After a Year!

La Coraza de San Patricio

Me levanto hoy
Por medio de poderosa fuerza, 
la invocación de la Trinidad,
Por medio de creer en sus Tres Personas,
Por medio de confesar la Unidad,
Del Creador de la Creación.

Me levanto hoy
Por medio de la fuerza del nacimiento de Cristo y su bautismo,
Por medio de la fuerza de Su crucifixión y su sepulcro,
Por medio de la fuerza de Su resurrección y asunción,
Por medio de la fuerza de Su descenso para juzgar el mal.

Me levanto hoy
Por medio de la fuerza del amor de Querubines,
En obediencia de Ángeles, En servicio de Arcángeles,
En la esperanza que la resurrección encuentra recompensa,
En oraciones de Patriarcas,En palabras de Profetas,
En prédicas de Apóstoles, En inocencia de Santas Vírgenes,
En obras de hombres de bien.

Me levanto hoy
Por medio del poder del cielo:
Luz del sol,
Esplendor del fuego,
Rapidez del rayo,
Ligereza del viento,
Profundidad de los mares,
Estabilidad de la tierra,
Firmeza de la roca.

Me levanto hoy
Por medio de la fuerza de Dios que me conduce:
Poder de Dios que me sostiene,
Sabiduría de Dios que me guía,
Mirada de Dios que me vigila,
Oído de Dios que me escucha,
Palabra de Dios que habla por mí,
Mano de Dios que me guarda,
Sendero de Dios tendido frente a mí,
Escudo de Dios que me protege,
Legiones de Dios para salvarme
De trampas del demonio,
De tentaciones de vicios,
De cualquiera que me desee mal,
Lejanos y cercanos,
Solos o en multitud.

Yo invoco éste día todos estos poderes entre mí y el malvado,
Contra despiadados poderes que se opongan a mi cuerpo y alma,
Contra conjuros de falsos profetas,
Contra las negras leyes de los paganos,
Contra las falsas leyes de los herejes,
Contra obras y fetiches de idolatría,
Contra encantamientos de brujas, forjas y hechiceros,
Contra cualquier conocimiento corruptor de cuerpo y alma.

Cristo escúdame hoy
Contra filtros y venenos, Contra quemaduras,
Contra sofocación, Contra heridas,
De tal forma que pueda recibir recompensa en abundancia.

Cristo conmigo, Cristo frente a mí,
Cristo tras de mí, Cristo en mí,
Cristo a mi diestra,
Cristo a mi siniestra,
Cristo al descansar,
Cristo al levantar,
Cristo en el corazón de cada hombre que piense en mí,
Cristo en la boca de todos los que hablen de mí,
Cristo en cada ojo que me mira,
Cristo en cada oído que me escucha.

Me levanto hoy
Por medio de poderosa fuerza, la invocación de la Trinidad,
Por medio de creer en sus Tres Personas,
Por medio de confesar la Unidad,
Del Creador de la Creación.

St. Patrick's Breastplate

Today I put on

a terrible strength

invoking the Trinity

confessing the Three

with faith in the One

as I face my Maker.

Today I put on

the power of Heaven,

the light of the Sun,

the radiance of the Moon,

the splendor of fire,

the fierceness of lightning,

the swiftness of wind,

the depth of the sea,

the firmness of earth

and the hardness of rock.

Today I put on

God's strength to steer me,

God's power to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye for my vision,

God's ear for my hearing,

God's word for my speech,

God's hand to protect me,

God's pathway before me,

God's shield for my shelter,

God's angels to guard me

from ambush of devils,

from vice's allurements,

from traps of the flesh,

from all who wish ill,

whether distant or close,

alone or in hosts.

Christ beside me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ within me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right hand,

Christ on my left,

Christ where I lie,

Christ where I sit,

Christ where I rise,

Christ in the hearts of all who think of me,

Christ in the mouths of all who speak to me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

Today I put on

a terrible strength,

invoking the Trinity,

confessing the Three,

with faith in the One

as I face my Maker.

