Jarred Bess (R) on a bus full of counselors in El Salvador

After we concluded we went out to eat with Albert and Juan Antonio and his wife Esmeralda at Pizza Hut to recount the week. 

The next day we came home.  Overall on this trip I was impressed in the growth of our relationships with the pastors and the churches, with the growth of Jarred and Daniel as ministers, and the growth in the churches through the addition of new souls and strengthening of faith through signs and wonders the Lord allowed us to see.  I am still bewildered by why God gives me, of all people, the opportunity to serve Him and walk in His power.

We went to "spy out the land."   What we found is that Costa Rica is a beautiful country, as we have heard many people tell us. Lush green hills, clean villages, tremendous vistas only begin to tell the story.  On the spiritual side 10% to 16% of the population is evangelical.  The church appears to be doing well and, as some pastors told me, poised for revival.  

I had the privilege of going to Pastor Alejandro Arias' wedding.  I first met the new Mrs. Arias, formerly Rebekah Wright, on a Skype call 3 or 4 years ago.

Rebekah with Alejandro to the right after the ceremony

 Alejandro was staying with us for a few days in our old home in Apopka and he had been talking to Rebekah, his Australian girlfriend, nearly every night. So we met her over a Skype video call. Yes, the world is changing!  And how incredible is this young man, who at the age of 23 has already preached in over 40 countries, and found a Spanish speaking wife in Perth, Australia.  With God all things are possible!

While there we stayed at a hotel with a beautiful view. Not easy to find but worth the effort.  To the lower right is the view from the hotel restaurant.

	View from Restaurant at Best Western Paradise Inn near San Jose, Costa Rica

You can see all of downtown San Jose (the capital) and some of the suburbs from this location.

We met some wonderful people. Below is Paul and I in the backyard of a family in a suburb of San Jose called Atenas.

The Alvarez family is just beginning the adventure of starting a home group. The patriarch of the family is named Ricardo. I wish I had a picture of him and his family. We made a strong connection with him and he is asking for our

Paul & Tony near Atenas, Costa Rica

counsel as they get started.  Pray for them that they would prosper in their hearts' desire to feed and care for the sheep.

Another wonderful connection was with Pastor Gerardo Bogantes.  A labor lawyer by day and a pastor all the time he has a tremendous burden for bringing unity to the youth of his city. He is planning an event for the youth on New Year's Day 2012 called "Dia Uno" [Day One].  I told him I would pray for this

	Pastor Gerardo Bogantes and look at that burger!

event so if you would also pray for the youth and this event I know he would really appreciate it.  

I preached in a couple of churches during this 4.5 day trip. Below is a photo of me preaching in Cartago, about 45 minutes south east of downtown San Jose (but 2.5 hours during rush hour from our hotel!)

That Thursday night in Cartago I preached on "faith without works is dead."  I challenged everyone to consider that the evidence of their faith should be works of love and service to God and each other.  The Lord touched quite a few that night. One woman was healed of what they call gastritis, another had

Tony preaching in Cartago, Costa Rica

pain in her bones which disappeared, all in the Name of Jesus.  Prophetic words flowed freely and Paul in particular was "spot on" with his words. 

I gave a woman a word in Spanish.  Paul then, without knowing what I said, gave her nearly the same exact word (I translated for him).  She was grateful for the encouragement and edification.

We ate after that service some of the best empanadas ever! The drive home was quite interesting.  We followed the pastor and his wife in our rental car.  When we got to downtown San Jose about midnight he took us through the center of town -- through the "red light district"!  Paul and I couldn't wait to get through there - it was a very long 10 minutes or so. 

Sunday morning I preached in Santa Ana, a church planted about 27 years ago by Pastor Jose Luis.  Very warm church of 200 or so.  I preached on the love and faithfulness of our Father God, starting with his promise in Isaiah 35 to cause streams to flow in the desert.  

I didn't give an altar call for salvation but at least one gentleman, the last I prayed for, got both saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.  Just before that I prayed for his young wife for healing of pain in her lower abdominal area. When I was done she just smiled. I asked her if the pain was the same, worse or better.  She said it was better.  I asked her how much better and she said all the pain was gone.  I asked her who healed her and she said, "Jesus healed me."

Before I prayed for this couple it broke my heart to pray for so many who were separated from their spouses. One woman was so overwhelmed with grief as we prayed that she just collapsed to the floor crying loudly.  So much pain... may God restore these homes! 

