Mission USA news story
A couple of years ago 15-year-old Yami prayed a simple prayer: “God, I have no way to know you here where I live. Will you please show me how I can get to know you?”
The next day Pastor Rafael Nunez from Mission (Texas) MB Church announced a new church was coming to Yami’s neighborhood.As time went by, Yami attended this new church plant, came to know Christ and became actively involved.
Williams Velez became the pastor, and the church, Iglesia Biblica de la Gracia, a jointly supported church plant of Mission USA and Mission MB Church, became a part of Yami’s life.
Yami spent this past summer in Gettysburg, SD, living with John and Jill Langer and attending Grace Bible Church (MB) in order to grow in the Lord and experience life outside the Rio Grande Valley. Grace Bible Church and Mission MB Church have had an enduring sister-church relationship over the past several years. Yami had a wonderful summer and grew spiritually. But by mid-summer, she began to be very concerned that her family back home was not saved and that perhaps they wouldn't ever want the God she so loved.
Yami and the Langers began to pray, specifically asking God to bring her family to himself and that each family member might accept him as Lord and Savior of their lives. They spent the month of July in intense prayer for her family.
When August came, Yami and the Langers made the journey south to take her home. As they traveled the many miles between Gettysburg and Mission, emotions of excitement and apprehension were present. Would God open the hearts of her family? Would her family somehow come to know the Lord? Yami didn’t know how to even begin this most important conversation she would ever have with her parents and two sisters.
After arriving back home in Mission, Yami's family agreed to meet with the Langers the following day. As they met, both the Langers and Yami shared the message of Jesus, and Yami's family was given the opportunity to come to know him. The atmosphere was filled with uncertainty. How were they receiving these words of life and hope?
Then something incredible happened. With great emotion, Yami's father said yes to following Jesus. And then, so did her mom, then her two sisters and finally the neighbor who was also there that day.On that special August day, Yami saw her entire family come to know her precious Savior Jesus.
That day, the people Yami loved the most accepted the gift of eternal life, and it hasn’t been the same in their home since. Yami and her family have become involved in the fellowship of Iglesia Biblica de la Gracia in Mission.
Mission USA director Don Morris says, “This wonderful account of an entire family coming to follow Jesus is why we work so hard to plant churches all across America.”
This article is part of the CL Archives. Articles published between August 2017 and July 2008 were posted on a previous website and are archived here for your convenience. We have also posted occasional articles published prior to 2008 as part of the archive. To report a problem with the archived article, please contact the CL editor at editor@usmb.org.
