Ministry in Action in Jamaica

Hello Dear Friend,

Melanie and I hope you are doing great! I just wanted to say hello and ask you for your prayers. I am heading to Jamaica tomorrow … YES it sounds exciting because we think about the tropical Caribbean beaches right? Well, we hope to see some of that too but it is exciting for several reasons. I will be meeting with leaders of YWAM Montego Bay tomorrow Tuesday and Wednesday to engage them in the global JESUS Film/YWAM partnership with the coordination of our translation and recordings in the Americas region.

On Thursday I will be flying from Montego Bay to Kingston where I will be meeting for two days with members of the Jamaican Bible Society and Cru Jamaica to start the coordination of the film script translation and logistics for the future recordings of the film “Magdalena” and “the Story of Jesus for Children” in the Jamaican Patwa language. This is a blessing for the Jamaican people as different ministries have been wanting to have this additional evangelistic film in their arsenal of tools.

Then from Saturday the 8^th through Tuesday the 11^th I will be joining a team of US donors and other members of our US team for the initial showings of the Jamaican Patwa JESUS film in several areas. This includes a red carpet premiere event where the Governor-General of Jamaica will be attending. Then we will have a celebration banquet with US and Latin America and the Caribbean attendees where our JESUS film executive director Erick Schenkel will be also speaking along with Cru Jamaica National leaders.

We will be doing rural JESUS film showings in Moore Town in a remote location. PLEASE Pray and Praise God for:

•   Allowing my daughter Morgan who just turned 18 last month to go on this trip with me. It is a blessing to have this opportunity to spend quality time with her.
•   Pray for our Peru JESUS film coordinator Jaime and his wife Monica who will be joining me in this trip. They are flying from Lima, Peru. I will be training him in how to set up new JESUS film projects.
•  Pray that God will use this trip as an opportunity for Him to speak to her heart about what He is doing through this ministry and through us.
• Pray for the hearts of the men, women, and children watching the movie. Pray for their eyes to be opened to the truth.
•  Pray for the Holly Spirit to go before us and prepare the field for everything that is going to be happening.
•  Pray for all the teams to arrive safe from their departure locations and for all the technical equipment that we are shipping to arrive safe through customs in Jamaica.
•  Pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit in me. For strength and wisdom during this important task.
•  Pray for health for us and the rest of our team and for my wife Melanie and our kids Blake (16) and Micaela (5) who will be home by themselves.
•  Pray for God to use this training time between Jaime and I to strengthen his knowledge of the ministry and also confirm his future role with us.
•  Pray for God to touch the hearts of the Jamaican Government officials who will be attending the initial premiere.
•  Pray for wisdom for our Premiere event coordinators.

Thanks so much for your constant support of our ministry and for your faithfulness. We will not be able to do this without you. We are blessed to be able to do this job!

Blessings,

Edgar Rodriguez

The JESUS Film Project

Language Production Manager

Latin America & the Caribbean

Cell: 407-480-0997

Off.: 407-515-4471

MARCH 2017 UPDATE

Hello Dear Friend,

Melanie and I hope you are doing great! We just wanted to say hello and give you an update on what has been happening recently. I will try to be brief. We praise God for allowing us to start this first trimester loaded with amazing things.

As you may know all the month of January we had my mother (Ana), her husband of almost 30 years (Ire) and my sister (Anabella) staying at home with us since December 24^th 2016. It was great to be able to host them as they needed a break of all the horrible things they are living in Venezuela. It was challenging for us as we don’t have a guest room in our house so Melanie and I happily gave them our bedroom and we slept in the sofas for 5 weeks. It is sad to know that they would like to leave their home and come live in the US at their mobile home they own here but financially it is impossible for them and us to make this happen. Please pray for a Miracle and that they can sell their home in Venezuela and God can provide a safer environment for them here. They are in their early 70s and would like to spend the rest of their life in peace.

Family members visiting from Venezuela (Ire first on the left, mom next to me holding my cousin with the yellow shirt

During our Language Production team retreat early January.

