![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG-20241105-WA0028.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIt is an honor for you take time from your busy schedule in order to allow me to bring you up to date with what has been happening in the work in Mexico. I know that our lives are all busy, and it is easy to get caught up in the demands of daily living. This is certainly true at this time of the year as we begin gearing up for Christmas and with the New Year fast approaching. But having said this, personally I always find it refreshing and invigorating to take time to reflect on an expanded panorama of what God is doing in His Kingdom around the world. Getting a broader outlook always motivates me to praise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With this purpose in mind I will take a very broad paintbrush and try to represent almost six months of ministry on the canvas of today\u2019s blog. I trust that it will be a blessing to you, and a reminder to keep our brothers and sisters in Mexico in your prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summer months are always especially busy in Mexico because besides the regular ongoing ministry that takes place, Vacation Bible School programs begin as well. This is always a huge endeavor every summer and demands much manpower and commitment as these week-long Vacation Bible Schools are taken into many villages in the Cd. Valles region, and now in more recent years, also throughout the Pame communities in the mountains to the west where new church plants have begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vitwministries.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG-20240718-WA0003.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThis year\u2019s theme was \u201cAn Adventure through Mexico\u201d. Although presenting these Summer Bible School programs in the various communities makes for an extremely heavy work load as well as placing a hefty financial demand onto the local church, both Javier and Cristina feel that they are more than worth the effort because they are always a wonderful time and many people, both children and adults attend them, and in this way are exposed to the gospel message. In fact, in many of the more rural villages the adults are not literate, and the more simplified and visual format in which the gospel is presented for the children is actually beneficial to the adults as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This summer however, besides the Vacation Bible School programs and the myriad of other things that she is daily responsible for, Cristina also decided to open a sewing program for several of the young teenage girls in order to enable them to learn how to sew, and to provide then with a safe place to be over the summer months until school commenced again at the end of August. Six girls attended the classes. Cristina commented to me that the girls were very motivated and excited to be able to be a part of the sewing school and that they were all having a lot of fun. Notwithstanding the fun, Cristina also required that they take the classes very seriously and graded their work every Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With schools starting again in the fall the sewing classes were ended for the time being. However, Cristina felt that the summer classes with the girls were a wonderful success. When they started, most of the girls knew nothing at all about sewing and began by learning the very basics of running a sewing machine \u2013 how to thread them, and how to sew simple straight lines on paper. From there they advanced to more difficult tasks making bags, pillowcases, cushions, and other simple projects. By the time that the summer ended the girls were already able to take their measurements and create their own simple patterns and sew shorts, blouses, and pajamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cristina would now like to continue the program with the girls into a second, more advanced level. She writes that \u201cthe course was a lot of fun for the girls, and it was a blessing to see a whole new generation of girls beginning to express their creativity by learning to sew\u201d. Most important for her however, is what she can build into the lives of these girls spiritually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cristina also made a special point of mentioning to me how thankful she is for the many mothers, grandmothers, and teens who assist her in the ongoing Children\u2019s Programs in Buenos Aires as well as in teaching and assisting in the Summer Bible School programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Cristina was completely involved in ministry more locally around Solidaridad and Buenos Aires this summer most of the work of taking the Vacation Bible School programs throughout the scattered Pame villages in the mountains to the west of the city fell upon the shoulders of Pastor Javier and a number of young men who ministered with him. Over the years God has used these summer programs to open whole villages to the gospel, and because of them churches have been planted. This was again the case this summer, and Javier felt that despite the intensity of the extra load involved, much spiritual ground was won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the newly planted churches throughout the Pame region continue to grow and to become more fully established in their faith please continue to pray that faithful leaders will come to maturity. Please pray that God will make evident within each new group of believers someone who will be able to develop spiritual leadership within their local communities. As is true wherever the gospel is newly established out of a culture of rank paganism there is no Judeo-Christian value system to build upon and a biblical foundation must be built line upon line, precept upon precept as it were. This building process takes time and the investment of one\u2019s life. Javier cannot do it alone. Please pray that God will quickly raise up fellow laborers who can come alongside him to help to carry the load, as well that God will make evident