smucks-in-mexico

How Time Flies!

2009-05-05T05:58:00.004-05:00

We have been very busy enjoying and laboring in ministry in Aguascalientes! Time passed so quickly! We have continued in our evangelism, discipleship, membership courses, leadership training, etc. We have done some special events throughout the last few months, such as hosting a medical brigade in the village of Pocitos where some doctor friends attended around 180 people and we were able to attend to all these people spiritually! We also had a breakfast for the parents of the Kids Club children in Pocitos. These events helped us become more accepted in the community. We started services in Pocitos and in Villas neighborhoods. jaime, Edwin and I took a 7 hour trip into the mountains to minister to the Indigenous Tepehuano people, but I think they ministered more to us. What vision and mission and simplicity of goals, but tenacity to finish the task of evangelizing their people and beyond! There are actually 4 or 5 subcultures that meet together in this area. Needless to say we are very busy, but are enjoying every moment of our time in Aguascalientes!

October Ministry

2008-11-08T20:18:00.002-06:00

October is a busy month for our family, being that there are several October birthdays, including Betty's and Bethany's. This year was no exception! In addition it was a month full of ministry. We had a great time with fellow believers at the Hispanic Friends Conference in Nueva Rosita. We had a wonderful time with Margarita Jaramillo-Hall who came from Denver, Colorado for three weeks to learn about mission life. We had Kids club a couple times, a great celebration service and as always have our four or five Bible studies weekly. We are pleased that God has allowed us so much interaction with people now and are learning how to best use our time for His glory! Please enjoy the pictures above to see some of what happened in October.

