Looking Ahead and Rejoicing in 2017

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Guest written by Jeanette and Lori Lewis (Steve and Tonyia’s niece/great niece).

The year is ending, but God’s love endures.  Today Stephen, Tonyia, Lori and I (Jeanette Lewis) attended the church service at Iglesia Getsemani.  Pastor Rey gave a spirit-filled sermon and the music brought tears to my eyes. We also had communion with the congregation.

After services, many members of the church went up the mountain to pray blessings on the site where a new church building (Iglesia Getsemani) will be built.  Some work has already been done on the site.  The area has been cleared of brush and they are beginning the holes for the support columns.

Next, we traveled about 10 miles outside of Galeana to the tiny town of San Francisco.  Here, we attended church services with “Pastora Berenice.”  I cannot say enough praise about her.  She is a young woman with a true spiritual gift of working with children.

After services were over, Lori, Tonyia, and I handed out gifts of toys, candy, Christian tracts and personal care items.  The children loved them!

Tomorrow we make the three hour drive to give gifts in extremely remote Refugio. Until next time, Feliz Año Nuevo and Dios de Bendiga/Happy New Year and God Bless You.

We celebrated communion today at a beautiful service at Iglesia Getsemani.

The Iglesia Getsemani ladies sang at service today.

Stephen, Lori and Jeanette shared greetings with the Iglesia Getsemani.

Pastor Rey’s daughter, Aralya, sang a beautiful solo today.

We also prayed with the congregation of Iglesia Getsemani at the new church location.

A good group was onhand to pray at the new site.

We enjoyed services at the tiny church in San Francisco this evening.

Pastora Berenice is a good preacher and is especially gift at working with children.

The children were all happy with their Christmas gifts.

Tonyia and Jeanette gave out the gifts.

Lori, Pastora Berenice and Jeanette paused in front of the small church in San Francisco.

We stopped by to see the clear waters at the La Laguna lake just out of Galeana.

 

God’s Favor in Crossing from the Border to the Mountains

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Guest written by Jeanette and Lori Lewis (Steve and Tonyia’s niece/great niece)

Our adventure started early Friday morning in McAllen, Texas.  Uncle Stephen, Aunt Tonyia, my daughter Lori, and I took a trailer full of donations to the border.  Here we witnessed another manifestation of how prayer reaches the hearts of everyone around us.

We cannot thank everyone enough for your prayers for safe and successful passage.  Our border official was a very pleasant lady who understood our broken Spanish and had compassion for our travels in the rain.  We made it across with minimal import tax and did not have to open or even remove the rain-proof plastic from our packages.  Praise God!

We made it safely home to Galeana and immediately began our preparations for our first “Rancho” visit today (Saturday).  Today dawned clear and bright for our trip to the village of Canoes.

The True Path Ministry Suburban climbed for about two hours up into the mountains to the tiny village.  We were accompanied by Pastors Rey and Ramiro, LuLu (Rey’s wife), Sandra, Mari and their families.  Pastor Ramiro delivered an excellent sermon on having an “attitude of gratitude” and praising God for all things, no matter how small.

LuLu, Sandra, and Mari led the congregation in joyous songs.  LuLu also treated the children to their own special worship and singing service just outside the church.

After the service was over, we gave gifts of toys, candy, and grooming supplies to the children.  We also had five giant totes full of clothing for children and adults that we made available.  The village was truly thankful for all the gifts and clothing.

We cannot thank all of you enough for all the donations of clothing, toys, home goods, personal care items and money.  Until tomorrow, “Dios de Bendiga”, God Bless You.

Jeanette Lewis (left), daughter Lori, Tonyia and Stephen traveled from Texas to Mexico with this trailer load of gifts. (click on a photo to see it larger)

The kids at Canoes were overjoyed to get the gifts bag with toys and personal care items.

Bubbles are a popular gift item in remote villages.

Several people came along to help give out the gifts and minister to the people of Canoes.

The adults enjoyed getting some of the clothes we brought along.

The children had a special worship service outside while the adults were in the church building.

Lulu played the guitar while the kids sang.

Everyone was together for the song service in the church building.

Evangelist Ramiro preached about gratitude.

