Missions Around the World
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Pastor Mike,
God provided some wise friends to advise me and I'm eager to talk with you about this. When I was in San Diego a couple of weeks ago I met with some ministry partners who freely, carefully and lovingly helped me with wise counsel. It was three different individuals at three separate occasions with the same advice, so I am confident God wanted me to hear, receive and act on these words of wisdom. What advise did they give me? "Let us, those who pray for you and are on board with what God is doing through you, know your needs! Be clear with them." I praise God that for almost 24 years He has raised up individuals, families and churches who partner with me and provide for my financial needs so I can be fully engaged and focused on the Lord's mission work. It is our work... co-laboring with the Lord and with those who partner with me. Go into the world and make disciples. Reach the lost with the wonderful message of salvation - trust in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Be reconciled to God. I thank God every day for the ministry, financial and prayer partners He provides, and I trust will continue to provide. Now, I need to make it clear that I'm in need of more support. Why? e3 Partners has structured the money management of ministry trips in a way to make it possible for leaders, like myself, to lead more teams and not have the overburden of raising all the funds to cover their travel expenses in addition to their cost of living expenses. Until recently, for the most part the TRAVEL EXPENSES of team leader(s) have been absorbed by team members. When a team member pays for the cost of the ministry trip they join they are also paying for a percentage of the cost of their leader, based on the number of team members who go. Some e3 staff, like myself, are engaged in the work of ministry FULL TIME. We are not funded by a spouse or other sources of income. My salary, like others, comes from the support of individuals, churches and families who partner with me. It is important to know that this is Biblical model. They send their gifts of financial support monthly or annually or from time to time to Pure Charity and the funds are entered into my support account so I receive a salary. BUT, in the last couple of years changes have happened to make it crucial that I share my needs with you clearly and without apology. I am using the wisdom God provided through the advise of my friends. FIRST REASON: Even from before the global covid pandemic we began to train and mobilize fewer large teams because more often God is opening doors of opportunity with national believers to have training in discipleship, evangelism and trauma healing ministry. For these purposes only a few e3 staff or volunteers are needed to provide for these trainings so we are not mobilizing large teams as often as before. This means that we are now using funds in our support account to pay for the travel expenses for our trips. Flights, lodging, ground transportation, food, all expenses as well as sometimes helping the nationals with their special needs. This means that the funds for salary are depleted. SECOND REASON: Over the years some of my faithful monthly supporters have passed away and are now with the Lord. These are folks who supported and partnered with me for many years. Praise God for them and their faithful partnership. HOW YOU CAN HELP? My salary, ministry trips and expenses are funded by committed ministry partners. Would you ask God if He is moving you to come alongside me in this work through consistent partnership. I am seeking individuals, churches and families who will partner with me in this shared vision of reaching the lost for Jesus. Your gifts of support will allow me to train and equip believers in the Middle East and Central Asia to share the Gospel and make disciples. Also, to use the ministry of Trauma Healing around the world to strengthen and heal Christ’s Ambassadors for the work of the Kingdom! So I am asking confidently and without apology, please prayerfully consider partnering with me in taking the Gospel of our Lord to places where men, women and children live in spiritual darkness. Let's take the light of Christ and His love and healing to them! So what is my goal to fill the need? This fall, and hopefully ongoing, there are many opportunities for travel to Central Asia. I am often surprised by opportunities and invitations. I am currently hoping and praying God will raise up a number of new ministry partners, financial supporters, so the total monthly increase in financial support is $1,000.00 per month. Then I can say YES! Send me! This amount will cover the need of additional expenses for travel. Of course any amount is needed, wonderful and greatly appreciated. Update and Prayer Requests: June 2023
