Monday 7 December 2009
Belated Update!
"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. " (Habakkuk 2:14, NIV)
You may have been wondering, what are Mario and Sam up to? why are we not getting weekly mission reports? what's going on? The reason for this absence of reports has been that the majority of the places the Lord's led us to minister His love and knowledge have been out of internet or mobile coverage. For you, our beloved reader this is a summary of what we did in partnership with the Holy Spirit:
- This time we preached the gospel to thousands and about 1,000 people gave their lives to Christ in contained environments. In other words, all of them are being followed up by committed pastors and teachers. We have chosen to work only with congregations and ministries who are serious about discipleship. Jesus told us "go into all the world and make disciples" (Matt 28:19)... "and I will build my church," (Matt 16:18) however, so often these days we find people do quite the opposite, building the church themselves while leaving discipleship to Jesus. He gave us a specific mandate, and only in such cases of obedience to Jesus' command does church growth and maturation occur. We had to make a concerted decision to stop working with any ministries who were not dedicated to making disciples. We love them, but the word God gave us was clear: "I'm interested in fruit that remains," so we must focus on opportunities to create just that. Since making this decision and working with dedicated discipling churches, we're receiving reports that some congregations have doubled or even tripled in size! Praise the Lord!
- We're working with an association of ministries called "Ministerios Unanimes" (http://www.ministeriosunanimes.com/) who work all over the state of Chiapas. They offer spiritual cover to over 150 congregations from this state only. They are delighted that we're already supporting them in equipping the saints for fruitful and powerful evangelism throughout that net of churches.
- The glory of God has been manifested in awesome ways like never before in our three years of ministry. We've seen hundreds of miracles done in the name of Jesus! Here are three of the most remarkable miracles we've seen. They're remarkable for two reasons: firstly they were afflicted from birth; secondly the three of them were over 80 years old.
1. "Rosa, 81 (Comitan, Chiapas), was blind from birth and had a chronic back disease. She testified that when the word of healing went forth she felt heat in her spine and the pain was gone. She could now move normally! In tears she also described how she'd just started to see colours and people for the ...first time." (Facebook 26 of November)
2. "Maria Elena, 87 (Carranza, Chiapas) was completely deaf in both ears from birth but left the evening meeting completely healed. In tears, her daughter described that as her mum stood up to come forward and receive healing, by the time she made it to the front of the room she had already been healed" (Facebook 23 of November).
3. "Blanca, 85 (Union Juarez, Chiapas) was deaf and mute from birth and communicated with smiles, touch and sign language. Despite not hearing the call for prayer she came for healing and was set free in Jesus name! She asked me how I was and I asked her what her name was, she said "Blanca" and blessed me in Jesus name. The pastor run towards me and said she's mute and deaf from birth! What? She's not now, I said! Glory to God! This meeting was shown on National, non-Christian cable TV. I love it! Don't you?
If the Lord is willing we'll return to Mexico at the end of January. They've started organising several conferences and evangelistic campaigns in different parts of the state. Moreover, the Lord has opened a door to us in Mexico City which we're praying at the moment about what to do here. Please join us in prayer and tell us when the Lord shows you something about us.
Last but not least, we've started looking at 2010 as the start to children's work here in Chiapas as a very important part of our ministry. So we'll be organising mission teams and fundraising to finance this foundation of the ministry. In addition to that God has opened channels in the indigenous community for us to distribute medicines and provide health care. We're going to need funds to purchase medicines as well as volunteers to help with the distribution. This project is very exciting and we're already praying for God to release all it's needed. Again, if you feel called to help us here please speak to your pastor and give us a buzz!
We are ministering to both Mexicans and indigenous groups. The fruit has been amazing, the work is massive, the harvest is gigantic, the power of God is abounding but the workers are few. Please get involved, get your church involved, contact us, we want to know about you and share with you the reality of God in the nations.
Finally, redeem your time for you don't know when God will be demanding your life. Be prepared for His coming back (which is very very soon!), purify yourselves. There is not time for strife but to love one another that the love of God will be perfected in you!
May God bless you and prosper you as you choose the way of holiness!
Adios!!
Friday 16 October 2009
Thursday 15 October 2009
Two Weeks in Mexico!
Back in Mexico!
