A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we are expecting a big and exciting year from the Lord, and so far He has not disappointed.  God has been doing some pretty incredible things.  Psalm 9:1 says,” I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works,” and again in verse 11, “declare His deeds among the people.”  I’m going to do my best to share a few of His marvelous works here in Mexico as of late.

Here in our little community of Zarahembla, lives a man named Carlos Haifen. He lives right beside the IDT base with his wife and three small kids. This is a man with a colourful past. Many people in IDT have been praying for Carlos and his family for many years, and that the Lord would grab hold of his life.
A year ago January 15th, his wife Rosa went in for surgery for breast cancer. Unfortunately, it never left her and she’s lived with incredible pain since.
At the beginning of this year, we walked into our church only to find Carlos and his family sitting there waiting for the church service to start. He shared a bit with us about what had been happening over the last few days between him and God.
He said that at the beginning of this year, he had decided he wasn’t going to talk to God anymore, and that he was done with Him, but through certain events, God spoke to Carlos through dreams, and through a few people here in IDT. Carlos realized he couldn’t escape God, and decided he would join us at church.
At the end of that first service that they were there, we had a time of prayer and it was asked if anyone needed prayer for healing. We all knew that his wife Rosa was still battling with breast cancer, so she was asked if she wanted prayer. She accepted and all the women laid hands on her and began praying for complete healing.
Since that day she has had NO pain, the lumps have disappeared and she is now cancer free! The doctors had her on 18 different medications, and she hasn’t needed any of them since that day!
The Lord healed her exactly one year to the day of her surgery.
Carlos, Rosa and their three children are now an active part of our church family, and we strongly feel that God is going to use them mightily to help lead our community to Christ.  The Lord is still in the miracle business and it’s so exciting to see it first hand!

The Leaders

God is also continuing to work through the breakfast program, we are especially noticing what He’s doing in the lives of our little leaders.  We have been really encouraged lately.  Our relationships with these boys continue to grow and God is giving us more opportunities to  be a part of their lives.  Carlos, a man who has been very active in the breakfast program, especially with the leaders, has begun working with these boys in his wood shop, which is on the same property where we have the breakfast.  He’s starting to teach them how to make water dispensers.  This is huge.  Most of these boys don’t go to school and just end up sitting on the street corner and getting into trouble.  When they get older they usually start sniffing glue and doing drugs to pass the time and join gangs.  There is a real sense of hopelessness up there among these young men with no purpose or future.  Carlos is going to make these water dispensers with them and they’re going to sell them at the local market.  The profits will go to the boys and towards more wood for more dispensers.  I can’t wait until they sell their first one, they’re going to be so excited.

There are more things to share, but I don’t want to make this post too long so I’ll just summarize a couple more really fast.

A missionary lady from IDT named Juana went on a trip to Oaxaca through the prompting of the Lord. The trip was filled with physical and spiritual healing (including demon possession), as well as all kinds of opportunities to minister and share the Gospel.  She shared about the trip at Church few weeks back and it was amazing to hear how the Lord used her in Oaxaca.

Another man from our community who owns a store named “Castro’s” was visited by the Lord in a dream.  He wasn’t ever at odds with the Lord but didn’t have much of a relationship with Him.  Now he does.  The other day he was handing out his testimony at the till to the costumers.  It’s amazing to see how God is working.

It seems like everywhere I look these days I’m seeing or hearing about incredible things that the Lord is doing.  God’s on the move, and it’s not just here in Mexico.  If anyone has any testimonies of what the Lord is doing in and around them, please share.  I would love to hear about it.