Newsletter Archive
A Journey to the Ends of the Earth…
After more than 4 years of teaching, traveling, and translating, our Pathways classes in Guanajuato and Veracruz are coming to a close. At the end of this month, we will graduate our 4th generation of Bible Pathways students. We feel very honored that God brought this course to us so many years ago and allowed us to be part of the translation and adaptation of the program from English to Spanish. You have probably heard us talk about the unreached people groups of Central Mexico. With the percentage of Evangelical Christians in this area near 2%, the need for a clear presentation of the gospel is great. Bible Pathways has been a wonderful tool, and we believe it will continue to be very helpful for many years to come. Not only will we be starting more courses in different areas, Lord willing, but also our graduating students are now taking what they have learned, applying it to their own lives, and sharing it with others. There has already been much fruit in the lives of the students and their congregations, and we are excited to see what God will do next, in and through them — in their villages and in the nations of the world.
These aren’t all of the students who participated in Bible Pathways, but it’s a good representation. Our students include both young and “mature”, men and women, married and single. We even had a couple of toddlers and elementary children present during some of the workshops (as you can see in the photo!). No one is excluded when it comes to learning how to rightly divide the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
Adriana is one of our 6 graduates from the Church in Celaya, Guanajuato. As part of their final exam, four students presented a chapter from the book of Colossians to the congregation. Yes, they were nervous, but they all did incredibly well!!! We are so proud of each one of them!!!
We’ll be traveling to Coyutla, Veracruz, once more at the end of this month to facilitate the final training workshop, where these seven students will be graduating. Two missions in the mountains have asked us to begin the course there. These students, Lord willing, will be taking the course to those missions in the coming months. Below is the main street in Naranjal, one of the missions in Veracruz where we hope to begin the Pathways course soon.
August was a full month here in Guanajuato. At the beginning of the month, a team from Arizona came down to visit us and helped us host a small children’s event here in Tarimoro. There was a good turn-out and we made several good connections with families here who want to know more about Jesus. Once again, the city officials were very gracious and allowed us to set up the event right in the middle of town.
It was wonderful to receive these families from Arizona and share our lives with them, even though it was a short time. They left an impact on the hearts and lives of the people here.
Jesus’ teaching in Acts 1, verse 8, tells us how the mission of preaching the good news of Christ is to be completed…
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the earth.
Jesus tells us to testify in our own back yard and our home town (Jerusalem), and to our neighbors and the folks in the next town over (Judea), and to the people we don’t really understand and maybe don’t even agree with all the time (Samaria), and to people who seem completely beyond our reach (the end of the earth). The connecting word that is repeated is “and”. Using the word “and” gives equal weight and importance to all the parts of the list. Jesus is saying that all of that should be going on at the same time, not necessarily in order of proximity. No matter who you are, where you are, or what stage of life you’re in, you can participate in the great mission to tell people about the good news of God’s love. It’s a journey that begins with only one step.
Here in Mexico, some of our ministry partners are praying about a way to participate in taking the gospel to “the end of the earth”. There is an opportunity for 6 to 8 of our team members to go to different parts of the world in June of 2019 as a part of an effort to send Latinos to Asia, sponsored by People International. If this is a project which excites you, we would love to give you more information about how you can get involved and how you can help one of the OperationFLOW team members participate in this trip. Please let us know!
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Prayers and Praises:
As always, we will be praying for each of you, our friends and family, who support us so much in every way. We most definitely could not do this without you all! Thank you for your continued prayers and support of our ministry and our family! |
¡Que Dios les bendiga! God bless you!
Embracing the journey… Christ or nothing!
––Doug and Rebecca
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