---------------------------- The Laguna Torch October 2005 Update Recording the spread of God's fire in the "Laguna" Volume 4, Issue 1 ---------------------------- GREETINGS! God's rich blessings on each of you! As usual, time has gotten away from us, so once again we have an incredible amount of news to share! There's no way we can share it all, because we've kept a list of special things we wanted to share, and even just the list is two pages long! :) But we'll share some of the new and some of the old and we'll see if we have a chance to update you more soon! :) THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY Did we mention in our last update that it has already been 3 years since God sent us to the Laguna? Wow! It really reminds us of how many things we need to praise Him for! He's helped us grow so much - in our ministry skills, in our knowledge of the culture of Mexico, in our ability to speak Spanish, in our marriage, just to mention a few areas off the top of our heads! And He's done so many wonderful things - transforming Jose Luis's family, growing Daniel as a pastor, healing many people, construction of a new church building, and so much more! And with God we know that there's only more and better things to come! :) READY TO ROLL!!! We want to express a huge "THANK YOU!!!" to the people who helped provide new tires for the van (the need we shared in our last short message). Daniel is no longer worried about the safety of his family every time he drives! It's also great timing, because the van is now ready to take another load of people from the church to a conference in Fresnillo. This conference gathers pastors and leaders from the different Vineyards in Mexico for a time of training and ministry to each other, which is always a great blessing. We wouldn't have been able to go without the new tires because the van wasn't safe to drive on the highway. Praise God for His perfect provision and for His faithful servants who contributed to this need! :) NEW HOME GROUP A big change for us over the past couple of months has been that we stopped working with the home group with Jose-Luis's family. As we shared in our last newsletter, that was difficult because we felt so close to them and were blessed so much personally by the group. But we were asked to leave their homegroup in order to dedicate our time to something different. We're glad to say that though Jose-Luis and Lourdes stopped the group for a while, they have now started it again. They were scared and uncertain about leading the group themselves, but their hunger for God to be working in their lives was so strong that they had to do it anyway! Please pray that God would bless their group, and that they would continue growing! We were asked to begin ministering in a neighborhood called "Quatorce de Noviembre" (the 14th of November, which we'll refer to as "Quatorce" from here on - pronounced "kah-tor-say"), with a couple named Beto and Meche (more about them in a separate article). The church had been ministering in Quatorce in the past, but decided to stop about 2 years ago because the leaders were over extended. At the end of August, after a time of meeting with Beto and Meche to seek God's will, we started a home group in Beto and Meche's house. God has moved in that home group in incredible ways! We couldn't begin to tell you all the wonderful things He's done, but we do want to share a few examples! For one thing, we were expecting to start the group mainly with people who had been involved in the past, but God had different plans. For one reason or another, the people previously involved haven't been able to come, but the wonderful thing is that God has brought totally new people into the group. Many of them had no previous experience with Christianity. In fact, several of them are from Beto and Meche's families, and in the past they had made fun of Beto and Meche for their crazy ideas about religion. But now they are singing worship songs to God with a deep love, hungrily studying His Word, and praying for one another! It's such a privilege to see God drawing His lost children to Himself! :) In the group we are encouraging everyone to ask God to work in their lives and to give Him the glory when He responds. We wish we could share multiple testimonies that have come out as a result of that because they're all so encouraging, but we've chosen just one that really stands out. Beto's sister, Sara, started coming to the group, and it was obvious that God was really touching her. One day on Saturday she was riding with her husband in their truck, and they ran over two children in their neighborhood. To their horror, when they stopped they found that the kids were actually their nephews, a 4 year old and an older child. Things only got worse, because it was obvious that the 4 year old had a very serious head injury, and when they got to the hospital the doctors painted a very grim picture, saying that if the child was going to recover it would take several months but that it was very possible he wouldn't recover at all. But Sara started praying that God would heal the litle boy, and Beto and Meche arrived and prayed with her, and, to make a long story short, within 24 hours instead of putting in feeding tubes the little boy was asking for food and the doctors were calling him "milagritos", the little miracle boy! But amazingly, as though miraculously healing a little child wasn't enough, God had another side to the story. You see, in the morning the day of the accident, Sara's sister-in-law had threatened she wouldn't have anything to do with her if she kept doing this Christian stuff. This really would create problems because the two families live together in the same house. But when this woman saw her child tragically wounded, and then saw God respond in a miraculous way to Sara's prayers, her heart was changed. She was now full of gratitude to the real and living God! So God was working in this whole incident, not only to save a little boy's life, and not only to build Sara's faith, but to demonstrate His power and His love to a family that was rejecting Him in a way they couldn't resist. The comment from Sara's sister-in-law was actually only one example of numerous conflicts in a family that was mostly splintered. Since the miracle, there has been a new atmosphere of harmony! Praise be to God! We really should share one other testimony from the home group. Beto's prayer request has been that His family would come to Christ. You already know how God is answering that prayer in his sister Sara's life, but that's not all. His mother and two of his sisters-in-law have been coming regularly to the group. Two weeks ago, we really felt that we should offer a chance for people to receive Christ, because it was obvious that God