Men's Bible Study Starts in Buenos Aires

As I entered the village of Buenos Aires, people were going about their normal activities. Many were sitting around the different little house stores [imagine people selling things through a window of their house, one house sells bread, another chicken, etc]. Alex was working in one, butchering and selling chickens. Julio was standing outside the window, most likely waiting to buy food for dinner. They had invited me to come and help them with a Bible study in their village.

Buenos Aires is a village located in the hills, about 15 minutes from our home. It has a Nueva Vida church plant that began in the early 90's. Alex and Julio and another man, Don Chucho, lead the church, which does not have a pastor. In many ways, it seems to be the strongest of the 5 daughter church started by Nueva Vida in Jarabacoa. In March, I had offered to help the church and while we had many conversations, it didn't seem like much progress was being made. But a few weeks ago, Alex approached me about this study and now we were excited to begin.

I went out there, not really knowing what would happen. I prepared a small Bible study, but didn't want to "take over" if they had something going or had ideas. When I arrived, there were a little surprised to see me. They had decided to start the following week, but hadn't told me. But, as they said, since I am here, "let's start!" Within about 10 mintues, we had entered Julio's house and and 8 men had gathered. We sat in a room, around a table. The table almost completely filled the room. To get in, they pushed the table to one side against the wall. I squeezed down to the other end and some of the men sat down on the one side. Then they pushed the table as tight as they could to the other side, where the men were sitting and other men climbed in on the other side. With everyone in the spot, Julio and Alex introduced the men, sharing who was a believe are who was not. This was done very openly. I guess you can be blunt, when people are pretty much stuck in their seats. I laughed to myself about this, but even laughed more when we went to open in prayer. You see, the custom here is to stand when we pray...so you can imagine the commotion that developed as every tried to squeeze their way to their feet and then return to their seats after the prayer.

Julio and Alex shared they a Bible study option that was good for new believers, but they wondered if I had something that would be more fitting for this group. Thankfully I had prepared something. I shared a little about who I am, shared some rules and we began our study looking at 1 Corinthians 10:12-13. We had a good time as we discussed the temptations that man face, God's promises, and our response to temptation.

The groups ages range from 15 to 40. At this point, we have only met twice. At our second meeting we spent a lot of time helping the men understand how to find verses. The level of education really varies in the room. While I think most in the study can read, some are at a very low reading level. And numbers seem to be a challenge. For example, if I ask them to turn to page 1094, some would not be able to find the page. As a result, the table of contents is not as helpful. So we are taking our time, helping each person discover God's Word, how to use it and what it tells us about God.

Our study will focus on stories of the Bible. Most of the stories will be totally new for many of the men and as we read the stories we will focus on "Who God is" and "How God relates to people." Some questions we will consider include "Understanding who God is/Seeing what God has done here, what is your response? Can you trust God with your life, with your daily decisions?"

It is exciting to start this new study. Even more exciting is to be working with Julio and Alex. This is an opportunity to get to know them better and to encourage them to grow in confidence for leading Bible studies and teaching.

Be in prayer...each Saturday at 7 pm (more or less) Atlantic time, you can remember me and a group of men who are swooshed around a table, discovering who God is and how he relates to us.

Ruth, Our Hero

I arrived at El Montaña in the rain, dashing for the nearest porch.  Two women from the Bible study were there, chatting while they waiting for me to arrive.  After passing around cheek kisses and asking after family the following conversation ensued.

Rafaela:  I read the book you told us for this week.

Becky:  Really? And did you like it?

Rafaela:  Oh yes, it was very good and I read it for three days, so I know it.

Nory:   I read it too. I liked it.

Rafaela:  Do you know the story? How this woman goes to another land, see, and she marries and has sons who also marry.....then, I don't know how, her husband dies and then her sons die. (Pause) What could she do? She decided to go home, to her family, to the place where she was born, where she could live. But her two daughters, the wives of her sons... Ruth was one and what was the other?

Nory shrug:  It doesn't matter because she left.

Rafaela:  Yes, she left. At first they wanted to stay with Naomi, but Naomi said go home. What are you going to do, wait for me to have more sons so you can marry them? (Laughs) Imagine that, the old widow having a baby and her daughters-in-law waiting for him to grow up!

Nory:  That is funny!

Rafaela:  So other one left. But Ruth stayed! She was a good girl, see.

Nory:  Yes. She wouldn't leave her old widow mother-in-law. [Note: taking care of family, especially the elderly, is a Dominican cultural value.]

Rafaela:  She fell on her and cried.

Nory:  And she said, can you believe it, Where you go, I will go, where you stay, I will stay, where you die, I will die. And that was enough, so they went.

Rafaela:  Yes, where is a person to go when they are in grief and alone in the world. The only place is to go back home where you came from. Yes, and I am sure it was long, but they went, see.

Nory:  And Ruth, the darling, went with Naomi. How could Naomi go alone? She was an old widow. You can't leave an old widow alone.

Rafaela:  But the other one did. So they got home and they were poor. How could they find food? It was good to be home, but they had to find food, they had to survive. It ain't easy. I even think, what would I do if my husband died, and I have these children to feed. How can I earn a peso and leave them, but how could I send the boys out to get a peso? It gives me chills, so I pray for it not to happen.

Nory:   But it happens. You know how it was with me. You never know when your husband can die. I was so alone when he died suddenly. (Her husband died of lung cancer about 1 1/2 years ago) Only God knows what will happen. But look how he took care of me, just like Ruth. My daughters have good jobs and one is nearby. And now I am past the lonely hard times because of Jesus.  God will take care of you.

Rafaela:  So Naomi and Ruth had to find a way and Ruth went to the fields. You know they gathered the extra little bits, like what falls behind. [In the DR there is a somewhat similar custom, in that produce that hangs over the property line can be gleaned by a neighbor.]

Nory:  And there was a generous man, he was rich...Boaz, who made sure to tell his workers to leave extra for Ruth to pick up. He was part of the family, so he was good to her. So she worked for both (Ruth and Naomi) and they did it. Then Ruth was very clever and went to find him in the night and put his robe over her feet. So Boaz asked another man if he would take Ruth and when he said no, Boaz took her and they were married. Then everything was good. God knew how it would be.

Becky: Yes, God knew how it would be and He provided for them. That is what He did for you too. Your heart was broken and you went through so much when your husband died. But God knew.

We went on to talk about hardships in life and how God knows, how he provides a way. We also talked about one woman's concerns for her teenagers and her hopes that they will be good children like Ruth was. This led to talk about protecting our children, giving them rules and protection from outsiders who try to lure them into drugs and alcohol. I shared some examples of how my parents had taught me Christian values and protected me when I was young. Dominican parents are protective, but sometimes in the rural areas, children are given too much freedom to roam and so aren't supervised as their mothers are working hard at home or outside the home and fathers are either working or often hanging with their buddies drinking.

I have been meeting with these women weekly for most of the year.  Most of them have grown in their faith and Rafaela accepted Christ along the way.   This fall I have changed both the focus of our study and the method of study.   All the women in the study read, it is not their preferred learning style.  They learn much better from interacting and listening.  So I have begun to focus on stories in the Bible that communicate faith lessons.  As illustrated above, the story of Ruth really captured their hearts.  When this happens, they remember the Bible and I believe God brings His story into their hearts.  I have been encouraging the women to share these stories with their children and family.  Only God knows what kind of ripple effect this may have in the community.