Gregoria Testimony

2008-10-05T18:33:00.001-05:00

The business of keeping 130 kids under control and entertained and talking with 20 moms the last day of VBS in the village of Pocitos almost compared to a circus! Fun and tiring all at the same time described each one of the leaders as we pulled off yet another outreach to this village that we have worked in the past year. Earlier during the spring our team decided to spend a couple months prayer walking in the village twice a week. It felt good and we saw results almost immediately. We believe God honored our time spent pleading on behalf of the people in Pocitos. Since the prayer walk we have seen several people come to Christ for salvation and have several more families who have curiosity about the gospel of Christ that we preach. The following story relates to our time spent in prayer in the village.
We felt blessed to have made it through the 4 days of VBS. Though exhausted we knew God moved. Betty had a little girl in her class named Mitzi. We shared with the kids that we wanted to meet their parents and had the kids invite their parents to the last day of Vacation Bible School. We sent flyers home inviting the parents and had a turnout of about 20 moms that day. When Betty shared with her kids about the invitation of the parents Mitzi came up and whispered in Betty’s ear that her dad had to work and couldn’t come. Betty told her not to worry, but to have her mom come. That didn’t work either because the mom worked too. Then a little later Mitzi confessed to Betty, in tears, that her dad did not have to work, but actually was in prison. This moved Betty’s heart and she told Mitzi that she would be Mitzi’s mom on Friday.
In the meantime, on the other side of the banquet hall where we met for the week with the kids our baby Christian and disciple, Lupita found herself chatting with a middle aged lady. This lady, named Gregoria saw Lupita and made a bee line for her and began sharing, “Is this the place where you teach people how to read the Bible? Is this the place where you teach people about God? I’m looking for God and I need Him!” Lupita, a very social person, took advantage of the openness of Gregoria and began sharing about Christ with her. Gregoria was in a frantic mess. It turned out that her son had been involved in an accident with his fruit truck. Four people in the other vehicle died as a result and, according to Mexican law he had to be sent to prison for 5 years. Gregoria found out just after her son was put in prison that her son was a worshiper of Death. This is a new religion that is sweeping the country. It is deeply Satanic and the saint, or angel of death that is worshipped actually does miracles for its worshipers, but always with a cost. It turns out that Gregoria’s son had asked for protection from death, because he spent long hours on the road driving his truck around Mexico. The cost…the deaths of the four people in the accident. When the prison sent his belongings to his mom, he asked her to save and keep his skulls, chains and bracelets that were his items of death worship. She immediately realized what happened and told him, “That is why you are where you are.” After a few days he say his error and asked his mom to throw away everything he had the related to the worship of death.
A couple of years had already passed, but she just couldn’t stand it anymore. She spent most of her days praying and pleading the best she knew how for some peace of mind and for her son to be released. But she could not find peace. Her granddaughter brought home a flyer inviting the parents to come to the last day of VBS. Gregoria saw her opportunity and came the last day. This is how she found Lupita. A little later into the service Lupita came over to Betty. Betty had shared with Lupita the day before about Mitzi. Lupita told Betty, “I think I know Mitzi’s grandma; her name is Gregoria and she’s here right now and wants to know more about God!” Betty and Lupita shared a little bit more with Gregoria and then they set a day to visit with Gregoria in her home the following week.
Thursday of the next week came and Betty and Lupita showed up at the front door of Gregoria’s home. It turned out that she invited her daughter and daughter in law(wife of the son in prison) to be there as well. Betty and Lupita began sharing about God’s love, the sin of humanity and the need to fix the problem of separation through salvation in Christ. They were just about ready to set another day to come and continue studying when Gregoria interrupted, “I need God and I need Him now! How do I accept Jesus as my Savior?” Betty and Lupita were taken a bit by surprise, but none the less shared the plan of salvation in more detail. Gregoria, her daughter and daughter in law all accepted Christ into their hearts that night! The daughter, during the actual prayer time suddenly blurted out, “I feel as though something is dragging me out the door. I feel it pulling me outside!” Betty and Lupita began praying for the daughter and broke through and she felt the immediate peace of God in her life.
It has been about 2 months since this all passed. Every week Gregoria, her daughter Lupita, and her daughter in law Rocio are faithful to study God’s word. They meet each Thursday afternoon for study and prayer. Lupita’s husband, Carlos, is now interested in the change he has seen in his wife. He has a lot of questions and Jeremy is beginning a Bible study with him. Gregoria has undergone such a dramatic change in life that all her friends have noticed. Some for the good and some for the worse (typical jealousy). The person who has really noticed Gregoria’s change is her husband, Alfonso, who accepted Christ in his heart in our service Sunday, October 05, 2008. Jeremy is going to meet with Alfonso and Carlos together. Gregoria has been sharing with her son in prison over the phone. Rocio went to see her husband in jail a couple weeks ago. It turns out that he has been studying the Bible as well during his days in prison. Though he has not accepted Christ yet, we know that God is not through with him! The Holy Spirit and life in Christ is reaching Gregoria and her family. The true life in Christ has taken the place of the death worship in Gregoria’s son. What used to be phone calls of tears and sadness has evolved, by the power of God and His Holy Spirit, into a time of great rejoicing and laughter!
We share all of this as a testimony to God working and moving through your faithful prayer and the time the Aguascalientes team has spent working with and praying for the people of Pocitos. There are more stories like this in Pocitos. As of the moment there are 4 entire families and another group of about 7 women and their children who are taking Bible studies in this village, all with their own stories of how God is touching their lives! We had a group of 75 kids at our last Kids Club in Pocitos and ministry moves forward! We look forward to the coming days in Pocitos and we plead for your continued prayer and support as we minister to these new Christians and family in Christ!

We Need Your Help!

2008-09-17T17:03:00.001-05:00

Our funds are down and we need people to give financially. If God lays on your heart to give to us, please do! We appreciate all of you who are giving and encourage many more to give. Please call EFM at (303)-421-8100 and sign up to pledge! Then send us an email to let us know! It is easy and we need your help. Thank you for those who have responded!

2008-09-17T16:41:00.001-05:00

Thank God for new ministry opportunities. This section is going to be a list of 5 new ministries for you to rejoice with us about and pray for us about. These are ministries that have just come up very recently! We are excited! Bible Study with Gregoria, her husband, and grown daughter and daughter in law. Bible study with Claudia. Prayer walking in Jaime and Lupita’s neighborhood. Ministry and possible new Bible study with Roberto and Claudia. Couples night out to happen Friday, September 19, 2008 at 7:00pm. Praise God!!!

Our team is very excited to be able to put on a Couples Night for all of our friends, acquaintances, and new contacts. We are offering a special dinner for couples that we know (with free babysitting) and will have during this time 3 different workshops on marriage and relationships and how to get the most out of them. We will be using lots of Scripture and will be using strictly Biblical bases as our subjects. In between each workshop will be a group or couple dynamic to encourage putting into practice what was just learned. We made a list of couple between each member of our team and have a total of at least 40 couples. Including children we should top 100 people! We trust this will be an awesome time of ministry and we pray that God will allow us to reap a harvest through this evangelistic tool! Please seriously pray with us for this Friday evening!