Currently Reading Anthropology for Christian Witness By Charles H. Kraft see related

Awesome happenings in Tlaxiaco

Dear friends and supporters,
   So much has been happening in the past few weeks! I am really excited about all that God is doing in the villages that we are going to. In the past few weeks I have had several opportunities to share with people in the villages, and do Bible studies as well. Please keep all of these people in prayer! Continue to ask God to do a work in their heart, and show them exactly how He wants them to respond to His Word.
   Nundaco- Things are going well in Nundaco, and we have had more and more chances to share with people, and people are starting to open up alot to us and to God. Please pray for Filemón and his family, who Grant, Chino, and the rest of the Thursday Nundaco team have started to study the Bible with on Thursdays. He appears to be very open, and wants to continue studying. Also pray for Don Tomás, who is still very deeply rooted in Catholicism. He is very sick right now with diabetes, and is going to Mexico City, so I haven't had the chance to talk with him a lot in the past few days. Pray that I will be able to share the Gospel again with both him and his wife, who is a very firm Catholic as well. Also pray for Jaime, who is a teacher in Nundaco. He is very interested in studying the Bible, and know that God is the only one who can help him to stop drinking. Please pray that God will prepare his heart, and convict him of sin until he is totally ready and willing to surrender himself totally to God. Please continue to pray for the doctor as well; he is interested in studying the Bible with us, and helping us translate Bible stories to Mixteco, but he is busy with patients a lot of the time, and it seems that just when we are getting around to it another patient comes. There are several other people who we have met and begun to talk to, but these are the ones that are the closest to my heart right now.
  Yucuañe- Please pray for Elías. It has been about 5 years since he first started to study the Bible some, and stopped drinking. He told me last week that he has just started to drink some again, and he is scared that it is going to totally take over his life again. I asked him if he had repented and surrendered his life to Jesus, or if he was ready to do it, but he said that he just felt like he couldn't. I talked with him alot and read a lot of passages out of the Bible that talk about God's right to our obedience, and our duty towards him, and then I asked him to read a few chapters in Acts, and to talk to God about why he still isn't ready to surrender. Pray that God will do a mighty work in his heart, and take out any stumbling block that might be there. Also pray for Alfredo. He is still separated from his wife, and right now they don't seem like they are going to get back together. Pray that God will do a miracle of healing and forgiveness in their hearts. Also pray for Prisciliano, who I am just getting to know, that his heard would be softened towards the things of God.
   Atatláhuca- I am so happy about all that God is starting out there. In the past few weeks we have had several opportunities to witness to people, and God has given them an interest in knowing Him and studying His Word. Pray specifically for Epifania, for Vicente, Mauro and Maribel. Also pray for the agencia of Benito Juárez, where I just started to go 1 month ago. The two people there who are the most open to the Gospel are Epifanio, and Enrique. God has already been teaching them that the images that they have in the church are wrong, and that they should only worship God. Pray that God would continue to reveal Himself to this town through the study of His Word.
   Thank you so much for you continued prayer and support! I am glad that you are all a part of this work as well!
    Abiding in Him,
                     David

So I'm finally back in Oaxaca and getting into the swing of things. Things are going very well here, and I am really excited about the work and all that is going on! 

