Crowd at the gym in Rincon de Romos

This last Saturday we went to Aguascalientes. Pastor Juan Padilla invited me to preach at his Family Conference. Pastor Danny Ortiz from Texas was also there Thursday and Friday. By the way, if you can pray for his wife… when he arrived from Mexico on Saturday, he had to take his wife to the ER and she had to have surgery. Pray that she will get better. (I don´t have the details of what happened).

Anyway, it took us 6 hours to get there. To go to Querétaro is now very easy using the Arco Norte. (A new toll road from Puebla, to Querétaro – skipping Mexico City, and costs $255 pesos, about $22 dollars) From Puebla to Querétaro is about 3 hours. And from Querétaro to Aguascalientes another 3 hours. The church is located in Rincón de Romos, AGS, about 30 minutes north of the city of Aguascalientes.

Pastor Padilla asked the city if they could use the municipal gym, and the city major gave them permission to use it! It is very nice and big. Almost like a US basquetball gym. We arrived 10 minutes before the service started! We had a good service at the gym. Two or three other churches came to the conference. While I was preaching a saw a men holding his face and crying for what I was saying. Later that day, the Pastor said that he is the husband of a dear lady that is just starting to come to church. They have been praying for him to come to church and they were very excited that he came for the conference. Many decisions where made that night.

The following day I thought and preaching during the morning service. We ate at the church, and had some time to rest before the service for Sunday night. At 6 pm we were back and preached again about the family. I preached from 2 Kings 20.15 where the Bible says: “What have they seen in thine house?” Mainly I said that our children need to see less worldliness and more holiness – and love.

After church we went to eat some good, very good tacos. This tacos are recommended by Bro. Clark Paquette. (We were staying at their house during this time, since they are away for furlough and they have a very nice extra-rooms outside the house. I believe they are coming back to Mexico in June.)

On our way back, I decided to go a different route. We went to San Luis Potosí first, and then Querétaro. This added an extra hour to hour driving, but we were not in a hurry. 45 minutes after Querétaro, before taking the Arco Norte, we stopped at McDonald’s for one whole hour. Our 6 kids were very happy. Interestingly, it is the only McDonald’s from the border that you see in the freeway. (There are many McDonald’s in the cities, but not many on the freeways). We have another McDonald’s right when you get to Puebla. And maybe 6 or 7 more McDonald’s in the city of Puebla.

Overall, we saw people saved, make decisions for the Lord and we had a good time on our trip to Aguascalientes. Nicole is doing good and she had no complications during the trip. While we were gone, Bro. Abraham preached at 8:30 AM, Bro. Ivan thought Sunday School (about the curse of credit cards) at 10 AM and Bro. Alejandro preached at 11 AM. In the afternoon Bro. Alejandro preached again at 6 PM. You can see our live feed video on Sundays at this hours (only if there is a time difference for you – we don’t want you to miss church for us!)

Last Thursday night Bro. Tim Aguiar and I visited Cesar and Soco. They just got married in December and are now attending our church Sunday nights. Bro. Tim called me on Sunday while we were in Aguscalientes to let me know that they came for the first time on Sunday morning. They even signed up to the bowling activity that we are having for married couples in few more days.

And last Friday night Bro. Tim and I visited a family that I had visited 8 years ago when we first arrived in Puebla! The first time I visited them, they told me that they wanted to come to our church because there was a lot of gossip in their church! It turn out that the other church was a good church. I told them that the only reason to leave a good church is that if the Pastor was having an affair or was teaching heresy. At that time, we only had 5 people in our church and we really needed more people to come to our church, but we did what was right. We meed again after 8 years! They told me that they decided to stay in the other baptist church. Then after 3 years, the Pastor left and they also left the church (the new Pastor is not baptist). Then they visited many other churches and got really frustrated because they were use to a good independent Fundamental Baptist church. Finally, they found our church and started to come. When I saw them, them seemed familiar, but it wasn’t until we visited them that I knew I knew them! And they live literally 5 blocks from our church! They never say they never saw our church before because the bus that they take to work doesn’t go by our church. Anyway, they are very happy with us now. They will start a disciple ship program in about 3 more weeks. Please also pray for them. They are the Velazco family. We only had to wait 8 years for this good family to come to our church.

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Well, lately its been raining here in Puebla. Which is really unusual. Normally it rains during the summer time, and we are able to see the volcanoes full of snow all during this time.

Puebla is surrounded with 4 volcanoes. 3 of them are very close, and 3 of them are the highest mountains in Mexico! To the west, we have two very beautiful volcanoes, which are the Popocatépetl, an active volcano of 5,426 mts (17,800 ft), and Iztaccíhuatl which is 5,230 mts (17,159 ft). Don’t forget that Puebla is very high up too! We are at 7,000 ft over the sea level. We are able to see this two volcanoes from our house every day. They are behind our house and I really look forward for nice and clear days and see what God has created. It is really breath taking when you see them on very clear days. I remember one day driving to the church and stopping to take some pictures of the volcanoes. Right after I took the pictures I listened on the news on the radio someone calling and saying that he had been living in Puebla for at least 50 years! and has never seen the volcanoes so beautiful. I am glad I took the pictures!

Popócatepetl Volcano As Seen From Our House

Popocatépetl Volcano As We Drive To Our House

On A Clear Day - Popocatépetl Volcano (17,800 ft)

Anyway. I like taking pictures of the volcanoes. Here is a view of the city of Puebla with its 4 volcanoes.

Puebla, and its four volcanoes. Three of them are the highest mountains in the Country

Let me know if there is any volcanoes where you live. Do you live near a volcano?

