Prayer Letter – November / December 2015
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The past week was an interesting week. I left last Saturday for a trip to Porto Velho, the capital of our state of Rondônia. It is quite a drive from our house considering the road conditions. The trip was about 450 miles one way. It took me around 10 hours to drive it.
On the way up, I stopped in Ouro Preto do Oeste the town in which we were previously working. It was about half way up and I was able to stay for the Sunday morning service and preach to the church people. Not only did Julie Kokenzie provide some great meals while I was there, but John also let me preach on Sunday morning. It was a huge blessing to see the church growing and to see the faithfulness of the people. We still have many friends there and enjoy every chance we get to see them.
Bro. Brian Lawson met me in Ouro Preto and kept me company for the remainder of my trip. We had a good time of fellowship riding together, and he had a chance to visit a few churches and meet many people.
Shortly after lunch on Sunday Bro. Brian and I headed out to Porto Velho. We arrived in time to freshen up before the service. Pastor Adonias invited me to preach on Sunday evening in church and also at the retreat they were having on Monday. We had about 50 men at the camp retreat. The morning service was great, but it was worth the drive just to sit and talk to some of the men from the church for a good part of the day. There were different activities during the day including a soccer tournament. By the end of the day we were very tired, yet refreshed by the fellowship.
By late in the afternoon, most of the men were heading home. One particular man, who is in politics, drove us around the neighborhood of the camp and told us the story of how God supplied the money for the church to have the camp. He was able to help make the access to the camp a bit easier and also helped get electricity out to the camp. This has raised the value of the property. Some neighbors who were selling their property for 20,000-30,000 are now trying to sell for 250,000. Though it might not quite be worth all of that, the church has a great camp and the property is worth much more than when they bought it less than two years ago.
We stayed out at the camp until Tuesday morning, then made our trip back home. I dropped Bro. Brian off in Ji-Paraná and arrived at home at nearly 9pm. It was a tiresome trip, but worth every bit of it to spend time with God’s people around the state. God is doing a great work here in the state of Rondônia. There is much going on for His glory. Please pray that more laborers would join the work force and more churches would be started throughout the state.
Many times in writing a prayer letter, by the time it is ready, I am forced to rewrite the letter because the information is outdated or irrelevant. Our last prayer letter for October 2015 was outdated when it went out. I decided to go ahead and send it out even though it was lacking more information. So, let me try to get you updated on the outdated.
The last paragraph of the prayer letter held the most information about the ministry. In it, I mentioned a couple that was forced to leave due to a medical issue that needed to be solved.
They were gone for one Sunday. Upon their return, they told us the story. She no longer has any problem whatsoever. After looking at her exams, the doctor asked who did the exams. He questioned about the lab and the doctors, then said he did not understand. The exams were hers, but he could not find any sign of a problem. He looked at the chart again and again and told her that she did not have what the exams said she had.
Just to make sure this was true, he sent her down the street for more exams. The new exams confirmed that she did not have any issues whatsoever. The doctors at the lab compared and verified the information from the past exams, but said she no longer had any issues.
Wow! Considering the fact that she had a large tumor and other easily noticeable issues, this is amazing. Upon their return, they expressed to us that, though they did not understand it, God had healed her. She will need to go back in a few months and have more exams, but as it stands right now, she is doing very well.
For us this was a great blessing because now we can continue to work with them. Their financial situation is not good, but their spiritual situation is what bothers us most of all. They have been faithful in coming to church on Sunday evening, and even on some Thursdays. Please pray for their salvation. Their names are Ivan and Sandra.
The last paragraph of the prayer letter also included a quick note about a young lady who had publicly announced that she had trusted Christ as her Savior. This has not changed at all. She is very faithful to the services, is eager to learn, and is being discipled by one of the missionary wives. Amen! Please continue to pray for her. Her name is Daniela.
That same paragraph said that others were forced to consider salvation for themselves. Before I could send out the letter, we had already heard of two more who have said they have trusted Christ as Savior. Both a husband (Marcio) and wife (Fabiana) separately have told us that while alone at home they asked the Lord to forgive their sins and save them! They have expressed changes in their lives that they believe the Lord would have them make. We still have much ground to cover and much to help them understand, but there is no doubt that God is working in their lives.
