March, 2014

Dear Joyful Saints,

How great is our God and what an adventure to serve Him!  Thank you for your continued prayers and support for what He is doing here.

Nine precious students shine with the Joy of the Lord!

The view from the front step of the new church

Our field news concerns an amazing event in Guabug, the site of our second school.  To refresh your memory, the Lord drew us to this Kichwa village in 2011 at the prompting of our co-laborer, Maria, who has many contacts in this area.   In the 1960’s missionaries came to Guabug, planted a church, built a building and started a small school.  In less than ten years these missionaries were forced to leave by threats of physical violence from the major portion of the village.  In the early 1990’s, one of the indigenous converts began his own house church that consisted of two or three families.   When the Christians began to make plans to build a church, they were again ostracized by the town and forced to meet in the small, vacant school building located in the pastures on the outskirts.  This is where we met the thirty faithful members of the New Life Christian church.  They were VERY excited about having a school and welcomed us warmly.

The church choir singing praises in the new building

As soon as the school started it was evident that the church and the school could not co-habit the same building.  With the blessings that came with the school, the church attendance began to grow and again plans were made to build a big (300 person) church building.   Again the enemy came against the Kingdom work but now it focused on the school to discredit the efforts, the education, the faith.  Over these two and a half years an incredible assortment of “authorities” from the town have come to the school to denounce, ridicule, threaten and abuse the staff and children.  Each time, God intervened and turned the evil attempt into something that glorified Him. The church began building its dream in mid-2012 among the chorus of nay-sayers within and without.  We helped in a very small way with Dave and two men from one of our supporting churches in Washington working on the electrical system.

Some outlets sprouted up after the visit of Dave’s electrical crew

Last week, Dave, Maria and I were invited to participate in the dedication of the BEAUTIFUL completed church building birthed in tears and faith.  That is only one part of this miracle.  Every Sunday, since the building has had a roof, up to 150 children come for Sunday School!  There are still only about 50 faithful members, therefore these children come from the homes of the people who threw the Christians out of town.  That is another part of the miracle.  The Sunday of the dedication, we arrived to a basically empty area with only the 20 or so church ladies frantically peeling potatoes and boiling chicken for the lunch following the service.  Everyone else was in the center of town forming a parade with banners to announce to the world what the Lord had done.  Knowing the situation, we guessed that maybe 100 total would show including the children and support from churches from other villages.  We were dumbfounded when well-over 200 people filed up the hill to celebrate the opening of a Christian church in this historically antagonistic village.  What was more amazing was that they were ALL from Guabug itself!   Awe and faith welled up in my heart as I witnessed the fruit of many years of labor and prayer beginning more than 60 years ago. To our surprise and honor, I was asked to give the dedicatory prayer outside (in the rain) and then later inside to bless the special speaker.  Our school children had a special part in the worship service and we were all blest.  Maria said it best: that if she had not seen it with her own eyes, she would not have believed it.  Praise God for the move of the Kingdom that is beginning again in the Kichwa people in the Andes of Ecuador.

Prayer of Dedication on the doorstep of the new church building

Steamy potatoes being prepared for the crowd

Church ladies enjoying their culinary craft

We would like to announce our Home Ministry plans for this summer, 2014.  We will be on the East Coast and would very much like to see you and share more of what God is doing in our part of the world.  Please contact us soon so we can plan accordingly.  The dates are not firm but close.

July 3 – 9      Kissimmee/coast, FL

July 10 – 14  South Carolina/Virginia

July 15 – 21  New Jersey/New York

July 22 – 24  Bemus Point, NY

July 25 – 31  Ohio, Michigan, Illinois

Aug 1 – 4      Indiana

Aug 5 – 7      Tennessee

Aug  8 – 11   Atlanta, GA

Aug  12 – 15 Pensacola/Miami, FL

God’s best and many blessings to you and yours.

Together for the Kingdom,

Dave, Sharman, Erland, Mayra and Kjersti  Injerd

PS   Please visit our website!  www.sealaluz.org

Dear Rejoicing Saints:

Thank you for all the kind congratulations and blessings to Erland and Mayra on their marriage. Your notes were very thoughtful.  We are excited with and for them.