2008-08-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

The Aguascalientes team just finished up VBS in the village of Pocitos last week. We had Meg Apperson, from Ohio, visit and help out, as well as a team of 9 from the Las Vegas, NV Hispanic Friends Church. God definitely blessed this four day event and we reached out to the lives of around 128 kids and about 20 moms on the last day. There were a couple special services during this week. One in Aguascalientes brought 12 new people and one in Pocitos had 19 people in total! We give glory to God for His provision, protection and blessing during this time of special ministry. Thank you very much to all who were praying for the Pocitos VBS!

Edwin and I (Jeremy) were able to attend and represent Aguascalientes at the annual meeting in Mexico City. The Mexico Yearly Meeting consists of the “La Familia”church, Xalatlaco Church and Solidaridad mission in Mexico City, and a few churches from the Mexicali area of Northwest Mexico (just under California) and Aguascalientes. We enjoyed the times of fellowship and the devotionals which had a God orchestrated theme of knowing who we are, and standing strong as children of God. The combined service on Sunday brought together approximately 250 people. I enjoyed this time of fellowship and meeting with our Friends in Mexico.

We are starting to see God move in and among the people we have been ministering to. The Holy Spirit is stirring peoples hearts and we are finding ourselves sharing more and more of our time with different families. This is we’ve been waiting for! Praise God! Please pray with us as we make the best and most efficient use of our time and abilities for God’s kingdom!

2008-06-07T15:49:00.003-05:00

The times here in Aguascalientes are tense and exciting all wrapped up together. Since the new presidency in Mexico there has been a raise in the level of violence around the country. Aguascalientes has not been left out. We have seen a lot of violence involving drug dealers and traffickers, and kidnappings. Just this last week there was a raid and gunfights that broke out in at least four different areas of the city, mostly all in the north, which is where we live. One of these happened at a school just four or five blocks from our home. Aguascalientes was always known previously as a very peaceful, non-violent city, but no more. Please pray for us and the people we are working with. One family we are evangelizing was caught right smack in the middle of one of the shootouts. We saw them the next day and they were dazed.

Now for the exciting news! A man who I have been evangelizing with Jaime has accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. This family would be a family that are friends with Jaime and Lupita. They introduced us to them and have taken on the burden to evangelize them. How awesome is God! Anyway, this man and his family came over to our house one evening and we were able to visit until 1:30am in the morning. He recognized his need for the Lord and his sin in his life and we led him to the feet of Christ! We were so happy, but sooo tired because his wife is very strongly against anything that has to do with Christianity. We are sure that there are some spiritual barriers which will require some heavy praying if she is to drop the blinders that Satan has put on her. Please pray with us for this family. Please pray for the man, as his wife has tried to stop him from meeting with us for discipleship classes. Please pray for the lady, that God's light and Christ's salvation would become very clear to her. She needs to see that her needs will all be met by accepting Jesus as Savior. Please pray for their 3 kids, that God would open up their eyes as well. Please pray also for strength for Jaime, as I work with him in discipling our new brother in Christ. Please also pray that the new faith would not be strangled out by the issues in his life, nor by the Devil and his horrible schemes.

Thank you so much for taking care of us in prayer. We look forward to seeing God's Spirit move in this new family!

Meeting More People!

2008-04-02T17:35:00.003-05:00

Jaime and Lupita have been very busy sharing their new faith in Christ with all of their families, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. They have especially been sharing with their families, even thought it has not always been very welcome. At last the opportunity came! Our family went to visit with the extended families of our disciplees, Jaime and Lupita. We can now say that we have met Jaime's entire family! We know his 3 brothers and their families and his mom and dad. We enjoyed talking with them. We were able to leave a good impression of Christianity with them. We say this because we have recieved feedback from his family on our visit. We have also met most all of Lupita's family. We lack one sister to yet meet. We talked well with Lupita's mom and two sisters. In the morning Jaime and his mom went to buy some bread for breakfast. On the walk his mom mentioned that we were very full of peace. I guess that is what we are called to; to be peacemakers. I hope we left some of that "peace that passes all understanding" with Jaime and Lupita's families!

We ate together with each family and had a positive time talking. They have invited us back whenever we can come. We left some Bible League materials for Lupita's family. There were no decisions, but there were seeds planted. We will be following up with them through Jaime and Lupita.