After the Lord placed this land in our heart and expanded our love for the Mexican people, we received His provision and power to carry out a work here. Two weeks have passed since our recent arrival on the 1st of October and we've been visiting homes and ministering in churches. On several occasions we've seen the glory of God healing the sick and breaking chains in the lives of many people. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit has allowed us to reach the heart with the gospel of Jesus Christ and already several people have given their lives to Christ. One of the things that have brought much encouragement and joy has been the fact that many people from the past mission are already part of different congregations through the city according to where they live. These new Christians are meeting regularly and are grateful together with their new pastors (most of whom we had never met before now) are grateful for the work of the gospel in their midst.
The Lord has opened more doors than during our previous mission here. We already have a complete itinerary for the remainder of our visit until we leave on the 1st of December in 6 weeks. This itinerary consists of:
*Preaching and evangelistic campaign in Dependencia; half an hour away from Tuxtla Gutierrez where we are based.
*Various Preaching and evangelistic campaigns with churches including Prince of Peace and Tabernacle of Faith here in Tuxtla.
*Preaching and evangelistic campaign in San Cristobal (45 mins by car)
*Preaching and evangelistic campaign in Huixtla (three hours by car)
In addition to revisiting some of the places we reached out to during our last mission here to Mexico, the Lord has also opened a new door to us in San Cristobal. This place was already in our hearts because there are several traditional Catholic strongholds there and in it's mountainous outskirts that we feel passionate about winning for Christ. In San Cristobal and its surrounds there is still much persecution against evangelical christians. However, we know that the Grace of God is sufficient and that the time has come for the captives to be set free! We bring the gospel that comes in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Corinthians 2:4 NKJV). This has shown to be the only way to win these people for Christ. These people have been led to the greatest darkness by the traditionalism and idolatry of the Catholic doctrine held in these parts.
Together with the ministry of God's word that we carry out in this land, God has spoken to us about demonstrating the word in action with practical love. In this area we have several projects in motion.
*Food and medicines for indigenous people in the mountainous areas near to Tuxtla as well as San Cristobal, where we want to plant christian churches.
*An orphanage for abandoned and orphaned children.
*A place to counsel people with God's spirit and word.
This month we will be joined by several brothers from Denmark and England who're going to help us out in the work that God has entrusted to us. Please pray for them. Please also continue to pray for us and from here we also invite you to give generously so that the work of God continues moving forward at this rapid pace. May God bless you abundantly! Amen.
Thursday 23 July 2009
Mission Mexico 2010! (Exciting News)
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Fruit that remains (Raised to life and a new hope!)
Monday 22 June 2009
A new life and a new vision!
We want to tell you briefly about what God's been up to in one of the houses this week. On Saturday we revisited an elderly lady we visited the week before. The first time we saw Carmen, she was drifting in and out of consciousness at the point of death. Her family by her bedside, awaiting her final breath at any moment. She had been confused and incoherent in recent days and suffering from intense pain. Her intestines were riddled with cancer, she hadn't lived a normal life for some time and was unable to perform normal physical functions like feeding herself or using the bathroom. Mario prayed for her in the name of Jesus, she opened her eyes and smiled. The pain began to leave and she and eight of family members put their faith in Jesus Christ. This week, Carmen was a new woman. Frail but improving, she's smiling, walking and talking. We shared stories of the goodness of God, and Carmen told us all about how wonderful Jesus was to her. Two more family members were present, and accepted Jesus into their hearts that day, we went on our way rejoicing! We're delighted to see such a transformation in an entire family and pleased to report that a dear friend will be visiting weekly to encourage them in their faith and see them grow in the Lord.
In addition to all this, our dreams are becoming reality. So far we've been seeing between 50 and 100 people come to Christ each week. With a vision to see the local church grow in attendance by a factor of ten, a local pastor who leads an association of 100 churches in the city has contacted us to arrange for outreach teams to be set up in each of the churches, so that this vision has just grown 100-fold overnight. Who says we can't take Tuxtla for Jesus in just one year?! Isn't God good!? Isaiah 40 tells us that “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Freedom to Dance!
This week I'm going to take a bit of time to update you on what I've been up to in the dance ministry so far.
