Day 16 in Mexico

We are in Santiago Apostol.  Actually we are staying in the neighboring town of San Lucas where Angel & Eva and Teodoro & Modesta live.  We are staying with Teodoro and Modesta.  We brought along two tents with us and all the boys are having a great time in one of them and the girls in another.  The three families of children are mixing very well and enjoying their time together.  We also brought three blow-up mattresses.  My wife and I are using a queen size one and Lupe and Leti are using two individual ones.  Teodoro and Modesta are sleeping on the cement with a very thin petate like they always do.

Everything is going very well.  Teodoro is a very good, successful farmer and he is teaching Lupe how to be a better farmer and how to do things less expensively.  He is being a great encouragement to Lupe in this area.  He has even talked about the possibility of traveling by bus to visit Lupe in Negritas to see his situation and offer suggestions of what he can do to improve his harvest.  That trip by bus would be about 12 hours one way.  In the car it takes us about 9 hours.

I have visited everyone I wanted to invite to the seminar and everyone can come except that Nemesio will only be able to sit in on one or two sessions.  We are going to have the seminar Friday and Saturday from 1pm to 5pm and on Sunday from 10am to 2:30pm.  (Keep in mind we are on Mexican time).  I told Flavio and Violeta if they wanted to come at noon they could eat with us.  Pray for a great time. Pray that God would give me wisdom in teaching and that I would remember everything I want to share.  Pray that everyone understands the lessons and can see how God can use them to reach their towns for Christ.

Teodoro is very obviously a Godly man who has a great desire to see people from his town come to Christ.  He has also suffered a lot for his faith in Jesus.  When he first came to live in San Lucas (right next door to Santiago) and he wanted to grow flowers everyone refused to sell him tools or even the starts to grow his flowers.  So, he grew alfalfa for his animals and corn for his family.  Later, when someone finally sold him flower starts to grow, no one would buy the finished product.  Teodoro has been in San Lucas about the same amount of time that Lupe and Leti have been in Negritas, and, like Lupe and Leti, the people now respect Teodoro very much and everyone seeks him out to buy from him because his product is of very high quality and his prices reasonable.  Also like Lupe and Leti, while they respect him as a man, they are very wary of being influenced by his “non-traditional” beliefs.  Like in Negritas, tradition is of supreme importance in Santiago and San Lucas.

This is one of the main reasons that I wanted to get Lupe and Teodoro together, so that they could encourage each other in the respective ministries that God has given them.  This is happening and I am happy.

I have great hopes that Teodoro will start at least one Bible study after I leave, inviting his family and Angel and Eva.  That is what he wants to do.  I also hope that Flavio will want to have a study in his house that is apart from the weekly Bible studies that the Catholics have.  Please pray to these ends.  It may be that Teodoro will have to prove that I can be done before Flavio takes this step.

After spending an hour together with Nemesio, it was obvious that Nemesio and Teodoro had often discussed their beliefs.  As I have only met Nemesio a couple of times I was still totally unsure of where he is in his relationship with Jesus.  I asked Teodoro what he thought of Nemesio and where he is spiritually.  Teodoro affirmed that he was sure Nemesio is trusting Jesus as his Savoir and wants to live for him.

When we first arrived Angel was not home.  Eva was very happy and held back tears when we presented her with a present from my daughter Julie.  The $100 she gave me for the purpose was just about exactly what it cost me to buy two square plastic tables and seven plastic chairs (from Walmart in Oaxaca).  I wanted a big table but they did not have any so I put the two square ones together.  This is the first table that they have had and they also have never had more than a couple of small chairs for their family of 7.  I also gave her a lot of clothing that was bought and donated by 3 ladies in our church. 

As I shared in last December’s newsletter, their wealth is growing.  Their first hens that were about to lay eggs in November now have children so their little flock is growing.  They also have a couple more sheep than before.  One is pregnant and another recently had a baby.  Instead of two small bamboo huts they now have a third, almost twice as big as the other two put together.  Angel has also begun to fence in his entire property with bamboo.  This also is a sign of increasing wealth.  I did find out that Angel is still drinking a little.  Pray for God to touch him and convince him that God himself can satisfy his every need.

