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February 26, 2008
Dear Praying Family,
Thank you once again for the many times you have prayed for the
people of rural Querétaro. Our last prayer letter was in early December,
over two months ago. We are back in the state of Querétaro and are
reuniting with the house churches and bible studies that are meeting
several times weekly. Antonio Gonzales has been a great team leader and
the work accelerated and expanded in our absence. There were some
growing pains and two of the house churches that were going in 2006 and
2007 have ceased to meet. Although this is not the outcome we desired it
is not unusual for some house churches to fail. The desire for a more
traditional church model captures some of our converts and they seek out
traditional churches. Our desire is to see healthy house churches
planting other house churches. Cristo la Roca Fiel house church has
continued to be the catalyst for starting other house churches. Antonio
shared with me the other day that during the time we were in the states
there were days that he and Antonia, his wife, had to decide if they
would put gasoline in their car to get to the next house church meeting,
or use the money for food from the market for their next day’s meal. But
the Lord always provided and though there were some lean times no one
complained and the Lord was glorified through their devotion. Please
continue to pray for Cristo la Roca Fiel, church planters Antonio and
Antonia Gonzales, church planter/disciple Sergio Jasso, and all the new
Christians who are working in our team.
The house church in Aquiles Serdan, which we named Iglesia Cristiana,
has had a full house the last several weeks. It was a sweet reunion when
we returned to the community to visit the brothers. Some of the
testimonies we heard of how the Lord was working daily in the lives of
the people in this community were exciting. Many of you remember Rosie
and her daughter Betty; I want to share her testimony with you. You may
remember Rosie’s husband returned from the states in 2006 and he asked
us to move the church out of his house and not come back. This was no
problem as we had other places to meet but this was very difficult for
Rosie to accept. Rosie came less and less to the church even though it
only moved one door down the street. Her husband pressured her to look
for work and not meet with us any longer. But about three weeks ago she
began to share with us what happened after she quit attending Iglesia
Cristiana. Rosie’s daughter Betty moved out of the house because she
could not stand the way her dad treated Rosie. Gaby the youngest
daughter was staying at grandma’s house so she didn’t have to see the
quarrels. Rosie sunk into depression and contemplated divorce but one
day she began to pray and ask the Lord for guidance. The same day as she
prayed Antonio and Antonia were walking in a new community looking for
somewhere to hold bible studies. As they walked pass a small store that
sold tortillas they recognized Betty working making tortillas. They
turned around and went into the store and when Betty saw them she began
to cry and told them that she was sure the Lord had sent them to visit
her. Well they really weren’t there to visit Betty but evidently this
was what the Lord had in His plan for this day. Betty confessed that she
and Rosie had drifted away from the Lord and their lives had been
shipwreck since they quit coming to Iglesia Cristiana. At the same time
this was happening Rosie was talking to her husband back in their
community and Rosie told him that she was going to return to the house
church and reconcile with the Lord because ever since leaving the church
her life had been in constant turmoil. Rosie told her husband also that
the church would be invited back into her house and if he did not like
that he could sit in the car on the street during the services but she
was returning to the Lord. So although mother and daughter were on
opposite sides of the city both Rosie and Betty made the decision, at
the same time, to return to Iglesia Cristiana. Since all of this took
place Rosie has invited all her family to come and be part of what she
calls the best life. Betty moved back home and has had a new friend with
her each week in services. Please continue to pray for the community
of Aquiles Serdan.
The community of Viborias, translated vipers, is a new community with
no Christian witness what-so-ever. Please pray for a joint prayer
walk day between Cristo La Roca Fiel, Iglesia Cristiana and two
Querétaro city churches on the 29 of March. We want to see a Baptist
church planted in this community that will facilitate a community wide
transformation for the Gospel.
Some of you know already that we have another job assignment within
Mexico in addition to our work in Querétaro. There are 10 other states
in our field now and we desperately need more workers. Eight of the new
ten states do not have any IMB missionary working with the rural people.
There are 11,000,000 people in our field now who need to hear the true
story of Jesus for the first time in their lives. Not only do we need
your prayers but we also need those of you whom the Lord is calling to
come and serve in Mexico and invest the remainder of your life into a
very needy harvest field. Please visit
http://www.imb.org/main/go/default.asp and see if there is a
place you can begin to serve along side of us.
Thank you for your patients as this letter has grown long. Thank you
for all your prayers, gifts, and faithfulness to international missions.
Please write when you have an opportunity
rich.fleming@macregion.org
or jody.fleming@macregion.org
or call our stateside number 724 498-4059.
God bless,
Rich & Jody
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