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The Next Step: Meet Cheila Fernandes

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By now hopefully you’ve read our recent update Church Planting: The Next Step. Now we’re sharing the testimonies of the interns that will be serving with us over the next few months. So far we’ve heard from Rebecca and Matheus. Today, we’ll meet Cheila Fernandes:

CheilaHello my name is Cheila, I’m 25 and I’m from Portugal. I was born in a Christian environment but in a dysfunctional family, my mother was a single mom with five kids.

I always saw my mother like the person who disciplines their kids but not the person that I should respect because she didn’t give me a father, so I started to live a life without rules. Once, I felt that life wasn’t for me so I started to think about suicide. At that point one of my uncles shared with gospel with me, and that day I decided to recognize Jesus as my Saviour, and to let him be the father I needed!

My life didn’t change a lot, in school was really hard to keep the testimony of Christ but thank God one day in 2008, I went to a Word of Life Summer Camp and there after hearing so many things about God’s plans to his sons I decided to consecrate my life to the service of God! God started to work in my whole family, and now all of us are serving Him. On that day I knew that God was calling me to serve him.

Cheila at a Children's Day
Cheila at the Children’s Day event in Ixtapaluca (April)
For the next 6 years I was working and praying to go to Word of Life Bible Institute in Argentina. God changed my plans a bit however, and sent me to Mexico in 2014. For two years I was involved in an evangelistic ministry called “Impact Zone“. We preached the gospel in various states of Mexico by music, theater, participation in schools and helping local churches also.

Now I’m in my 3rd year of studies, and God was constantly showing me the need to make disciples. So I started to pray that God would use me in a ministry that would be a challenge to me. This ministry of church planting is a challenge to my life as a servant of Christ. I just want to practice 2 Tim. 2:2-5. I know that God’s church is something important to him and I know that he’s calling me to be part of it-serving now from this year to forever! Acts 20:24

If you want to help Cheila and the rest of our team, you can give directly to our community centre. Just go here to give in US$, or here to give in CA$. Be sure to specify Project #063576.

The Next Step: Meet Matheus Da Silva

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After our recent update – Church Planting: The Next Step (make sure you read that) we’ve been posting the testimonies of the interns that we’ll be working with. Last week Rebecca shared her testimony. Today, we’ll get to know Matheus Da Silva:

MatheusMy name is Matheus Da Silva. I’m a 21 year old Portuguese-brazilian, Bible institute student in Mexico who was saved at the age of 5 in a Sunday school lesson where I learned that I was a sinner and that I deserved hell. A missionary told me that Jesus had died for me so that I could get access to God’s forgiveness and it was then when I made a decision to trust Jesus as the way to a better and eternal life.

I grew up in a christian home but it was only till I was 13 years old that I realized that I could be useful to the church and I started serving in with the children’s ministry, youth group, teaching and worship (In Portugal).

My life wasn’t perfect (it’s not perfect by now by the way!) and I came to the conclusion that my worldly ambitions weren’t God’s will for me and I was diverging from it. My goal is to live a life of peace with God and as long as I fulfill His will for me, I’ll be glad!

Matheus at the kids' club
Matheus with the kids in Las Palmas
That’s why I’m studying in Word of Life Mexico and wiling to do ministry in the church planting area. God has moved lots strings for me to be able to meet the Fry family and the work of the Lord that they are involved with in Ixtapaluca, and he has put in my heart the strong desire to help them out as I can knowing that it doesn’t depend on me or another person to do it but knowing that I’m just a tool only useful if God’s is the one using me (Isaiah 10:15)!

If you want to help Matheus and the rest of our team, you can give directly to our community centre. Just go here to give in US$, or here to give in CA$. Be sure to specify Project #063576.

The Next Step: Meet Rebecca Contreras

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If you missed the last post – Church Planting: The Next Step – you’ll want to check that out.

I’d like to take a few posts to introduce you to the interns from Word of Life Mexico that we’ll be working with. Rod asked if they would share their testimonies, so today I’ll let Rebecca share hers:

Rebecca ContrerasHello!! My name is Rebecca Contreras; I was born in Mexico City in a Christian home, so I grew up surrounded by an atmosphere of church, but never was confronted by the Gospel. I remember attending Sunday Class; I memorized bible verses but only to stand out.

As the time went by, I made wrong decisions, which pushed me away more and more from God. The consequences of my actions began.

On January 14th 2008, I was going back home after having a discussion with my father when I realized I had never had a personal encounter with Christ. That day I realized that if I died I would go to hell, I remembered many things that I learned when I was a kid. I received Christ as my personal Saviour, asking forgiveness for my sins and understanding that He was the only one who could change my eternal destiny and also my earthly life.

After that day I began to experience many changes in my life. God helped me change my relationship with my parents and my sisters, removing the pain and bitterness that my sins had left.

Later I met the Ministry of Word of Life Mexico by missionaries who went to the church where I am a member. They invited me to a summer camp and in the same year (2008). I dedicated my life to the Lord without imagining what He would do with me.

I decided to stay and study in the Bible Institute. In May, 2010, I began to take steps of faith and decided to accept the challenge of missionary work. It wasn’t simple at first, but over time I have seen God’s faithfulness in my life. I wasted too much time without knowing Christ so now that I know Him and serve Him I don’t want to miss a minute more. God has given me the opportunity to serve in the ministry of Word of Life.

