Back In Church In Centinela

Blessings from Coahuila on this beautiful afternoon! After 6 weeks away from home visiting family and friends, I arrived back in Mexico on Saturday afternoon. The three-day drive was a long one but the Lord blessed me with traveling mercies and the little Ford Focus ran great!

I had many opportunities to speak to people in Sacramento about the Lord and to share the love of Christ through meals with the homeless. There is no lack of opportunities and it was a great time with my family.

Unfortunately, I got Covid19 the first week in November and thankfully passed through it without going to the hospital. Last week I had a negative test before I returned to Mexico so feel confident I am no longer contagious. I wasn't able to visit all the friends I wanted to due to the virus, but kept in touch by phone with several of them.

On Friday, I stopped in Van Horn and visited with three Guatemalan men bringing vehicles to Guatemala from California. Since Bill, Todd and I had taken one of those trips in 2005, it was interesting talking to them and I had the opportunity to buy a meal for them at Wendy's and pray for them before they continued on their journey back home. Luis, Julio and Eleazar should make it back home long before Christmas to spend it with their families.

Yesterday’s service in Centinela was wonderful. We shared a meal afterwards prepared by one of the muchachos and his family. It was a great time of worship and fellowship. 

Today I met some friends in Del Rio for lunch at IHOP. Gary and Margarita have been living in Del Rio and several months ago we met at one of the car dealerships while we were having repairs done on our vehicles. We have kept in contact ever since, and when we can, we meet for lunch at one of the local restaurants. 

It's always good to see them and they are such an interesting couple, we never lack things to talk about.

Thank you for your interest in the ministry and the blog. I pray the Lord blesses you as you find ways to make a difference in your community and beyond. May our lives bring Him the glory.

By His grace,

Toni

VBS July 2021

Greetings in the merciful name of Jesus Christ! We just finished our Vacation Bible School in our area of Coahuila, Mexico and I wanted to share some photos of our events. 

Due to the pandemic, our attendance was noticeably less than usual but we were blessed to have many new faces at our churches. 

I worked in Centinela and in Tepeyac, and although it was a very warm week with the weather, we were able to do most of our classes indoors with open windows and a mild breeze or outside under trees and tin roofs. 

The first few days, we didn't have very many show up, but by Wednesday, more children and mothers started attending. 

The group from Haskell was fewer but we managed to cover all the VBS events without a problem. While I was in Centinela and Tepeyac, the other part of the group did VBS classes in Remolino and San Carlos.

Our group was wonderful and Phoi McGuire had all the projects ready for each group each day of the VBS. She works on these for months ahead of time and it's such a blessing to see the women and children, and even the men doing the studies and the art projects.

For the days in Tepeyac, I picked up mothers and children from Jarita and Palmira, but by Thursday, Brother Luis had to help me pick up Palmira children because my van was packed with 20-22 people after Wednesday. It was a lot of fun to be with those van-loads of children and moms.

(The pictures I've posted are a composite of both Tepeyac and Centinela VBS classes.) 

I pray the Lord blesses all the seeds planted for the gospel last week and that the decisions made to receive Christ will bring life-changing transformations and bring God glory.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support for all of these ministry facets. I am blessed to be here and to have so many making a difference alongside us here in Coahuila.

God bless you and you serve the King of kings.

In His strong embrace,

Toni