For many years I've had a burden to dance and move before God in prayer, intercession, prophesy, praise and worship. Thanks to God I was living in Brighton during many of these years, where an international ministry known as 'Movement in Worship' is based. Movement in Worship consists of a team of worshippers who move and dance before God in anointing, freedom, maturity and power. This team travels internationally to events to aid in worshipping God, prayer, prophesy, and equipping others to do the same. Dance and movement before God often has a powerful effect in setting people free and receiving from God in ways they hadn't been able to do before. Being a part of this team over the past few years has afforded me the glorious opportunity to practice and grow in a gift that has brought tremendous blessing and freedom to my life and the lives of many of those I've had the pleasure of sharing it with. Dance and movement brings me into new realms of expression and communication with my Daddy God that I'd not experienced before, and just being able to be with God in this way is often overwhelming to me.
During our time in Mexico I've been running movement in worship classes for children and adults across three different areas of the city in four weekly workshops. I was initially helped by Mario, who's also skilled in movement in the presence of God, so I'd have help with demonstrations and translation. Fortunately my Spanish is now good enough for me to run classes alone and my descriptions and demos sufficient for everyone to get the gist of what I'm trying to explain! It's necessary for me to teach without Mario as he's preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ in as many houses as possible each day.
In our classes we've covered various areas including 'worship and why,' 'how God made us to move individually,' 'moving as a group,' 'prayer and intercession,' 'prophesy,' 'self-image,' 'the biblical significance of movement and colours,' 'moving with props, e.g. banners and staffs,' and 'moving to scripture.' There are still a number of areas to cover in the remaining weeks.
Many people wanted to 'copy' a style or 'learn steps.' However, I desired to bring a freshness and spontaneity to dance and movement that involved a focus on being sensitive to the Holy Spirit so that new interpretative and worshipful dance would be embraced. For this reason I've had to avoid lengthy demonstrations and continually reiterate that God has made each of us to move in beautiful and unique ways, and we need to each find the style that God has individually planned for us.
During our sessions, particularly the session on prayer and intercession, we saw a lot of liberation and old paradigms broken. There are various things that I mean by this. For example, many people received answers to prayers that they had been praying for a long time. Others were set free from addictions, shame, fear of man, fear of intimacy, religiosity, and other problems. Others were healed of emotional pain and broken dreams. All received a deeper level of intimacy with one another and the Lord Jesus Christ. Each were also therefore equipped to continue to reach this level in future both alone or with others.
I've also had the privilege of dancing in various worship services across the city during my time here, and have witnessed a greater freedom in worship as a result. I've heard a number of prophesies that the Lord has given to people during a dance, and people have also been set free and healed of various things, including marital problems while watching this movement in worship. I'm pleased to say Mario continues to dance with me on Sundays, along with dear friends from the workshops who are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and move with a heart of worship. Together with the team we've already ministered some specific dances in our congregation, and this weekend we'll be ministering at a three day outreach in Wisla, some six hours away. I expect our update next week will be all about the miraculous things God does on this outreach!!
Lady has just received Christ and tells of her experience!
Monday 15 June 2009
Healings, miracles and salvations accelerate as things hot up in the Spirit!
There have been many more miracles over the past week and many more people set free from the Kingdom of Darkness and safely hidden in the Kingdom of Light by their heavenly father, God Almighty. We've experienced more of the supernatural and the spiritual realm this week – along with the weather at over 40 degrees centigrade most days, things are really heating up here!
Last week , despite the oppressive heat, an unpleasant gust of freezing cold air woke Mario in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He looked towards the door of our bedroom and saw a tall, dark, cloaked and hooded figure with a sickle, rather like the representation of 'death' we see in our culture. Here in Mexico this figure is part of a powerful and growing cult known as the Santa Muerte, or 'Saint Death,' which many people now worship. Mario knew just what to do. Extending his hand towards the figure he said “In the name of Jesus, I rebuke you, get out of here.” At which the Holy Spirit reassured Mario “now turn over and go back to sleep, I'll deal with this.” Mario resumed his sleep.
Now, guess what happened next? The first appointment to minister to a family in their home the next morning took him to a house where the Santa Muerte was worshipped. Although the home was clean and airy, the atmosphere was oppressive. As Mario entered the house he felt as though invisible hands were pushing him back. As he sat down to speak with the family, it became clear that the family members were utterly defeated, and terror was in their eyes. As Mario sat and listened, the mother unfolded an horrendous tale of devastation.