One of the highlights of the trip, besides hanging out with Paul, was to hang out with Skip Olmstead.  Skip and I both serve on Pastor Alejandro's

	From right, Paul, Skip and Pastor Alejandro

ministry board but this was the first chance I had to spend some quality time with him. He's on fire for the Lord. It's so good to meet people who are excited about our Lord and His coming Kingdom.

We had our typical logistical issues.  The main roads are very modern but once you get off the highways there are no street signs.  Even the locals didn't know their way around that well.  For example, I was supposed to preach Sunday night. The pastor sent someone to pick me up at the hotel. He kept calling the front desk asking for directions and then finally called and said he gave up. In his defense we were having a wicked thunderstorm and fog had rolled in over our part of the mountain where I was staying. 

I am looking forward to going back and following up on the connections the Lord helped us to make. In a few weeks Pat McGuffin is leading a team consisting of Daniel Howell and Jarred Bess back to El Salvador, our third trip there this year.  "Central America is for Christ, and Christ is for Central America!"

To see more pictures of our trip click here. 

	Shok sharing in Ecuador, Marcel (r) translating.

Dr. Byron ministering at free medical clinic in Orquideas, Guayaquil, Ecuador

	Shok, Tony & team praying for lady on radio in Guayaquil

Everywhere we went, we would preach the Gospel, I gave my testimony and Pastor Tony and Chris had a wonderful message for the people and then we ministered with an altar call and dozens would come forward for salvations, recommitments, healings and that God would use them. People were hungry for the Holy Spirit and for the Fire of God and we prayed as the Lord led us. There were many healings that took place.  One lady came to the Radio station and got healed and left her cane there and walked by herself freely when she left, another got healed and felt better as she left. People were released of demons and twisted backs were healed. We have many stories to tell but I urge you to go to www.heartoftitus.org web page and click on Ecuador report for more details and there are some pictures.

This report was posted by Tony Nardella on August 28, 2011:

I am writing this on the flight from Panama to Orlando with Shok and Lionel across the aisle and Chris across the aisle behind them.  Here’s what happened in the last few days, working back from right now.

Just a few hours ago we were at the Guayaquil airport with Fernando, Byron, Leonora, and other faithful members of our team.  We had some fun at the airport - the guys who had lugged our bags to the ticket counter were

Chris, Shok & Fernando helping to sort gifts for the churches & poor

surprised when they heard me speak in Spanish to the attendant.  I saw an open door so I told them about how the Lord gave me the gift of better Spanish 6 years ago.  It turned out they were both evangelical Christians who go to a Baptist church in Guayaquil. They were impacted that the Lord gave me that gift.

Intrigued, the attendant behind the Copa Air counter then asked me about who we were and what were had been doing there.  I told her about the incredible miracles our team had seen this trip, including the lady who got healed of all of her bone pain, threw away the cane and danced before the Lord before the service was over.  The attendant was quite excited, said she was very sick and needed help so I not only told her about the Evangelistic Center of Guayaquil and Pastor Loor but took her hand at the counter and prayed for her to be healed in the powerful name of Jesus.  She was visibly affected, and we exchanged contact information so she could know when we were going to return to Guayaquil. 

Team ministering to woman at radio station in Guayaquil

We had a fun time at the large “Indian” market downtown before we went to the airport. We were working with Christian vendors and the ones we bought most of our stuff from were 2 guys, father and son.  We prayed for them right there in their booth, especially for the son to reconcile with the Lord and get back to church.  We also prayed for his 1 year old son at his request.  We then went to another Christian vendor and one sister asked us to pray for healing for her other sister.  We prayed and I don’t know if she got healed but she was crying. I remember praying for the Lord to take all the hurts in her heart away.

The night before ended with a great pizza party at Pastor William’s church downtown at 9 de Octubre and Tulcan for all of our ministry members and friends of the ministry.  We probably had about 35 people there and many of us exchanged gifts.  I am so thankful of the love of this group and their faithfulness for all these years.  I think of Pastor Miguel and his wife Judy, now about 80 years old, with whom we have been friends for 13 years. We are rich in friendships and in the love of God as expressed through his people.

