LIGHTBULB!!

Since all seven of our dear friends went back home, most of us have inherited some pretty exciting return visits and Bible studies. This afternoon Cassandra and I went to a Bible Study given to me by one of our friends, Amanda. We were sitting in the car waiting for another brother and sister to get back from one of their return visits, growing ever more restless with each passing minute. Finally after about forty five minutes we decided to walk the twenty minutes, in the pouring rain, to find Amanda's call. Good thing we didn't get too lost! So, after introducing ourselves, we dove right into the Bible Teach Book. I was a little concerned at first because the girl didn't seem to speak enough English to study properly but after a little bit she warmed up and was more comfortable, much to my relief. We started on page 31 under the subheading who is the ruler of the world. We read the first couple of paragraphs, started to discuss it and after a while she mentioned several different thoughts. First, that people did wrong because it was what Satan wanted and second, that Jehovah was the Creator of all things so He must be the ruler of the world. So we started to reason with her, bringing out the example of Jesus and how he was tempted by Satan. So I pointed to the objects on her table and asked could I offer these things to you if they weren't mine? But it still wasn't quite making the point. So we went into the scriptures and read 2 Corinthians 4:3,4, reading both in Spanish and English. We pointed out the phrase 'the god (lowercase) of this system of things' and how in that scripture it said he wished to keep the knowledge of Christ and God (again highlighting the difference between lowercase and uppercase) from people. We asked her again and again, what did she think? What did people she talk to think? How would she explain this to a school mate? It took quite a lot of reasoning, a ton of Spanglish, and much repetition but finally we saw the light bulb moment where she got it. So I asked her again . . . who is the ruler of this world and she could finally explain it. Even asking, once more about the temptation of Jesus, asking how could Satan offer the kingdoms of the world to Jesus? She answered "because they were his." And as she was saying that you could see the understanding on her face! She motioned with her hands and said Satan is aganist Jehovah and Jesus and so we have a choice! I believe at that point I was beaming. She got it and she got it in English and even made personal application! We discussed how different that was from the common view of the world but how important it was this is what the truth of the Bible taught. I walked out of the house with a huge smile and was almost speechless trying to tell the car group about it. It's amazing to be able to teach someone this information that has been kept from them for so long and than to do it in English reminds me why we are here. Needless to say, we left La Vega fully satisfied with our day's work! :)