One of the couples that have been attending has a background in the Seventh Day Adventists. Without knowing that, we have taught over and over again that the law cannot save you. It only shows you that you make mistakes (Romans 7:7). They agree with what is being taught. Though there is opposition from their families, they now say they are part of our church. Our main concern is their salvation! We want them to learn the truth from the Bible, but not stop at that. They need to take action in their own hearts and believe! Please pray for them. Their names are Adinaldo and Jéssica.
Prayer Letter – September/October 2015
E-mail sent with Prayer Letter
Here are four ways to keep up with the Tylers…
1. Read this blog and leave a comment – You may also sign up for the RSS feed
2. Facebook – Add me as a friend HERE
3. Prayer Letters – Sign up to receive our prayer letter on the column to the right.
4. E-mail – Write to us HERE
Sunday morning the Kokenzies were with us for their first service since returning from furlough. We had a good group. Other than the Kokenzies, we had a normal Sunday morning crowd and a visitor.
Sunday evening, however, was a different story. We arrived early as usual and were preparing things for the service. We planned a little fellowship after church, so we had a little more to set up than normal. Amanda left to pick up someone, and by the time she returned we still did not have anyone show up other than the Kokenzies and the lady we picked up.
Just about five minutes before starting, a few young men drove up and parked across the street. They said the were invited to the services and we welcomed them. Just after that another young man drove up on a motorcycle. Since nothing else was open around us, we assumed that he was coming to church also. As we entered the building to get the service going, two more people walked in. We prayed and a few more walked in. Then we sang a song and more people walked in. This kept on going until I was ready to preach. I announced the text and the last two couples walked in.
The building was packed! We had 30 chairs and 40 people. Amanda took a few of the younger kids to the back and others sat on their parent’s lap. There was not one empty seat. I was still expecting a few more of our regulars to be there, but they did not show up. God knew exactly what we could handle and sent them all our way.
With 23 first time visitors, we did not even have enough visitor’s cards to get everyone’s information. We did take a picture though and did get their names so we can probably locate them all and make contact in the near future.
Our fellowship after church was very good. I tried to get around and speak to everyone before they left. It was not an easy task, but I think I almost made it. One couple was sitting in the very back and stayed there for a while without getting up. When I spoke to them, she was in tears. Her husband said, “We are not sitting here waiting for cake. We just enjoyed the service so much that we wanted to savor the moment.” He went on to say that his wife had dreamed the night before that the Lord would speak to them through the service that night.
The young man who invited most of our visitors was surprised himself to see some of them come. As a matter of fact, a few of his relatives came to the service (including his sister). He told me he had not even invited her, but someone else asked her to come.
It is easy to get excited about an event like that. Yet, it has caused me to reflect on what really happened. God brought a good number of people to us so that we could share with them the good news of salvation. Others also were there to hear the preaching and be encouraged to follow the Lord. I am confident that God met with some of them and spoke to their hearts. Please help us pray as we follow up and try to help these people wherever they are spiritually.
Back in October of 2014 we rented a building in which to hold services. The Lord has blessed, but we have really not seen as many people come as we would have liked. We have invited hundreds of people, visited prospects, and prayed. However, the increase was very small compared to what we were expecting. We had one family visit in two months. Health issues, vacations, and even some academic tests have kept our regulars from attending during the past few months.
The past two weeks have been drastically different. Most of our regulars have still not been able to attend for various reasons, but the Lord has blessed the services by sending us visitors. We had eight visitors within the first two Sundays of the year! That is a great way to start out the new year. It was a joy to preach and give the Gospel to these people. Though we previously knew most of these people, only three out of the eight have attended one of our Bible studies.
