The Great Physician

Aloha friends and family!

We have been at the Calvary School of Missions for three weeks now and have continued to participate in classes and meet missionaries who have served in countries like Nepal, India, and Mexico. We have also been able to engage in multiple ministries and serve at some of the local church plants from Calvary Chapel Rosarito.

This past week in our classes we’ve finished looking at the Purpose of the Church and started looking at cultural matters. We’ve looked at maps and charts of the “reached” (areas where the Gospel is largely accessible) and “unreached” (places with little to no accessibility to the Gospel) areas of the world. We’ve touched on topics like “worldview,” and seen how there is a great deal of difference between Western and Eastern ideologies.

This week we participated in two park outreaches and served during a church takeover night. We have both been growing and practicing our Spanish since arriving. Both of us have been given the opportunity to serve as translators for our friends who have taught Bible lessons for kids at the outreaches and during casual conversations.

Most of the park outreaches consist of the school of eighteen students coming along side a local church to support and put on an event for the community. The team of students do things like face painting, balloon animals, and a VBS type presentation for the kids. For the women we have nail painting and for the adults we do a time of worship and teaching. There is also food provided for the whole family.

At one of these park outreaches we were both placed on the evangelism team, having conversations with people and trying to encourage them towards the Lord. One conversation that Racquell had was with a woman named Lulu. She and her family were selling clothes on the side of the park. Racquell had earlier invited her three children to participate in the face painting and other activities that were available. We both began to engage with Lulu and she soon opened up to Racquell about how she had been far from the Lord for many years and she felt something was missing in her heart, and she knew it was Jesus. Lulu shared with us that she is a single mom of four and that she was a business owner but lost her business due to the pandemic.

Racquell sat with her for a long time and talked through what a biblical church looks like, which came in contrast to the religiosity she had been faced with in the past at other churches. We spoke about how Jesus does not expect us to be perfect before we come to Him. Jesus Himself spoke about this in Luke 5:31-32, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Lulu had been rejected from churches due to not being “dressed up enough,” and sadly this is a terrible reflection of Jesus’ heart for people. Racquell encouraged her that the Lord doesn’t hold that kind of standard, and neither do we. We were able to pray with her and point her to two great Bible teaching churches in her area.

Thank you all for praying for the health and well-being of our team here! Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for our trip to Mazatlán and Culiacán. Please pray also for our Spanish, as we desire to learn and grow at this time, that we’d be more effective here in Mexico and in the future.

Here’s a short video we made for Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, California. Their pastors and leaders play a huge part in putting this school on, so this is a video we made to thank them and keep the church body informed — we’re putting it here for your encouragement too.

Thank you for your prayers. If you would like to partner with our family in furtherance of the gospel please consider donating through the button below.

By the grace of Jesus and for His glory,

The Stratton Family