Lionel preaching with Dr. Byron A. translating

That night I had preached on marriage and gave my testimony of how the Lord rescued Emily and I from matrimonial disaster many years ago.  Lionel was with me and had shared a short but profound anecdote about how he learned during his early years to serve the Lord with his wife of 47 years, Earline.  He described his relationship with her and the Lord as a triangle with the Lord at the top.  As they each grew closer to the Lord they grew closer to each other!  

Many couples had come to this meeting for marriage ministry.  After we spoke we invited people to come forward if they wanted prayer for their marriage to be better, and especially for restoration and reconciliation.  Many couples came forward and many couples were restored with tears through forgiveness of each other and repentance from hurting one another.

Dr. Byron and Leonora were there and during the altar ministry they had a powerful time. Chris and Shok ministered to Freddy’s Medicine in Christ group that evening. They also had a powerful time in the Holy Spirit with many healings and fillings of the Spirit. One gentleman was there who the team had prayed for on Monday night.  

That afternoon we had driven back from Cuenca, a beautiful city about 1.5 miles high in the Andes Mountains.  We saw absolutely beautiful vistas.  We left Cuenca about 11:30 that morning after visiting Bolivar Ramon’s CLIF foundation where he runs an after school program.  We then went up to

	Canopy of clouds blocked by Andes Mountains near Cuenca

Turin, which is the place where you can get a vista of the whole city at one time.  Up there I had great conversations with a couple of the pastors from the city. They graciously invited our team back to the city to minister.

While in Cuenca I spoke with Pastor Alicia about our service at her church the night before. At that service our whole ministry team of 9 people shared.  That included Leonora  sharing 15 minutes about prayer.  We talked about how the variety of people from different callings and countries helped demonstrate God’s desire for the church to work together, with everyone expressing their spiritual gifts and talents, even though the team is comprised of people from different cultures, genders, age groups and walks of life.

It was an interesting message the Lord had me give to the church.  I shared about my childhood and my relationship with my father.  I brought in Hebrews 11:6 and spoke about how true faith expects God to reward us because we know deep in our hearts that God is a Rewarder.  The Lord moved in power in that service, with all team members praying with great anointing. Many were filled with the Spirit and/or healed.  I remember praying

Lionel & Eric, then Chris, ministering at Evangelistic Center of Guayaquil (CEAD)

with one couple who forgave one another, reconciled and embraced in tears right there in the church.  I also remember seeing Leonora and Gardenia praying with some young sisters for inner healing regarding the abandonment of their father. Horrible as it is, everywhere we go we find women and children who have been abandoned by their fathers/husbands and are suffering intense emotional and financial pain. Thank God for Jesus, who came to “bind up the broken hearted” and give us a “garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness.” Isa. 61.

Earlier that day we arrived from Guayaquil and had a late lunch with Pastora Alicia and a couple that had recently been saved. Another old friend of ours, Pastor Bolivar Ramon, showed up and we had a great long discussion together. 

Our trip to Cuenca only took about 3 hours.  The last time I was there about 5 years ago it took 5 1/2 hours. Thank God for the improvement in the road.

Tuesday night we were all at CEAD.  At the last minute Pastor Loor asked me to preach the main service but I felt as if Chris should give the word. So I shared for a while during the greeting time, maybe 10 minutes in all but I let Chris share. 

Chris gave a short but effective message.  He gave an altar call for those who wanted to receive the fire of God.  Many hundreds of people came forward – I am so thankful for our experienced Ecuadorian team of ministers who helped us pray for the people’s needs.  Many were filled with the Spirit and healed. 

Later another altar call for salvation was given.  About 10 came forward to receive Christ. Then someone pointed us to a 16 year old teenager laid out on the floor under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  He was wearing very tight pink pants and we were told he was a homosexual. He prayed with us to receive Christ and repented of his sins. His father then came to him, forgave him, told him he didn’t condemn him but loved him.  The whole family hugged and embraced with tears, including the 15 year old sister who had also given her heart to Christ that night.

Earlier that day we did another hour on the radio during their 50 days of miracles campaign (that was day 40).  The previous day we spent 3 hours on the radio, preaching, sharing and praying for the prayer requests that people were phoning in.  Each one of our team members, 2 translators, and Pastor Fernando Ubilla were squeezed into a 4x6 studio.  We prayed for a woman who showed up at the station with great pain in her abdomen.  We prayed for her on the air and she experienced considerable relief from her pain and testified.

