Mayra and I had the honor of participating last weekend in a FAMEX missions conference in Guadalajara, organized by Fernando Amezcua and including as many as eight Bible churches in the “Red” or network of churches that are interested in promoting missions. The theme of the conference was Unidos al llamado misionero, or United in Our Calling to Missions. Samuel Garcia, from WEC International, was the plenary speaker. Samuel and his family served for 12 years in Morocco and Spain. The schedule for the conference was Thursday and Friday nights from 7-9 p.m., then most of the day on Saturday, at the Guadalajara Bible Church–Federalismo. Rod gave a workshop on “The Extrovert Church twice on Saturday morning, with an enthusiastic response from those in attendance.
The five major continents were represented by these gigantic figures, as statistics were given and a prayer was offered for each region. Mexican missionaries from various regions including India, Tibet and Mexico shared about how God is reaching people through the testimony of His people.
Saturday evening was a dynamic time, with eight different youth groups coming together for a time of worship and teaching. Over 200 young people attended the mega-youth meeting.
It was a super time with friends and co-laborers Fernando and Luz Maria Amezcua…we are always amazed at how energetic, joyful and productive they are! Great to be with their kids, too, and their grandson Elías! We also got to see Bryan and Candy Escalera (below) and their 1 1/2 year old boy, Dario. Also saw Neftalí, co-CTEN missionary, Rick Burnam, and ex-Camino Global now WEC missionary, and many other friends from Comunidad Bíblica Gracia, the church where Fernando ministers.
Saturday night…some amazing “vacio”, which is an Argentinian cut of meat that is…oh my…outstanding. On Sunday morning, Rod preached on the challenges of cultural adjustment, using Daniel as an example from the Bible. So many stories of the challenges and chuckles of adjusting to another culture and learning another language! But it’s worth it!
Hi Rod and Myra,
Would love to get in touch with you. I’m a former intern from way back in 2003. I currently work at the home office for a large non-profit doing great things in Latin America and church planting is something I’d love to learn more from you about. So great to see God using you in amazing ways for the global Kingdom.