A little over a week later, on Saturday afternoon my translator was not there that night because he became sick, so I was given the opportunity to preach in Spanish. I thank God because I was not even nervous that night. I prayed and trusted in God that he would be victorious that night, and so He was. When I got stuck on a certain word, a few of the members would call the word out in Spanish. At the end, all understood the sermon. The message got across for the glory of God.
Now, I would like to write some specific experiences about specific people. There was 12 year old boy, Poche, who would make it to the meetings with his sports BMX bike. He was a regular. He had short curly hair. His face showed interest as he sat outside on his bike, listening intently to the messages being preached every night. He then brought in one friend. Just yesterday, he brought two friends and one stood up for the call to choose Christ. Praise the Lord. Then there is Mercedez, who has chosen to be baptized, who got married just to get baptized.
It has been so awesome to see how God has worked in the life of others. He has definitely taught me things also like not to trust in my own wisdom and the value of just one soul.
I would really like to personally thank you all in The Quiet Hour for your willingness to support all of us. I know that if the Lord would not have provided the money through your ministry, there would not have been as much of a chance for me to come to such a mission trip as this. I know that the Lord will continue to bless your ministry as you prosper in proclaiming the Lord’s message in this time when His coming is so near. |