After the Tuesday radio time we split up and prayed for workers of different ministries.  So we had to split up our team. Where I was nearly all the women were dealing with problems at home, with problems or difficulties in their marriage or just abandonment.  Heart breaking.

...he said he had been to the doctor, had blood tests done and that all came back completely normal.

Monday night we were at Pastor William and Pastora Maribel’s church which meets at October 9 street in downtown Guayaquil.  The whole team was there and helped pray for everyone, including a man who could hardly talk due to throat cancer.  By the time the team finished praying for him he could talk and pray freely.  We saw him again on Thursday night and he said he had been to the doctor, had blood tests done and that all came back completely normal.  He believed he was totally healed of cancer, and I saw no evidence to disagree with him.

Well, that’s all for now.  Our God is an awesome God.  He loves his people and proves His love by doing everything within his power to make our lives better.  He is clearly a Rewarder to those who diligently seek Him.  

What we have seen God do for people in Ecuador he wants to do for you wherever you are. As the Scripture says, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Why don’t you stop and ask Him right now to save you from whatever trouble you are in?  

 ³⁰ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  John 20.

 We are heading to El Salvador the day after tomorrow.  We have been told that 150 pastors will be coming to our breakfast and mini-seminar on Saturday morning.  Also, the 3 day conference has been changed to Monday - Wednesday instead of Tuesday - Thursday. 

The theme of the conference next week is "Mighty to Save." 

¹⁷ "The LORD your God is with you, 
   he is mighty to save. 
He will take great delight in you, 
   he will quiet you with his love, 
   he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zep.3:17

Please pray for us, and also if the Lord so leads you to partner with us on the cost of these conferences we would greatly appreciate it.  

This week Pat McGuffin is leading a team back to El Salvador.  This Saturday morning we have a 3 hour meeting with at least 90 pastors.  In the middle of next week, July 12-14, our team will be putting on a 3 day conference with the theme "Mighty to Save."

Pat and I (Tony Nardella) went to El Salvador for the first time in April of this year. While there we could se that the Lord was opening an effective door of ministry for us, so we are happy to return.

Dr. Mateo Moria has arranged these events with the help of Pastor Herman Turcios Hernandez.  We are looking forward to seeing the friends we met in April along with meeting new friends there.

Dr. Byron Lopez and his son Marcel from Ecuador will be joining us.  Dr. Byron is the teacher of our Heart of Titus team that meets every Monday night. He is prophetic and has traveled with us throughout Ecuador and to Peru in the past.

Marcel Lopez is a 4th year medical student who has been translating for us and for other English speakers visiting Ecuador since he was 17 years old. Marcel is a mighty man of God through with huge faith.

Daniel Howell from here in Orlando is travelling with us as well. This is his second trip with Heart of Titus.  He has a burden for souls and has been active with street evangelism.  Lately the Lord has been using him more and more prophetically.  We are looking forward to him and Marcel ministering to the youth of San Salvador together.

I am a last minute add-on to the trip. I'll be coming back early but I am so glad to be able to return to El Salvador and have an opportunity to be a blessing along with the rest of the team.

Please pray for us that the Lord will give us great boldness and faith, and that the people of El Salvador will be blessed, encouraged and refreshed by the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

 Pastor Roberto Rios is coming to Clermont TODAY.  He has been at a church conference in Miami and will be coming up to the Orlando area to visit with us for a few days.

L-R Tony & Emily, Maria & Roberto Rios, Gardenia & Fernando Ubilla, in Santo Domingo, Ecuador

Pastor Roberto pastors a church in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, a growing commercial center about 6 hours north of Guayaquil at the foothills of the Andes Mountains.  He is well known in the area and currently serves as the president of the local evangelical pastors council. 

Heart of Titus helps Pastor Roberto and his wife Maria with 2 feeding programs in poor areas of Santo Domingo.  Visit the page on Facebook with hundreds of photos of feeding and teaching children by   clicking here. 

If you would like to visit with Roberto check back here or email us.  We are going to try to get a meeting for this coming Monday night. 

