Fundraising and Birthdays

The Unreached

           In the last six months we’ve had the privilege of visiting many churches from California to Michigan.  Itineration is always a key time during which we get the opportunity to say thank you to many supporting churches and it’s a time to share with people why we raise money.

     Although raising money is challenging it’s something we try to do with all our heart. As long as there are unreached indigenous villages in Oaxaca we have a responsibility to do everything possible to reach them. As missionaries we has the great privilege of joining with many churches to make sure the great commission is fulfilled in Oaxaca, Mexico. For this reason we continue to ask for your prayer and financial support. 

     So please continue to pray for revival in the many unreached villages of Oaxaca.  If your church currently supports us, will you consider a $15.00 increase in your monthly support? To make a pledge or increase your current support please click on the following link.          

Monthly Support

Birthdays

      As many of you know, November is a busy month for our family.  From November 3rd to December 4th we all celebrate our birthdays.  We’d like to thank Pastor Jessie & Ruth Villareal and everybody at “Templo La Hermosa” for giving us one of the best family birthday parties we’ve ever had.

 

The Unreached / Los No Alcanzados (English / Español)

At the beginning of May I had the wonderful privilege of speaking at the first Assemblies of God “Unreached People Groups” conference in Sucúa, Ecuador.  Because of our experience with our CAPE program I was invited to speak on the subject of training indigenous pastors.  It was truly an honor and blessing to be able to contribute to this event. Thanks to your prayers and support the message of how important it is to train indigenous pastors is now reaching beyond the borders of Mexico.  The consuming thought behind our message is that over 300 indigenous pastors in Mexico have no access to Bible training. They represent the final unreached groups of Mexico. What if they could have access to Bible training? What would it look like to have Spirit filled Pentecostal indigenous preachers that have access to Biblical training? If these are the numbers for Mexico imagine how many pastors throughout Central and South America also need access to Bible institute training.  Please pray with us that indigenous pastors thought Latin America will have access to the Bible training they desperately
need.

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Al principio de mayo tuve el privilegio de compartir un taller en la primera conferencia de a las Asambleas de Dios sobre el tema de “Los Grupos no Alcanzados”en Sucúa, Ecuador.  Por nuestra experiencia con el programa de CAPE nos invitaron a compartir sobre como capacitar pastores indígenas.  Gracias a sus oraciones y apoyo el mensaje de la importancia de capacitar pastores indígenas esta alcanzando mas aya de México.  El pensamiento principar detrás de nuestro taller es que más de 300 pastores indígenas en México no tienen acceso a capacitación Bíblica. Ellos representan los últimos grupos no alcanzados en México. ¿Cómo serian ellos si tuvieran acceso a capacitación Bíblica? ¿Cómo se vería tener predicadores Pentecostales llenos del Espíritu Santo con acceso a capacitación Bíblica?  Si estos son los datos de México imaginase cuantos pastores indígenas en Centro y Sur America siguen sin la capacitación Bíblica que ellos necesitan. Por favor oren con nosotros que estos pasotes indígenas reciban la capacitación Bíblica que tanto necesitan.   

Brigada Médica (Blog Espaniol)

En muchas ocasiones he mencionado que el desafío más grande al trabajar en Oaxaca son los 120 idiomas y sus variantes hablados aquí. Podemos lograr mucho usando solamente el español, pero no hay sustituto como el idioma materno, el idioma del “corazón.” Por eso, creemos que Dios nos ha guiado hacia un ministerio para poder capacitar a aquellos pastores que tienen un llamado y pueden ministrar en estos idiomas. La semana pasada, tuvimos el gran privilegio de llevar el evangelio a cuatro grupos indígenas aquí en Oaxaca. Yo no puedo hablar ninguno de estos idiomas, pero Dios en su misericordia, llamó pastores entre ellos para proclamar su mensaje. 

Fue muy emocionante unirnos con cuatro pastores indígenas,  quienes trabajan  plantando nuevas  iglesias en pueblitos con poca presencia del evangelio. Estos pastores han tenido una tarea difícil evangelizando en estas aldeas, porque la gente tiene  la idea  que el evangelio trata de sacarlos de su cultura nativa. Para ayudarles en este esfuerzo, llevamos una brigada médica, dándoles oportunidad  de ministrar la palabra de vida, para todos aquellos quienes vinieron y recibieron. Formamos un equipo entre nuestra familia de 5 personas, una dentista, y una payasita y nos lanzamos a unas de las áreas más resistentes al evangelio en Oaxaca. Mientras proveíamos servicios dentales y regalábamos lentes de lectura, los pastores locales ministraban la palabra de Dios en sus idiomas. Durante el plazo de la semana vimos 25 adultos y más que 100 niños orar para recibir a Cristo como Salvador.

