Posts Tagged ‘Good News’

Open Doors on the Road
The Youth leading us in worship at the mother church where Luis is pastor

The Youth leading us in worship at the mother church where Luis is the pastor

Dawn and I are often amazed by all that the Lord does when traveling and when we are here on the border ministering. We recently returned from a ministry trip to the Villahermosa area, which is in Southeastern Mexico. We went there to work with a team to train pastors and church planters, but God had much more in mind for us.

On the weekend we were supposed to go Coatzacoalcos to meet with some pastors there, but those plans fell through. That gave us a great opportunity to spend more time with Pastor Luis and his wife, Gina. Luis asked me to preach in one of the mission churches.

Prayer Brings Breakthrough
Worship at the mission church where I preached. Pastor Luis is leading the service

Worship at the mission church where I preached. Pastor Luis is leading the service

It was a celebration service as they were celebrating the anniversary of the mission. At the end of my sermon, I asked the people to stand and I led them through a prayer that I’ve found to be powerful in helping set people free. After the time of prayer, I told the congregation that Dawn and I would be willing to meet with anyone that needed prayer.

At first, no one asked for prayer, but during the meal after the service one of the women told me she would like to meet with us.

Dawn and I met with Patricia and her twelve-year-old son, Mauricio. We found out that Patricia’s husband had recently left her, and it was hard on her son. Mauricio was acting out and even threatened to kill her. After hearing their story we led them through some helpful and powerful prayers, and we explained the gospel to them.

New Life in Christ

We asked both Patricia and Mauricio if they would like to pray to receive Christ with us. They said yes, so Dawn and I led them in prayer. Immediately after the prayer, we could see a shift in Mauricio’s attitude. He was experiencing the peace of God.

Dawn and I realized that it was important for them to reconcile with God, but also to reconcile to one another. We helped them to pray and to ask for forgiveness. Mauricio asked his mom to forgive him and then he gave her a big hug! Patricia was in tears as they hugged. God is good!

There is still work to be done, but it was so good to see the power of God break through in that situation. Pastor Luis is following up with them, and working with them as they continue to grow in their faith.

Continue to Join us in Prayer!
Thank you for praying for us, and for joining us on this journey!

Thank you for praying for us, and for joining us on this journey!

I’d like to ask you to pray for Patricia and Mauricio and others like them who are in need. The battle is very real, and the enemy doesn’t play fair and he doesn’t give up easily. We trust the Lord and his promises as he tells us that we are more than conquerors in Christ! O that this will be true in their lives, and that they will begin to walk in victory as they seek and serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s.

Pastor Luis told me that there are many people in the churches who are involved in witchcraft in Villahermosa. They hide it, but they secretly get involved in these occult practices instead of trusting the power of God.

Later that evening I was able to minister to a man who has been involved in witchcraft. I’d like to write more about that experience soon. Sometimes it’s hard to get all of what God is doing down. That often is the case, the Lord is doing so much that it’s difficult to post it all. Let me say in closing, I believe one of the reasons the Lord is opening these doors for us to minister in this way is because of all the people praying for us. My blog isn’t just about getting the word out, but we earnestly need and desire prayer.

Thanks so much for joining us and for praying with us!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

ESL, friends, English as a second or foreign language

Some of our friends at the ESL lunch meeting

Sunday afternoon Dawn and I had a wonderful lunch with our friends who are involved in the ESL ministry. It warmed my heart to be with these dear friends. I love the privilege we have to serve with them.

Our New Endeavor

At our meeting we discussed our goals, how to improve, opportunities, needs, etc. One of the things we decided is to start a third ESL class.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how the Lord opened a new door for us at a local elementary school. Now we are ready to walk through that door.

It’s our next new endeavor! An expansion of our ESL ministry.

Seeking to Remove Barriers

This will be the first class that we are not holding on the same campus that a church is on. We believe this will remove what could be a barrier for some people who aren’t quite ready to go to a church, even if it’s just to learn English.

Some of the people we are meeting come from backgrounds that would make it difficult to go to a church, or at least it’s a big barrier for them. For example, one of the people we invited a couple of weeks ago seemed interested, but once we told her that the class was at a church she handed the flyer back to us.

ESL, English as a second or foreign language

One of our Growing ESL classes

We are so excited that we can hold our English class on another campus. This will enable us to reach some new people. Our prayer is that we will be a blessing to the community. The light of the gospel goes forth as we bless the city. The Lord uses this to draw some who are far away to himself.

There are still a few hurdles we have to get over to be able to start the class. I have to fill out some paperwork, and get approved to use a classroom at the school. That is the main hurdle. We also have to promote the class, and pray that people will come.

Thanks so much for standing with us in prayer. When I send out these posts and updates you write back and say you are praying. I know that is a big reason the Lord is blessing. A number of friends are lifting us up in prayer.

Prayer Requests
  1. Pray with our teaching teams as we seek to get more organized and do an even better job teaching English.
  2. We’d like to start up our new class the first week of May.
  3. That the Lord blesses our efforts as we promote the class to get more students.
  4. We could still use at least four more teachers.
  5. We’d like three strong teaching teams.
  6. We need help with childcare, as some of the young mothers come with small children.
  7. Wisdom and direction as to when, who and how we should go about starting up citizenship and GED classes.

We couldn’t do this ministry without a strong team of prayer warriors standing with us!

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org

Avenida Revolución has many open bars, pharmac...

Avenida Revolución has many open bars, pharmacies, and curio shops that attract many tourists. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The USA Today reported on February 6th that crime related murder in Mexico was down 21% in 2012. It’s a very encouraging trend!  

In the Mexican border states the improvement is even more pronounced – it’s down 32%. This is actually the first time there has been a drop in drug crime related murders since 2007.

It’s not pleasant to write about all the murder and crime committed in Mexico, but it does give us hope that things are changing.

The USA Today article addresses the problem of the negative perception that many still have of the border. Perception affects even the church’s willingness to get involved.

“But as police regain control of the cities and violence begins to dissipate, people throughout the border region face the next challenge: changing the perception of violence.”

The article goes on to discuss the importance of the relationship between San Diego and Tijuana.

“The importance of the cross-border trade is so important that San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is opening a municipal office in Tijuana. He and Bustamante, the Tijuana mayor, are also installing phone on their desks that ring directly to each other.”

“‘Our future is tied together in so many ways — economically, environmentally,'” said Filner, who spent 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives serving Southern California before winning the mayoral election in November. “‘We live in a binational community, but we don’t act like it.'”

You can read the rest of the article here…

God has not forgotten the border!

Check out our prayer page – I just updated it. The prayers of our faithful friends is essential. It’s like the air that we breath is to our health.

In His Grip, Dave

DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org