Valerie and Nicasio Martinez Translating God's Word with and for the people who speak Quiatoni Zapotec Nicasio was invited to give a presentation on June 14 to a group of Bible translators (foreigners, Mexicans and speakers of indigenous languages) and he decided to share about the effects of studying the Bible in one’s own language. He told how he had started a Bible study at church more than 20 years ago, but it wasn’t considered a “real” church service because people sat in a circle and no offering was taken. That went on a few years and then petered out. Then 15 years ago, our pastor suggested that our church have a service all in Zapotec. Nicasio was asked to lead it and this service was seen as more “real” because people sat in rows, there was an offering taken, and a Zapotec worship team was formed, making it more official. This is the service that we are still having, all in Quiatoni Zapotec. Nicasio then asked Beto to share about the effects of studying God’s Word in their own language. He told how that encourages people to listen, participate and ask questions. He also told how when he is home with his wife and daughters, they continue talking about what we have studied in Zapotec. He said that it’s easier to share the Gospel with others now because they have the vocabulary in Zapotec and don’t have to struggle with how to explain things. He told how one lady has said that because of studying in Zapotec, she knows now that Jesus came to save us from our sins. Another lady said how she now understands what baptism means and would like to be baptized again, since she really understands it now. The director of the meeting thanked them for sharing, and thanked Nicasio for sharing the things that didn’t work as well as those that do. Many others thanked them later for sharing; we hope that God will use this to encourage others to do interactive Bible studies, using their New Testament translations. Nicasio had gotten sick a couple of days before the presentation but felt well enough to do it. But that evening he wasn’t feeling well again. The next day I came down with it. It’s been two weeks for Nicasio and about 10 days for me and we are still not back to normal yet, especially in our energy levels. We’d appreciate your prayers for us to feel better again. Last Saturday (June 24) was our third class with the Quiatoni pastors and church leaders.[1] The town where we were to meet is at a lower elevation than most of the Quiatoni area and where we live, so it’s almost always hotter and more humid. I was dreading the day there since it’s been so hot and humid at home but God is gracious: it had been raining there since Friday and was much cooler than we had anticipated. We were so thankful! We are so encouraged by the pastors’ and leaders’ interest and participation. Thank you for praying! As part of the introduction, Nicasio asked, “Why do we need to read and write in Zapotec? Several answered along the lines of, “We can understand the Bible better in Zapotec and it helps us preach better and to know what the Bible is really saying.” One added, “It’s a tool we can use; we need to have our tools ready al the time. We need to sharpen our machetes so they are ready for use.” Beto shared more on how to use the 10 Commandants to give the bad news that we are all sinners and then to give the Good News that Jesus came to die for our sins. He put everyone in pairs to practice it. After that, Nicasio said, “OK, you’re all ready now to have your evangelistic campaigns!” Florencio, one of the pastors, said, “No, not yet! This is only the third class!” (out of the four that they had planned.) This is quite a change in attitude from when they first approached Nicasio about helping them with strategies for holding evangelistic campaigns! Then they were wanting to fill their churches and now they are seeing the need to make sure that each person understands the Gospel. Candy shared on how to pray and why pray in Zapotec. (Even though she always says she is very nervous, she doesn’t show it and always does a great job. Imagine Candy, who went to school through 6th grade—and even Beto, who just finished his bachelor’s last year—teaching the pastors! Of course, most of the pastors don’t have much education, either, but they are very respected because they are pastors.) After she finished teaching about prayer, Nicasio said, “You might be wondering why we’re studying this, since we should already know this.” Florencio burst out with, “But we don’t!” Beto gave them homework: Witness to at least one person before our next meeting. Nicasio added that it could be someone in their church. A pastor said, “Yes! Because not everyone who attends church understands salvation.” At the end, Florencio thanked Nicasio, Beto and Candy for coming to teach them. Then he prayed all in Zapotec, just as if God were standing there listening to him. It was beautiful! On the way home (two hours to cover about 60 miles on paved roads), the truck started acting up. Even though we were driving home earlier than usual, no mechanics were open, probably due to it being Saturday evening. Nicasio said that we might as well drive on home and we are thankful that we made it and nothing seems to be worse. He took the truck to the mechanic this morning but he was too busy, so he’ll take it tomorrow morning. We are hoping it’s nothing major. Two more quick notes: 1. Beto and Candy’s older daughter graduated from high school and will be attending college in the fall. We are so proud of them all! 2. Mike and Tara have asked me (Valerie) to drive to Mexico with them when they move here, some time in July. We would appreciate your prayers for preparations and the trip. Thank you for your interest, support and prayers—all of which are giving the Quiatoni people God’s Word in the language they understand best! love, Valerie and Nicasio www.cten.org/NicasioMartinez Dear Pastor Mike,
Summer 2023 is here! YAY!! I pray your summer will have many wonderful opportunities to build good memories with your loved ones and you have opportunities for refreshing fun and relaxation. Where in the world have I been lately? Here is a review and summary of ministry earlier this year and some of what's been going on in recent weeks.