those whom He has gifted to be trainable, skillful leaders at the level of the local churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the upcoming year Javier feels that God is leading him to thrust even further west into the Pame region and to plant churches in two new towns, both very strategic in the region because they are the principal centers within their municipalities. Although both are fairly large towns, neither Lagunillas nor Arroyo Seco currently have any evangelical Christian churches or outreaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course this ministry all requires reliable vehicles. As we have discussed many times in past blogs, the roads through many areas of the mountains where these Pame villages are scattered are bad at best, and unthinkably horrible and impassible at their worst. It is these roads that Javier and his team traverse for four or five days every fourteen days in their ministry trips to plant and strengthen the new Pame churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you will also remember from past blogs Javier\u2019s little Ford Ranger pickup truck, his faithful beast of burden since the beginning of his work within the Pame region, was no longer capable of shouldering a saddle. Indeed, the little burro simply could no longer even make it up the mountains anymore and required almost as much oil as gasoline to coax even a cough out of its extremely worn out engine \u2013 in short, it needed a complete engine overhaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But God is never surprised! He is rarely early, but He is never late\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August Theresa and I presented a missions report at our little church in Pinawa where we mentioned the pressing need for a reliable vehicle for Javier and the decrepit condition of his current pickup truck. After the service Jay O\u2019Connor, one of our friends in the church asked if we could use a new truck for the ministry for Javier. As it turned out, Jay\u2019s parents had a 2011 Ford F150 pickup truck that they had offered to his family if they wanted it. He said that they didn\u2019t need it as a family, but that he was sure that his parents would donate it to the ministry for Javier and Cristina if it was needed. What an offer, and what an amazing gift and answer to prayer. Yes indeed Javier needed it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only little difficulty however, was that the truck was sitting at his parents place in Nova Scotia, on the very eastern coast of Canada. We live in Manitoba in the very center of Canada, and the truck needed to be delivered to Mexico! Hmmm\u2026 a bit of a large triangle on the map whichever way you looked at it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But these minor issues are no great problem for God. Theresa and I were more than willing and able to deliver the vehicle to the Texas\/Mexico border. However, there were several issues which needed to be resolved if we were to be able to do this. First of all, we calculated that it would take about $5,000 Canadian by the time that we got the truck imported into Mexico and delivered all the way to Javier in Cd. Valles. This was a minimal cost considering the value of the vehicle, but more money than Theresa and I had ourselves for this project. Secondly, we needed a trustworthy person to do the actual importation paperwork to legalize the vehicle into Mexico. And then last, but certainly not least, I was expecting a call from the hospital any day for a surgery date for a hip replacement. I needed an established surgery date before I could feel free to hit the road on a several week return trip out of country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We emailed a letter to various friends of the ministry explaining the gift that God had provided for Javier\u2019s work, and the need for the funds necessary to make it all come together. Within a very short period of time we were blessed to receive a little over the $5,000 that we had estimated the cost would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During my time in Mexico in April I had spoken to Oscar Salazar, a friend of ours in Monterrey. At that time I had found out that Oscar was very familiar with importing vehicles into Mexico, and that he would be willing to assist us in doing so if we were ever to find one for Javier. Knowing this, I now contacted Oscar and he began the importation process so that the paperwork would all be finished by the time that we arrived at the border with the truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During this whole process I received a call from the hospital giving me a surgery date for November 19th.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This would allow us time to fly to Halifax, spend some time with Mike and Candy O\u2019Connor to pick up the truck at their place in Nova Scotia, and then to drive to south Texas in order to drop it off with Oscar at Laredo. Javier would then take the bus up to Monterrey in order to pick up the truck there from Oscar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the way north again we could even spend a couple of weeks with a very close friend of ours, Jane Hardesty, whose husband was in very grave condition in the hospital in Sugar Land, Texas. We wanted to assist her in whatever way we could, and to love on both her and her husband Jay. We could still get back to Manitoba in plenty of time to prepare for my upcoming hip surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We purchased bottom of the barrel, economy tickets from Winnipeg to Halifax and prayed that all would work out as planned. Then came a bit of a nail-biter when I found out that there was no way that I could register and insure the truck from Canada for the one-way trip from Nova Scotia to Mexico. It couldn\u2019t be done from here. What were we to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quickly, plan \u201cB\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Could we possibly get the Mexican plates and complete Mexican paperwork sent up to Manitoba before we needed to leave for Nova Scotia? Could we purchase Mexican insurance that would cover our travel through both Canada and the U.S.? And equally critical, would Canada and the U.S. permit us to drive a vehicle licensed and insured with Mexican paperwork while we, as Canadians living in Manitoba, were driving with a Manitoba driver\u2019s license? Or very practically, what would happen when we tried to cross from Canada into the U.S. with our song and dance and wonky paperwork at the border?