Open Doors

Many miles (and many days!) have been covered since the last update - there's lots that has happened!  But during that time I was able to connect with many of you, spending a large part of August up in Manitoba, and then several weeks on the road where I travelled down to the southern-most coast of Mexico together with my coworker, Guillermo.  Yes, it's the same Guillermo who I wrote about previously, who got significantly sick on our previous trip to the neighbouring state of Chihuahua.  As I shared in the last blogpost, without a doubt, the experience, as he sat in the hospital for ten days, had quite the opposite effect from discouraging any future outings - if anything, it served to inspire a renewed vision for the urgency of the work at hand, wherever and however that might look, as God continues to lead.  That was certainly the case over the last month as we took off in the CEC-mobile, a little four-door Corolla, that travelled many miles throughout Mexico, over the course of nearly three weeks this past September.  In about ten different stops over nineteen days we saw God continue to open doors in ways that we honestly, didn't expect - and we look forward to how He will continue to connect us with people and churches hungry for His Word, all across Mexico.  

Click on the map to see our route, and the places we visited.

Here are some highlights from this trip together:

Over the course of those 5,000 kilometres traveled, we were able to visit some of our alumni, Leoncio being one of them, who studied in CEC in 2016.  He lives in Mazatlán, our first stop on the trip, together with his wife and three children.  It had been a number of years since I had last seen him, but he continues to pastor a little church that meets in a recently constructed building made of pallets with a tin roof.  Leoncio hasn't changed a bit.  He continues to passionately and boldly preach the Word both to his congregation and as he's out on the road during the day making deliveries of the product that his wife daily prepares in their house - refried beans (a Mexican staple!)  Through this home-business, they are able to provide for their family and it also enables him to have the freedom to continue to serve in ministry, the routes he takes daily themselves serving as opportunities to minister to people throughout the day.  He regularly goes to different areas in the city, sharing openly the Gospel; they also have started a children's ministry where they regularly provide a meal and biblical teaching to children in the community where they serve.  If you spent just five minutes with Leoncio, even without knowing the language, his love both for God and for others would be more than obvious.  It is so encouraging to see, even after all of these years, how many of our students, like Leoncio, continue to minister faithfully, in spite of whatever difficult circumstances they have gone through.  This was just our first stop.

Leoncio (left), together with his family, the congregation, and Guillermo (back, centre).

Our next night (don't worry, I won't go through every single stop!) came about through a young man who had studied English at the Consiervos program that has run out of CEC the previous year.  David, whose dad is the pastor of a church in Tepic, Nayarit, had invited us to come and present CEC in their church.  What quickly came to realize the incredible work that God has done through them over the years, through a man who had never had the pastorate in his sights, but whom God has used to help reach far into the neighbouring mountains, the Huichol people (one of the many indigenous people-groups in Mexico).  We met with one of those communities, a group of people who many years earlier had had to leave their homes and re-established themselves close to the city, now with a thriving and growing Christian church.  We had the chance to share with them the ministry of CEC with some of their church leaders, several of whom expressed a sincere desire to continue to grow through study.  We left greatly encouraged seeing not only the work that David and his dad were involved with (even partnering extensively with a number of Mennonite believers from the state of Durango) but also seeing how God lead us to these thriving communities at the heart of some of Mexico's indigenous people-groups.

David (front), his dad (left), Guillermo, and myself.

Our next two stops featured pastors/churches that we had visited the previous year, but in both situations we saw the doors that were already open, swing open even wider.  Specifically in one, we had intentions of visiting a second pastor in the immediate area whom we had met last year.  Unfortunately, we had misplaced his contact information and were not able to communicate with him, so our plan was to seek him out once again.  As we arrived to our destination (the same contact we had last year, who had connected us with this other pastor previously) we heard about some unfortunate circumstances that had taken place to this other pastor - the one we had lost the contact information for.  However, our hosts began to share about how they had recently made some inroads to two local pastors alliances in the region, how God had been opening up doors to them.  They presented this opportunity to us, inviting us to return and connect with these alliances, and (as would become a familiar tune during this trip) spend more time in the area preparing some mini-conferences for these pastors/churches.  Our original plans of connecting with that other pastor were effectively "foiled" however, they were replaced but something far greater than what we had originally anticipated.  We began to see that the doors were opening not only to share about the ministry of CEC, but to become more involved on the road, on-site at these churches.

One of the churches we visited, just outside of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

On our way to the furthest point we would visit, the southern coast of Oaxaca, we found an even greater openness.  We spent two jam-packed days visiting and participating in four church services, the first one being at 6am, Saturday morning, in this small, rural church where the people started filing in, almost a hundred in all (and this was a "smaller" number than normal).  We typically were given the opportunity to preach, as well as share about CEC's ministry and the opportunity to study in the coming year.  As we interacted with the people and particularly some of the pastors in the area, we quickly saw not only the need, but even more so the desire to receive help, specifically in biblical teaching.  Our host (who is himself a pastor, the father of one of our full-time staff members here in CEC) put the offer plainly on the table: we will provide the facilities, the accommodations for the people, prepare meals, and even compensate for travel costs: just come and teach!  All of this to say, the opportunities seemingly abounded in this trip, more than we had anticipated.

One of these churches, who received some Bibles that we were able to bring with us, thanks to some generous donors.  Resources like these are harder to find in the southern part of Mexico as opposed to areas closer to the northern border.

From there our journey took us back to an area we know very well, where we have had a number of students attend over the years, and a place that is almost like a home away from home already, with how warmly we are received by the church community there.  Some of our past students, through a recent youth retreat, made contact with a couple of churches within a few hours of their church, who were very interested in hearing more about the ministry of CEC as well.  This led us to a couple of our last stops, to new churches whom we had never had contact with before, one of which urged us as well to come back in the future, to spend more time with them, and to share some more extensive teaching with them, not to mention people who were interested in attending CEC's program in the new year.  

All in all, both Guillermo and myself, were elated with these new, opening doors, and excited to see where these lead us as we move forward.  It seems over the past couple of years specifically, in thinking about the ministry of CEC, God as slowly been opening more and more doors, providing more connections, with more people, and more opportunities, not just onsite in San Carlos, but beyond as well.  We reflected as we made the trip back home on how we sensed a hunger for God's Word and a desire for help, especially as we travelled further south - the precise kind of support that CEC seeks to offer in collaborating with the churches in Mexico through biblical teaching.  We see that He has led us specifically to these kinds of places, and we are grateful to be a part of it.

As I write this, we continue to make our plans for next year, with applications already coming in for January.  Also, in a couple of days I will head up to Phoenix to pick up a group coming from Millar college of the Bible, SK, who will be spending a week and a half at CEC while we host a transcultural missions module.  Beyond that, we are also looking forward to a conference the beginning of November as well as a six-week, Saturday night study in Ephesians, hosted by Guillermo, here onsite.  This year will quickly come to a close with just enough time to catch our breath before we run headlong into January and the new course.  

Thanks for your continued prayers for myself, and for this ministry here.  I am thankful for this opportunity to serve, and for the many ways that God continues to work amongst us, through this ministry, and in the lives of the students who have come through CEC.  ¡Dios les bendiga a cada uno de ustedes!  May God bless each and every one of you!