Click here to go to my staff support fundraiser, please. Prayer Needs:
Dear Friends, Attached is our June 2023 Quiatoni Crier newsletter [download below]. We hope it's an encouragement to you and that it also encourages you to pray for us and our ministry. We so appreciate your interest and prayers for the people who speak Quiatoni Zapotec to have God's Word in their own language. Thank you! Valerie and Nicasio Martinez www.cten.org/NicasioMartinez 
Update and Prayer Requests: May 2023
Valerie and Nicasio Martinez Translating God's Word with and for the people who speak Quiatoni Zapotec We thank you for praying for our church during this time of so many changes. Tomorrow (Saturday, May 27) there will be a service for the denomination to install Max as our pastor and Eduardo as the assistant pastor. We are thankful that all this has been settled without too many problems. In the church meeting when the assistant pastor was voted on, Beto was also elected to be the church business secretary, Nicasio was elected to be the youth pastor, Fernando and his wife were elected to be deacons. (Four of the five people elected faithfully attend the Zapotec service!) You may remember that Nicasio has been the youth pastor for many years; he enjoys it and has a wonderful rapport with the youth. During the pandemic, when we weren’t attending church, Nicasio continued the youth group online. Then our (then) pastor decided that there should be an in-person youth group and so the youth of families who were attending church in-person dropped the online group and started attending the in-person group. So even though Nicasio has just been elected to be the youth pastor, he has continued to be one! He would appareciate your prayers as he molds the two groups into one; their first meeting will be on June 11. The new deacons, Fernando and Elizabet, were elected to aide the deacon couple that is responsible for unlocking and locking the church for services, setting up chairs, reminding parents to quiet their children, and waking those who have nodded off. Since Fernando plays bass for the Zapotec service, he suggested that they take care of the Wednesday night service and that the other couple cover the Thursday (Zapotec) service. We are so pleased at how this is working out: the other couple have resisted attending the Zapotec service but now that they have to, are happily participating in the Zapotec Bible study! Last night, as Nicasio was closing the service, Angel said, “We could go til dawn—and that would be ok!” Someone also heard him say that there wasn’t any need to be waking people up during the Zapotec service, since no one dozed off! A few other people are also starting to regularly attend the Zapotec service; we are thankful for them and for the Zapotec service being announced during other services to encourage people to attend. In our last update, we asked you to pray for the classes we’d be having with several Quiatoni pastors, to teach them to read and write in Zapotec, to learn songs and hymns in Zapotec, and to learn how to evangelize. Even though not everyone attended, the seven pastors and leaders and the two teens that attended really seemed to enjoy the day long class. For their writing assignment, Nicasio asked them to write about why they had left the Catholic church or why they had stayed in the protestant church. A couple of the older men gave verbal answers, instead. We were saddened and not very surprised that no one said it was because they’d believed in Jesus as their Savior. The lack of truly understanding the Gospel is a direct result of church always being in Spanish. They heard the Gospel clearly in Zapotec several times during the day, when Beto taught about how Jesus used parables to share the Gospel and when Candy told how she’d become involved in spreading the Gospel in Zapotec, especially teaching the children. (She told us later that her dad had asked for the day off work so he could attend the class! He videoed her reading a large, classroom sized book about creation and the need for a Savior.) There were many highlights to that day—but it was long! The pastor had asked Nicasio to preach in the evening service and then we had supper before leaving. We had left home at 5 am to be there for breakfast and got home at midnight. I took a nap in the truck between class and church, so I could drive home since Nicasio was “on” all day long. The second day of classes was scheduled for May 27—before that day was selected for Max’s installation service. Nicasio told them that the date would have to be changed (several of those pastors will also be at the installation service, too) and for them to let him know what date they decided on. He didn’t hear anything from them and was thinking that they were not wanting more classes. Rather depressing! But he got a call yesterday, could we come on June 3rd? Yes! We’ll be there! Once again, we ask for your prayers for the classes, for open minds and hearts for those who attend. (We’ll be leaving again at 5 am; I don’t know if there’ll be an evening service or not.) One of the two teens who attended the first day of classes is interested in attending a Bible school. Nicasio talked with her, and because she wants to study the Bible, suggested that she attend the four week workshop on 1 Corinthians