May 2016 – True Path Ministry Inc.

Prayers with Lopez Family

May 31, 2016/in Mission Work, News, Uncategorized /by admin

Tonya, Pastor Lupe and Samuel Lopez. (click on photo for closer view)

Thursday night (May 26) a small car pulled up in front of our Galeana home with Samuel and Tonya Lopez. The Lopez family are well known locally because of their musical talent and we have been around them at multiple Christian events. Some of you may recall we had prayed with Tonya and her daughter Cindy some weeks back.

Samuel and Tonya Lopez were distressed and we were honored and humbled they had come to us. However, we were not sure what was the nature of their distress. We had difficulty talking with them because of our limited Spanish. We called our fellow True Path Ministry worker Martin who talked with them a while.

We learned from Martin they had just been to the hospital after Samuel had experienced some unusual bleeding. Plus, Tonya had a very disturbing dream the very night before. They were both concerned and wanted our prayers. We shared some coffee and cookies and then we prayed. We agreed to come see them at their home on Saturday so we could pray for them and their home with Martin present.

The True Path Ministry team (Martin, Anna, Genesis, Tonyia and Stephen) drove out to the Lopez compound, called El Poso, on Saturday night. It is about ten miles south of Galeana. Several members of the Lopez family and others have homes beside each other. They even have their own church where the senior Lupe Lopez is pastor.

We sat down with Samuel, Tonya and Lupe Lopez for a time of friendly visiting. After discussing their concerns we opened the Bible to Ephesians to read and discuss the power of the Armor of God in verses 6:10-20 and its application in our lives.

We began an intense time of prayer. We all realize we can only fight the rulers of the darkness in the Spirit through the name of Jesus. We laid hands on, prayed for, and anointed with oil Samuel and Tonya Lopez and their home. The power of the Holy Spirit filled the room. It was a moving moment in the name of Jesus. We are so thankful to have a Savior that loves us so much. Jesus is our certain hope!

Pastor’s Birthday, Wound Care and Blessing Bag

May 30, 2016/in Mission Work, News /by admin

Pastor Jose and family.

The True Path Ministry team (Martin, Anna, Genesis, Tonyia and Stephen) were part of a surprise Birthday party for Pastor Jose. Many from his congregation turned out to wish him well. His church is in Dieciocho de Marzo, a small community about ten miles northwest of Galeana. There were a number of touching moments as his wife Pera and family joined the festivities.

Everyone shared a moment about what Pastor Jose meant to them. A very special one was Louis. He is a young teen and nephew of the pastor. The family now considers Louis one of their own four kids. Louis told how thankful he was that Jose allowed him to come live with them. He was in a difficult family situation in Monterrey but now living with Jose, he knows Christ and he is being taught how to live out his faith. There was not a dry eye in the place.

After the hour long tribute the party moved from the sanctuary to the fellowship room for a meal and cake. The ladies of the church had prepared enough to feed everyone. The meal was good but the desert was special for Pastor Jose. He has a particular fondness for cake and he ended up with three from which to choose. After he got his pick everyone joined in eating one of the sweet treats.

Pastor Jose’s congregation.

One of the tributes was from a new family in the church. We learned that the wife had recently had major surgery. The wound was not healing properly and reopened. They found out Tonyia was a nurse and they asked if she could come by their house to examine the site, give her advise and pray with her for healing – of course we were happy to visit them.

As it turns out the family’s home was next door to Lupe also a member of the congregation. He is a wonderful, spirit-filled 85 year old. He is going through a difficult time as a good friend of his was diagnosed with a serious condition. He has virtually no income, but a big heart.

Pastor Jose defends his cake - he likes cake.

Pastor Jose defends his cake – he really likes cake.

Several folks spoke and even sang for the pastor’s party.

We took him a “blessing bag” with staples such as tortillas, cooking oil, coffee, rice, beans, cookies, sugar and toilet paper. Pastor Jose also joined us at Lupe’s home to talk with him and to take his petition to God in a intense time of prayer. He is such a powerful witness for Jesus – he was grateful, humble and welcoming.

We took a “blessing bag” to 85 year old Lupe.

Tonyia used her nurse skills to discuss the Sister’s wound.

Once again I am overwhelmed how we are being used by the LORD. I encourage you to go on a missionary trip – it will bless you beyond measure.

PS – You are always welcome to come see us in Mexico!

Church Building Plan, Dinner and Children’s Club

May 29, 2016/in Mission Work, News /by admin

The new church location overlooks Galeana.

Martin, Stephen and Pastor Reynaldo recently checked-out the location where Getsemani will one day be located. Pastor Reynaldo currently rents a small building for church services, but has big plans for the future. The property the church has purchased is up on a hill east of town overlooking Galeana. Once built it would be seen and heard all around the area. Please pray the Lord will touch hearts for the funds to build this church.

