Everyone is thrilled with their VBS material this year. The theme is Surviving the Jungle. We also bought the hand crafts that go with each lesson. Every day the children will be making a different animal.

We bought materials for 7,000 children that will be conducted by 35 teams in 79 pueblos. Hallelujah!

In Teonadepa, Sonora, México:

As we share these history briefs on Merxican pastors, we do so in sequence as to when we met them, next is Pastor Mario Rivera (pictured above at one of our 2016 Christmas programs) and his wife, Maria Louisa of Teonadepa, Sonora who pastor Iglesia Victorioso en la Fe.

Teonadepa is just across the river west of Cumpas, a small quaint pueblo of about 200 residents.

We met Mario in the summer of 1989 on a trip to Cumpas. Our friend Roberto Sanders of Agua Prieta was with us to interpret. Mario invited us to preach in his pastorate at the Church of God. Our visit was timely, as the Lord was leading him to change from the denomination over to an independent work. He was very hungry for our message and interested in how we work as an independent organization.

Soon thereafter, a local lady donated a vacant lot, perfectly situated at the entrance of town for building a new church. Right away Mario’s faith was put to the test. City government would not issue a building permit. Not to put aside his Word from God, Mario started construction. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested and jailed for building without a permit.

When the mayor heard of this, he being Mario’s friend, had him released, issued a permit, and sent city dump trucks with all the sand and gravel he would need for construction. Many more miracles came to pass as the building went up.

Later in 1993, all independent churches in Mexico were required by law to register with the federal government. We introduced FCF International to the pastors we knew, making their process easier. Mario’s was the first of four churches in that part of Sonora to become legally registered.

Pastor Mario has a powerful reputation in his community as a man to call when miracles are needed. Many people over the years have been healed after Mario’s prayers of faith.

In Douglas, AZ, USA

It was late summer of 1990 when Ruben first came to FMC with our mutual friends Arturo and Elizabeth Monje. He made a magnetic first impression with his big friendly smile. Ruben had accepted Jesus as Savior some time before, but had yet to make Jesus his Lord and the main focus of his life. When he first began coming to Faith Ministries he was struggling with the temptations of the world, but his heart was obviously soft toward God. As we prayed with him, prophetic words would lift him up and speak of a beautiful future in Jesus. From the beginning, it was clear Ruben was destined to serve as a minister of the Gospel.

He went to Bible School in Cumpas for two years and grew in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. During those days, he fell in love with Maria Louisa, a lovely, godly senorita from Teonadepa. They are still making history together.

In his last year of Bible School, he would ride his bike 7 miles to the small pueblo of Jecori, preach on the street, and pray for people in their homes. Ruben and Maria’s efforts there resulted in the establishment of Jecori’s first protestant church. Monte Sinai today shines brightly for Jesus.

Ruben and Maria have two bright and beautiful children, Lucy and Ivan, now young adults who serve God in their home church and various evangelism activities in school and community.

Ruben has served Faith Ministries faithfully for 26 years as interrupter and translator here on the border and in Mexico. Within the multifaceted ministry of the Serrato family, they have added a needed service to the Douglas community by conducting Spanish services each Sunday night at Faith Ministries Church.  With Ruben’s heartthrob of an evangelist and his loving pastoral care for people, he fits right into those early prophecies that spoke of his beautiful future in Jesus. Their lives and ministry have been, and continue to be a tremendous asset to God’s work through Faith Ministries.