This is a much longer report than I have given because I had more time to write it.  I am feeling good and enjoying some rest in between visits and studying.  Please continue to pray for us.

On another note, I just found out when I got to the internet café that my brother, almost 53, has hung himself.  A get together will happen on the 18^th when I will be in the Sacramento area on our way home.  Pray for his children and for the whole family.

On still another note, I wrote to several people on our mail list that we had only $1000 in hand of a needed $2500 for this trip.  We now have received another $775.  This leaves a need still of $725, assuming we come in at budget.  So far some things have been a little more expensive and others a little less expensive than what I was budgeting so right now, things look about on target.  Please pray for at least another $725 to come in to cover our expenses.  Right now we are very happy with how the trip is going.  God is doing something and we are excited to see the results.  "I seek the fruit that abounds to your account" so please consider joining the team by going to InFaith.org and click on the Donate button; Click on Donate Online; make sure you designate your gift to Jon Sousa's ministry fund.

Thank you very much!

Day 13 in Mexico

I spent a very profitable week being sick.  Don’t have time to explain much but God is in control.  My sickness resulted in great opportunity to spend a lot of time talking with Pueblito (Jesús’ wife).  She is very open and very close to confessing faith in Jesus.

Like I said a few posts ago, I don’t mind that the enemy wins all the battles except the ones that matter.  So, I spent the week sick; Lupe’s water pump broke and while I thought we could leave as soon as I got back to Negritas that was not the case; Lupe was discouraged as his crop was threatening failure; neither Lupe or Leti wanted to go to Oaxaca; (need I say more?).  Yes, there is more.  After an almost midnight pep talk we were all ready to go Monday morning (two days away).  

The pump was fixed and Lupe and his brother worked hard on watering his plants.  It was decided that Monday morning Lupe would wake up early to go buy food for his animals.  While he was gone Jerilyn and I were to come and pack everything up so that when he returned we could go.

NOT!!  One more little victory for the enemy.  We showed up at Lupe’s house on time and Lupe wasn’t gone.  He was sick in bed with a very high fever and a very large tonsil.  We were staring at another delay… while it was almost too late to delay any longer.  After some prayer, Jose and I went to town to buy the food for the animals while Jerilyn and Leti took Lupe to the Doctor.  We left 3 hours later then desired but we are on our way.  

I am writing this in McDonalds in Puebla, Mexico, about 3.5 hours from our evening’s goal.  We want to stay in a hotel tonight in Oaxaca, go to Walmart to buy some furniture for Angel and Eva in the morning, and be in Santiago buy mid-afternoon.

The big prayer requests is that God would orchestrate the scheduling of the 3 day seminar I want to give, that everyone would be able to attend at the same time, that it would go smoothly, that God would use it greatly, and that Lupe and Leti would be greatly encouraged to continue in the great ministry that God has given them.

Day 9 in Mexico

There was another reason I was so tired after helping Lupe water his field.  I was sick!  That night I had a very high fever as well as diarrhea.  I slept all the next day.  I slept for 20 straight hours except when my wife woke me up to see if I was still alive.  I believe it was food poisoning but cannot be sure.  I have had some fever now and then and some lingering intestinal problems but I am functioning at a fairly high level.

Yesterday Jerilyn and I celebrated our 37^th anniversary.  That’s right – she has put up with me for 37 years.  (Really, she has no one to blame but herself as she knew what she was getting into.)  We visited a small pyramid here in Querétaro and then went to see a very large rock structure called the Peña de Bernal.  I climbed it with Jesús and his nephew while Jerilyn stayed down with the rest of the family, worrying for my safety.  Yes, I got down safe; yes, I got very tired; yes I would do it again.   And Yes, I am still sick (a little).

They had a setback in Negritas watering the fields.  I am going to stay another day in Querétaro and then hopefully we can go to Oaxaca.  I am still studying for the seminar I am going to teach in Oaxaca.  The more I can study, the more I can present.

Pray for God’s blessing.