that SIL will be giving in mid-July. She agreed and will join Beto and Fernando in the workshop. Fernando, besides playing bass for the Zapotec service, also alternates with Beto doing the opening part of the service. We are going through the Gospel of Mark for that part and we have been amazed at Fernando’s abilities in teaching as well as the studying he does in preparation. So Nicasio thought it would be good to “stretch” him a bit and invited him to attend the 1 Corinthians workshop, which he agreed to. Beto suggested to Nicasio that he have an online class with Eloisa and Fernando to prepare them for the workshop. He taught them the difference hermeneutics (interpreting the Bible, usually through one’s own point of view) and exegesis (studying the background, culture, language, etc. of a book of the Bible). Beto used the parable of the prodigal son and asked them how they imagined the prodigal was dressed when he returned home. They answered “dirty” “ragged” “stinky.” Beto said, “When I imagine him, I see him dressed in ragged pants and a ragged shirt—but that’s not how they dressed in Jesus’ time.” Fernando said, “That’s looking at it hermeneutically!” Please pray for them attening the workshop and thank God with us for Fernando and Eloisa as well as Beto, Candy and Elizabeth. Thank God also for a very generous gift that will pay the expenses for them to attend the workhop. Thank you for your interest, prayers and support of our ministry of Bible translation. Your part in making all these things happen is a real blessing to us! love, Valerie and Nicasio www.cten.org/NicasioMartinez Update and Prayer Requests: April 2023 Valerie and Nicasio Martinez Translating God's Word with and for the people who speak Quiatoni Zapotec Thank you for praying for our church during this time of upheaval, after our pastor’s death. There have been lots of long meetings, some with just the church members, others with representatives from the denomination. We are thankful that the meetings have been calm and respectful. So far, it’s been agreed that Max, who started the church more than 30 years ago, will be the pastor, with an ordained pastor supporting him. (Since Max isn’t ordained, he can’t officiate at weddings, baptisms, baby dedications, etc. so this is where the ordained pastor will step in.) Still up in the air, however, is whether our church should belong to the Quiatoni district or the Central Valleys district. It has belonged to the Quiatoni district because our pastor was from Quiatoni, had planted many churches in the Quiatoni area, and was the ordained pastor covering most of those churches. The denomination says that the church should belong to the Valleys district because that is where it is physically located. We don’t agree with this because the church is overwhelmingly made up of people from or with ties to the Quiatoni area. The language, culture, and traditions bind the church closely to the Quiatoni district. We appreciate your prayers for a good resolution to this. Last month we asked your prayers for the state-wide pastors’ convention that our church hosted, barely a week after our pastor’s death. Thank you for praying for this, too! It went very well; I heard that the church fed about 300 people for five meals over two days. (The 300 people include our church people who were cooking, setting up tables, etc. etc. and their families.) Quite an accomplishment for our church of almost 80 members! A couple of months ago, the Quiatoni pastor who invited our Zapotec music group to participate in their New Year’s Eve celebration asked Nicasio and Beto to join him and a few other Quiatoni pastors in a meeting to talk about evangelizing the Quiatoni area. During the meeting, Nicasio encouraged them to first make sure that their own church members understand that Jesus died for their sins and want Him to be their Savior, before branching out into large evangelistic campaigns. Nicasio has seen how many people don’t really understand the Gospel, even though they’ve been baptized and going to church for years, because sermons are almost always in Spanish. So he also encouraged them to evangelize in Zapotec and, as a result, they decided it would be good for Nicasio and Beto to give them Zapotec reading and writing classes, and for Beto to teach them how to use the evangelistic tools he’s been using. As part of their reading practice, Nicasio will have them read the Gospel of John in Zapotec and Beto’s wife Candy and our Zapotec song leader will help them practice songs in Zapotec. This will be a series of four day-long classes over the next six weeks or so. We are so very thankful and excited about this! This is the first time that pastors (or churches) have asked for help in using Zapotec in their churches. You know that we’ve worked with lots of bilingual teachers over the past few years but the pastors just haven’t been interested. Thank God with us for this change in attitude! And please pray for the classes and that the pastors will be committed to attending them. With all this upheaval during the month, much of our regular things have been put on the back burner. (Both Nicasio and Beto have been named as part of the church council and are very involved in helping to resolve the issues the church is facing.) The Zapotec service continues (although