One amazing result of this time is that Jaime's mom, who has not kept in good touch with him, has begun to call regularly. Jaime had a chance in an hour long call one day to ask for forgiveness. They cried together! I believe she sees a big change in Jaime's life. Praise the Lord! He has been fasting in prayer for her, since she became really sick after our visit. He thought she might blame him and us for her sickness, saying that we put some kind of "spell" on her, but to the contrary she never said a thing!

We saw good fruits of our time and are pleased to be able to share with you all!

2008-02-20T11:22:00.004-06:00

We were driving in the car one evening, heading over to the Northeast side of town. We had just had a wonderful evening chatting about various things, including God. Jaime stretched and put his hands behind his head as if gesturing contentment and said, "It is just so fun to be with your family. Your family is peaceful. You don't have to be drinking to have fun. And your words are positive and give life to us." Betty and I felt a great sense of satisfaction. We know why we are peaceful. We give glory to God! We know why we can enjoy life in its simplest ways. We give glory to God! We know the importance of being kind and positive and we know that our words are life giving. It is because we give glory to God, the Giver of life! We want simply to live our lives and use our words and opportunities to give glory to God and to bring all people to Christ and to maturity in Him. So when we hear words like those of Jaime we feel that we are doing just what our Lord has called us to!

I went to a store one day and began talking with the owner. Another guy came in and joined our conversation. As the owner left to do something I continued talking with the other man. By the end of our conversation he asked if he could have Bible studies. I was absolutely amazed and excited. We have seen this place to be a little bit hard in the past couple of years, but I saw a change that day. I saw a person hungry for the Lord. I saw all of your prayers and the prayers of everyone beginning to take effect. I saw God softening this man's heart and I am truly excited!

A few days ago I was given the opportunity to speak at a state pastor's conference in a state north of us. I wasn't the main speaker, I just got to say a few words about Aguascalientes and our ministry here. In front of over 350 pastors I shared about the ministry here. After the meeting I made a few contacts with people who were interested. I praise God for the time I had to plead for prayer from other pastors around Mexico and to make new acquaintences!

We continue our discipleship with Jaime and Lupe and Karen. Every week we see them grow in the Lord and we watch them mature on their own. It is an often occurence to hear them say something very fundamental and mature and we ask how they learned that. They will say, "Oh I was reading in I John the other day", or "I was reading a passage about so and so in Isaiah". We are tickled to see their hunger for God!

Our entire team is together! Edwin and Maria Giron and family and settled in and we had our first team meeting together. Our family and Andrea Byrne and Candi Foster are thrilled to have the Girones join us. We have planned many activities to help incorporate them into our ministries and missions team. We hope they feel welcome and hope to see God use all of us together to form the new local churches of Christ Jesus called "Friends" here in Aguascalientes!

Tommorow (February 21, 2008)I will be taking a conference in Puebla, Mexico and then visiting the church in Mexico City and then doing some legal visa stuff and then continuing some other conferences in Pachuca Mexico until the 1st of March. We would love for you to pray for us during this time. Edwin will be joining me and we will be leaving our families at home. Please pray for safety and fruitfulness for us and for safety and fruitfullness for our families as they stay in Aguascalientes.

2007-12-18T10:14:00.000-06:00

Burr, it is cold outside. Days in Aguascalientes are in the mid 70's to lower 80's during the day and high 30's to low 40's during the nights. This makes for good colds and flus! We are doing pretty well, though we each have colds at the moment. We praise the Lord for the opportunity to be here to minister in the name of Jesus to our friends and acquaintences here in Aguascalientes. We continue to meet new people and have moved in to evangelism and even discipleship phases now. We share discipleship with Jaime and Lupita. They are so pleased and blessed to know the Lord and take every opportunity to let it be known. To see how their lives have changed is nothing short of outstanding. Jaime has recieved some slack from his family and co-workers, but he is proud of his relationship with Jesus and knows that there is nothing more valuable than knowing Christ.

On December 16th our team had a Christmas event for all our friends and acquaintences. About 30 people came, including some new people we had not met. We each shared a part in the event and I was privileged to lead a devotion. I asked for a time of thanking God for the blessings of the year and Jaime and Lupita both shared about coming to know the Lord. Cris, one of Andrea's friends also shared about coming to Christ this year. This event was very successful and I see the people we invite beginning to interact in a closer way each time. We try to have these events once every three months to encourage fellowship and shared time in God's word. This is in adition to our weekly or biweekly Bible studies and Celebration services we have once each month.

