Dear Praying friends,
Today (Dec. 12) is the famous "day of the Virgin of Guadalupe" here in Mexico. It is the day that supposedly 400 years ago in the north of Mexico City, the Virgin appeared to the patron saint of Mexico, Juan Diego. He went to the local priest with a message from her, the priest didn't believe him and he left disappointed. Again on the road she appeared to him, and told Juan Diego to give some roses to the priest with his message. When he returned to the priest, again he was met with unbelief. (And rightly so we might add.) The legend says that when he reached into his cloak to bring out the roses, the Virgin's image was embedded there and of course the priest believed him. Now every 12th of December Mexico worships the Virgin with drinking alcohol, special offerings and often much immorality. (Kind of reminds me of Corinth.)
Please pray for Martha, the nurse who was recently saved. She was discouraged on Sunday because her husband and mother-in-law were trying to force her to make a big meal for the Virgin and Martha would not. She is really having to take a stand quickly.
Sylvia told us in church on Sunday that she had to forcibly put her son back into drug rehab for three months last Friday. She said he did not want to go and that they literally had to tie him up and take him kicking and screaming to the rehab place. Now she is feeling guilty again. Please pray for encouragement for both of these ladies.
Janet and Vanessa, 2 young ladies from up here where we live who attend our church also faced some persecution on Monday night. Their father came home drunk and really got on them about why they would say that the Virgin is not their mother.
A blessing on Sunday was that Carlos, his wife Cecilia and two children came to church. Carlos was the first person we ever met here in Mexico 12 years ago. During our first year here, he made a precipitous decision to trust Christ and was faithful for about 3 months. It appears that his decision was for some other reason other than for salvation from his sin. We have maintained contact off and on with him over the years, but this is the first time he's been back to church in about 6 years. It's obvious that they have many problems. Please pray that they would continue coming, that the Lord would give us many opportunities with them, and that they would truly be saved for His glory.
There has been a situation brewing between 3 ladies in the church for about a month and a half. We have faithfully encouraged them to go to each other to get it fixed. Last night after church the three ladies talked, but after about 10 minutes, one of them stormed out and right past me. I went outside to see her and she was crying and said that nothing was wrong. I continued to try to help her but she kept insisting nothing was wrong. Faith was able to come and she talked to us, then again the three ladies talked, and it appears, (we hope, trust and pray) that they did get things finally worked out between them and that there is peace again. We constantly encourage people to get things right and not hold grudges for anything and to constantly meditate on God's forgiveness to them. Noone has ever sinned more against us than we have sinned against God and if He has forgiven us in Christ, we have to recognize that we must forgive those who have offended us. If we don't, we call into question our own forgiveness in Christ. (Mt. 6:12-15; Eph. 4:32.) It appears that these ladies did that last night. Please pray that it would be so and that love and unity would be restored there.
We always take a number of people home from church. After our situation last night, it was late and about 10 people were waiting for us. We all piled in the van, but when trying to start, it was deader than a doornail. A man came to try to help us jump the battery, but nothing. So, we had to leave the van there and pray that nothing happened to it in the night. Our whole family and another young man that we bring home all piled into a little 4 door taxi and made the trip up the mountain. I am getting ready to leave this morning hopefully to have it fixed quickly and inexpensively. It seems that it will be some kind of electrical problem. We were going to finish this last night, but got home very late. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. It is always greatly appreciated.
In Christ,
Mike for all the Goldfi
No comments:
Post a Comment