After getting the truck washed from yesterday’s problem, we spent the morning assessing the risks of having a crisis in Mexico. We discussed ways to make those risks less likely so that the missionaries can live safer lives.
Following our planning session we went to Claudia and Memo’s for a wonderful Mexican dinner. It’s a tuff life, but someone has to tend to social events.
Del Palmer
Traveling in Mexico
Sunday we worshiped in Jerez with an English service followed by a Spanish service and Sunday school. The church has grown since the last time I was in Mexico. After the service we gave a number of people rides home.
It has been raining for several days in Jerez. After we dropped that last person off we went down a road that had a large puddle in the middle of it. The ground around the puddle was dry so we went around the puddle. It wasn’t very long until we were stuck and even putting the vehicle in four wheel drive wouldn’t budge it. 
We all got out and tried to push it. The more we pushed, the deeper we went into the mud. A man in the neighborhood tried to pull us out be he got his truck stuck. Finally we gave up and walked home.
Todd called a friend with a big truck who was able to get the vehicle out just in time to watch the Super Bowl.
Traveling in Mexico for Missions,
Del Palmer
Dear Association of Free Lutheran Congregations,
I continue to hear stories daily of the ways God is working in and through His Church in Haiti.
27-year-old Pénel - a member of the local Assemblies of God Church - is one of numerous volunteers ensuring vulnerable families have access to the water provided by their churches and World Relief.
Pénel explains that his church - like many other churches - was destroyed in the quake. The congregation now gathers outside the church or in the camp to pray and worship together.
In Pénel's camp and in sprawling neighbor camps, about 700 members of his church have set up makeshift shelters built out of tarps, faded sheets, sticks, and scrap corrugated metal. Every day is a struggle to find enough food and water.
Even before the quake, the majority of Haitians did not have access to clean water. The earthquake has devastated the already weak infrastructure.
"This water is life to us," Penel says. "We share water and food. As a Christian, I am ready to help others in any way I can."
World Relief and Haitian church partners have distributed more than 64,000 gallons of water - 20 truckloads - to 12,000 vulnerable families in the last week.
World Relief is also investing for the long-term, drilling boreholes and installing submersible pumps to ensure sustainable access to waters in six communities in Port-au-Prince.
"This will make a very big difference," says Pastor Pierre Alexis, head of an orphanage that will be home to a new borehole.
"We are planning to invite people from the community to come and get water here. It is important to show people the real Jesus - the One who cares not only for their body, but also for their soul. If you follow Jesus, you must show it through your actions, not just say it."
Thank you for being a part of showing people the real Jesus.
Thank you for being the Church.
| "It is important to show people the real Jesus - the One who cares not only for their body, but also for their soul. If you follow Jesus, you must show it through your actions, not just say it." - Pastor Pierre Alexis | President Obama highlights World Relief as a significant responder to the Haiti crisis during today's National Prayer Breakfast. |
MTI Students Hannah Swansen and Amanda Bellefy are traveling to Jerez, Mexico. They have an overnight flight and will arrive to work with the Schierkoks on Wednesday morning. Hannah and Amanda will be in Mexico from February until May.
Glenn and Sherry Mork are traveling to the Congo where Glenn works with a orphanage in the Congo. After traveling to the Congo Glenn will travel to Uganda to meet with the Jores for direction and encouragement on behalf of the World Missions Committee. Please pray for the Morks as the travel in Africa.
Dear Friends,
In the past you have offered to pray for me as I travel for missions. I will be traveling to Mexico the first of this week and would ask that you pray for me again.
As many of you know I have felt a sense of spiritual oppression as I travel usually seen in physical illness. Closely associated with these trips I have experienced kidney stones, fractured vertebrae, dengue fever and a host of minor illnesses or injurys. Please pray for my health.
The good news is that God has worked through each trip bringing about a greater exposure for His Gospel and a spreading of His Kingdom.
The first week I will be visiting the Schierkolks and the Giles in Jerez. Following that I will travel to the work in Leon and Celaya. I will be accompanying two MTI students as they travel to Jerez. Please pray for me during this time. In the past many of you have emailed me while I traveled to let me know you were praying. I can’t tell you how much I have appreciated you emails.
This trip I will be using a new way of communicating with you. I will be making regular posts to the AFLC World Missions Facebook. You can access it at anytime even if you don’t use Facebook by clicking on the button below. If you have a Facebook account you can become a fan from that page and my prayer requests will automatically show up on your page.
Del Palmer, AFLC World Missions Director
Dear Association of Free Lutheran Congregation Members,
"Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity." - 2 Corinthians 8:2
The Global Church is welling up in rich generosity - often out of extreme poverty - on behalf of those suffering after the earthquake in Haiti.
A church of recently arrived Burmese refugees in High Point, North Carolina took up a special offering for the people of Haiti. The congregation - often struggling to meet their own personal and church budgets - presented a check to World Relief's Affiliate Director for more than $500.
In Cambodia, a country where most people live on less than $2 a day, one cell church was touched by the suffering in Haiti and took up a special collection for the people there.
As churches from around the world stand with Haiti, they empower the Haitian Church to serve the most vulnerable.
Pastor Jean Bathard Anthony, whose church has partnered with World Relief for years to combat HIV/AIDS, stepped out in faith after the earthquake to feed his community with the little food and water he had.
World Relief came alongside Pastor Anthony with additional supplies to continue serving both the congregation and the surrounding community - nearly 6,000 people in all - taking refuge at the church.
There are many churches in Haiti like Pastor Anthony's - churches that have been ministering for years in the face of complex issues such as HIV/AIDS. In the midst of their own pain, they now minister to others suffering from the earthquake.
As one Haitian pastor observed, "When you provide for someone it will touch their heart. Then they will see the love of God in you."
In response to this great love, Haitians living in dire conditions are singing "Hallelujah! The battle belongs to the Lord." Read more about why the people of Haiti are singing praises to the Maker of heaven and earth.
The Impact
| Drilling has begun at King's Hospital to install the first of six submersible pumps provided by World Relief - each one is able to pump 12 gallons of water a minute. Throughout America - even in the face of the most serious economic downturn since the recession - churches have given generously and sacrificially. Thank you for sharing the love of Christ with Haiti. Thank you for being the Church. Craig Pixley Senior Church Engagement Director (952) 956-2678 |
Please join the Church around the world in praying for Haiti every Tuesday at 4:53 PM -the moment when the earthquake struck on January 12th. |