Betty and I enjoy talking in the evenings about the many things we see God doing in Aguascalientes. We look forward to watching God move more and more during this next year when we will be welcoming Edwin and Maria Giron and family to our team!

I think of the times when Paul would give thanks to those who had encouraged him, supported him, prayed for him and given. When I read through those passages I feel stirred in my heart by the Lord to do the same for each of you who encourage us, support us, pray for us and give to us, for us or for the Aguascalientes ministry. I want to let you know how much we appreciate you for everything you do. We praise God for caring people like each of you and we thank you so much!

Celebration Services

2007-11-20T16:58:00.000-06:00

On November 4 our missions team gathered together with the new Christians that we have reached so far for a time of gathered celebration in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We had 9 baby Christians gathered with us as we learned of each other, sang, and shared from God's Word on our purpose in life. Afterword we ate together and enjoyed a great time of fellowship. It was a very moving time to see the beginnings of the formation of a new local body of Jesus Christ in Aguascalientes, Mexico!

Ealier in the morning on November 4th we took our team and their disciples to a village outside town and handed out over 50 packages of blankets, baby clothes and little jars of coffee to people who desparately needed them. This was an opportunity to get to know the people, share our love with them, and help the new Christians get a flavor for physical acts of the love God gives us to give others. Everybody was impacted in a very positive way! Thank you to all the people (Arvada Friends of Colorado, Chandler Friends of Oklahoma, and all the others that I'm not immediately remembering) who sent blankets and baby clothes to Aguascalientes last year!

October 22-26 I attended a church planting conference in Pachuca, Mexico. I received some great training from the Bible League, Mexico. They have training that is proven from over 50 years of experience. I appreciated being able to learn alongside many other Mexico pastors and church leaders. I also am happy to have recieved the training in the Spanish language. This will aid in our being able to quickly use the material for discipleship and church planting!

Betty and Bethany both had birthdays in October which gave us ample opportunity to again invite our friends who we are reaching for Jesus. Bethany had 7 school friends at her little party.

We continue to meet with Jaime, Lupita and Karen regularly for discipleship. They have finished the first of several phases of discipleship. They amaze us every time we meet and bring up awesome spiritual truths that they have learned from their daily time in God's Word. Betty and I often look at each other and giggle with an astonishment at the hand of God at work in their lives! Karen has lead a person to Jesus and is now learning how to disciple her friend!

The other day Betty and I had breakfast with some of the parents of Bailey's classmates. We enjoyed meeting new people. It has become easy for us to wonder what God has in mind for the people we meet. We also had a good moment visiting with another couple that we have continued to get to know for the last year.

We had a good time of prayer walking and ministering during the "Festival of Death" that occurred here in Aguascalientes during the Halloween time. We handed out about 30 gospel tracts and enjoyed watching God's hand move and feeling the prayers of many people. We want to thank Friends Community Church of California who put on a prayer event for us during this oppresive time of year in Aguascalientes. We really felt covered, praise God!

Please pray for us during this holiday season as we continue to make friends, evangelize, and disciple those who have come to Christ Jesus as their Savior.

2007-10-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

Betty has been meeting with a few friends for breakfast once a month or so. She has been gaining their trust and friendship. Their names are Karla, Xochitl, Veronica, and Selene. We, as a family have been to Karla's home to eat with her and her husband, Ivan and family a couple times already. We have been to Veronica's boy's birthday party and met her family. What a joy it is to see how God moves and brings us into people's lives like He does. We trust God and He leads us in incredibly ways!

On September 15 we had a Noche Mexicana party in our home to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day. Their were 43 people in our home that night with some friends from each of our team members. We had a great time of clean, healthy fun. It was a time to bring people together and have them see our tranparency and desire to let them know us. It was a wonderful trust building event. we ended about 1:00am in the morning and with a messy home, but hey!

This last weekend we were invited to go camping with a couple families from Bethany's school. Though it poured down rain right before we left and rained on us all night we had a perfect afternoon and evening and a beautiful morning in which it didn't rain. The rain made one family pack up and leave at 3:00am in the morning, but that left us with the other family to spend the next morning with, until 2:00pm in the afternoon. We were able to have some great time getting to know them and have them get to know us. We shared our testimonies with them and had some really good spiritual conversations with them. We shared with them our reason for being in Aguascalientes and shared what God has done for us. What a fantastic time it was. We felt them sensitive and understanding of our message of sharing Christ. We hope this opens up more opportunities to share more deeply and directly with them!

