Becoming family

Neighbors have been open to receiving a Christian magazine, however, none have accepted a Bible study.  We’ve handed out magazines door-to-door and consider it God’s grace that people have been as friendly as they have.  As we touch lives with God’s word, we pray that God will open doors and show us who is willing to study it with us.

We heard last week that one of the ladies who is studying the Bible with us was not home because her 4-year-old daughter had appendicitis.  She took her days earlier to the hospital where she was to be released last Friday.  Today, our friend wasn’t home, but we met her husband for whom we had been praying for as well.  We hope that our visit was an encouragement to the family as we continue to pray for their daughter’s recuperation.  Please join us as we pray for those who are battling serious illnesses like epilepsy, cancer and failing organs.

Entrusting our friends to Jesus

For some reason, our Tuesday outreach team couldn’t make it.  Because of a misunderstanding, the ladies thought that their first invitation was a one-time opportunity to serve.  After describing the need for their continued help, they were very willing to continue to go door-to-door handing out Christian magazines and sharing about Jesus.  Again, we’re not sure if this is the best time, but it is the time when the team is available to serve.

We managed to visit the new contacts that were made a week ago.  Some were interested in studying the Bible while others were not home.  Norma has been discipling the women and we both pray for the families we visit.  As for those who haven’t been home, well, we entrust them to Jesus and plan on visiting them next week.

The joy of sharing Jesus

We’ve had to shuffle things around a bit, in order to best use our time and resources to reach our neighborhood.  So yesterday, we had a lady from our sister church, One in Christ, come visit us and help us make new friends.  Norma and I went out to just knock on doors in an area where we had been praying just a week prior.  I asked her before we began, “Have you ever shared about Jesus door-to-door?”  She said, “No, and I’m a bit nervous about it.”  So we hit the streets and handed out a small inexpensive Christian magazine from home to home.

We realized that at this time of the day, it was about 11 a.m., that we wouldn’t see lots of people, but God managed to open doors and we gave out about 30 magazines and of those 30, 3 accepted an invitation to study the Bible with us.  We know there are people out there in need of Jesus.  It’s just a matter of finding them.  We were awed once again at God’s faithfulness.

Praying for the neighbors

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had a prayer walk to begin opening up other parts of our neighborhood.  We started mid-morning around 11 and were out for about 2 hours.  We took everything south of our home and walked the streets praying Colossians 4:1-6.  Our two teams of two had determined that we would pray for several elements in the Bible passage (what is right and fair, perseverance, an open door, God revealing himself to others, the words to speak, being genuine, using our time well, grace in our speech, an ear to listen, and etc.)

When we got back, we shared what God showed us.  Each shared about the experience.  The area doesn’t have places where kids can get distracted yet like clubs, video games and gangs.  The area seems to provide work with continued building projects.  It is a privilege to pray for the people – after all, who are we?  And there are several areas that seem a “world” a way from the main flow of things in the neighborhood.  It gave us a sense of sowing seed on virgin soil.

Overall, it was a good experience for all.  Two of the ladies came from our sister church, “One in Christ.”  We were glad that they joined us and trust that this will encourage them to reach out into their neighborhood.

Please pray for Maria, who due to some financial struggles in the “Bread of Life” congregation, has had to take on a second job to make ends meet.  And pray that the believers in Bread of Life will continue to be faithful in their giving.

New adventures and good friends

One of my least favorite things to do in Mexico is dealing with government offices.  As it happens, today I had to go into the city to turn in our preliminary documents to apply for visas for yet another year – ours expire in about a month.  The city was paralyzed as teachers unions marched down the streets and by the time I got to the offices, they were sitting all over the main avenue, Reforma, sheltering themselves from the hot sun.  I was glad that the buses got me there.  A few days ago, even buses were prevented from running their normal routes.  The government official was very kind and helpful.  My round trip only took me about 3 hours in total.  But the exciting part was…

When I got off of the bus in our neighborhood, Bosques, and started walking home some kids on the third floor yelled down, “John!”  It was two kids from the Kids’ Club who asked me to meet them on the top floor.  They introduced me to their cousin Sharon who is interested in joining us on Saturdays.

As I walked a little further, I met one of the moms walking from the store with her neighbor’s daughter.  It was fun talking to them and it gave me an opportunity to invite the little girl to the Club as well.  Was that enough?

A little further, I met the mom of the two kids who yelled down to me and she walked down the main street I walk to get home.  She shared about her husband who is a “death” worshipper and the troubles that she had all last year.  Well, I told her, “have your husband take the kids to the Club tomorrow, and I’ll talk with him.” 

Each day, God gives us exciting adventures and good friends to share them with.

All, in the family

Once again, God is showing us that he is working en ways that we do not understand.  The mom who was the first to finish the evangelistic Bible study in our neighborhood asked me last week to give her a copy of the first lesson for her husband.  This week she gave me his finished lesson ready to be corrected.  She invited her husband to study the Bible with her.

Maria went to visit a family where the mom is a Christian but the grandmother is not convinced of her daughter’s decision.  As a result of some health problems in the family, the grandmother gave her life over to Jesus the day prior to our visit and wants to study the Bible with us.  One by one, God is saving the members of each family.

Reaching several at the same time

Tracey and Maria went to visit a family in the morning in order to talk with the mom.  Well, she had two other friends with her visiting when our team arrived.  In a short time, the three turned their lives over to Jesus and wanted to have a time to study the Bible together along with a time to learn how to raise their children.  It was a wonderful surprise for us and a time to celebrate God’s greatness.

A new place

New places

In the last couple of weeks, we haven’ been able to find very many of our new contacts.  The Christmas and New Year vacations seem to have continued on through this past week.  We hope to visit a few people this week.  Thanks for your prayers.  God allowed us to have a unique encounter with one of the families that attended our children’s outreach in December.  Several gave their lives over to Jesus.  “One more for Christ.”

We want to announce that Maria who belongs to our mission team was accepted to join a missionary team to Honduras with Spearhead.  The trip is from March 30 through April 9 this year.  We want to support her with our prayers and our donations.  If you wish to help, send us a note at: unomasporcristo@gmail.com

A new team?

Searching for the beginning

A few months ago, we began our uncovering of God plans for the Los Heroes de Tecamac community.  We wrote a bit about how significant this journey was for us.  And we asked your prayers for our neighbors in this place.  Now that we’ve had the opportunity to get to know the people and listen to their needs, we see that the work is much bigger than we first anticipated.

As much as we’ve wanted to take things step by step, we realize that we’re still running too fast.  That is, with each step we take, several smaller steps are needed.  With each person we’ve met, there is a greater need to spend time with him/her to listen to him/her, teach him/her from the Bible and even walk alongside him/her during these first stages of their new life and relationship to Christ.

So, what we need are your prayers for the new friends that we’ve met and for the new ones who are just getting to know Christ.  Also we want to ask you for your help in prayer for our mission team and our great desire to follow Jesus in this great adventure.  In addition, we’d like to ask for your petitions of prayer in favor of the growth of both, the mission team and our new friends, so that God will give us the understanding and the actions to do all that is possible to follow him together.

Why searching for the beginning?  I believe we have begun well to meet the people of this community, but we are missing the beginning “of the thread” of God so that this becomes a family of God.