Hello to all the dear brothers and family in Christ.

God has poured many blessings over us and over the ministry the past three months. We are giving an apology in advance, because unfortunately our missionary computer stopped working, for which we have not been able to send the Newsletters. But as of today we got a borrowed computer, so we propose to share with you all that God has done in these few months. All to the honor and the glory of God.

“THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR NOT…”

How often we have thought about what would happen if we found ourselves in a situation in which we did not depend on nobody else, only on God?…These kind of thoughts become more recurrent once one has decided to give his life to God and when one has decided to be a missionary, that dependency on God is not an option, instead something essential.

Well, thanks to God, we had the opportunity to experiment a situation in which we could enjoy the only dependency to our Heavenly Father. And we have to say that it was beautiful.

We had to go visit a gentleman who suffered from his sight, this person lives in an area where there’s a dense forest, in a place that has a beautiful river that divides the states of San Luis Potosí and Querétaro, we wanted to invite him to a team of sight that we took every year to Montemorelos, Monterrey.

The people had told us that it was a bit difficult to get there, walking from the community where we live and coming down the mountains towards the river. We asked for the support from a person who knew the area and he accepted to take us half way, and also one of the person that is a relative to the gentleman who we were going to visit, he told us that he would speak with someone that would wait for us in a clear place and take us to the house of the gentleman. So we felt secure in starting our trip.

We began preparing days in advance, and for some reason God put in our hearts to download some videos on survival and watch them on the computer, so for two weeks every night we watch one or two episodes on survival, and also we were happy because we were asking God to prepare us for the last day events, little did we know how successful would be God’s response to this petition. Also Tania prayed and asked God not to permit that on the trip wild animals come out from the area (Jaguars, pumas, panthers, snakes, etc.).

The night before my wife and I started preparing our backpacks that we were taking and she put in a small bag of beans, tortilla chips, 4 apples, 2 carrots, and each person took a liter of water, she also took matches, one small first-aid kit, books and her jacket. I put in my backpack, my machete with its sharpener, ocote to make a fire, gloves, and other small things not that important.

The people in the community told us that one takes no more than 2 hours to get to the house of the gentleman where we were going to visit, we started the trip with the person that would take us half way, and when we arrived at the place he had to return back, leaving us instructions that we follow to the letter but we set out to continue the journey alone, after our guide left us at a point, we moved forward … but the paths and the road that the guide told us to follow had changed, now that there were many and we got lost since the people that were supposed to wait for us on the other side never showed up and we decided to continue. We started the trip at 9 in the morning and we got to a beautiful river at 4 in the afternoon. By that time we almost finished our water and the food. The survival videos say that when nearing a certain hour in the afternoon, we should start concentrating on looking for shelter, but we were still looking for a way to get to some community close to the river, but the paths were full of thorns and sand that would sink us… There was no way to move forward…

We returned to the place where we came out in the forest and there was tall grass. I was walking in front of Tania when suddenly I saw a dead fox, but it had been attacked by a large animal as he had the claw marks and his intestines and organs had been eaten. I told my wife, not to get close, because I knew it would impact her a lot.

I worried that she was with me at that moment, lost in the woods in a place where there are many animals that could hurt her, and more worried was I that she had just recently had surgery and now she was in that situation… Tania got close and told me “Love, we must look for a place to spend the night.” I admit that what she told me frustrated me and the desperation trapped me into thinking that it was going to be very difficult for her, I began to cry.

I didn’t want her to suffer, because she’s not a person use to camping or to be in a forest and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, I only was waiting for the moment when she would cry and would tell me she wanted to leave from there, that she was scared… But God works in marvelous ways since Tania was so calm and sure that God was in control of the situation. So that way God comforted me. We found a perfect place where we could spend the night, I gather some branches and logs to make a fire and we realized something wonderful.

God impressed it on us to put important elements in our backpacks to be able to make a fire, cut logs, keep the fire going and spend a warm night together by the river, so we received the Sabbath with a beautiful sky and the sound of the river. We watched all night, taking care that the animals wouldn’t come near.

The following day we decided to continue looking for the house of the gentleman and we took another way through enormous rocks that are close to the river but we also couldn’t pass either, it was the same situation… So we decided to return to the same place we arrived, without water and no food we climbed the mountain and now that took 9 hours of climbing, the only thing left were 2 carrots that turn out to be a blessing because they gave us the strength enough to climb and get to where the same guide was waiting for us.

There were moments where we couldn’t go any further, the fatigue and the aches made us that we could not move forward. There were various occasions in that Tania with tears would tell me that she couldn’t anymore that her wounds from her surgery were painful and her knees too, the only thing I could tell her was to pray and to ask God to help her and to take her pain away. And God, time after time he did great miracles because he would take away her pain and gave her strength to continue, as for me He helped me with the pain to dissipate it and to continue encouraging my wife to keep moving forward.

The trip was full of prayers and dependency on God, always His presence was felt, he strengthened us and would help us every instant, as we scaled rocks, to climb down cliffs. He was with us every instant, thanks for the protection of God, we didn’t have any encounters with a dangerous animal, and we could go out with our faith comforted since our Creator, he protected us all the way.

Finally we arrived to the place we started the day before, well and safe, and we could return to the community, when we talked to the people about the place where we spend the night and showed them pictures, they told us that in that area lived a Jaguar, that the Department of Ecology of Queretaro, released a time ago. That for us was the ultimate proof of God’s protection, and as always under his care, even if we walk in the unknown valley or in danger, God takes care of us.

