Dear Friends,

Here is a brief note we received from Kevin and Nicole Housel, a young couple from New York who recently took a whirlwind tour of the Mission District with Pastor Jorge. If you've ridden much with Pastor Jorge, you know what we mean by "whirlwind." We are encouraged that Kevin and Nicole are sold out for Jesus and available for career missions when God opens the doors. Here's what they said...

"We came down to Mexico to explore our interest in missions. We are
very grateful to all of the missionaries who made this trip possible
for us and were so hospitable to us. The part of our visit that had
the most impact on us was our visit to Leon. In Leon we attended a
Bible study and a prayer meeting for a church plant. It was not the
city of Leon that impacted us but the people that we met. The desire
of the people to reach out into the community and touch the lives of
the youth and the disenfranchized was so evident. It was great to see
people preparing for a new church and already having a vision of the
outreach that they will do. The people of the church plant in Leon
have the desire to bring Christ to people not accepted by society."

--Kevin & Nicole Housel

New Growth, New Churches, New Opportunites

NEW! That is the word we think of when spring arrives. With the Easter season just past, we are reminded of the newness of nature, and the renewal of our spiritual lives as we consider Jesus’ death and resurrection.

“New” is also a word we can apply to the work in the Mexico Mission District. Several years ago, the Free Methodist church opened a meeting place in a borrowed building. As the congregation expanded, so did their vision to reach more people in Mexico City. A piece of property was found in a disadvantaged part of the city, and a new work began there. With the help of many volunteer teams (VISA), the existing buildings have been improved, and a new church has risen on the site. The lower level is already in use for church services, and the upper level sanctuary is nearing completion.

The vision continued to grow, and in February of this year, another church plant was started in a different part of the city. What would happen to the established church when some of the key leaders moved to the church plant to help it get off to a good start? It has been wonderful to see new people show up at each of the churches, thus affirming the decision to expand into other areas of the city.

Groups of Christians in the cities of Cuernavaca, and also Leon, have requested that a Free Methodist church be started in their areas. Presently, Pastor Jorge and Teresa, Gary and Jann Allen, or a lay leader from the Mexico City church is visiting those areas to hold Bible studies, or Sunday worship services, until we know if it is possible to open a new church in each of those cities.

----Jann Allen

Each of these projects involves a lot of time, work and prayer. We would be pleased to know that many people are joining us in prayer to see these efforts accomplished. If you are praying for this work or would like to know about other opportunities for involvement, please contact us at mexicocitymission@gmail.com or by sending an email to one of the missionaries listed in the sidebar of this blog.

Jesus is risen! He is risen, indeed! These words are on our hearts and minds today as we remember the rest of the story after Good Friday. We pray that your Easter celebrations were equally meaningful and that you have a fresh appreciation for what Jesus did for us in his resurrection.

The Tizoc and Coapa churches had a common service this morning at 8 a.m. Some of the older hymns were dusted off and used for this special occasion. What a wonderful experience to sing "How Great Thou Art" and "There is Power in the Blood" with our Mexican brothers and sisters in Christ! More than mere words, each person present could testify to God's power at work- a family unified, an addiction overcome, a need met.

And like all good Free Methodist celebrations, we had a big pitch-in breakfast after the service. We've included some pictures of the party.






We'd love to hear what your church or family did for Easter. Leave us a comment or drop us an email at mexicocitymission@gmail.com.

May our Lord bless and keep you as we serve Him together...

Welcome to Mexico City! We are so glad that you are joining us on this journey of growth and discovery. Our God is doing some exciting and BIG things through our small church. In the weeks ahead, we'll be sharing pictures, praises, and prayer requests.

In this inaugural post, let's start with a few pictures of the new house church in the Coapa neighborhood. Missionaries Gary and Jann Allen are hosting this church and Pastor Jorge is leading. After two months of services, there are 3 new people attending! Would you pray with us that these new friends (Pablo & Sayda and Patty) see Jesus among us and desire to have more of Him?

Although the 15 or so people currently attending this Sunday morning service fit nicely into the house, we are planning to move to a more visible location soon. Our goal is to move in the first half of the month of May. This move will provide higher visibility for the church and room to grow. In order to see this move happen, the Canadian Free Methodist church has generously donated over $5000 toward the rent. This is a great start to a year's rent but with monthly rents approaching $1200, you can see that we are going to quickly go through the initial $5000.

Would you or your church like to get in on the ground floor of this opportunity? Maybe you and 11 of your friends would like to sponsor a month of church with a onetime gift of $100. Or perhaps your Sunday School class would like to give a monthly gift to see this happen. You can email us at mexicocitymission@gmail.com for more information.

We'll be back with an update on the Tuesday night Bible study in a couple of days. Stay tuned!