it was cancelled a couple of times due to the funeral and then the pastors’ convention); we finished studying the Book of Acts and last week started learning about the background to Peter’s letters. Nicasio and Beto continue going over the consultant’s comments on the translation of Acts, in the hopes that it can be checked off as “completed” soon. Nicasio had been working on his doctoral thesis, but again, this is on the back burner, especially now with the classes for the Quiatoni pastors. He said, “We’ve been waiting so long for the churches to be interested, they have to have priority now!” In our February update, I told how the building that houses “my” children’s library and the homeschool resource room was to be reroofed because of the asbestos in the original roofing. That project is almost done. I’m so thankful for the employees who covered all the bookshelves with the books still on them in sheets of plastic to protect them against the debris and the unseasonable rains we’ve been having, including hail! (I understand they rented a big tarp to also provide more protection from the rain, even though this picture of the children’s library doesn’t show either the tarp or the rain clouds!) Thank you for standing with us and taking our needs to our heavenly Father. This is His work and we couldn’t do it without Him or without your support. Thank you! love, Valerie and Nicasio www.cten.org/NicasioMartinez  Dear Friends,
We hope and pray you and your families are doing well. Praise God, we are all well here in Honduras and glad to share with you a little of what has been happening here in the ministry. We have posted our newest newsletter entitled "Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad". We want to thank you all for your faithful support of our family here, in both prayer and finances. We are encouraged by your words you send, and by knowing that you share the same passion with us, to bring His Word and love to the Honduran people. God bless you all, Ryan, Kelly, Ezra, Kezia & Isaiah April 2023 Newsletter - Let Us Rejoice -- For His Glory; In His Love, Ryan & Kelly [email protected] psalms963.weebly.com "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all people" - Psalm 96:3 Dear Pastor Mike,
HAPPY EASTER! The Lord has Risen! He has Risen Indeed! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! It is my prayer for you that you have trusted in Jesus and His resurrection and received the everlasting hope of eternal life! God made a way. He did for us what we can not do for ourselves. The Bible tells us that Jesus died a terrible death on the cross, an instrument of shame and torture, to take our place and pay the penalty for our sins so those who believe will receive forgiveness for their sins, but even more! He died AND rose again so that we might have LIFE! It is through His death and resurrection that we receive life. In the resurrection Jesus gives us the assurance that He is the powerful Son of God who has conquered death and reigns as Lord of all. (Romans 1:4; 4:25). Now that's Good News! As always, I am deeply and forever grateful for your loving, caring and generous gifts of financial support and for your prayers. It is with your partnership that God sends me into the the world to proclaim this truth to hurting and lost people. Thank you! Romans 10:3 - 15 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him if they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? Thank you for sending me! Julia Thank you so much for praying for us while we were in the Middle East. The team was awesome! God used us to touch the lives of hurting souls, with His powerful love and hope! To make disciples who will make disciples..... 2 Peter 2:2 100 precious children came to the beautiful and powerful Children's Easter Program! The kids had so much fun! They loved it! So did we! The whole team clapped and sang the songs as we sat among the children to encourage and love them! There were puppets and an awesome skit with actors playing the roles of men and women in the Easter Story. We loved the song so much we asked for the words to be translated into English. At the end of the program each child was given a certificate to get new shoes! This is something we learned that they really needed. The children are from families who were displaced from the war in Syria. This program presentation was complete with a clear and compelling presentation of the gospel message and an invitation for them to respond with faith in Jesus! Please continue to pray for these children. The following day we had the blessing of visiting with one of the women whose children attended the program. This mother was so grateful to have very nice new shoes for her children! Please pray for this dear woman. She has put her faith in Jesus but it is difficult for her because of persecution from other family members. My team and I are doing an Introduction to Trauma Healing with a group of women. We are explaining it is important to understand God wants to give healing for heart wound (trauma). These young women have very hard and broken lives. I'm so happy to know that they want to continue to have Trauma Healing Sessions. The stories from the Word of God bring hope and healing and help us to know and understand God uses the hard things we go through