How exciting to be alive and see God work in amazing ways!   He IS good.  He has designed a destiny and future for each of us and it is GOOD!   This is a time to wake up every morning and say, “This is a good day, I have a good future, I have a good Father!”   We need to concentrate and study Isaiah 60. It is about us living in the Light, seeing God cover us with His favor and walking in His blessings.  Darkness is the absence of light.  We are children of the Light and therefore live, walk and talk in the Light.  Our mission is to bring the Light to those who live without His joy and assurance, to those in the deep darkness.

Evil is the absence of good.   God is good – a fact.  His Name is holy and pure before which the demons flee.  Do we see evil around us?   Proclaim the Name of Lord Sabaoth, Adoni T’Saba,  El Shaddai and bring the Light, the holy and GOOD presence of the Lord to the situation.  The evil and dark must dissipate.  I believe we would be overwhelmed by how many around us are instinctively crying out,  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.  I want to see!”  What a glorious task is before us – is it not an incredible time to be alive?

Last week the Lord had me reflect on what are the true desires of my heart.  I named two of my passions: the salvation of many souls and then seeing these saved souls really living for Jesus – unrestrained, fearless, pure-in-heart followers of The King.  We must sow to reap.  We have sown prayer, encouragement and truth into our villagers, the Ministry of Education, the high school in Quito and everywhere we go.  We have also reaped in various ways but I feel the time of the truly big harvest is at the door.  This week was the beginning of the reaping.

Two weeks ago, the 22-year-old son of Irene, our faithful teacher, was killed instantly in a motorcycle accident.  He is survived by his wife and two little daughters.   His death affected the entire school as son, father, brother-in-law, uncle and fellow villager.

When he was 11, I led Darwin to the Lord and brought him to a dear church in Quito to be baptized.  The intervening years did not produce the fruit his mother or I wanted to see but God’s hand was obviously on him.  A few weeks ago, he came to the end of himself and ask forgiveness of his wife, his daughters, his in-laws and family for his wayward living, making peace and amends with everyone.  Then he was gone.   I knew in my spirit that he was with the Lord but before and at the funeral Mayra and Kjersti each had visions of Darwin in heaven with Jesus, which were a tremendous comfort to Irene.

Thursday (the 13^th), I spent time with Irene of unloading, sharing and praying and I came away very blessed.  Irene knows without a doubt that God’s destiny for Darwin was to that day and no further.  She now sees how she has been holding back from God in fear and selfishness and declared to Jesus and myself (as a witness) that she wants to live a no-holds-barred life for the Lord because this is what we are here to do.   Hallelujah, the Lord granted one of my passions to be fulfilled immediately.

The same day as a total surprise, Marcia, Darwin’s widow, came up to the school after classes to receive prayer and comfort.  Broken, weeping and weary, the young woman poured out her heart to me.  I shared the visions of Darwin with Jesus to console her.  She said she knew he was in heaven but that she was not a believer and would not see him again.  She asked if I would please show her how to receive salvation, forgiveness of sins and the assurance of eternal life.  She acknowledged that she desperately needs Jesus in her life and wants to be with Darwin in heaven.  With the precious prayer of faith came assurance and profound peace.  Then with much lighter steps she and I walked down the mountain from the school to our van where Irene and Ruth, Marcia’s sister, were waiting for a ride to their homes.  As the ladies settled into the van, the Holy Spirit prodded me and I asked Marcia if she would like to tell her sister and mother-in-law what she had just done.  Immediately, she rose to the moment and declared without fear or hesitation that she had been forgiven of sins, received Jesus as her Savior and wanted to live a clean life for Him.  Irene’s eyes filled with tears and Ruth bowed her head in heart-felt thanks to God Most High.  As for me, I am in awe of how great and good my God is to heal the broken-hearted and set the captives free.  How intent is our God to answer the passion of our hearts when we walk in the Light as He is in the Light.

This is a good day!

Together for the Kingdom,

Sharman for Dave, Erland, Mayra and Kjersti Injerd

Praises

• Dave’s continuing privilege of ministering to and being ministered by men via the phone.
• Major milestone achieved by Zak and Dave completing the interior paneling in our home.
• God’s Kingdom advancing.
• Mayra is a tremendous compliment to our family and a very good friend to Kjersti.
• Health and safety.

Ceiling Paneling finished at last!

Requests

• More souls and disciples for the Kingdom!
• We concentrate on the goodness of the Lord.
• Guabug school documents to be approved.
• Open doors for Erland new career and Mayra’s visa to be released.
• Health and safety.

A special visit to the Guabug school in January allowed a few of the children from Tambo the chance to help bless other children

And we were all blessed!