PREPARING THE FIELD FOR GOD’S PROVISION

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my latest update on missions! Thank you so much for your prayers and ongoing support. Next week, it will be 5 months since I got to the USA. Praise the Lord! It has been an altogether awesome, challenging, and fruitful time of growth for me.

In the Bible, we always see how waiting on the Lord always brings fruit in due season. 2 Timothy 2:6 teaches me that the hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops (NIV), but it is evident that the farmer needs to first put in the work. In my time in the US, God has asked me to prepare the field for Him, so when He brings the rain, all preparation may bear much fruit! Meanwhile, I just continue to be faithful to Him, spending time with Him, studying the Word, learning, and doing the work of the ministry. I pray for God to move His hand, but I work to prepare the field for Him to do it! Praying and working hard is God’s way to make His name known! Don’t stop reading! I’m about to share some of the great things God is doing lately!

⁹ And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Galatians 6:9

A couple of months ago, God brought a young man named Tyler to the church through one of our friends. Having a Catholic background, Tyler arrived at our Young Adults group with a lot of questions about God. At the end of the teaching, I shared the Gospel with him and asked him if he was ready to surrender his life to Christ. He answered back, “I will continue to pray to see if I can have enough confidence to do it one day”. So, I said to him, “the only thing you need to do is believe, Tyler. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and you believe with all your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved. You don’t need anything else. Jesus already did everything for you!” Moments later, we were leading Tyler in a prayer to confess his sins before God and receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. What a night!!! Praise the Lord!

About the same time when this happened, my good friend, Isaac (Youth Pastor at CCSG), asked me to teach the Word in the Youth Winter Camp at Big Bear. Man! I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep the day before preaching! The next morning, I spent 1 hour teaching on John 10, in my second language. Isn’t God amazing? At the end of the session, I was encouraged by some of the guys who approached to tell me that the Word has been edifying to them. It was such a special weekend we got to spend with the teens. We prayed for and with them, we sled in the snow, we had worship nights, fellowship, and listened to many awesome Bible teachers. Such a blessed time!

I want to thank you for your prayers for our trip to Mazatlan last month. On February 22th, I traveled with Pastor Tim and his wife, Jenn, to a Church Planting Conference down in Mexico. This was a fruitful time where I found several Mexican believers desiring to go serve the Lord as cross-cultural missionaries. Now, if you know me, I’m sure I have shared with you how God placed a burden in my heart to encourage fellow believers (specifically Spanish-speakers) to go to the nations. Meeting all these people was a confirmation from the Lord that, in our congregations, there are men and women called by God and willing to GO to all of the world! Amen!

The first day of the conference, I met Andy. Without notice, this young girl came to me and shared how God called her at the age of 7 to be a missionary. Since then, she had been praying to serve the Lord, and she waited to be sent to the Middle East one day. Andy is just 14 years old! Can you help me in praying for her? I was so excited and encouraged by this young girl. Please join us in prayer as we lift up the future generations of missionaries going to the nations to share Jesus!!!

Update for Spanish Speakers: Last month, some fellow believers and I, started a prayer group for the nations via Zoom. The purpose of this group is to support Mexican church planters and missionaries in prayer as they serve God. We pray that this group may grow to be a strong, faithful group that will partner with future Mexican missionaries to minister to Mexico and Beyond! You are all invited to be part of this, just reply to this post, and I will contact you!

I leave you with some of the plans God has placed in my heart in these upcoming months.

Next steps towards the field (Please partner with me in PRAYER!):

• Teaching on “International Church Planting/Missions” at Horizonte Church and CBI Mexico on May 1st.
• Going on a Vision Tour to the Middle East.
• Attending Security Training for closed countries to the Gospel.
• Continue partnering in prayer and finances with different churches.

Prayer petitions:

• For a deep and strong relationship with the Lord.
• For God strengthening Tyler as he grows in the faith.
• For salvation for the people we witnessed to these last weeks: Muhammad (Muslim), Summi and Emma (Mormons), Cathy and Amanda (Catholic), Dilan (Buddhist), and multiple young men and women (Atheists).
• For the Mexico and Beyond prayer meeting every Friday.
• For the Next Steps towards the Field.
• For God to bless me with a Care Team.

Praise Reports:

• Tyler and some friends got baptized last month at the church!
• I’m almost 50% funded to go on a Vision Tour to the Middle East!
• We are 6 weeks in from the start of our “Mexico and Beyond!” prayer meeting!
• The trip to Mazatlan was greatly blessed by God!
• Missions Training School is going great! Everyday the Lord grows my desire to serve Him in full capacity as a missionary (At the end of this post, you can see a schedule of the things I normally work on throughout the week).

If you want to bless God’s work through my life by taking care of my financial needs as a missionary, you can always press the button at the end of this update “Become a Financial Partner.“ Please do it prayerfully, I would love to get to know you and build a long-term relationship to make Jesus known in the nations. Right now I’m waiting for God to provide long-term support of approximately $1,500-$2,000 USD per month to pay for my basic needs and Language School (Arabic).

Thanks for spending your time reading this update. Love you guys! Thanks for your care, love, encouragement, and support for me. May God bless you and give you according to the riches of His glory in Jesus Christ! I’m praying for you guys.

Jesus loves you,

– Marcelo Ramos

Day	Schedule
Monday	8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Work in Side Jobs & do Reading 1 6:30 – 9:00 PM Culture Class with Rob
Tuesday	10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Church Staff Meeting 12:00 PM – 4:30 PM Prepare Teaching for Preaching Class (PC), Arabic Class & do Reading 2 4:30 – 6:00 PM Babysit Charlie (my favorite baby!) 6:30 – 9:00 PM Discipleship Class
Wednesday	8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Prepare Teaching for PC & do Reading 3 12:30 – 1:00 PM Book Discussion 1:00 – 2:30 PM Preaching Class 2:30 – 4:30 PM Missions’ Class 6:00 – 9:00 PM Spanish Fellowship/Midweek Service
Thursday	12:00 – 4:00 PM Work on Maintenance at church 6:00 – 9:00 PM Young Adults Group
Friday	8:00 – 9:00 AM Host “Mexico and Beyond” Prayer Meeting 9:30 – 11:00 AM Islam Relgion Class and/or Discipleship w/Pastor Tim 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM Prayer Meeting for the Nations
Saturday	Rest Day (Something always comes up! Haha.)
Sunday	7:00 AM – 2:00 PM Church Service (9 & 11 AM)