Last summer we went to Mexico for almost a month to
encourage two families that are trying to live for Jesus and lead others to
Christ in their small home towns. Both
Lupe & Leti and Teodoro & Modesta have been back home in Mexico for a
little over 5 years. Teodoro put his
faith in Christ in 1995 and Lupe & Leti did the same in 1999. Teodoro led his wife Modesta to Christ
several years ago. Life has been very
difficult for all of them as they have suffered persecution and many
roadblocks. They have all been very
discouraged from time to time.
So, last summer we took Lupe, Leti, and their four children
in north-central Mexico to
visit Teodoro, Modesta, and their three children in southern Mexico ,
thinking that they could encourage each other.
In that respect the trip was a great success! All four became fast friends and they spent a
week visiting non-stop. At the end
everyone was raring to go again.
When we made this trip last year we thought it would be the
only time we would go for an extended trip in the summer because of the heat we
have to travel through in the southern US.
But, when we were about to leave last August, Itzel (Lupe and Leti’s
daughter) asked us to come to her 15 birthday – a very special event in the life
of a young lady. The small but important
celebration will be this Sunday.
Because of that invitation we decided to go for round
2. We will once again take Lupe, Leti,
and the family to southern Mexico
for a week of encouragement and instruction.
Another goal we have is to locate Eugenio, another man from our ministry
in Oregon ,
who – rumor has it – is trying to do the same thing in shining Jesus’ light to
his small community. Eugenio is an
unknown entity as he professed faith in Christ during a Good Friday outreach
but never came to church and never expressed further interest. We were told he is trying to teach a Bible
study in his home. We want to find him
and find out what he is teaching. He may
be another that needs encouragement.
We need this trip to be covered in prayer as last year we
were met with so many obstacles we often wondered if we were going to
accomplish any of the goals we set out to do.
This year discouraging and troubling things have already been thrown in
our path that threatened to cancel the trip before it even started. Monday, as we were packing to go, out
transportation to Mexico
all of a sudden was in total limbo. It seemed
like someone threw a stick of dynamite into our box of plans to completely blow
it up. Plan B was drawn up and within an
hour the trip was back on.
Another problem was/is on Teodoro’s side. He was “volunteered” (legally forced) to
serve without pay as part of a security force for the annual town
celebration. The celebration starts just
before we can get there and ends the last day we could possibly leave. Teodoro asked for a couple of days off to
visit with us and he was told that he would have to find a replacement and pay
him to take his place. He could not find
a replacement so things looked grim. As
we talked on Monday he looked at the schedule of the celebration and found a
couple of days that he was “less needed” and we will try to visit during this
time.
We are taking a car down to Mexico
for a friend and flying back from Mexico
City . This
really helped us out as the friend is paying for a lot of the expenses of
getting us to from Mexico . We will have to pay the cost of getting
Lupe’s family to and from Oaxaca and the costs
of finding Eugenio (also in Oaxaca ). If you would like to help with these expenses
you can do so by following these steps: go on line to InFaith.org and click on the Donate button; Click on
Donate Online; designate your gift to Jon Sousa's ministry fund.
1 comment:
Please share our love and memories of Itzel and all the Alverez family as you celebrate with them.Praying in Albany, Jim and Linda
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