<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we had no other choice, so we prayed and drove to the airport heading for the east coast with the Mexican license plate and paperwork in hand which Oscar had couriered to us with time to spare. Hurdle one crossed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We spent several lovely days in Nova Scotia with Mike and Candy O\u2019Connor before heading south through New Brunswick. We were able to visit with our children and grandchildren in Campobello Island, New Brunswick before facing the music at the Maine border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things then got a bit dicey and complicated for several hours as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection guys tried to figure out what to do with us. It turned out that their primary concern was not really our Mexican paperwork since we had letters to prove who we were and why we were transporting the truck. Rather the snag was the fact that they wanted proof that the vehicle indeed was not going to remain in the United States, but was in fact going straight through to Mexico. Eventually all the ruffled feathers were settled and we drove off thankful to be on the road again and bound for Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Theresa and I had an uneventful and beautiful trip south as we enjoyed the stunning fall foliage of the north east. Since the southeastern coastal states had just recently been devastated by hurricane Helene we decided to cut more diagonally westward in order to avoid any delays due to its damage. We experienced none, and had a good trip south as the truck purred like a kitten the whole way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I dropped off Theresa in Sugar Land with Jane and I continued south to Laredo, Texas where I handed the truck over to Oscar. I then caught a \u201cred-eye special\u201d bus back to Sugar Land where I met up with Theresa again, and we were able to visit and assist our friends Jane and Jay for about ten days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after I dropped it off, Javier arrived in Monterrey and received his new truck from Oscar. What a blessing, and what an answer to prayer! It is now serving the ministry well in the Huasteca of Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Incidentally, as usual, God provided exactly the correct amount of funds for the job. After everything was delivered and all accounts settled we have $81.79 Canadian remaining in the \u201cTruck Account\u201d. It is always fun to watch as God works out details, and makes possible things that seem impossible to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another huge matter of praise that I should mention is that at the end of June the devastating drought finally broke, and rain returned to Mexico at long last. Thankfully the rain continued for weeks, and even though there is still a need for further rainfall to fully replenish the groundwater, the drought conditions no longer persist. Our prayer is that the rain will continue into the upcoming year as well and that the drought does not return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, on a personal note, I want to thank the Lord that the hip replacement surgery that I had on November 19th<\/sup> went extremely well. Today, just two weeks from the surgery I am feeling surprisingly well, and stronger every day. In fact, I am now able to walk around the house without the aid of either a walker or a cane. Of course I am very careful and have yet to venture outside because of the snowy and icy conditions. But I couldn\u2019t imagine a quicker or easier recovery than I have experienced so far. For this we are very thankful, and we thank you for your prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of the speed of my recovery I feel more at liberty to mention the fact that I am still hoping and praying that Theresa and I can return to Mexico in January and February of this upcoming year. If things work out as planned we will be returning to Mexico in mid-January and meeting with Pastor Fred Erb from Listowel, Ontario. While there we will all then coordinate again with Pastor Marty Dyer from Grove, Oklahoma in order to be a part of the now, Fourth Annual Pame Leadership Conference which Pastor Javier is facilitating in the little village of Santa Catarina. You will remember that for the past several years we have been able to be a part of this celebration with the Pame believers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also the need to restock some of the eyeglass clinics which we began earlier this year. Further, Theresa and I have quite a number of sewing machines to deliver to the sewing school that Cristina oversees in Cd. Valles. But most of all, we simply desire to be with our friends, and to be a part of the ministry in a hands-on way again if the Lord makes it possible for us to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, Theresa and I thank you so much for being a part of our lives and of the ongoing ministry in Mexico. Thank you for your love and prayers for our friends and co-laborers as they faithfully and selflessly minister. Many times it is not easy for them, and your prayers are critical. Thank you for remembering to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your fellow laborers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steven and Theresa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is an honor for you take time from your busy schedule in order to allow me to bring you up to date with what has been happening in the work in Mexico. 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