Trials, Opportunities, and Steps of Faith

Hello friends and family! We want to share with you that we are so grateful for the great opportunities that the Lord has opened for us to prepare and train us before we go out to the mission field.

As many of you know, the Lord has called us to plant a church in one of the unreached areas in the south of Mexico – in a small city called Calpulalpan, in the state of Tlaxcala.

In May we went on a vision trip to the city of Calpulalpan. We went with Brian’s brothers, Aldrin & Kevin, and also Brian’s parents, Elizabeth & Eduardo. On the trip we were able to get to know the couple, David & his wife, who donated the property that we will be using for the church and church planting school. Right before we had come to visit, they had brought in an excavator to dig around the border of the property and a cistern. The prayer right now is to raise funds to get a fence put up around the property, and actually build the cistern.

On the Sunday of the week we were down south, we were able to visit Calvary Chapel Tulancingo. They invited us to do worship, and also Brian taught a message about following Jesus in John 12:12-26. We had a sweet time of fellowship with Pastor Federico and his wife Jenny. We were encouraged to continue with steps of faith to plant a church as well. We look forward to working with them to reach the people in southern Mexico. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to serve to Lord faithfully and reach the people in their community.

While we were down south we had the opportunity of visiting with some of Brian’s family in Puebla, Mexico. Unfortunately the day that we went to visit with Brian’s grandma, Sonia, she passed away. It was all in God’s planning though because we were able to be at the wake and burial with the rest of Brian’s family. Brian also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with his family, who are mostly Catholic.

When we returned back to Rosarito after our trip, Brian’s stepdad, Eduardo, had to go immediately to the hospital. He was not able to keep any food or water down. Last year he had one of his kidneys removed, and now the other one was in end-stage kidney disease. He was too weak to get the surgery that he needed, so he stayed in the hospital for a month until he was strong enough. During that month they had him on hemodialysis. It was very difficult in that waiting period because of the uncertainty of his health and because they are not letting any visitors in, nor are they letting anyone stay with Eduardo. He was able to later get the surgery, peritoneal dialysis (PD), which was successful, praise God! He is still recovering and the doctors are seeing what will be the best way to proceed. Please continue praying for Eduardo. Pray for his body to be healed and for the dialysis to work properly. It will be a long recovery.

As we were suffering through that, at the same time we were experiencing a big transition as a family. We moved to Connections House, Brittany’s parent’s ministry house, to be on staff and be students in the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM). When we moved out of our old house, we went through all of our belongings to downsize and get ready for moving down south. We also had to paint our old house in order to receive our full deposit back. When we moved to Connections House, we came on as full-time staff for the summer.

In March of 2022 Brian was able to go to a church planting & missions conference in Mazatlán where we were invited by Pastor Trent Douglass (Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) to be a part of the Calvary School of Missions. CSOM is a program to train and equip future missionaries to be sent out all over the world. After a time of prayer and thought we decided to apply as missionaries with Saving Grace World Missions and be students in CSOM.

We were so grateful for these opportunities that God gave to us, but we knew that with these opportunities sacrifices would come along. Some of those sacrifices would be moving to Connections House temporarily and also handing over our ministries at Calvary Chapel Playas de Tijuana by the end of June before classes start with CSOM. Even though these were difficult decisions we knew that God had a purpose for it all. We miss them all dearly, and we are grateful for all the friendships that we made there. We pray and believe that God will use each of the people there greatly.

In July we started with the classes with CSOM. We have had amazing classes so far and we have learned so much! God is doing great things and preparing us to go out and win souls for Christ! It is so encouraging to be with like-minded people who are on fire for missions!

Besides the classes, we get to hear amazing testimonies from missionaries already out in the mission field. We get to put everything that we learn into practice by going out on outreaches twice a week. Brian has been able to go on some of the outreaches with them. He served alongside them with the worship, teaching, translating and more.

It has been difficult to balance being on as full-time staff at Connections House, being students with CSOM, and taking care of our family. But we know that God is using this time to make us grow and mature in many areas that we need to before going out to the mission field.

We would like to say thank you for taking time out of your day to read about how God is moving in our lives! If you have questions about us, the ministry that we are doing, our future plans, or you would like to see more pictures, please contact us and we will be happy to help you!

Brian & Brittany De La Cruz
(619) 884-5632
brittany@struska.net

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