We (the True Path Ministry Mexico team – Martin, Anna, Genesis, Tonyia and Stephen) learned about the new building plan when we hosted the Pastor and his family for a meal on Wednesday night May 25. Joining us at the table were Pastor Reynoldo, wife Lourdes, children Arele age 5, Jose age 8 and Elias 10 months. Another member of his congregation, Yessi and her two small children, also ate with us. She has extensive experience teaching children and wants to be involved as we develop weekly programs at Casa Cristana El Alfarero.

We hosted the pastor and others for Pizza on Wednesday, May 28th.

Pastor Reynoldo has a number of young families in his growing church. Among his duties as a pastor he has developed specific skills as a marriage counselor. He has been a pastor eight years and five of those he has been working with couples to strengthen marriages. He was also pleased to hear we were developing plans to work with the children in the community.

We discussed having a weekly Christian club for children. It would be a fun time that would include games, life skills and Bible study. Yessi who has worked with similar programs over the past 13 years believes the idea has merit and agreed to help. We will all pray about the idea and pursue an outline detailing what would be involved. If the Lord is in it we’ll overcome any barriers that stand in the way.

Dinner, Apron and Bible

May 26, 2016/in Mission Work, News, Uncategorized /by admin

We ate Pizza with the Hernandez family on a recent Wednesday night.

Anna, Martin, Genesis, Tonyia and I treated the Hernandez family to pizza on a recent Wednesday night at Casa Cristana El Alfarero. Pastor Hernandez has a vibrant church in a poor area of Galeana. He and wife Martha have two kids, Soreal age 15 and Jessica age 20. They are all talented musicians and have a heart for the Lord.

The Hernandez family have been in Galeana eight years after leaving their family and a nice home in Veracruz. When the Lord called them into the mountains they came with very few possessions. They lived in a tiny apartment before building a small dwelling attached to the church.

He has been working on the church. It has noticeable updates and is almost finished inside. His

Pastor Hernandez is over a great local church and he also sells tortillas to support his family.

congregation is in a poor area and the family makes ends meet by selling tortillas. Each day they get up early to cook tortillas that Pastor Hernandez takes to sell by driving up and down the streets. He has a large speaker on top of his car and he announces his goods. He is never too busy to talk with someone who needs a kind word or prayer.

We learned at the dinner he needs some help installing a bathroom and he would like to find a resource for children’s teaching materials. We agreed to help. We also discovered Jessica, who just turned 20, is looking at attending Bible college. She has a heart for children and serving the LORD.

We gave one of the donated aprons to Martha.

We recently had some aprons donated to us and Martha was the first one we thought of who needed a new one. She liked her new apron. While we were in McAllen last week we were able to go to a Family Christian store that had a good supply of Spanish language Christian material. We used the opportunity to get Jessica a well respected Holman Study Bible in the RVR 1960 translation.

We are so blessed to be an active part of God’s work. I pray that everyone who feels the Lord’s calling acts in obedience – there is nothing like the peace that comes in knowing we are in His will.

Blessings at the Border

May 25, 2016/in Mission Work, News, Uncategorized /by admin

We had four big boxes on the back and still got green light!

We just returned from a few days by the border. We had to get our Mexico visas renewed. My brother Arlen and his wife Linda met us in McAllen with some big print Spanish Bibles, teaching materials and some wonderful home-made aprons. The Spanish language materials were given to us by Pastor Pablo and Pastor McGarity both from Bandera county, Texas. Linda and her granddaughter Lori made the aprons for us to give to the ladies here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Linda Williams made aprons to give away.

Linda Williams sewed aprons for the ladies in Mexico.

Lori Lewis also helped to make aprons.

We went to stores in McAllen where we bought things we cannot find in Mexico. We ended up with four BIG boxes on a rack attached to the back of our car. I thought this made us a likely target for the Mexican border officials to search and tax. Tonyia told me to have faith so we prayed “Lord in the past you made blind men see, but today we need you to make seeing men blind.” It worked as we got a green light, no questions asked – amazing!

Centro Cristiano Victoria

Tonyia and I spoke briefly.

Dancers were part of the service.

One of our great blessings was to be able to worship with Pastor Francisco and wife Estella at their church Centro Cristiano Victoria in Reynosa. It was a very spirit-filled service. Tonyia and I both spoke briefly.

The service included dancers, a large praise band, a guest evangelist, separate children’s and youth time. The service went over two hours plus there was a meal for all 200 or so who came.

The church building does not have air conditioning except in a few rooms. It was 95 and the humidity was the same. But the heat did not impact worship, it was a powerful, Holy Spirit filled, service!

Francisco and his wife Estella showed us around the church and the improvements that had been made. The women’s restroom had stalls added and safety bars were put on the balcony area. We are blessed to work with this great ministry!