 This video is so good I wanted to post it again:

Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site

 It is about 1:30 in the morning and we are packing to leave here at about 8 a.m. to start our trip home.There is so much to tell about our trip, we don't have time to write it all down now.  But let me tell you just 2 stories that happened tonight:

 I wrote most of this starting at 2:20 a.m. Friday morning.  We got back here to the "Christian Embassy" about an hour ago.  We were at a church in a poor area of Guayaquil. There were about 40 people in church and all 3 of us shared the Word.  Emily shared about women of noble character, referring to Ruth.  Paul shared about how tired we can get spiritually and how the Lord wants to give us rest.  I also shared on that theme and quoted from Matt. 11 where Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."  For the altar ministry time after I spoke Emily and I took one side of the room, and Paul and our translator Marcel took the other side and we went out to where the people were standing at their chairs and prayed for each of them there. Emily and I ministered to many women in particular.  Quite a few times Emily would just hug them and love on them and the next thing you know they are crying, and filled with the Spirit, even though she wasn't always able to speak Spanish. Paul had a blast, the highlight being that he got to lead 2 people to the Lord!  Afterwards I got a chance to speak privately with the pastor about his financial and marital struggles and by God's grace was able to connect him to some practical human resources that are equipped to help him in both areas. 

Sunday morning we all travel together to a city about 2 hours north of here called Vinces.  Vinces is where our team leader started a home group less than 2 years ago just for teaching about biblical marriage to 9 couples.  It grew and grew until they became a church which now has 400 members and over 700 in attendance every Sunday.  We will minister there in the morning, then we'll minister to their church leaders in the afternoon, and then on the way back to Guayaquil we will stop at another church plant about 30 minutes north of Guayaquil for an 8 pm service.

Our first ministry opportunity was Wednesday afternoon when we ministered to some of the employees of host church.  It turned out that the messages we all shared were right on point with some of the troubles they are facing together that we didn't know about.  God is good. That night we ministered in a church meeting designed around improving marriages.  Paul shared briefly, Emily shared from 2 Kings 1 about how Bathsheba encouraged the prophet Nathan to speak into her husband's life as a friend (King David) and analogized that to wives today who should encourage their husbands to have godly friends. I then shared on how men have the authority in the home but the authority is to serve and not be served, as Jesus taught in Matt. 20.

A highlight of that Wednesday evening service was the healing of a man born with a congenital birth defect in his back which caused him constant pain.. After some prayer and counsel it was revealed that he had some deep wounds from his childhood in connection with his disability. We then prayed through some of those issues and he got some help, and then the Lord healed his back!  All the pain was finally gone after so many years.  We serve an awesome God!

It was also a blessing to see the couples who got reconciled that evening. Couples came forward during the invitation to seek help for their marriages.  At our urging many asked for and received forgiveness from their spouses for various things they had done to hurt them.  It was wonderful to see a couple married for 42 years crying and embracing at the front of the church after asking each other's forgiveness for various issues.  Our team also dealt with a younger couple in which the man went forward and repented of adultery.   Somehow the wife found the strength after prayer to forgive him.  There is so mudh to report, but more on that later..  

 We arrived late Tuesday night to Guayaquil and were met by most of our team, who as usual warmly greeted us.  We caravaned together to the Christian Ëmbassy, where we ate our 4th meal for the day and laughed and conversed til about 2 in the morning.  Thankfully we didn´t have to go anywhere until 1:30 in the afternoon so we got some good rest.

Great trip, great reception!  But my American cell phone didn´t work and there was no internet where we were staying. So this is our first report 2 days later.

Last night we ministered in the south extension of the main church, CEAD.  We tried to find the pastor, Israel Loor (who I remember as a pre-adolescent) who was out street evangelizing but couldn´t connect. So we ministered at his church and preached on marriage since that is what the Wednesday night service there is known for.  

I´m told my message was pretty hard and direct and Paul threatened to hold me accountable to it.   I´m not worried about him - Emily was there listening too.

Quite a few couples came up for a ´refreshing´ of the Spirit. There were quite a few who forgave each other, hugged and kissed, and reconciled over whatever offenses they had against one another.  There was even a couple married 42 years, crying and reconciling, thank the Lord.  Paul, Emily, Marcel, Miguel, Fernando, Cesar, Alexandra and others were all ministering with me at the front of the church.

This man then came forward who said all he wanted was more of Jesus.  After some prayer he told us that he was in constant back pain due to some defect from when he was born. After some circuitous counseling he got totally set free from some hurts from the past, which then led to his total healing.  The first time we prayed he said that he was 90% healed, the second he was totally pain free. Praise the Lord!

Got to go, my ride is here. More to come!