   I got into Oaxaca City on Saturday night two weeks ago, and spent the night there because there was no more transportation to Tlaxiaco for the night. I got a hotel, and then walked out to the zócalo, or the town square. It was very sad to see what all the protesters have done to it... it used to be so beautiful, but they have broken out all the windows and spray painted grafitti all over every thing. The next morning I left at 8:00, and got into Tlaxiaco a little bit before 11:00, just in time to go to church. It was good to see everybody again, and I enjoyed the sermon in Spanish! After church I went to play soccer with a lot of the guys from the church, and some people from the base. I am still getting to know some of the new students, because I have been out in the village so much that I still haven't spent a lot of time with them. On Monday morning the church planting team, Amalie, Tino and I, went out to Atatláhuca to talk to some people and get things set up for Thursday teams, so I talked to the authorities, and talked to the principle of the school that we teach at, and then went around to talk to several people that were out. The next day we went to Nundaco, and I got to see several of my friends again. I was able to talk for a long time to Doctor Albino, and to Obaldo, and they were glad to see me again. That day mainly we just walked around and anounced that we were back and that we would be coming every week. On Wednesday we went to Yucuañe, and I was a little bit worried about staying busy in that town, because almost all of the people are drunk. Tino and I spent most of the day talking to a man named Elías who has heard the Gospel many times and usually just likes to discuss the Bible and the difference between us and other religions in a philisophical way, and never really takes things to heart. We also went and talked to the president of the village, and to one of our friends named Alfredo who is the vice president of the village. The president there doesn't like us, and has talked badly about us in town meetings, but we have several friends there that stuck up for us, so that was encouraging. On Thursday I went out to Atatláhuca with my team for the first time, and we visited the school, and talked to the principal about English classes, and then went down to talk to people. I was a little bit worried about my team finding people to talk to, but God provided just like he always does, and they had an assembly of people from 6 of the ten agencies there, and there were probably close to 1,000 people walking around! I got to find several friends that I hadn't seen in some time, and also to meet many knew people. 5 different agentes, or mayors of the smaller agencies that make up Atatláhuca, asked me to come to their village and teach English, but there is no way that we have time to get to them all, especially since some of them are 2-3 hours walking and 4-5 hours driving. I did get one English lesson set up though, in Benito Juarez where my friend Enrique lives, so I am going to be going out there Thursday afternoons after my team leaves, teaching and spending the night. On Friday we had a team meeting all morning, and then in the afternoon I helped work on the satellite, so that we could have internet again, and praise God we finally got it up and running! During our meet we discussed different ways of ministering, and how we were going to share with the people in the villages. After much prayer, we came to the conclusion that we needed to start with the Old Testament, with stories and passages that show who God is and how he deals with people. I believe that this is crucial, because even though it takes longer, they already know the name God and Jesus, and they know that Jesus died on the cross. If we just share that, it makes no difference to them, and they think that we just have a different set of rules than the Catholics. So this past week we started out by telling about God's holiness and righteousness. We are just throwing out the seed wherever we can right now, although we do have some specific contacts that we have been working with longer, and it seems that they are the ones who are more open to talking with us about God and His Word. On Monday and Tuesday we were in Nundaco again, and I was able to talk in depth about our "seed" for the week with Obaldo and Doctor Albino, and really caught a glimpse of the fear that they live in. Most people tell me that they don't believe in the ghosts and demons and superstitions that people used to have, but Obaldo talked to me for a long time about the fear that they have, and how they have to pray to the saint or they won't have protection from the enemy. It is heartbreaking to see how they live in bondage to the very thing that they are afraid of. On Wednesday we went out to Yucuañe, and had quite the adventure! On the way out we noticed that the exhaust pipe on the truck was hanging down low, so we hung it back where it should be and drove off. After we got onto the dirt road, we heard this wierd banging sound, and got out to check and the muffler had fallen off, and was resting on the chassis! We got out for a while, and prayed while we waited for it to cool down, and then we found a pair of cleats in the car and tied the muffler back on where it was supposed to be and prayed that it would hold until we got to the village. It did, and when we got there we found some wire that held it in place until we got back to Tlaxiaco. That day the only people that we could find to talk to were drunk, so it wasn't that exciting a day. I talked to several drunk people, but they were so drunk that they could barely talk. All the men who weren't drunk had gone on town business, so Tino and I got some good prayer time in as we walked around the village. On Thursday I went with my team out to Atatláhuca, and we started our English lessons in the highschool, and then afterwards we went to talk to people. It was raining so we ended up waiting for a long time in the restaurant, and then it felt like we barely had any time, so I went back on Friday with Tino, and we were able to talk to several people about God and give out several cds with Bible stories. One of the men that Tino talked to and then that we gave cds to was the Sindico, one of the authorities of the village, and a christian brother told us later that last year he had said that he was going to kick all the christians and Jehovah´s witnesses out of the village! Now he wants to study the Bible with us, and stop drinking! Praise the Lord!