to help and bring comfort to others. I love this dear woman in the photo above. I have known her since the time we first ministered to the refugees. I was at her baptism. She is a faithful Christ follower and faithfully sharing her faith. You can be sure that she has a huge smile on her face. She is attending a family event we had to celebrate Mothers. This photo below, I was asked to give the message to a weekly women's group. It was a lot of fun! Many thanked me for challenging them to share their faith in Jesus, even when it's hard. I just wanted to share this with all of you. It is a beautiful email I received from a dear friend who faithfully prays for me. Each month I receive a prayer in my email and it gives me so much encouragement. "Good morning Julia! Lord, thank You for building our bodies so wonderfully! Today I’m especially thankful for my immune system. Truly, fearfully and wonderfully made. And so much more ingenuity in this earthen vessel that we won’t even know about this side of heaven. You are the micro and macro, the beginning and the ending. Our everything. Praise You! Lord, from Ephesians 3, I’m going to borrow Paul’s prayer (NLT): I pray from Your glorious, unlimited resources, please empower Julia with inner strength through Your spirit. Please make Your home in Julia‘s heart as she trusts in You—we want our hearts cozy for You!—Make Julia’s roots grow down into Your love and keep her strong. And may Julia have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is Your love for her. May Julia experience the love of Christ, even though it is really hard to understand. Then, please make Julia complete with all the fullness of life and the power that comes from You, Lord God. Thank You for wanting things for us that we can even fathom. You are the Best Father. Please give Julia resources, energy, health, grace from strangers, love from friends, and make this day a wonderful gift to her with Your name all over it. We love You. In the name of our blessed Savior, Jesus, amen. UTWWK, love, Sally" (Until the whole world knows!) God, we ask for your blessings in 2023, not by shielding us from all sickness and sorrow and pain: But by strengthening us to bear it when it comes. Not by making our paths easy: But by making us sturdy to travel any path you set before us Not by taking our hardships from us, But by taking fear from our hearts Not by granting us unbroken sunshine, But by shining your face on us even in the shadows Not by making life comfortable for us, But by showing us the people who need your love and your truth the most And give us the desire and excitement to be there to share Yes Lord, bless us and keep us. Shine your face on us and be gracious to us, Turn your face toward us and grant us peace. Update and Prayer Requests: March 2023
Valerie and Nicasio Martinez Translating God's Word with and for the people who speak Quiatoni Zapotec March brought another death and another disagreeable surprise. Our pastor passed away on March 21st; he was 83 years old and diabetic. He was the first protestant in the Quiatoni area and was persecuted in the early days when he was evangelizing in the area. He was the spiritual father and grandfather of most believers in the Quiatoni area. He has pastored our local church for more than 30 years; we were the first couple to be married by him in our church. ♥ Max, who had started the church after becoming a believer in Jesus, was named by Pastor Delfino as assistant pastor some years ago, and we all assumed he would become the pastor when Pastor Delfino wasn’t able to continue. So imagine our surprise when during the funeral, the national-level man from the denomination said that the denomination is giving us an interim pastor for three months while the church finds a new pastor! The denomination has many rules about how this will happen, who are the possible candidates, how the voting will happen, etc. Almost everyone in our church is resistant to the idea of an “outsider” (not someone from Quiatoni) being the pastor; almost everyone wants Max to be the pastor. (You might remember that all the church members are from Quiatoni or married into a Quiatoni family. One non-Quiatoni family recently joined the church.) We appreciate your prayers for this very difficult situation. To add to the general upheaval at church, this Thursday and Friday (March 30 and 31), our church is hosting the state-wide pastors convention. We are expecting 150 pastors and whoever they bring (wives, assistant pastors?) so there is lots of cooking and organizing going on, as well as physical work getting the church and area ready for so many people. We appreciate your prayers for this to go well. Nicasio has been going over the Gospel of Mark (which we started translating in the early 1990s!), especially going over notes left by others on the translation team. We are going through Mark at the beginning of each Zapotec church service; Nicasio or Fernando read a section and then give a short lesson on it. We are finally finishing up studying the Book of Acts in the Zapotec service! We started studying it in April 2018, had one year off during covid, and are now seeing Paul in Rome. It’s been an amazing journey and we’ve all learned a lot. Nicasio has chosen Peter’s letters for us to study next, so he’s been going