God Always Provides

August and September Update

Greetings brothers and sisters in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ! I pray we find you all doing well. August and September have been very busy months for us. In August we drove 9 hour to Tepic, for a national ministers meeting where we were voted in as official licensed ministers in Mexico. Naturally this will open up more doors of opportunity for us to minister and be an influence in the community. A new small group is needing to be planted in another area outside of Nazas. There is no Christian church there and Islam is being spread. Please help us pray as we organize and develop another group there.

Small groups are in full swing and doing well. Together with Pastor Samy and Paloma, we have 4 active small groups each week in the community! We facilitate a small group in Santa Barbara and one in our home in Nazas. Santa Barbara has a much different feel considering it is a smaller area than Nazas. People are more closed into themselves and the thought of Christianity is a rejected concept. Many are bullied and outcast for leaving Catholicism. We are very thankful for the family there, who have opened their home to us. This is a huge step of faith. They are known as the “Christian” house in the community. Please help us pray that God will continually guide and protect them.

We give thanks to God over our new friend 'Lady I,' and her daughter, who have consistently come to our home small group. Each week she comes hungry for the word of God. In honor of Mexico's independence day, she prepared a traditional dish, Pozole, for us to taste. We were honored to share her culture with her.

At times when you share the gospel with a person, they are not open to receive it. This isn’t anything new. The bible tells us, "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet."- Matthew 10:14

We certainly have experienced this. Since we've moved to Mexico in January, we’ve been steadily working with our new friend, 'Mr. A'. He’s been very kind to us and even helped us move into our home before he even knew us. His heart has been very closed to the gospel and to our invitation to bible study. We give thanks to God for his first visit in our home small group this month! Please help us pray that God softens his heart as we continue to share the gospel with him and his wife.

Our first youth outing was a success. We hosted a group of 10-14 year olds in our home. We pray as we continue to develop a youth program at Iglesia Libertad, that it will provide an avenue of salvation and safety. There are many things for kids in today's society to be caught up with. Let’s catch them with Jesus first!

We are still steadily picking people up in the community for church each Sunday. We drive 16-18 hours a month picking up people. Since gas and diesel are double the price here, this is one of our greatest expenses. Without your support this wouldn’t be possible.

We want to say a special thanks to the Crosspoint Tabernacle. We were in need of extra finances to purchase books and supplies for the English school. Start up costs for anything is difficult and expensive. However, that’s no longer the case! Thank you Crosspoint Tabernacle, Pastors Stephen and Ashley Perry!

We also want to say thank you to our home church First Apostolic, Pastors Deejay and Karla Shoulders, for donating to us a church van. What a blessing! We were in great need of a van to use between outreach, church, soccer ministry, youth outings...etc! To God be the Glory!

Lastly, we made a quick visit to Tennessee, this month to celebrate the home-going of our beloved Bishop Billy Shoulders. Bishop was one of our greatest fans! He was so excited when we told him we believed God was calling us to the mission field. Without any hesitation he told us to, "Go". It was that simple. After every message that we taught at FAC, he would encourage us. What an honor it is knowing that Bishop Shoulders believed in us. We can only hope and pray that we continue this race with such outstanding love, grit, and perseverance that he displayed in the Kingdom. As you pray for us, we ask you to pray specifically for our Pastors Deejay and Karla as well as the ENTIRE Shoulders family. There's no doubt that a hole was left in the hearts of everyone that Bishop touched.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippian 1:21

We love you all!

Matthew, Kiara, and MJ