Ministry News
The past few months have been busy. As we mentioned in
our last update, we were planning a baptismal service. Since we are
renting a building and don’t have a baptismal, we went to a balneario (a
place that has a pool and an area to have a picnic). We made a day of
it, and had an exciting time as 14 people were baptized, including
Joshua. Also, several people committed to become members of the
church.
We praise God for Salvador(photo to right), as he grows
in Christ. We are really excited about his growth and potential for
leadership. He called me today and prayed for us. He occasionally will
teach Bible studies and takes turns in leading our Sunday service.
Please pray that he will stay faithful and continue growing in Christ.
We praise the Lord for the new families that have been
visiting. We have had a few new families come recently who seem to be
interested in continuing .
We are still struggling to build strong families. There
is so much to reteach here because of their culture. Very few have good
role models in their families, either for marriage or parenting. Chucho,
a man who we had been trying to help with his marriage, decided to give
up on his marriage and get a divorce. Not too long after, he changed
his mind about a divorce, and now wants to stay separated for 5 years.
He is making it very tough on his wife. Please pray that God would work
in his heart and help him to repent. We are continuing our counseling
with his wife. Another man from our church named Odin just left Mexico
to go to the United States illegally. He didn’t tell anyone, except his
two oldest kids (not even his wife) that he was going. He’s had
marriage problems, and we believe he is running away from them. Please
not only pray for these men, but the families they are affecting. We
continue to work with two other couples and are seeing some small
steps. Besides counseling, we are having a marriage class once a week.
It has been well attended.
At the end of this month, we will be celebrating the
church’s anniversary as well as celebrating our life in Christ as
Mexicans celebrate the day of the dead. The Day of the Dead is a time
of great fear and superstition here. We hope to really encourage
especially the new believers by reinforcing the stark contrast of the
hope we have in Christ. It will also be time to start planning for our
Christmas program soon which has been our most attended service over the
past few years.
