MY BABY WINDMILL PALM TREE
One of my favorite plants are the palm trees. I have planted in my backyard about seven windmill palm trees. I planted them when they were babies and now, they are about eight feet tall and growing. One of the aspects I love of this kind of tree is that it reminds me of the tropical weather where I grew up in the Yucatan. Last summer, one of the palm trees had some fruit that looked like small green berries. Those berries turned dark and fell on the ground. A few weeks later, to my surprise those dark berries that had fallen to the ground became baby windmill palm trees. I placed each of them in a small container and now I am the proud owner of ten new baby windmill palms.
PEOPLE WE CONVERTED A FEW YEARS AGO
Last week I was very happy to see on social media posts several of our former members that we baptized in Decatur. I saw Reyes Medina who was baptized about twenty years ago. Reyes was by himself in this country when we met him. As soon as he learned the gospel, he could not wait to go back to the mountains in central Mexico and teach his wife and children. Reyes went back and baptized his wife and children and is preaching now in a congregation in the Baja region in Mexico, about a couple hours from the border with San Diego, California. Reyes is saving souls in that part of Mexico and is also training people in the same way that the gospel was taught to him.
Another former member I saw recently on social media was Jorge Rojo. Jorge was here in Decatur, and he was living with his uncle. I met Jorge about twenty-one years ago. The way I met Jorge was because he did not have a ride to get home from work. Jorge worked at Valley Rubber in the Hartselle area, and he used to catch a ride with a friend. This time the friend could not go get him. The friend asked me if I could go get Jorge. I told him I would be happy to do it. That day I met Jorge and I drove him from his work to his uncle’s home. During the trip from Hartselle to Decatur, I was able to talk to Jorge. I knew I had one shot to get him interested in coming to church. By the end of the trip Jorge said he would love to come and visit the Church of Christ.
Jorge was baptized a few weeks later. Then, Jorge met one of our Hispanic ladies at church and a year later I married them. Jorge and his wife went back to Mexico and Jorge is preaching in a congregation in the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico. He lives in a city about three hours from the border town of Brownsville, Texas. Jorge and his wife have now three children and are all faithful to the Lord.
The other person I saw recently on social media, was Benjamin Montejo. In his post, he was announcing that the school of preaching in Guatemala City in Guatemala, was giving ten full scholarships; to those interested in enrolling in the school of preaching. Benjamin Montejo is one of the instructors in that school and is the person in charge of recruiting new students. I met Benjamin in Decatur about fifteen years ago. When I met him, he wanted to go to New York and become famous. I met Benjamin because he saw our ad that said that we teach free English classes. He enrolled in our classes and started coming to church. About two months later Benjamin was baptized. He then returned to Guatemala City where he preaches and teaches until today.
THE WORD OF GOD IS THE SEED
There are so many stories of people who we have come in contact in Decatur. Those people have been taught and baptized now they are teaching others. I do not have the space to write about all those inspiring stories of lives that God has changed. When I see those lives changed and I see how they are teaching others, one thing comes to my mind; and that is about my windmill palm tree. How from one single baby plant, that plant has grown, and now is bearing fruit and producing other baby plants.
Jesus taught this truth about the Word of God. How the word of God will be planted a and will fall in good soil and give fruit. Jesus said in Mark 4:20 “Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
To God be the Glory for allowing us to teach people here in our town and then send them all around the world, so they can also produce fruit wherever they may go.
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