was working in their lives, but they hadn't made a clear commitment to live for Him. When we did that, all three of his family members accepted Christ, along with four other friends and family! And there are also signs that God is working on Beto's brothers and his dad, so there's great hope of his prayer request being completely fulfilled in the near future! :) Please pray for the home group and each of the people attending. We believe that all that we've seen so far, wonderful though it is, is only just the beginning of the great work He has in store for the "Quatorce" neighborhood. BETO & MECHE Beto and Meche are helping us lead the home group in Quatorce (in their house! :]). They're an incredible special couple, and we wanted to share a little of their story. Beto and Meche came to Christ fairly soon after Daniel started planting the Vineyard Church in the Laguna. They say it was actually because of the insistence of Fili, Beto's brother. They were very fruitful soil, and soon became leaders in the church - doing kids ministry in their neighborhood, assisting with home groups, and visiting contacts for the church. However, there came a time of discouragement for them, and they attended another church for a while. Then they came back to the Vineyard, but they were still struggling, and they didn't even attend church consistently, let alone serve in any kind of leadership role. At the start of the summer, Fred Collom (the head of missions in Mexico) and Daniel (our pastor) suggested that we start working with them, starting anew the ministry in their neighborhood that had come to a stop. We really liked the idea because we had gone to a conference with them at Easter and had seen their deep desire to serve God. So we started meeting with them over the summer. All we did was encourage them by talking, listening, praying, and seeking God together about His will for outreach in their neighborhood. It became evident very quickly that God had a strong call on their lives, and soon they were excited and eager to see what God was going to do. At the end of August we started the homegroup, and we are just amazed at the passion and commitment they display week after week! Meche is remarkable - it seems that every time she prays for someone, they're deeply touched by the Holy Spirit. And Beto is such a passionate teacher of the Word! They're also truly faithful, freely offering their house and giving of their time to visit people regularly. It's a pleasure and a privilege for us to work with them. We give thanks to God all the time for the work He has done in them. He is truly glorifying Himself in them! We're also excited about what God still has in store. Please pray that God would continue working in them so they can grow even closer to Him and even mightier in His strength, prepared for whatever further ministry God has planned for them. COMING SOON We're planning to start an additional ministry in the Quatorce neighborhood - a weekly childrens ministry including providing a healthy meal and activities (games, songs, and teaching). Please pray with us for God's direction on when to start that and for His provision of time, energy, and people to help. DANIEL'S ALLERGIES HEALED!! A need which we (shamefully) never actually published has already been taken care of! Daniel, the pastor of the church we're working with, has been having lots of problems this year with allergies. It has seriously affected him, because the allergies cause his throat to close, especially when he's using his voice a lot. Leading a service, including leading worship and preaching, was a serious strain for him. He had gone to many doctors, even specialists, to seek a solution, but their treatments didn't help. However, the church prayed for him about two months ago, and soon after that God led him to a doctor who provides very cheap medical service for people without insurance ($2 a visit!). By God's grace, that doctor's treatment has done wonders for Daniel's allergies, so that he can now lead worship and preach without his voice giving him any problems! Praise God for taking care of the needs of His servants so they can continue serving Him! TO BE CONTINUED... There's so much more to share! We'll have to write again very soon to let you know some of the other wonderful things God has been doing in the church here! :) ---------------------------------------------- PRAISES Reflecting on all of God's goodness to us, we can't help but praise Him! Here's a summary of His wonderful works: * for God's provision for the new tires for the church van * for the many amazing ways God is working in the new home group in Quatorce * for the people who have come to Christ in the home group * for Beto & Meche's faithful and passionate service * for the healing of Daniel's allergies * for all of our continuously faithful prayer supporters * for God's faithfulness in our lives personally, helping us to grow individually and in our love for each other PRAYER REQUESTS Here's a summary of the needs that are on our heart at this time: * for Jose-Luis and Lourdes and their home group * for Toña and her family, whom we continue to visit as we're able * for Daniel and Adriana's finances. Daniel is seeking God for a means of earning a part-time income in a way that wouldn't interfere with his ability to continue his ministry. * for the people in the Quatorce home group to develop a really solid foundation in their new relationship with Jesus * for Beto's father and brothers to come to Christ * for plans for the childrens ministry in Quatorce * for the conference in Fresnillo for leaders and pastors Nov. 1-2 * for plans for an evangelistic outreach in Tierra Blanca Nov. 13-27 * for us - to walk with God day by day and let Him use us in whatever way He desires CONTRIBUTIONS Your tax-free contributions to our ministry are welcome. You can give a one-time gift to a specific need or to our general ministry. We also encourage regular monthly contributions, since that is what we depend on for our continued ministry. Contributions should be made out to Project Friendship with Torreón Missions on the memo line. They may be put in the offering at Spring Vineyard or mailed to: Project Friendship P.O. Box 90669 Houston, TX 77290 CONTACT INFO Our Personal Info: our home sweet home (with room for guests!) San Macario #621 Colonia Fuentes del Sur Torreón, Coahuila 27210 MÉXICO Our phone: 011-52-871-720-78-56 Website: http://www.lagunaonfire.org Email: Larry@LagunaOnFire.org or Kim@LagunaOnFire.org Info for the Church We Work With: The Vineyard of the Laguna Daniel Oyarsabal, Pastor San Antonio 307 Colonia La Fuente Torreón, Coahuila 27098 México Daniel's phone: 011-52-871-720-50-33 Church website: http://www.lavinadelalaguna.org Daniel's email: DanielO@lavinadelalaguna.org