Rebecca at a kids' club
Rebecca at last week’s kids’ club
The desire to serve in church planting ministry comes from the conviction that God’s purpose for the Christian is through the local church. We have the responsibility to preach the gospel but also we have the responsibility of making disciples. Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is a challenge and a longing in my life, but seeing people grow and be discipled in the context of the local church is my passion. Today for me is a great privilege to learn methods and get to know people who have developed this ministry. In the future, if God so desires, what I’ve learned can be reproduced with other groups of believers, in places currently unreached with the gospel.

I am sure that God is and will continue to work in my life, both to transform me into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ and to continue to serve Him and reach more people in Mexico.

Rebecca Contreras
Passionate service, Hebrews 12:28

Would you like to help Rebecca and us in this adventure? You can give directly to our community centre – go here to give in US$, or here to give in CA$. Be sure to specify Project #063576.

Church Planting: The Next Step

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The Next StepIt’s been over two years since our team officially began ministry in the community of Las Palmas. We’ve had many opportunities to serve people there. And now it’s time for the next step.

So what has happened over two years? There have been a lot of community centre classes, including keyboard, baking, and English classes. And some fun closing programs at the end of the semesters. We’ve also given wheelchairs to those in need, hosted several soccer tournaments and a sports camp, and had Bible studies. We’ve even helped the local Jr. High with their English classes. We’ve had many short-termers who have invested in Las Palmas, helping us with so many activities and just taking the time to talk – and listen – to people.

Through all this time, there have been many opportunities to share the Gospel.

So what’s the next step?

The next step is – an actual Sunday service! And – a whole lot of weekend activities! And – more community centre classes!

Cheila - Children's Day Event 2016
Cheila at a Children’s Day Event
First, let me get to some other related news. Do you remember the Children’s Day activities we had back in the spring? A group came down from Word of Life, a Bible school north of Mexico City.

Well, they did a great job. And now we have the opportunity to work with some of the students from that school every weekend!

Cheila (from Portugal), Matheus (from Portugal) and Rebecca (from Mexico City) have committed to join us each weekend from now through May as an internship with their school. That means that we can help them, and they can help us, as we serve the Lord together.

So what does all this mean for weekly activies? Here are some of the things our (bigger) team will be doing:

  • Sunday Service: Starting (Lord willing) November 6th. We’re renting a party hall for a few hours on Sunday, much like we did in Jesús María.
  • English classes: Homework help in particular. Twice a day students stream down the streets after school (school is in two shifts). The party hall, also rented for this purpose, is in a perfect location on the neighbourhood’s main street.
  • Bible study: for adults/kids, continuing as it has been for a while now on Friday evenings.
  • Kids’ Club: A VBS type activity time on Saturdays
  • Youth: Saturday night
  • Other classes, events, outreaches, community service: continuing.

Some of these things have already started, but the first service is yet to come.

We’ve been spending extra-special time praying for the people of Las Palmas. Will you join us? Only God can bring life to people this community. Please pray with us!

We also have a number of expenses – the rental of a house and the party hall, and the expenses related to the interns. If you would like a breakdown, so that you could make this a family or church project, just contact us. You could help us cover one week, or one intern for one weekend, or less or more.

If you’d like to help right now, you can give to our community centre through Camino Global. The project # is 063576. Just click on “Give to this project”. If you’re in the US, the info is right there. If you’re in Canada, follow the next link and be sure to enter the project #.

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of outreach to this area over the past few months, through your service with us, your gifts, and/or your encouragement! Let’s take the next step and see what the Lord will do!

Prayer Request: Today’s Conference

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Finding Peace: Prayer Request

Shari adds:

Hi, friends! Just a request here – a prayer reminder – for those of you willing to pray for me as I speak at this women’s conference! I got word that they are expecting about 120 ladies to attend! 😳

Please pray specifically that the message of God’s Peace would both calm my heart (and take away my nervousness!) …That it would flow as smoothly as possible through my feeble Spanish, and that God would use me as His instrument to communicate His Word clearly. Pray that the Holy Spirit would prepare and soften the hearts of the women who will attend, and that they will respond as God speaks to them through His Word.

It’s great to have so many of you thinking of me and praying for me as I take on such a huge task that is WAY out of my comfort zone! 🙏 Thank you for standing behind me and encouraging me! Blessings on you all… I will report back after the weekend! 😎

Baptisms (in the new sanctuary … sort of …) –video–

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We had a great day on Sunday – six baptisms at Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María (Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Jesús María)!

I could say a lot of things about the day and the people, but let me just mention a couple of things that will be of interest to most of our readers outside the country.

First, the baptisms were in our new sanctuary – at least, where our new sanctuary will be! They were still outside, in a pool, but this time we were on a cement floor with obvious signs of construction all around us. 🙂

Every person has their unique story. One of the women who was baptized came to the Lord through the kids’ club in August, which is cool. She’s been coming to Sunday services and we’ve just started to get to know her.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting to see these people taking this step of obedience to the Lord. We’re looking forward to seeing what God does in days and years ahead!

Here are a few minutes of clips so you can see what it was like:

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