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Tina teaching
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Worshipping in the tropics
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Mission team and missionaries
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Morgan teaching
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Praying for Tizimin and Mexico
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In January, Danny went to Tizimin, Mexico together with Tina Fowler and Morgan Finley. This is the same town where our church, Hope Chapel, has previous ministry trips. This visit with just three of us was for a very specific purpose; to encourage pastors and congregations to spend more time outside the church buildings loving on the community. One of the focus areas was to encourage them to step out with the authority that God has bestowed on each one, to supernaturally heal the sick among them in the name of Jesus.
We met with a number of church groups and their pastors. After some time of teaching, we would lead them in small groups into the streets in the middle of town. It not only was a teaching time, but I believe we all had a lot of fun as well. In one of the teaching sessions we saw the Lord perform three healings, And there were multiple other healings in the streets. I especially enjoyed seeing a lady healed of pain after Morgan had prayed with her. Then her daughter comes out of a shop and she excitedly tells her daughter how Jesus has just removed her pain. We knew that was God telling us that people were actually getting healed and not just telling us that so that we would feel better.
Each pastor and church group that we met with seemed to have a heart for the lost. Many had gone out on the streets before, but all of them seemed to have retreated back inside their church buildings again. The only ones that still seemed fairly active were from a youth group from one church, but youth from other churches joined them – very refreshing to see. Some of the adults were enthusiastic about our message, but I’m not sure how successful we were in re-lighting the fire on many of the adults. We know that God waters each seed, and each seed will grow and bear fruit in its own time.
Tizimin is on the Yucatan Peninsula, about half way between Merida and Cancun. The missionary couple who was hosting us, Bill and Kathy, their ministry called DCI, have been there a number of years. Their main calling is to unite the churches in the area and obviously have seen quite a bit of success, with a lot more to come. In their building they host a number of short term mission trips each year, understanding that training and ministering to the short term missionaries is also very important.
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New ministry building for children
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Nearly completed soccer field
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I was very touched by Magdalena, a Mexican missionary to this area, who for many years has been ministering to at-risk children and youth who deal with violence and drunkenness at home on a routine basis. She started gathering them at her small humble home each afternoon, pouring herself into them, totally dedicated to Jesus and them. She has seen so many of them grow and become the men and women they were supposed to be, mature in the Lord. Her family who lives very far was opposed to her doing this work, did not understand why she would sacrifice so much, but has since come around. I was so encouraged to see that the Lord has supplied the funds and she now has a newly built beautiful ministry building, a soccer field for the children is near completion, and they will soon start building her a house.
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Church of the Three Kings during celebration
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Three Kings procession
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The timing was interesting because our time there included Epiphany, and Tizimin is well known as the place where you celebrate the Three Kings. They even have a large picturesque Three Kings Cathedral (I think formally called the Church of the Three Kings, but they refer to it as the cathedral). So in addition to the local community, there were thousands of other Mexicans who had gone there on pilgrimage from far away. Some came in crowded trucks, others on bicycles (young ones). Their reaction was interesting when they finally understood that they had come not to worship the Three Kings, but to worship the King of Kings whom the Three Kings came to worship. Even with the crowds, I was encouraged to see how open to being prayed for everyone was on the streets. All positive reactions, not one single complaint. And even more encouraged to see the reactions of those that the Holy Spirit touched - there were quite a few of them. I pray that the fire in the hearts of the Christians of Tizimin grows even stronger, and that they find ways to reach so many of their neighbors with the love, peace, freedom and hope that Jesus Christ intends for all to have. I was very happy to have gone, and pray that through me, God accomplished the reason he sent me.