RECENT MISSION TEAMS
July Medical, Construction and VBS Team from Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Florida
Many thanks to GBC of Pottsboro, TX for another church building in Bajxulum and a week of VBS in Tojchotic.
So grateful to Family Life of Sugarland, TX for sending a second generation of team members to construct a church building in Tanubilja’ C’ancuc.
THE LORD WILL ESTABLISH YOUR PLANS
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.
The LORD works out everything to its proper end. ”
Jim Nichols, DDS and his wife Carmen have faithfully served the people of Mexico for almost 3 decades now and have also been a tremendous support to us personally. So we chose to include a first hand account from Dr. Jim concerning a day during the July medical campaign. It has a lesson in it for all of us.
In July, we had a medical/dental group come from Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Florida. We were supposed to have 3 dentists and a paramedic who is trained to give dental local anesthesia, which would allow our group to see more patients each day. Because of the group’s size, I asked Russell to pick villages where we would have lots of patients to utilize everyone to the fullest. A week before the trip, one of the dentists had to back out due to a death in the family. Monday, in Rancheria Sinai, we were swamped, and were not able to see everyone on the list. On Tuesday, on the way to Titaltetic, our van broke down, and we were 2 hours late arriving. When we got there, they told us we only had 5 patients on the list (instead of the expected 50-70). So we started seeing those few people. While I was seeing my 2nd patient, a local church leader told me that there was a lady, a church member, with a lot of problems, possibly physical and spiritual, and asked could we pray for her? A group of about five of us went next door where they brought in Veronica. She was probably in her thirties, very downcast, had uncontrollable shakes/tremors, and was barefoot, had probably never had shoes in her life. Her story was that she had 7 kids, was breast-feeding the youngest 2, and they were all very malnourished. Her husband didn’t want to have anything to do with her since the tremors started, almost 5 years ago. So we started praying… for about an hour with her.
Dr. Jim with a patient during his most recent trip to Mexico
Lilliana of Titaltetic
Then I asked where the pastor was. We found out he was home, sick in bed. I asked if we could go pray for him, but he got up to meet us in the same place. Pastor Antonio was 47 years old, had uncontrolled diabetes and was in end-stage kidney failure. He was supposed to be having dialysis, but distance, frequency, and costs made this prohibitive. So we prayed at length for him. Then they brought in the pastor’s granddaughter, Lilliana, who was 12 years old. She seemed to have had a stroke about a year ago, was unconscious for a while, unable to speak for first 3 months, and now had partial paralysis on her left side. So we prayed for her. Carmen, a retired physical therapist, gave her some therapy recommendations to improve muscle tone and coordination. Then they brought one more lady who had stomach pain and headaches for about a year. Her stomach pain would become intense every time she ate. We prayed once again and she received some significant relief. Part of the miracle of this day is that we were able to pray for these 4 people for close to 2 ½ hours. On a normal clinic day in Chiapas, we would never have had that kind of time. But God knew what was needed, to help bless His special children in that village, and God orchestrated the short list to give us time so that we could do what He really wanted us to do on that day. Glory to God!!!
IBI Session II
Professors Leroy Curtis and Chuck Bass led the August session of IBI with Luis Pinto as translator. Many thanks to these men who use the gifts God has given them for His glory!
Opportunity for Obed
Obed is loved by all our teams from the USA. He is the son of Pastor Cesar Salcedo and Mauri of Tuxtepec, Oaxaca and graduated from high school this past year. He is not married nor does he have children, but you will often find a baby in Obed’s arms. Recently, he was accepted into the Dallas Baptist University to study English for an 8 week international program. The tuition totals $3,500 which is half the normal cost. It seems that the Lord has opened an amazing opportunity for Obed. If you would like to help us raise the tuition funds, please send donations to MXO.
House Construction In Chenalho
Special thanks to all from the USA for the housing funds and labor along with Pastor Cesar and his team from Tuxtepec.
Tomas, our first widower, can be seen in the white shirt in the center of this photo.
Marcela López Velasco and her daughters along with Pastor Dino of Lafayette Vineyard and Al Brown of TX.
Distribution Ministry
Bibles, many kilos of rice & beans, as well as shoes for the children were distributed by teams to the people of Chiapas.
Children & Youth Ministry
Teams from the USA and local leaders ministered to the children of Chiapas through VBS events & provided funds for food during the Tuxtla youth conference.