Pastor Reynaldo was also part of the service.

The pastor fed beans and rice to the visitors.

There was a good group that made the two hour trip from Galeana.

Lori has a passion for art and she sketched the little wooden church building in Canoes.

 

 

 

 

Pray for Mexico Christmas Gift Tour 2017

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Stephen and Tonyia Williams, plus, a special mother daughter team – Jeanette and Lori Lewis – plan to drive from the US into Mexico on Friday, December 29th with a trailer load of gifts. Please pray for the Lord’s favor on that day as we deal with border officials and travel five hours into Mexico.

Thank you, does not even touch how grateful we are to each and every one of you! Many of you donated gifts, time, and money to make this Christmas special for these Mexico children.  We also covet your frequent prayers as we continue to minister in the new year.

Because of your support each child will receive a gift bag with several toys, candy, and a Spanish Christian tract. Watch our webpage next week, http://truepathministry.com/news/ ,to follow our travels into some remote villages of Mexico to share the love of Jesus.

Here listed are the churches and most individuals who donated (not in any specific order):

  • Lighthouse Assembly of God Church, Sweetwater Texas
  • Grace Tabernacle Church, Kemp Texas
  • Damascus Road Fellowship, Ennis Texas
  • Christ Chapel, Bandera Texas
  • Gateway Church, Midlothian Texas
  • Hiway Tabernacle Church of God, Buffalo Texas

A few of the individuals, not affiliated with the listed churches, that gave donations included: Arlen and Linda Williams; Maigen, Chris and Ashlinn Isbell; Margaret and George Isbell; Kim and John Sursa; and Belinda and Larry Bookman – I apologize if I left anyone out.

“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” Deuteronomy 15:10

Pastor Glenn Hejny, and the congregation at Damascus Road Fellowship are a big supporter of our Mexico ministry and had many gifts for us (click on photo to see it larger).

Christ Chapel had an overflow amount of presents for Mexico’s children.

Pastor David at Christ Chapel is a former missionary.

The Lighthouse Assembly of God in Sweetwater, Texas collected a bunch of gifts for Mexico.

Pastor Mills’ of Grace Tabernacle has a new church. We are their first missionaries and they had gifts for us.

Stephen preached on Christmas Eve day at the Hiway Tabernacle Church of God.

Pastor Ellison is the new pastor at Hiway Tabernacle Church of God. They were very generous in their support of our Mexico Christmas Gift Tour.

Stephen and Tonyia turned daughter Maigen’s house into a gift storage and assembly place.

Ashlinn, Stephen and Tonyia’s granddaughter, was a big help managing all the gift items.

Ashlinn’s youth group at the Gateway Church Midlothian was eager to help us separate items into bags.

Gateway Youth pastor Brian gave instructions on putting gifts together.

Steve told the youth at Gateway Church Midlothian about our ministry.

 

Rare Snow Fall in Galeana, NL, Mexico

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Today it is not only cold (23F, -4C), but a dusting of snow covers the ground in Galeana, NL, MX. It is rare to see the white stuff in town, but cold temperatures are normal as it sits in a valley about a mile high. The town is surrounded by towering mountains such as Cerro El Potosí, elevation 12,205 ft (3720 m), which is just Northwest of town. It is not unusual to see it snow-capped in the winter.

Stephen and Tonyia are in Texas right now collecting Christmas gifts for Mexico. But they often communicate with folks in Galeana. “We exchanged messages with Pastor Reynaldo yesterday and they had to call off the Marcos 10:14 Kids Club meeting Thursday night due to the weather,” said Tonyia. We typically have from 30-50 children at the weekly meeting. Many of them walk to club, plus, it is very difficult to get them all in our ministry house.

As we enjoy the comforts of central heat here in Texas, I am reminded that most homes, church buildings and businesses in Galeana have no heat. I pray the Lord keeps the folks in Mexico warm and safe.

This photo was taken by a very good local photographer.

Ana took this photo of her kids enjoying the rare snow (our ministry house is in the background).

Pastor Rey sent us this photo looking at his vehicle out his front door.

Elis who is a police officer in Galeana posted this photo. It would be a bad time to be driving in Galeana.