over and revising 1st Peter in preparation for that. Beto has been busy with his regular jobs and now has another job: teaching English to 6th graders. This is for the community service that each university graduate is required to do in the area of his degree. We all are thankful that his service is here in Tlacolula and that he will be able to complete his hours fairly quickly since it’s three classes of 6th graders three times a week. Beto has also been going over the “key terms” in our translation. Key terms are words that are important in Bible translation like glory, redemption, kingdom of God, salvation, and Gospel. These get refined over time and also when they occur in different settings in the New Testament. Beto considers how each one is translated and how it’s used in each place in the New Testament, and puts notes for Nicasio where he thinks it might be improved. He looks especially at words that have different meanings in different contexts. (Look up “glory” in a concordance and see how many different meanings it has!) The end of February, I had my computer completely reset. It’s running much better now but it took about two weeks to get all my data up to date and in the places it should be. It was a very frustrating time but I learned a lot and am glad that it’s pretty much back to normal. We haven’t heard anything more about Nicasio having to do town service. He’s considering going to talk to the town authorities and see if he can be given a town job that he can pay someone to do for him. This would allow him greater freedom and solidarity with the Quiatoni community in the future. We appreciate your prayers for wisdom and timing for this. Nicasio’s mom is doing as well as can be expected; she’s missing Dad, of course. She continues to live with their daughter and her family in Quiatoni. Mike writes, “We're doing well and excited about Royan continuing to expand his vocabulary. Tara wrapped up vision therapy and her eyes are doing great.” Rusty writes, “I am happy to share that I recently had my 2 year post diagnosis cancer screenings, and so far everything looks good! I'll meet with my oncologist on April 10th to get the official all clear. Two years down, three to go! I continue to enjoy my job at the Lilly Center and spending time with friends and family.” As always we appreciate your interest, support, and prayers for our ministry of Bible translation into Quiatoni Zapotec. Your prayers sustain us and encourage us. Thank you! love, Valerie and Nicasio www.cten.org/NicasioMartinez Dear Pastor Mike,
WHOEVER? You may be wondering why this is the word I have chosen to highlight in my news. Last Sunday I attended the same church where 38 years ago I first heard the Good New that Jesus is the Savior for lost sinners and 'WHOEVER" believes in Jesus, God's Son, who paid the penalty for their sins, their sins are forgiven and they are given the free gift of eternal life! Yep, that's me! I'm one of God's WHOEVER's, and now His daughter and a member of His family. Also, my favorite story from the Bible was taught and preached at that service I attended. It is a story about another one of Jesus' WHOEVERS. The Samaritan Woman in John 4, Jesus spoke with her at Jacob's Well. As my friend Mike so powerfully said when he gave this beautiful sermon, "There was no greater example of WHOEVER! Jesus cuts through all the social, moral and spiritual boundaries of the day and declares unequivocally that when He says "whoever" He means "whoever!" I love that story so much! That woman was at at best disregarded and cast aside. Most would avoid talking with her. A sore in the eyes of her community. But it was probably much worse! She was scorned and shamed. Her reputation was stained by one failed relationship after another. She was desperately looking for love in all the wrong and many places. Then she met Jesus!... He knew her! and all about her shameful life of failure and poor decisions. And Jesus did NOT avoid her. He went to her on purpose! And she believed Jesus when He told her He is the Savior. When she believed that day she received Living Water and was restored to a right relationship with God. She left the water in the bucket behind to run to tell others about Jesus! She began a relationship with Jesus that would both mend and fill her broken and shattered heart. He gave her purpose. Go and tell "WHOEVER"! I love that story because it's my story too. What is your story? Who are your "WHOEVERS?" I am preparing to mobilize a team to the Middle East, soon. Why? To tell that world about Jesus! We have a message of hope from God for"whoever!" A gift from God we will eagerly extend to "whoever" for their response to believe and to receive, this compassionate, merciful and very expensive gift. John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them" He wants to mend and fill their broken hearts and broken lives and give them a new purpose, so all people in this broken world will hear about Jesus. As always, I am deeply and forever grateful for your loving, caring and generous gifts of financial support and for your prayers. Romans 10:13 - 15 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him if they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? Thank you for sending me! |
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