Wow, God begins to move and then doesn't stop! We have had a wonderful time lately working with Jaime and Lupita and their daughter Karen,and Carmen whom have just accepted Christ as their Savior! Our discipleship with them is going very well. They are like sponges at this moment; sucking up everything they can. In the last month that they have been Christians they have shared with many people. Some with good results, others not so good, but it has not deterred them. They have each shared with their family members and Jaime has shared with 3 co-workers. He even asked for a scripture portion for one of them! They told us the other day that they took down the idols, the altar to the Virgin Guadalupe and all the magazines, music and movies that they felt bad about, and destroyed it. The wonderful thing is that we didn't mention a thing to them. They themselves were convicted by the Holy Spirit and acted in obedience! We took them through the steps to freedom in Christ, due to a family history of witchcraft. That was very freeing and left us all in tears. They are so impressed with their new life in Christ and continually mention, "All the times we have been to mass and have never heard about what we are learning in the Bible". They are so thankful for what God has done for them!

These are the stories we have been waiting for. What a humbling effect it is to see the Lord works in the ways He does! We invite each of you to share with us in the lives of these people by praying for them; asking God to continue to show Himself to them and soften their hearts. Please pray for our friends Jaime and Lupita, their daughter Karen, and Carmen that God would reaveal himself more and more to them, that they would withstand any attack Satan may use to thwart them, and that they would become Christians who would stick close and grow closer to Christ for the rest of their lives! Praise the Lord!

2007-09-12T13:35:00.000-05:00

Betty met Lupita, our family hair stylist, a little over a year ago. Lupita and her friend Carmen started their own hair salon 10 months ago and Betty followed them since she liked their abilities. They have always known we were Christians and had questions on and off during these last months. They asked about the differences between Christians and those who were not. Lupita mentioned once that she had a lady come and talk to her about Christ, but she felt forced and offended by the lady. Betty knew right away that she couldn´t use her words, but only actions to minister to Lupita and Carmen. A lot of times it is easier to talk about the Lord than it is to live your life for Him. For the last many months we have simply cared for them and loved them.

In August we began inviting them into our home to eat and visit together. This is when we met Lupita´s husband Jaime and their daughter Karen (nine years old). They enjoyed the times we spent together so much that they invited us out to eat. They started sharing their life’s stories with us. We began hearing that Jaime’s family practices different forms of witchcraft. Lupita’s and Carmen’s family are extremely devout Catholics. They eventually began sharing more and more personal things with us. Lupita, one day, shared with Betty about her life growing up with a abusive alcoholic father. Betty felt for her and understood her well. Carmen accepted Christ in her heart on a Sunday morning during one of our celebration services. We gave Carmen a gospel of John from the Bible League to start reading. She read half of it in a week (though it should normally take 4-5 weeks to get through the studies). She then lent it to Lupita to read. When Lupita would put it down Jaime would grab it and read. When there was any chance in between Karen would read little bits. Then one Saturday night we were eating together and Jaime had begun sharing about reading the book of John. He had also grabbed his Catholic Bible and read Revelation. We took advantage of the moment to ask if he wanted to know what he was reading about. Betty felt like she was playing the role of Phillip when he spoke to the eunich about understanding what he was reading. Believe it or not we spent 6 hours with them that night until a little after 1:00 in the morning! We took them home at midnight and they invited us in to their home to talk a little more. This began a four week process of sharing and talking with them about God and what He means to us.

On September 9, 2007 we had everybody over to our house to celebrate Lupita’s birthday. She was very touched that we thought of her because she hadn’t had a birthday party before. After everybody had left and we were their with just Jaime, Lupita, Karen and Carmen we began talking again and Betty began reading the first section of John and asked the questions for them all to answer. She wanted them to learn how to do the studies. We gave them all their own books. The moment came when we felt they were ready. We asked them if they understood what we were asking them and Lupita, as if she had been a Christian for years, spoke up and, between her tears said, “Yes, it means that we know we have done many bad things in our lives. We are not worthy of salvation, but Christ came to die for us and rescue us and give us eternal life. I want to believe and want to accept Jesus in my heart”. Jaime mentioned that he was ready the week before, but didn’t feel his wife was ready and wanted to wait for her! Then he started crying along with her. They hugged each other and then we prayed together to lead them to the Lord.