Some months earlier, their son had a run of bad luck; a series of car accidents and similar problems. He decided to visit a witch to see if anything could be done to change his fortunes. She gave him a statue of the Santa Muerte and told him this would bring him better luck. So he paid her his money and eagerly accepted the statue into his home. His luck did change and things started to go well for him. One night about two months later, the Santa Muerte visited him in the night. “Has your luck improved?” it asked? “Yes,” the son replied. “I've come for payment” said the Santa Muerte. “What do you want?” the son was uncertain he had anything the Santa Muerte might want. “In two months, I'm going to take a member of your family” came the ominous response. Now, here in Mexico the family unit is the central focus of society, and families remain close and very attached for their whole lives. I cannot stress strongly enough how stressful this statement would have been for this young man, who then replied as any good son would have done in his position: “No! Take me. Please don't take anyone in my family. Take me.” “Good,” came the reply. “In two months I'll come for you.”
The young man was distraught. He didn't know what to do. He told his mother what had happened, and she didn't know what to do either. They lived in fear. Two months later, for no medical reason, this healthy young man died in his sleep. The family were devastated and frightened for their lives. They were at their wits end. The Santa Muerte continued to invade their lives and its statue held a prominent position upstairs in the home. They lived in fear of offending this spirit and were willing to continue serving it in the hope of preserving their lives.
This was the state of the family in need of deliverance that day. As Mario shared his testimony, and about the power of the Lord Jesus who has broken the power of sin and death, slowly hope began to return. As they bowed their heads and confessed Christ, the hold of the Santa Muerte was broken. As they renounced idolatry and witchcraft the oppression lifted. As we smashed and burned the statue the era of evil was ended for that household and authority of Christ was reinstated over His beloved family. They prayed for the guilt and grief to be healed and left the home rejoicing that the enemy's camp has once again been plundered and the captives set free. Hallelujah!
I felt it appropriate to write all these details in full, and for that reason there is not sufficient room this week to tell of all the remaining miracles and salvations in detail, so a summary will suffice. We've seen 30 further salvations spread across 6 homes (a total of 99 people in under 4 weeks). We've seen 3 demons cast out and people restored to Jesus; 2 reconciliations of family members, 5 healings, and many more wonderful testimonies, all last week. On Thursday our friend Martha Cepeda invited us to meet some of her girlfriends at her home. Many were involved in Reiki, metaphysical witchcraft, and others were “Catholic till I die.” We shared a testimony of grace, of God's goodness, and the salvation message. All received Christ, but there were still some misconceptions in place, largely as a result of seeing a powerless church and a powerless God represented by His people. We began to pray for people. One of the more sceptical ladies said she'd suffered from internal varicose veins for many years, which in the last two months had become so inflamed and troublesome she had been in pain 24 hours a day. We prayed for healing in Jesus' name. She said to her great surprise she began to feel better. Suddenly they were all clamouring for prayer for longstanding physical and emotional conditions, in themselves and on behalf of family members. 20 minutes later the lady with the varicose veins declares “the pain has completely gone, it's a miracle!” We were there until 1.30am praying for people. It was a wonderful evening and typical of our meetings in people's homes.
Samantha Otero
Tuesday 2 June 2009
The Gospel is touching the city!
Tuesday 26 May 2009
3 Week of Mission, families reconciled, healings in the park and more salvations!
In this last week of mission we have seen an excess of 14 people coming to the Lord, mainly at their homes. A woman and her mother gave their lives to Christ at a visit we had at their home. When we entered we were not really welcome but we were determined to show them the love of God. The situation was this: her husband had left her and their five year-old son. As we ministered the gospel to them we felt both women opening up, until finally they were delighted to confess Christ as Lord and Saviour. We then proceeded to pray for their needs and the reconciliation of that broken home. I felt in my Spirit to say this: “God bringing your husband back this week and has humbled his heart.” Two days later at a cell group at an army barracks I was introduced to a man called Jaime. I could barely believe my eyes. There he was… the man who left his home, now explaining with trembling and frankness: “I want my life changed.” So I replied to him: “with God it is possible!” and he was born again that night. On Sunday he came to the celebration, having a new light in him, also bringing his wife and son. The family had been reconciled and we witnessed the beautiful sight of the Jaime and his wife hugging for a long time, weeping and rejoicing before the Lord.
On Saturday morning I took some youth out to evangelise in the park. 5 students came to Christ despite professing to be atheists and humanists. God healed one young lady from a severe kidney pain that was so severe she could barely sit up straight. In Jesus name the pain was gone! The lady who was the most reluctant to receive the Lord initially wept for joy as she gave her life to Christ.
