|
Mexico: Praise and Prayer Points |
|
"I used
to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the
second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first,
second and third places, and teaching the fourth." (James O. Fraser, 1886-1938, Missionary to China) "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened." Luke 11:9-10 As you embark upon this adventure of intercessory prayer for our Mexico ministry, I encourage you to first read the article, Will You Pray For Me? This will give you a broad outline on how to pray for us personally. Then, I invite you to proceed boldly into prayer for the people and ministries we are involved with in Matamoros, Mezquital, La Barra de la Cruz and the unreached tribes of Oaxaca, Mexico. Matamoros, Mexico Praise God: * For the last ten years of short-term ministries in which 1,921 people (as of January, 2005) from 27 states have participated. The Lord has used our teams to encourage existing churches, teach the gospel to a few thousand young people, distribute thousands of gospel tracts, complete dozens of small construction projects and treat thousands of patients with medical care. * For those who have come to know Christ through these evangelistic efforts. * For what He has done in the lives of our team members. Many have been permanently challenged and changed. Some are now serving Christ in missions ministries around the world, in part, because of their experience in Matamoros, Mezquital and the interior of Oaxaca, Mexico. Pray: * For the Trevino-Zapata Colonia. Trevino-Zapata is affectionately known as "Freddie's colonia" by many of us because of a young disabled boy who lives there. Trevino-Zapata is one of the roughest sections of the city. Closed down prostitution houses line the streets and witchcraft, drugs, alcohol, and violent crime characterize this area. Hundreds of people live in Trevino-Zapata and only a small handful are believers in Christ. * For Sylvia, also known as "Freddie's grandma". Sylvia is one of the few believers and she carries a huge burden for her people in Trevino-Zapata. Ask the Lord of the harvest that He would send a church planter into Trevino-Zapata soon. Ask the Lord if you should be that person… Mezquital The Mezquital region of Mexico situated squarely on the Gulf Coast, eighty rough miles south of Matamoros. Several villages surround the perimeter of the Laguna Madre while dozens of islands within its waters are home to thousands of people who make their living as fishermen. There is very little evangelical influence among several of these dear island peoples. Praise God: * For the incredible open door of ministry in the fishing village of Media Luna (Half Moon) and on the Island of Men. These are two places where the gospel has not yet penetrated, but we are finding the people hungry for the Word of God. * For the beautiful, elderly woman, Carmen Ochoa, on the Island of Men. She told us that they haven't had any visitors on their island for 37 years! Carman said her parents told her about Jesus when she was a child and she is the only believer on the island (30-40 people). She has been praying for someone to bring the gospel to her people. * For our friends, Valerio and Lulu. They are eager to help us learn Spanish and even provided us with a piece of land to build a small house that we use when we visit them. * For two new believers in Media Luna, Oscar and his son Oscar Jr. It is our hope that the two Oscar’s will become some of the first leaders of a new church in the village. Pray: * For Mr. and Mrs. (Carmen) Ochoa and their grown son, Weyo, on the Island of Men. These are the three key people who, by God's grace, will open the entire island to the gospel. Pray that the Lord would draw Mr. Ochoa and Beto to Christ as the gospel is preached and lived out among them. * For David Sitton as he makes serious plans for regular return visits to Media Luna and the Island of Men. He is recruiting and training a team to assist him in preaching the gospel, planting a church, discipling converts, training national leaders and mobilizing them to become missionaries themselves to other unreached areas in the region. * For David Sitton and Steve and Robin Henry that they will experience unusual grace as they struggle to learn Spanish. * That the needed finances will be available to make regular visits to these unusually receptive villages. We never envisioned beginning a concerted church planting effort in this area so soon. However, the receptiveness of the people has moved them way up on our list of ministry priorities. Our ministry budget is not presently able to support these major endeavors but we're determined to begin with what we have and trust God to provide the needed resources. * For Pastors Fausto and Acinto as they work among their churches on the Mezquital mainland. When we asked brother Fausto how we could pray for him, he replied, "pray for the strength of the Mezquital church and that I will be a faithful man." Ask the Lord to answer this prayer for both of these faithful brothers. La Barra de la Cruz La Barra de la Cruz is a small town of 2,000 people who live on the Pacific Coast. La Barra is located in the far southern part of Oaxaca, Mexico, 26 hours hard drive directly south of Brownsville, Texas. There is absolutely no evangelical witness of any kind among the La Barra people. This is a place we are initiating a serious church planting effort. After three summers of concentrating on “friendship building”, we are now moving beyond the prayer, planning and medical clinic stage of the ministry... Ever closer to the time when we will be able to more overtly share the message of Christ with these dear people. Praise God: * For leading us to this unreached and strategic place to share Christ and establish a gospel witness. * For immediately answering our specific prayers for a “man of peace”, in La Barra to befriend us. Vicente Munoz is the man. * For giving us favor with the key men of La Barra through our medical clinics. Pray: * That God will continue to give us favor and friendship with the key men of La Barra. * That the Lord will continue to give us discernment and insight as to how we should continue this work. * That the Lord will draw to us those La Barra men and women who will eventually become disciples and faithful co-workers with us in the gospel. Vicente and Pablo are our two best friends in La Barra so far. Pray for their salvation. * That we will experience unusual grace and wisdom as we study Spanish Mexican culture, history and gain a solid foot-hold for the gospel in La Barra. * That the Lord will bring to us both American and Mexican co-workers who will compliment our gifts so that the Church will become well established in La Barra. The Unreached Tribes of Oaxaca, Mexico La Barra de la Cruz is strategically situated near the base of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Southern Mexico. The long range goal is to plant a church in La Barra de la Cruz and then work with them in reaching other remaining unreached tribes. The following link lists the names of these unreached tribes and will assist you in praying for them specifically. The 65 unreached tribes of Oaxaca, Mexico Praise God: * For the privilege of working with the Lord and those few missionaries who are targeting these least reached peoples with Christ and the gospel * For directing us to the Coicoyan Tribe in the state of Oaxaca. To Every Tribe Ministries has officially adopted this tribe as a target for the gospel and church-planting. Pray: * For God's grace and supernatural enablement for those missionaries who are already working among these tribes in difficult and dangerous situations. Pray specifically for Martin and Karen Arroyo who work in the strategic town of Juxtlahuaca. The Arroyos are discipling the one known believer (Jorge) among the Coicoyan Tribe. * Would you intercede regularly for friends who are working on a Bible translation project in Coicoyán? They are living in the center of Coicoyán and struggling to learn the Mixtec language spoken there, along with their history and culture. They are under direct and constant spiritual attack as our enemy seeks to thwart the process of brining the Bible to the Mixtec people of Coicoyán. |