Start of Evangelism Classes

Our small church plant was inspired and challenged after our recent street evangelism outing to be more intentional in our one-on-one evangelism efforts in our community.  However, most of the brothers confessed to not feeling prepared to share the Gospel with others on the street.  The answer: classes in evangelism!

Using the “Living Waters” evangelism course, Paco started a Bible-centered

class with questions and practice scenarios on Sunday afternoons.  We love the response from the brothers who are attending!  One even admitted that just after two classes his whole view of evangelism, and even the Gospel, have changed- being redirected by the Bible!  Wow!  (We highly recommend Living Waters “Way of the Master” evangelism course! Very Biblical)

We have already had another evangelism outing, and will be continuing to do so regularly throughout the evangelism course. And, we wait to see the miracles of the Lord- how He will continue to give eternal life to those of our community  who hear and respond to the Gospel!

New Children at Kids´ Bible Club!

After our evangelism outing on Sunday, four of the children that had heard and accepted the Gospel joined our kids´ Bible club that following Friday!  The four are sisters and brother from humble means ranging in age from 7-13 years old.  Though shy at first, they soon participated openly and excitedly in the class.  They obviously felt comfortable because they even arrived for Sunday worship service that week!  We still have not

met their parents- they attend on their own each week.  Paco is reminded of how he and his siblings started attending church at a young age without their parents as well.  Since their first class, they have now brought some of their cousins and friends to kids´ club as well!  We praise the Lord for His work in their lives.

Evangelism outing around the church

A small group from our church plant, armed with Gospel tracts, New Testaments, and prayer, walked through the neighborhood around our church with the goal of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Lots of Gospel tracts were distributed, and a few people were open to conversations of life after death.  Another sister from the church and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel

with two different groups of children (about 10 in total)- who not only heard the Gospel but also prayed to recognize Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Two other brothers went door-to-door, and also prayed for a few people in need. 

After our outing, we returned to the church building, where we ate ice cream while we shared our experiences and prayed for the people

we had met.  At that point, a lady entered the church, explaining she had seen our lights on and hoped to find someone with whom to talk.  María Luisa was a believer who had left the church a while back, but recognized she needed Christ in her life again.  Such God-timing that she would walk by the church when we were there with the purpose of sharing!  We listened to her, encouraged/oriented her with the Word, and prayed for her. 

“Operation Christmas Child” Orientation Meetings

The churches that participate in the Operation Christmas Child ministry each year must send representatives to attend an all-day orientation and information session about the ministry.  Our desire is that each participating church not only understands the purpose of the shoebox gifts (to share the Gospel with children), but is also trained and equipped to do so.  At the orientation sessions, we teach church representatives how to plan and direct

a children´s evangelistic outreach event, how to present the Gospel in a concise, child-friendly, Biblical way, and how to correctly distribute the shoebox gifts (example: no charging money for the gifts, no opening the gifts beforehand, always giving the shoebox together with a Gospel booklet , etc.)

So far this year, we have held three all-day orientation sessions in different

areas.  Amazingly, we have had such a great response from the local churches this year!  At the first two information sessions, we actually had to close the registration area an hour into the event, as too many churches were signing up! (Fortunately, the churches that don´t participate this year will have the opportunity to participate next year).

The most exciting event for us was in

the El Seco region of Puebla, which is receiving the Operation Christmas Child ministry for the first time this year: the church representatives were so excited about and grateful for the ministry that they arrived early to the training session, and had tamales prepared for everyone, and stayed afterwards to thank us for this ministry arriving at their area! (We, of course, feel so unworthy of thanks- as all the donations come from loving churches

in the United States! All the Glory is for God!)

Sharing the “Operation Christmas Child” Vision in a new area!

This year, our Operation Christmas Child team will extend the ministry to one of the areas of the state of Puebla which has never received these materials, called “El Seco”.  In fact, many churches in this area have never even heard of the shoebox gifts!   Besides traveling to this area to search for the local churches, Paco and the other two men on our team held a “Vision Projection” meetinging- to share to vision and scope of ministry of

Operation Christmas Child with the local pastors.  The pastors were very excited- and marveled at so many ministry resources being offered to them at no cost! (shoe box gifts, Gospel booklets, Gospel illustrations, children´s discipleship books, teacher books, New Testaments, diplomas…).  They were praising God that this

ministry arrived at their towns!

OCC Planning among 4 states!

Our state of Tlaxcala is part of a regional OCC team in Mexico composed of four states: Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Puebla and Tlaxcala.  This last week, our Tlaxcala team had the honor and responsibility of receiving the three other state teams in our area for a planning and training session for the new OCC season that initiated last month.  We shared our specific state challenges as well as encouraged and prayed for one another.  The goal this

OCC season is to reach one million Mexican children with the Gospel!  Our state of Tlaxcala will be receiving two (not one but two!) trailers of materials this year to reach 20,000 children – quite a challenge for us as the smallest state in Mexico (we are the “Rhode Island” of the country, so to speak).  We depend on the Lord for mighty miracles in our region during this ministry season. 

Out-Of-Town OCC (Operation Christmas Child) Discipleship Conferences

Samaritan’s Purse carefully trains all of its Operation Christmas Child (OCC) state teams in Mexico so that we, in turn, can train the participating churches to disciple our nation’s children in the truth of the Gospel.

I attended a three-day training session in the city of Toluca, four hours away from our home in Tlaxcala.  Two new volunteers to OCC from our state joined me for the training.  As always,

I return home from these sessions even more passionate about this ministry which provides materials for children’s ministry, and allows me the privilege of training churches to evangelize and disciple children around them (fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ!). 

Besides the other two Tlaxcala women, Asher Obed also joined me during the three day trip.  At only 6

weeks old, Asher is already being trained in children’s ministry J.  He was such a quiet, well-behaved baby during all the conferences, and was loved by all the OCC team.