This past Sunday evening, Tiago, one of the young men that visited, told me that he enjoyed the service and was going to invite a friend of his that he thought would enjoy it also. Another one of our visitors, Nicholas, said he really enjoyed the service and that he would definitely return and invite some of his friends. His sister and her husband are one of our regular families. When we spoke with them about Nicholas coming, they said he seemed to be very excited and enjoyed a service that was not extremely loud. (That should give you some insight on the average church in our area.)
We are excited to see what God will do in the lives of each visitor that has been with us. There is no doubt in my mind that God is working, but sometimes we are impatient and fail to see His hand in the circumstances around us.
This next week we will probably have the largest crowd since the inauguration of the building because the Kokenzies have returned. Some of our regulars will also be back that were not able to attend these past two weeks. Please pray that the Lord will continue to work in hearts and that these people will be truly saved and follow the Lord!
First of all I would like to thank everyone who sent a note telling us specifically that you or your church were praying for us this past weekend. Thank you for participating in prayer and also for letting us know that you were praying. It was a great encouragement to us.
SATURDAY EVENING we had a special prayer meeting at the church. It was an encouraging time to listen to people talk about what they believed God would do. We spent some time reading a passage of Scripture together. Then we talked about sinners coming to know the Lord as Savior and the goals of acquiring this rented facility. We finished the time together with prayer. It was sweet to hear the prayers of the people as they asked the Lord to bless the work and especially bless the inaugural service the following evening.
After a little time of fellowship we set up for Sunday and headed home thanking the Lord for the response of the people.
SUNDAY MORNING began well. Everyone we expected showed up. All of our faithful people were there! A family from a church about three hours away also came to participate in the day’s events. It was a blessing to have them in the service because they are familiar with most of the hymns we sing. They also helped clean chairs and get the details taken care of.
In the morning service, we talked about the preaching of Paul and related it to what we were doing. Several people asked questions or made comments which always helps us know better where people stand.
God gave us a building with a small room in the back. This allows us to continue the Sunday school class we had for the smaller children. This week we had four children in the class! Most of these children have little practice sitting still in a class. For some, their parents are still learning about discipline and are struggling to teach their children. So, needless to say, Amanda had a challenging time with the children this week!
After the service a few of us men went out inviting people to the evening meeting. Including the flyers passed out earlier in the week, we were able to hand out over 800 invitations to the inaugural service.
SUNDAY EVENING we arrived at the church about 30 minutes before the service began. It was an exciting time as we waited to see who would come. We had 40 chairs, but only about 30 fit in the building comfortably.
When we began the service we had a few visitors. By preaching time, we had 27 people in the building! With around 30 chairs set up, there were only a few empty chairs left.
It was thrilling to see who the Lord brought to us. Nine were from a like-minded church several hours away. Another man came from out of town. He was invited by one of the ladies whose house we hold a Bible study in weekly. Two were our neighbors! We did not expect them to come, so it was great to see them drive up. The rest were all people who had participated in our Bible studies in the past. We had personally visited them in the past week. What a blessing!!!
I preached a Gospel message asking two questions. 1- Do you know God? 2- Does God know you? All were attentive and listened very well.
Though we did not have any salvation decisions, it was wonderful to hear what the people had to say. One of the ladies spoke to me specifically about her daughter. She said she was going to do her best to bring her daughter to the next service. One of the men present said, “We will come many times from here on out!” That was exciting. We did not have the opportunity to talk to everyone individually before they left, but it was evident that God was working.
PLEASE KEEP PRAYING! This is just the beginning of the story. We will be meeting every Sunday morning and evening from now on out. Though we will need to make some adjustments as time goes on, we are happy to have a place to meet now. The people prayed that this would be a place where God would work to change lives! That is what we expect and what we are looking for God to do.
We will soon start a mid-week Bible study also. We hope to continue the Bible studies we have and get more people involved by meeting in a better location.
Once again, thank you for your prayers!
We are looking forward to meeting in the new building we have just rented for the church. We will begin our services on the 19th of October. We are pushing for a big day and have much to take care of before then.
The Lord has given us a building for less than $300 a month that will fit around 30 people without much trouble at all. This will get us started though and hopefully help us build the core group.
Here is a look at the building the way it looks right now…