Ministerios Compasivos, como los servicios de salud, son herramientas importantes para expresar el amor de Dios de manera tangible. Nuestra meta principal para esta campaña evangelista fue  ganar el derecho de decirle a la gente que hay un Dios que los ama, y queremos  bendecirlos con lo que tenemos, impulsados por este amor. A menudo me imaginaba que podría alcanzar esto al estar parado delante de mucha gente, predicando valientemente mientras la gente corría hacia al altar, Y aunque aprovecho cada oportunidad que tengo  para predicar, he aprendido el gran gozo  de compartir el mensaje del evangelio por el mero hecho de regalar un par de lentes. Es maravilloso ver la reacción de alguien recibiendo de nuevo la vista para leer una página, o ver una anciana recuperando su arte de bordar, diciendo, “Ya puedo ver de nuevo para enhebrar un aguja.”

Queremos agradecer a uno de nuestros apoyadores, el hermano Daniel Acosta, quien patrocinó esta última brigada. Por su ofrenda, muchos oyeron las buenas nuevas. También hay muchas iglesias fieles quienes han hecho posible el mantenernos en el campo misionero. Gracias! Nos gustaría continuar alcanzando más personas  con brigadas médicas  y necesitamos su apoyo. Podrían orar con respecto a esta necesidad? Ustedes pueden ser el próximo instrumento que Dios use para llevarnos a otras aldeas que necesitan escuchar de la luz del Evangelio. Esperamos escuchar de ustedes! Nuestro correo electrónico está al final de esta página.

Nuevamente, muchas gracias por todo su apoyo

efrain.figueroa@agmd.org

 

Medical Outreach (English Blog)

 On many occasions I’ve mentioned that the most daunting task about working in Oaxaca is the 120 language variants that are spoken here. We can accomplish a lot in Spanish-only, but there is no substitute for hearing the Gospel message in your native tongue, or "heart language." We believe this is one of the main reasons the Lord has guided us to engage in a ministry of empowering those who are called to pastor and can speak their indigenous language. This last month we had the wonderful privilege of taking the Gospel message to four different indigenous groups here in Oaxaca. I’m not able to speak any of these languages, but God in His mercy has called pastors from among them to present his message.

It was very exciting to join with four indigenous pastors who were all working on new church plants in villages with almost no Christian presence. These indigenous pastors have all had a hard time witnessing in these villages, because planting a new church can be seen as something that pulls people away from their native customs. To help in their efforts, we offered to bring a medical outreach, giving the pastors an opportunity to minister the word of life to all who came and received. We formed a team of our family of 5, a dentist, and a clown- and off we went to some of the most difficult areas in Oaxaca! As we provided free dental care and gave out free reading glasses the local indigenous pastors were given the opportunity to share the Gospel message in their own indigenous languages. During this time we saw 25 adults and over 100 children pray to receive Christ. 

Compassion ministries like medical outreaches are an important tool to express God's love in a tangible way. The main goal of this outreach was to earn the right to tell people that there was a God in heaven who loves them, and we
bless them with what we have because of that love. I've often thought that I would be doing this by standing in front of many people, boldly preaching and watching people flood an altar. Although I take every opportunity to preach, I’ve discovered the great joy of sharing the Gospel message through the simple act of giving a pair of reading glasses. It is wonderful to see a face light up with joy when they slip on the right pair, and a blurry page comes into focus, or an elderly woman regains her embroidery art and says “now I can see well enough to thread a needle again.” Many times people will ask, "Why are you doing this?," and they will want to offer us food or money in return. We're thrilled to share with them “I do this for free because God loves me and HE is good, and He loves you, too.” They leave us to chat with the local pastor, who is waiting to share more about Gods love in their language.

 
It was only with your prayers and support that this outreach was possible. We want to thank one of our faithful supporters, Daniel Acosta, who provided the funding for this last outreach. Because of his gift, many heard the Gospel message. There are also many faithful churches that have enabled us to stay here on our mission field. Thank you! We would like to continue doing more medical outreaches with your help. Will you pray about helping fund one of these outreaches? If you can help us please email us at the following address below and thank you once again for all your support! 

efrain.figueroa@agmd.org