Jaime and Lupita then shared about what had been going on in their lives the last few weeks before this time came. Jaime’s brothers began noticing that he was not around on the weekends to hang out with them. They asked him what was going on and he shared that he had some new friends with whom he had been sharing time together and eating. He told them that his new friends were Christians. Lupita told Jaime, “Don’t tell your brothers that our friends are Christians because they might make fun of you or attack you or chastise you”. Jaime told her, “More the reason I want them to know”. He knew he wanted to become a Christian and didn’t want to hide at all! The day he accepted Jesus as Savior he mentioned that he was waiting for the phone call from his mother, asking, “What in the world did you do”? He was looking forward to telling her! Lupita said her mom and sisters may not like her choice, but her family is her husband and daughter and she feels salvation is more important. She said, “I want to thank you so much for touching my life the way you have and for being patient and just loving us”. Then Betty told them that today your names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and today is not only your physical birthday, but also your spiritual birthdays. Then everybody had another good cry! Jeremy prayed for them and asked for God’s protection over them and blessing for them as new children of His.

We have learned through this journey that it is equally important, if not at times more, to minister to others through our lives. People have heard preaching and words, and they are a little tired of it. When a person meets a Christian who loves God and lives Christ out through their lives they are touched. We have heard this different times from people we have met here. Jaime told us out of the blue one evening that he was turned off by the Catholic religiosity here. He then sighed deeply and said, “But with you guys I see fruits”! Wow! What a humbling and great feeling moment we had.

This is the most wonderful ending to their spiritual search and the most wonderful beginning of their new lives in Christ! They are finishing the Gospel of John and this next Sunday (September 16, 2007)we will begin our Bible study/dischipleship with them.

Betty met Lupita’s sister last night. Another journey has begun!

2007-09-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

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This past week has been a very busy ministry week! We are tired, but in a great way. We visited around with several of our friends.
We clearly watch them now as they begin to open up to us in a way we hadn't seen just a month ago. Varenka and her mom spilled their lives to us last Wednesday. Betty and I prayed for them right there in there business!
In the last 3 weeks we have seen our relationship blossom with our friends Jaime and Lupita and their 9 year old daughter, Karen. Also with their friend, Carmen. They are very hungry to know about God and we have taken every opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with them. Carmen has accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior and Jaime and Lupita are very close! We gave a book of John to Carmen and she finished it and gave it to Lupita to read. While Lupita is busy and not reading Jaime picks it up and reads it!
We went to Bethany's PTA meeting and afterword I (Jeremy) was invited to play soccer this Thursday (08/06/07) with a man named Francisco, whom I have been talking with for a year.
We are so excited! We have counted around 10 couples with families who we are working with at this moment. The number constantly changes, but the exciting thing is that we have lots of ministry opportunities!
One thing we have learned is that Aguascalientes people are open, but leary when it comes to discussing Christ and His salvation for us. They will talk, as long as each party respects the others beliefs, but living out our actually daily lives as Christians in love with God before their eyes has produced results. We believe this to be the way into people's lives. Other missionaries here have told us (and we have experienced) that Mexicans will read right through your intentions with ease. We know that being a friend who cares is extremely important and we praise God for revealing this to us!!!

Working Together

2007-08-21T10:03:00.000-05:00

Every day here in Mexico is a new adventure in reaching people for Jesus. We are continually presented with many challanges, from friendship forming to the simplicity of just trying to live and function. New cultures bring many fun adventures and obstacles. We feel confident that we have worked out a lot of the kinks, but just when you think you are functioning smoothly something else inevitably pops up. Welcome to our adventures in reaching people for Jesus in a different culture! We would like to share with you some of our ups and downs, excitements and disappointments all in an effort to help you know how better to pray for us here in Aguascalientes, Mexico. We desparately need your prayer and support!

Thank You

2007-08-21T09:39:00.000-05:00

This is our new option for getting our information out to you. We want to send our biggest appreciation out to all of you who regularly pray and support us. We continually think about you and pray for you, knowing that you are a very essential part of this ministry in Aguascalientes. We thank the Lord for your missions minded love and attitude that we see in you.