July 2010
We were not able to send a group to Progresso, Mexico again this year because of the potential danger and ongoing violence in the area. Al and Margaret Morgan traveled to the border with the intent of delivering funds to them and helping with a VBS and medical mission effort.
However, on July 11th, following a visit in the middle of the International Bridge with Juan Carlos Calderon who is the preacher at Progresso, and under advisement of a friend of theirs who is on the Border Patrol, the Morgan's decided it was not safe for them to continue to Progresso. They transferred the funds to bro. Calderon who took them back to Progresso on our behalf.
The following information is based on the recent travel to Mexico by the Morgans. I appreciate them sharing this experience with us.
Juan Carlos and all of the members were very worried that they would be robbed during the medical mission. Thankfully, this did not happen. VBS was Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with an average attendance of 90 children. The medical mission was held on Thursday and Friday with approximately 50 people attending the first day and 70 attending the last day.
We are proud of them, considering it was their first time to plan even a VBS on their own. Although they had no baptisms during the mission they were able to line up several Bible studies. They are very good at following up with contacts. This year they have had 9 baptisms, mostly from home Bible studies.
We need to keep them in our prayers. The poverty level continues to rise. Several of the Christians make their living as street vendors, and with no American tourists, their income has dwindled. They are also living under constant fear of the gangs.
Hopefully, conditions will improve soon and we will be able to visit with them again.
Saludos - Report from Eliazar Perez
Eliazar writes:
Brothers in Arkansas,
First, I want to give you a cordial greeting from me and my family and the church. We are thankful to God and to you for the economic help that you have decided to give for the work of the ministry in preaching here in Nuevo Progreso, Tampulipas. This is the report that corresponds to this month: The first week was the week that we were able to air condition the house where we were going to live and clean everything. The second week was spent moving our furniture from Teynosa to Nuevo Progreso. Brothers Juan and Alberto from the valley in Texas are the ones who did me the favor of helping move everything. Brother Juan brought a trailer and so we were able to make the change from one place to the other. Those two brothers have also been visiting with us in Nuevo Progreso and the last Sunday of July, these two brothers and their wives were in Nuevo Progreso and worshipped with us.
The first Sunday we had an attendance of 24 adult people and 27 children. It was a good day for our first day as preacher of that congregation and besides, we had a "welcome fellowship." Also, on that Sunday I presented our plan of work for this year. We were already pretty much in agreement since we had already been associated with these brethren, and we decided to begin meeting on Sunday evenings, since they had only been meeting in the mornings. Also we made plans for the schedule of Thursday evenings and a young people's class which they had not been doing. The first Sunday of each month, we will have a fellowship, there will be studies in homes of non-Christians during the week, these will begin with some contacts we have made thorugh the medical campaigns during the summer. Also, there was a problem between two sisters and we think we have worked out a solution and all has been well.
On the following Sunday, the 13th of August, we had an attendance of 20 adults and 18 children and for the evening there were 12 adults and 20 children and on Thursday, the 17th of August the attendance was 22 adults and 12 children. On the 20th of August, the attendance was 24 adults and 17 children in the morning and in the evening there were 20 adults and 15 children. The brother in charge of the young people's class is Brother Florentino who is known by many of you. He had 9 young people in his class and has only had 2 classes with them, but we have no doubts that the number in this group will increase.
OK brothers, this is my report for the month. We hope that next month we may be able to have an even better report. God keep you always; greetings to all.
Your brothers in Christ,
Eliazar and Florentino
Printer Friendly Format