After a Week in Mexico

Things are going well. We arrived safe and sound in Negritas and spent nine days there. We spent all day Tuesday giving a Bible conference - Jon preached 5 times. Saturday was an all day of prayer and Sunday he gave two more messages. Jerilyn had many good conversations with the ladies and taught children's church several times so that all the ladies could attend the messages that Jon gave. Jon met with the leaders of the church two times and Jon and Jerilyn had a very good meeting with Lupe and Leti on Monday morning.

We are now in Huajuapan, Oaxaca, Mexico with Juan and Vicki Herrera - a couple we ministered to for many years in Oregon and Jon baptized 5 years ago. They are doing well and Juan is starting Bible School this month. He is helping to start a church in his home town.

On Thursday we will be traveling to Jessie's in-law's house for a couple days of R&R before heading back towards Oregon.

Pray for the fan in our car to work as it has been on and off. When it is hot and off we have no air conditioning and traveling in Arizona can be unbearable with 100+ temperatures. Mexico is green and much cooler.

On our way to Negritas

Jerilyn and I are on our way, driving to Negritas, Mexico, to visit the church we planted a year and a half ago with people we led to Jesus in Oregon. Lupe is the pastor and Leti his wife.

Their ministry seems to be continually in flux as the situation there is always changing. There are currently a couple of Bible studies going as well as a regular weekly prayer meeting and an all day of prayer the first Saturday of every month. Pray that we can be an encouragement to everyone in the church and especially to Lupe and Leti.

Lupe’s mother is in serous condition as her liver is failing. This is of great concern to the family as she is still rejecting faith in Jesus. This visit will probably be the last time we will be able to see her alive. Pray for wisdom as we visit with her. Pray for her salvation.

We are also going to visit Juan and Vicki Herrera. They received Jesus and were baptized several years ago in Oregon. Now they are living for Jesus in their town as the only believers. Circumstances are sometimes very discouraging and we are going to encourage them.

Pray for safety as we will be passing through a couple of areas where there has been violence recently. Pray that we will be able to encourage believers and be used by God to share Jesus with those who do not yet know him.

Carne Asada Outreach is Tonight

Pray for our Carne Asada tonight in Jefferson. We are praying for 100 people to come. We will serve barbequed beef, tortillas, salsa, beans and rice. Afterwards we will play basketball and soccer until midnight. Pray for Miguel Velarde who will preach and for Remedios and Zeila who will teach children’s church.

After the service Jon will be immediately driving to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to bring Luis, our son-in-law, home to his family as he received his legal papers to immigrate today. Jessie and their daughter Citlali have missed him a lot.

Urgent prayer request for Lupe in Negritas.

Please pray for Lupe, the pastor of our church plant in Negritas, Mexico. His mother is an alcoholic and of course the family (and especially Lupe) has been trying to get her to quit for some time. This week Lupe's mother drank too much and fell down. She received a large bruise on the side of her face. To save face, she is telling everyone in town a lie - that Lupe was trying to get her to stop drinking and hit her.

• Pray that people would not believe her as Lupe has a good reputation of being a Godly man.
• Pray that Lupe and Leti would have wisdom to answer the questions and allegations in a way that would glorify God.
• Pray that the Holy Spirit would convict Lupe's mom and bring her to salvation.

1 Peter 2:12, "having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."

Good Friday went well!

On Good Friday we served a great home cooked meal. Then we had a worship service. Then we played basketball past midnight. Our Good Friday Outreach is an outgrowth of our Open Gym ministry. Way back in 1994 when we first started our Open Gym we had a first Good Friday service. Open Gym was held on Friday nights and when Good Friday came around we couldn’t just ignore it. We had a special short service in the middle of our gym night. In 1997 it grew to what we have today with a full blown meal and an hour long worship service followed by playing basketball “until we drop”.

This year Carmelo and Cristina gave their testimonies during the worship service. Two years ago Carmelo received Jesus as his Savior during our 10 Days of Prayer. Cristina received Jesus in our living room a couple months later. Jon had the privilege of baptizing Carmelo and Cristina last September during our family camp. Carmelo is teaching an evangelistic home Bible study. Also, our church van sits outside their house and they fill it each week bringing unsaved neighbors and friends to church.

This year we only had 120-130 come to Good Friday. This is down quite a bit from our normal 180 or so. On the bright side, of those who attended there were about 100 people who do not know Jesus as their Savior. Several people expressed an interest in receiving a Bible and/or attending a home Bible study. As a result one new Bible study has been started. We hope to start at least one more as a result of this year’s Good Friday outreach.

10 Days of Prayer were Great!

Ten days of prayer were great! We prayed a total of 1745 “man hours.” The children played a huge role in the number of hours we prayed this year as together everyone under 18 prayed a total of more than 600 hours.

Primarily we were praying for people who need Jesus - by name. We had over a hundred cards with several names on each one. We were also praying for our Good Friday Outreach. (News on that to come later.) Another focus of our prayer was the 10 Days of Prayer that our daughter church was having in Negritas, Mexico.

The church in Negritas had a goal of praying at least 1000 hours during their 10 Days. God blessed them greatly as they prayed a total of 1560. In Negritas, they wrote down the names of every single person in the community on the cards and prayed repeatedly for them to come to know Jesus.

Some people from a nearby community of Lindero came and spent a good amount of time in prayer. They have been attending the church every week since Jon was there in January. The work there is growing!

Emily came to pray - at two days old!

10 Days of Prayer starting

We are beginning our annual 10 Days of Prayer. We will begin Saturday, March 20, at 7:00 pm and end Tuesday, March 30 at 8:00 pm. We are primarily praying for our Good Friday outreach. We pray for unsaved friends and relatives by name (we write them all down on cards). We pray that they will come to Good Friday and that God would draw them to himself. Pray for us, that God would move in our hearts as we spent time with him, seeking his blessing.

To encourage people to come and pray we remove some obstacles by providing childcare and food. Our goal is to pray at least 1500 “man hours” – very difficult seeing that we are a small church. We strongly believe that the more we pray, the more God will bless. God answers prayer!

At the same time we are praying here in Oregon, our little church down in Negritas, Mexico will be having their own 10 Days of Prayer. Last year they prayed over 600 hours and had an outreach of their own on Good Friday.