On February 1^st  I took my family to the airport in Miami and as they got in the plane I also jumped into a plane via Chile and Paraguay. In Chile I was blessed to have great meetings with our Cru staff and leaders from other mission organizations as we are planning to make the JESUS film available for three people groups of Chile as well as the film Magdalena and the Children’s version in one of this three languages. I was able to travel in a small plane to the city of Temuco where I met with one of the translators of the Mapuche people group of Chile. While in Chile I also had the blessing to see my half-brothers who 6 months ago immigrated to Chile looking for a better future they can’t have in Venezuela. Please pray for them as they seek to validate their medical and dental degrees in a foreign country trying to make a living in the meantime and also don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord.

With my brothers Alejandro and Edgar III at the airport in Chile

With our Cru national Director/ JESUS film coordinator at the Temuco airport.

From Chile I took a plane to Paraguay where I also was blessed to be hosted by a group of missionaries who took me 6 hours into the country to meet with other key missionaries to start coordinating the translation of the JESUS film script into eleven languages, one of them spoken by almost 5 million people. This was my first time in Chile and Paraguay and I have to say that I feel blessed to be able to do this job of managing the translation and recordings of the film in this continent. I am very grateful to God for everyone that is making possible for us to serve full time making the word of God available in an audio visual format to many people that are lost in this part of the world.

Well, like I said in the beginning this trimester has been loaded with great things. Yes, also in February after a week of rest in Orlando, myself and three members of our ministry flew to Joyabaj Guatemala, where we completed the recordings of voices of the film in the Quiche Joyabaj language. There I was also able to meet with the entire Cru Guatemala staff and give them an update our language translation work in the region. It is funny but by my return home on March 3^rd I was in pain after our three hours on curvy mountain rocky roads trips from Guatemala City to Joyabaj, where members of our team even threw up during the ride. Well I was able to take this ride four times in a week….ouch.

This was the best part of the road hehe

Meeting with our missionaries friends at the studio where we will be recording one of the Paraguay languages

Our recently trained group of technicians (two from Mexico, two from Peru and one from Guatemala).

Quiche Joyabaj voice recording participants receiving their certificates of participation.

March I am resting from traveling but not for my team mates who I sent to Sao Paulo Brazil to finally do the voice recordings of the “Rivka” series and the JESUS Simplified Narration version of the film in Brazilian Portuguese. Please pray for them as they finish the recordings this weekend. Pray that God makes an impact on the studio staff who is providing the voice actors and facilities for us to record. They are a non-Christian studio and staff so pray for divine conversations. This month I have also been working on the production agenda for the rest of the year and next five years.

Early this month (March 10^th) our daughter Morgan turned 18 years old. Later this month Melanie will have a birthday (March 26^th) and myself as well (March 28^th). We can’t disclose our age hahaha. Thank you God for giving us another year of life!

Currently, I have hundreds of language versions of the film to manage as we as a global team seek to make the film available in all the remaining languages that don’t have the gospel in their languages. It is challenging to accomplish all this without help. Please pray with me as I am asking God for a team member that can speak Spanish and know the culture. A current staff member is considering joining me in the region. Her name is Meghan and her parents have been missionaries for many years with Cru. She is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish as she lived 8 years in Portugal and also served 8 years in Costa Rica. She is feeling lead to join us but is currently having health issues that are hindering her decision. Pray that God will heal her completely and that He guides her to join our team.

If you had the chance to read this far please WATCH this VIDEOS from the trip to Guatemala and an amazing testimony from a missionary friend. You will be amazed… 

• https://vimeo.com/206652928 (Recording in Guatemala)

• https://youtu.be/Uc7vuTrhSy8 (Testimony from Jorge in the picture below)

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless... 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NLT).

Edgar Rodriguez

The JESUS Film Project

Language Production Manager

Latin America & the Caribbean

Cell: 407-480-0997

Off.: 407-515-4471

Skype: edgar.rodriguez17