“… I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh”
Romans 9:2-3
Dear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,
What a joy and privilege to deliver the gift of salvation to dying, immortal souls. Yet, how often we settle in our hearts to walk by them without even a glance! If the apostle Paul was willing to give up his own salvation so that his fellow Israelites might be saved, how much more should we long for the salvation of those who have not even heard the gospel! I often find it impossible to share Jesus with anyone while I am busying myself with other things. But, when I simply set my mind everyday to share with anyone God puts me with, it becomes so simple! A conversation can change a life forever, and the main battle is just starting it. Tuesday, the team headed out to the beach to street witness. Many of the locals here are very open to gospel, though most have a misguided view of it. To show God’s love and expound the full gospel is one of the greatest blessings I now see I have most neglected. So many are white for harvest here. I was able to share with four people throughout that day.
We had some of the best teachers so far this trip. Wes Bently from Far Reaching Ministries shared his shocking testimony and extensive ministry, which is currently involved in 5 different wars across the globe, Burma, South Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and one other country. Pastor Corey Kilgus visited from South America to share about his work planting churches and a Bible school in Peru.
On Friday and Saturday we attended the amazing ¡Ve! (Go!) Mexico Church Planting Conference. Hosted at Calvary Chapel Rosarito with Pastor Mike Vincent, we heard from many of the Mexican pastors and leaders of ministries about the church’s purpose to evangelize and disciple the world. During the conference we were able to be apart of the sending of a new church plant to Ensenada (Below).
Saturday, immediately after the conference we took off on a plane to Culiacán. During that 2 1/2 hour flight, a team member and I got the opportunity to lead a Catholic, Fernando, to Christ. The next morning, we drove bright and early for church service at Calvary Chapel Maranatha in Mazatlán. That evening we rode a boat to Isla de la Piedra (Rock Island) for a Sunday evening service with a new Calvary Maranatha church plant.
Tonight (Monday), we had setup a special service for Calvary Chapel Maranatha Este (East) to teach about the purpose of the church. The people were very friendly and one man gave his life to Christ! We will be in Culiacán for the rest of the week, and attend the Mexico and Beyond Conference there, lead by Pastor Hugo.
Prayer Requests:
- God’s guidance and connections with the local church for the new believer, Fernando, who we lead to the Lord on the plane ride to Culiacán.
- The people my team and I evangelized to in Rosarito: Daniel, Jose, Jesus, and Icai.
- That God’s love and the Holy Spirit would overfill us for empowerment to fulfill God’s work here in Mexico through the team.
- Far Reaching Ministries, currently the only organization still trying to rescue people out of Afghanistan. They have gotten 1,500 people out so far, but there are still ~3,500 mostly-forgotten Afghanis in dire need of rescue from the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Praise Reports:
- Smooth travels so far, we have been able to reach everywhere we hoped to go, serve, and make many relationships with locals.
- Still learning a crazy amount about missions from great classes.
- The awesome unity and effectiveness of the missions team! I am loving working with all the other students and leaders for God’s glory!
Gospel Partners
All of you are our lifeline to the communities we reach, so I would love to get to know and partner with you more as I learn to be an ambassador of CC North Texas to Mexico!
You can contact me through email, phone or text. There is also a button on the bottom of this letter if you would like to financially be apart of this work in Mexico, my tuition is currently 33% of the way to being fully funded.
Eirene,
Joshua Vanrenterghem
joshuavan6@gmail.com
971-762-7451