If you are receiving this email update, it means we believe you are willing to pray for the unreached of Oaxaca ! As the GFM church planting team (CPT), David, Tino, Gord, and Amalie would like to have as much prayer support as possible, but we know it is often hard to know how to pray for the villages of Oaxaca. We have decided to send a weekly prayer update in order to make it easy for you to lift us and the villages up in prayer. It is divided into 3 prayer requests for 5 different villages Monday-Friday. If you don’t want to be on the weekly prayer update, please just reply and let us know. We want to thank you for being part of the privileged work of spreading God’s love and truth to those who have never heard.

Monday

Nundaco: CPT is in Nundaco on Monday and Tuesday, and a team of 8 MTS students (6 adults and 2 children) led by Grant (GFM director) will be there on Thursdays

·        Pray for the salvation of Doctor Albino. He has studied the Bible some and has heard the Gospel but lacks commitment to Christ.

·        Pray for the salvation of Franco and Jaime, two professors in Nundaco, who enjoy the philosophical discussions of God but have not let the truth penetrate their hearts.

·        Pray for Ines, a Christian woman, to continue to reach out to the other women of her community. Also pray for her acceptance as an “insider” in the village as she married into the village and therefore is seen as an “outsider”.

Tuesday

Yosocahua: a team of 12 MTS students (7 adults and 5 children) led by Gord is in Yosocahua on Thursdays

·        Pray the missionary-training-school (MTS) students would be able to start some Bible studies with some of the village men and women by the end of the school year (April 2007).

·        Pray for continued acceptance of the missionaries by the village authorities and people of the village.

·        Pray for salvation of Marcelina and Victoria (friends in the village) and Macaria (the lady who makes the MTS team lunch every week). Pray also for the development of strong friendships between the new team and the people in the village. Becky, the Yosocahua point person for the past two years, will be leaving in October, so pray these relationships will not cease with the departure of Becky.

Wednesday

Yucuane: CPT is in Yucuane on Wednesdays, and a MTS team of 4 students led by Amalie is there on Thursdays

·        Pray for salvation of Lydia , her two daughters ages 17 and 19, and Lydia ’s mom with whom Amalie has spent much time over the past two years. It seems as if apathy and perhaps fear are keeping them from accepting Christ as Lord and Savior.

·        Pray for CPT to identify a local leader for a future church who can begin to be discipled.

·        Pray for the softening of the heart of the president of Yucuane. He does not like us being in his village and tells the people we are there to trick, deceive, and divide. Pray God would use him to bring glory to Himself through an awesome Paul-like testimony.

Thursday

Yucunama: a team of 9 MTS students (5 adults and 4 children) led by Tino will be in Yucunama on Thursdays

·        Pray for open doors and hearts to do Bible studies with Lazaro, Catarino, and Luis.

·        Pray against the stronghold of traditionalism.

·        Pray for the eyes of the villagers to be opened to the deception of the saints and virgins and to the truth of Christ Jesus.

Friday

Atatlauca: a team of 6 MTS students led by David will be in Atatlauca every Thursday, and David will also be there on Fridays

·        Pray for the students and David to develop better relationships with the Christians of Atatlauca.

·        Pray for the opportunity to witness to the kids of the high school in Atatlauca where the team teaches English.

·        Pray for direction for the team as whether or not to work in Atatlauca where there are Christians or in the surrounding agencies of Atatlauca where there are no Christians.

Thank you for praying, and we will try and keep you updated with the answers God is providing. We know that it is only Him who can change hearts, so just pray for all of us who go out to the villages that we would be willing and open channels for the love of Christ to be transmitted to the people of Oaxaca . Thanks!