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FISHERS OF PEOPLE 

"'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.'" (Mark 1:17)

 We had a wonderful conference in Panama titled, “Fishers of People,” from Dec. 9-11. We had 12 attendees at the conference: four Bible students - Jean Carlos, Yasibel, Charlie, and Ayleen; M. Ana Seo from Venezuela; M. Juan Baek’s family; and M. Josue’s family. We had a precious time enjoying the presence and grace of God through the messages and all of the activities.

We absolutely depended on God because we did not have enough time to prepare the conference due to our jobs. However, God answered our prayers and helped us to have four precious students at our conference. These students received the grace of God through the honest and heart-moving messages preached by the missionaries and through the special activities.

The conference was held at a beautiful place called Cerro Azul (Blue Mountain), 45 minutes from the Bible center in Panama City and with peaceful mountain weather. Once we arrived, we decorated the main hall and had the opening message titled, “I Will Give You Rest,” preached by M. Juan Baek and based on Matthew 11:28-30. Through this message, we received the wonderful invitation of Jesus to come to him and put our weariness and burdens of sin on him in order to receive his easy yoke and light burden and have rest in him.

After dinner time, we had our first Bible study, and immediately following, Lecture 1, "The Great Love of the Father,” was delivered by M. Juan Baek and based on Luke 15:11-32. Through this message, we could see the miserable lives of the people who are living in their sins apart from God and how our loving Heavenly Father is waiting patiently for them to come back home to embrace them with love. 

On the second day, we started with Daily Bread led by M. Josue and based on Philemon  1-11. Through Daily Bread, we could learn that our sins make us useless slaves, but when we meet Jesus, he turns us into useful servants for the kingdom of God. Lecture 2, “Jesus Forgave an Adulterous Woman,” was delivered by M. Josue as well and was based on John 8:1-11. Through this heart-moving message, we could understand the amazing grace of Jesus who forgave a flagrant sinner and gave her a new direction to live by saying, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” The students accepted the forgiveness of Jesus and took the challenge to leave their lives of sin by obeying the Bible. Before the message, Jean Carlos and Yasibel presented a duo-drama showing the mercy of Jesus and the grace received by the woman through the forgiveness of Jesus.

In the night, M. Juan Baek preached the message of the cross based on Matthew 27:1-66 titled, “Jesus, the King of the Jews.” All of the students were moved to see Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and who obtained the title of king of our lives through his death. M. Juan shared an honest and heart-moving testimony, which helped the students write their Bible testimonies, confessing their sins to receive the forgiveness of Jesus. After dinner and testimony writing, we had a barbecue sharing the love of Jesus together. 

Our first activity on the last day was to share our Bible testimonies after Bible study. All of the Bible studies were directed by M. Maria. M. Susana, despite her physical weakness due to her recent surgery for stomach cancer, helped with the meals and snacks during the entire conference. M. Ana helped by playing the keyboard and preparing all of the special hymns.     

We closed our conference with our Sunday worship service in which M. Josue delivered Lecture 4, “Fishers of People,” based on Mark 1:16-28. Through this message, we could receive the wonderful calling of Jesus to follow him in order to be changed into fishers of people. The brothers and sisters felt encouraged to accept the calling of Jesus and be trained as disciples of Jesus. M. Ana and the four students sang a special hymn to praise the Lord for the amazing grace received through the conference.
God be praised for the precious work he is doing in Panama. We pray that the Lord can use us to fish more people for the kingdom of God and to raise so many faithful disciples of Jesus here in Panama.  Amen.   

Prayer Topics:

1. Have 15 1:1 Bible studies weekly and 15 Sunday worship service attendees.
2. Raise at least two faithful disciples of Jesus through the upcoming Disciple Training Program.
3. M. Susana may be fully restored and continue serving the Panamanians with us. Her trip to Korea for medical tests may be fruitful and she may come back strengthened.
4. M. Juan may be cured of his ailments and he may have both physical and spiritual strength to lead Panama UBF.
5. Jesus may be born again in our hearts during our Christmas worship service.
6. M. Josue and M. Maria may be good co-workers for our Panamanian ministry.

With love in Christ,

Your servant, M. Josue