Plans to dig a well

A group from my home area in Mississippi will be here the 14-21 of this month to do some work with us.  We decided about two weeks ago to dig a well ourselves.  The holding capacity that I added last year just isn’t enough for our family, church, garden, and critters.  From the time that we first mentioned this to the group and how much it would take to put in the well it wasn’t very long at all until God had raised the $2200 needed for everything to do with the well.  God is good!  We are also hoping to put in a drop ceiling in the building that we use for our services.  When we stepped out on faith almost two years ago to remodel and extent this building God moved in a big way and brought in all of the needed funds.  We will be using it like a multipurpose building (minus the basketball court) and we’ll have church services, English classes for two groups of thirty people each, and the classes for the Bible Institute.  The last two weeks have been in the 100’s in the shade.  The roof is a laminated asbestos and it gets really hot, like and oven inside especially when you have lots of people.  The drop roof estimate for materials is around $1300-$1400.  This is an area 7x15 meters plus the bathroom.  It is very easy to put up and we can do it easily while the group is here if we have the funds.  If anyone would be interested please give me a call on my Vonage phone 601-724-5155 and it will reach me here in Mexico.  

God is looking for you!

On Sunday, May 29, around 3:00 PM another man knocked at the door.  Twenty-five year old Roberto from Costa Rica was passing through and looking for some help along the way and knocked on our door.  He had spent five years in the U.S. as a young teen and spoke English really well.  I was blown away.  I really didn't know what to think.  I didn't believe his story and I told him so.  I told him that I didn't know what to think but as I went inside the house for a moment I asked God to guide me and take control of the situation.  I didn't necessarily believe his story but I knew that since God brought him here that He wanted me to witness to him.  So another three hours and another person ready to be saved that got saved.  It was truly amazing.  As I told both of them, “You can knock on probably every door here in Jáltipan and you won't hear what you just heard at this door, God is looking for you".  He stayed all week and worked with us on the well.  I downloaded some really good sermons off of sermonaudio.com and he heard some good preaching all week long while we worked.  We baptized him Sunday evening and he left on his way yesterday.  God is good!

God sends the harvest to our door!

Today a Catholic missionary studying in Acayucan at the Catholic Seminary knocked on my door.  He came inside the garage and we started talking.  He was convinced that God doesn't condemn the sinner and that one had to have good works along with his faith in Jesus to be saved.  Starting in Genesis and going on to Revelation he came to understand differently; he was really open to what the Scriptures had to say.  He readily confessed that according to God's Word he was going to an eternal Hell for his sin.  Then further along it clicked with him that the Bible speaks of the Biblical salvation as a free gift based solely on the Person and work of Jesus Christ.  After about three hours he asked Jesus to save him!  He actually sighed two big sighs after praying.  Talk about resting from your labors.

Preaching in La Isla

Today I preached the two Sunday services for a national pastor in La Isla, a town about an hour away.  He has been there about a year and a half.  He left from Isla fifteen years ago and worked in Washington State the whole time.  He got saved and was trained up under a good Hispanic ministry and came back down to southern Veracruz to bring the Gospel to his people.  I am so encouraged in this.  God has been bringing in national pastors to this area over the last three to five years.

Almost everyone in the ministry here in Mexico understands the lack of Bible preaching churches in southern Veracruz and some have been sending pastors here.  I had previously met another national pastor in Minatitlan who has been there for almost six years.  God is moving and bringing people in to an area where they are really needed! 

We were talking along these same lines about four weeks ago.  I came here to Veracruz with a burden for the southern half of the state, roughly four million people.   There is just a small handful of Bible preaching, doctrinally sound, soul winning churches.  I can’t reach four million people but I can train up men and women who can and help send them out to establish local churches here in this state.  We decided to step out on faith and start a Bible Institute that would commence with classes in August.  We have several here in the church who would attend, and talking to the few national pastors around, they would send their students here as well.  We will also, Lord willing, start beginner and intermediate English classes on the same three days when we have institute classes.  This alone would bring in sixty plus people each week to hear the Gospel.  I believe that God has already begun to bless as we head toward this goal of August to start the school.