I thank God for His extravagant love that He is pouring out on us. Thank you Jesus, our Soul Winner!
Last week we began revisiting all the homes where people had given their lives to Christ in our first visits. The purpose of this second visit was to affirm their faith and open the way for the pastors and teachers who will help turn believers into disciples of Christ.
Please join us in prayer for the following:
- Favour this week to enter into all the households we visited in the first two weeks.
- More workers to reap and gather the harvest.
- Financial support for us and the new workers.
May God bless you and let you experience also the joy we have as we encounter His glory in the people we minister to. I pray this in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Sam and Mario
Monday 18 May 2009
Two Weeks of Mission!
Wednesday 13 May 2009
7 people came to the Lord in two different homes!
Tuesday 12 May 2009
Hola everyone! Since last Tuesday May 5th we’ve seen wonderful things done in the name of Jesus Christ. So far, in three days of reaching out at the homes of people who didn’t know Jesus, 26 have come to the Lord. Of those 26 people, all have wholeheartedly asked those of us who live in the same areas as the new believers to come back. For instance, yesterday, we revisited a house we had last Monday when two people dramatically gave their lives to Christ. At this home (see the picture) six of them (the two on the far left and the one taking the picture are co-workers) gave their lives to Christ. We’ll return next week to minister to the family and, God willing, continue leading family members to a relationship with God! (Matthew 13:33, the Parable of the Leaven).
Also this week Samantha ministered to the women of the church about things that can steal their joy, I heard by various people that it was a very emotional time and four people also came to Christ! She described to people how living in the past or the future (or both!), living only for other people's happiness, being led by circumstances (e.g. Hab 3:17), feeling condemned (Col 2:14; Rom 10:4 & 1 Cor 10:31), doing dead works (e.g. Gal 3:1-5; Rom 14:23) and not spending enough time with God (e.g. Acts 17:25; Rev 3:17-18) can all steal your joy, but joy gives strength (Neh 8:10), enabling you to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12) and draw from the wells of salvation (Is 12:2-3).
On Saturday I ministered to the youth, it was a very powerful time. There were only expecting up to 20 youth but 55 came. These were made up of people from teens to mid twenties. Also several people from two different congregations visited including the pastor of another church who wants to collaborate in all the Saturday outreaches and youth meetings. We're very excited about this!
On Sunday I preached at Vida Abundante. We had a good turnout, especially considering the governor has advised all public meetings cease until the potential threat of swine flu has been neutralised. I preached from Hebrews 12:1-2. It's part I of a two session teaching entitled "it's urgent!". The preaching will soon be on audio for Spanish people.
Yesterday we ministered in two homes and it was great! 6 people came to Christ and we will return to that house to minister to them next week.
The harvest of souls here in Chiapas is huge. We are not special but have made ourselves available for God to use us. Two things I ask you to pray for.
- Workers
- Resources for everyone to do the work they're doing already
God bless you!
Tuesday 5 May 2009
First day of mission! Primer dia de mision!
After a great week of fellowship with our friends Joshua and Kelly Steeper from Canada, it was time to get down to business! Yesterday we conducted our first day mission in one of the areas where there is already a house group set up. We worked with two friends from Vida Abundante, the church here in Tuxtla. Their names are Javier (worship leader) and Oscar (house group leader). We also went out with a sister who lives in the area called Amada ('Beloved' in English). She was responsible for making appointments so that we could visit people at their homes. Four appointments were made. We could only visit two houses due to a lack of time but the people we couldn't see came to the house group later that night. At the first home we met a lady called Les and another called Rosie. They both gave their lives to Christ. It was a very emotional time. They both wept as we told them of the love of God and prayed for them. Amada knows them so she and another sister will be visiting them this week. They were both encouraged to come to the house group in their area and join us at the Sunday celebration. We later went to another place also in the same area of a young woman called Reina ('Queen' in English). She had admitted to Amada previously that she had seen the "santa muerte" (the key figure in a Mexican cult) so we felt that she would need deliverance in Jesus name. We shared the Gospel with her and she received the Lord with great joy. I then asked her to renounce this cult and get rid of any items connected with it, which she did. I asked her to look at this little golden statue while I asked the statue to say something or move, but nothing happened. Reina understood that our Lord is the real thing: the living God! Both Amada and the other brothers in the area will be visiting the new converts this week so that we do not only have believers of Christ but disciples of Christ!