TRANSFER OF MEDICAL EMERGENCIES

Thanks to God we’ve had the opportunity to support in a very specific area in the communities and that requires a lot of attention, and this is to transfer people that requires emergency medical checkups, but with specialists, thanks to God there’s one basic clinic near the communities where we live, but unfortunately there are medical consultations requiring a specialist, and that’s where our Heavenly Father, has allowed us to support.

So far we have taken three different families in the last few months that have required attention in: Buccal Pathology, Gynecology, Psychology, specialty in the airways, as Respiratory.

Thanks to God, we have visited institutions like INER- Instituto de Enfermedades Respiratorias (Institute of Respiratory Diseases) that is the national institute in this branch, located in the Federal District, also we have been able to visit the Policlínica (Polyclinic) of the Autónoma (Autonomous) University of Queretaro, in Santa Rosa Jauregui, and the CESAM-Centro Estatal de Salud Mental (State Center of Metal Health). Infinitely, we are grateful to God and the doctors and managers who have supported us with the consultation being very affordable for the families or that nothing is charged.

With this we put into practice Christ Method, which is to deal with the needs of the people, showing genuine friendship and sharing the word.

We ask for your prayers so that God keeps providing the means so that when it requires this type of transfer there’s always the possibility to support the families that need it.

SECOND MEDICAL TEAM 2016

On the 30th of April, of this year, we had the opportunity to carry out the second medical team that performs the Ministry ELDA MADAI UNIDOS EN AMOR A. C. Together with a multidisciplinary group of healthcare professionals, this great effort was accomplished to provide support to the people that most needed it.

The areas of support were:

-Psychology

-General Medicine

-Consultation in General Surgery (Non-Operations)

-Dentistry

-Nursing

In a single day about 150 persons were seen, receiving consultation and treatment completely free.

There was also an opportunity to give away approximately 1,000 articles of clothing in good condition, both for ladies and men, as well as for boys and girls, they also gave away shoes, tennis, and toys.

The people received attention in different areas.

We had a great blessing that we were supported in this medical team, by the Pathfinders from the city of Valles, that is part of the Association of the Gulf of Mexico, The Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

We also counted on a visit from the pastor of the District of Valles, together with various brothers from different churches including Mirador Church, Tamasopo, and more. It was certainly a blessing that the people could witness an organized church together working to support these needs.

Thanks to God, in both of the teams that have been carried out, have been able to take care of about 1,000 persons in different areas of health, and the most serious cases have been followed, so that they will continue with their treatments with medical specialists.

The honor and the glory be to God.

HEALTHY KITCHEN COOKING CLASSES

Thanks to God we’ve had the opportunity to continue to teach some classes from “Cocina Saludable” (Healthy Kitchen) with the people in the community, and it has been a great blessing for everyone, as we have been able to see how little by little the people that have health issues, begins to make changes and their health begins to improve in a noticeable way.

Recently, one the ladies in the community told us that she suffered from constant headaches, and that generally her pressure would go up, this would cause her dizziness, and discomfort in general. After speaking with her for a while and getting to know her during several months, we realized that she had drank a lot of coffee every day, she had the inherited habit, from her grandparents to drink coffee daily, you see… this is a widespread habit in the communities where we live, as they harvest coffee, for decades, but although a great number of persons are aware of the harmful effects, there are others that really don’t know in depth all the damages that coffee can cause them. But in the case of this lady who we mentioned, we continue with healthy cooking classes and in several talks we discussed the damages of coffee, a number of these things were unknown to the lady, and after several talks and several months, and also we were praying so they can make positive changes in their health, the lady decided to stop drinking coffee, and it was a decision with incredible willpower, since we offered a natural coffee, made based on whole grains, that has no caffeine, and she said, NO! If I drink something that resembles coffee, most probably I will drink coffee again, I need to definitely stop, I rather drink tea (obviously that has no caffeine) and that way, I’m going to feel better. She shared with a friend that also attended the classes about her decision, and soon the two stopped drinking coffee together, two weeks after they stopped drinking coffee, they came very happy to tell us that they felt very good, that the headaches and dizziness disappeared, and that they felt very revitalized. They told us that at the general level they felt very healthy.

For us this has been a blessing to see these kinds of testimonies and it’s what encourages us to continue forward with the classes and discussions about health.

Here is a sample of more than one of the classes where they are taught transition recipes from the dishes they’re accustomed to that are usually with animal-based meat, but with these recipes they learn to make dishes with Soy meat.

We ask for your prayers so all the people of these communities could continue learning from these classes and thus have a better integral health.

May God Bless.

A MISSIONARY TRIP TO BELIZE

We give thanks to God and our friends from the MOVE Ministry, since they invited us to attend the Latin American Convention of Adventists Missions in the country of Belize, organized by them.

In this event, we had the opportunity to have classes in different areas to learn better how to run a missionary ministry, we saw the areas of: Management of Volunteers, Development of Structure, Administration, Evangelism, etc. We had theoretical and practicum classes, as well as working tables to exchange ideas on how we could improve all the ministries that attended the event, and also continue to work harder in the areas where we are working well.

It was certainly a blessing to be able to learn and to be able to share what God has done by means of different missionary ministries in the world. We are grateful for everything we learned and for all the willingness of sharing tools to do a better job, all for the honor and the glory of God.

Dear brothers and friends,

We want to ask for your constant prayers for this ministry, the work that we do is not easy, since we are entering an area where never before has been heard about Adventism, but it is a wonderful work that we love to do. We constantly need both humans and as well material resources to be able to accomplish this work and reach more people.

Thanks for taking the time to read this report.

For more news information, on the Facebook account week by week we are posting more news and activities that we do in the ministry with the communities. (The link for the Facebook account is on the homepage on the website).

God bless you and thanks for your support.

Arturo and Tania