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Soulwinning Group From Our Church in Puebla, MEX.

Last Saturday, during soulwinning, my wife and I had the opportunity to go out together. Going with my wife is one of my highlights of the week. I miss her when she has to stay at the house due to her pregnancy problems. But praise the Lord she is doing much better and Saturday we were able to win two people to the Lord.

Nicole Praying With Maria

She was able to speak to a lady named María. (A lot of Mexican ladies are named María, and also a lot of man…. like José María y Pavón – The guy who led the Mexican Independence about 200 years ago.) Anyway, she told us that she gets up at 4 AM to help her husband make bread and goes to bed at midnight. She gladly heard my wife explain how she could have eternal life and she prayed God to saved her. Nicole is a great soulwinner I think, mainly because she lets God use her life and her testimony. She also speaks very good spanish. I would say 99% with no American accent… or maybe a tiny little accent. Many don’t believe her first language is English.

Leading A Young Lady To Christ

I was able also to lead someone to the Lord. She was a young girl named Sandra. Many times, since there are a lot of JWs in the area, I tell them that we are not Jehova Witnesses nor Mormons. Few times I have said that to a Jehova Witness! Last week we found two houses, one after another, where they were JWs. It is sad to see them lossing souls to hell and knowking on doors all over Puebla. A Kingdom Hall was just build two blocks from our church not too long ago. I will try to post a picture or two of the building. It is so, soo sad. But, praise the Lord, we were able to speak to Sandra, and she gladly accepted Jesus as her Savior!

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Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to Tulancingo, Hidalgo and visit the church Iglesia Bautista La Zarza. Pastor Miguel Angel Gomez asked me to preach for a Special Sunday. Our drive from Puebla was very nice, considering that now we can travel on a new highway called Arco Norte. Before, to go to Tulancingo, it would take about 4 hours. (Tulancingo is North of Puebla) This time it took us 2 hours to get there.

At 7:30 AM we stopped to pick up a dear family – the Andrade Family. Two years ago we celebrated at our church their 50th wedding anniversary. We arrived at 9:45 AM and had breakfast with the pastor and his family. Something very common in this State is that you find Barbacoa everywhere (slowly-cook lamb meat). So we had some of this. Our kids mostly had tamales, but my son Japheth really liked the barbacoa.

After eating a delicious breakfast we went to the church. Church services start at 11:00 AM. The reason is because many of the farmers don’t have time to make it at 10:00 AM or earlier since they work in the fields. So, what they do is have the main preaching service at 11:00 AM and then, they stop to eat between 1:00 – 2:00 PM. Then they have Sunday School at 2:00 PM. Church is over around 4:00 PM.

While preaching or teaching Sunday School, there was a very strong storm with a lot of wind. The roof is made of metal sheets, and for a moment I thought we were going to lose it. It was pouring, and very windy. It all lasted for about 20 minutes. But after church ended, we went outside and it was already sunny and peaceful.

Many decisions were made during the invitation. Many surrendered to start soulwinning again. And 3 gave their lives for full time service, either as missionaries or pastors. Overall, God blessed our trip to this town. My brother-in-law preached in the church in Puebla. He is Aglaee’s husband and did a good job. You can listed to him preach in Spanish here.

Nicole is doing fine with her pregnancy. Last week we went to have an ultrasound, and after see the doctor. Ultrasounds here in Mexico are 350 pesos… About $30 dollars. And our visit to the doctor is $500 pesos. About $45 dollars. We have an excellent doctor. Her name is Bertha Gil ans she has delivered all of our kids, except Japheth – who was born in San Diego, CA. When we first met her, we asked her if she could give us a discount, since we wanted to have 7 children. She agreed! and now, every time we have a baby, she charges us the same she did 8 years ago (about $1,000 dollars – not including the hospital which is about another $1,000 dollars) Anyway, the doctor visit went fine. Nicole is out of Bedrest! but still, she needs to take care of herself. This time Nicole was able to witness to her for about 30 minutes! Pray for her so she can get saved. She was impressed with Nicole’s testimony.

Last week we had two people added to our church! Actually, two of our church members had babies. Bro. Abraham and his wife Lili had a baby girl, and Bro. Ivan and his wife Selene had a baby boy. Bro. Ivan also helped preach last Sunday morning – and Sunday night they had their little girl.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

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Yesterday we took one step forward towards the growth of our church here in Mexico. It was not an easy decision, and required of much prayer and counsel. Yesterday we divided our church in half… well, not really, but we started two services for Sunday morning (one at 8:30 AM and the second one at 11:00 AM – Sunday School we “merge the church” at 10:00 AM) since we no longer fit in our small auditorium. The most we can put in is about 100 people. We have been having attendances of 130-140 and we needed more room. We have been praying for a while to be able to build and expand our auditorium, but we think God wants us to wait a little longer in Him. We are happy for what happened yesterday. We had a good crowd Sunday at 8:30 AM. About half of the auditorium was full. We even had our choir arrive early so they could sing to the congregation.

Families Added To The Church

This month we have the joy to see some families added to the church. We have the Aguiars, missionaries to Puebla, Mexico, that are learning Spanish in our church and are going to start churches in Puebla city, and also in the State of Puebla.

We also, have the Castillos. Brother Raul Castillo works for the Spanish Magazine El Fundamentalista. He travels through Mexico and United States promoting the magazine month after month. He lives more in buses than in his own house. He and his wife are moving to Puebla in about one more week. They sure will be a blessing to our church.

Then we have Cesar. A young man that started to come to our church about six months ago. He came for counsoling many times since he was getting married in December 09. His fiance lived in Colima State and he went to visit her every two weeks before getting married. He traveled 10 hours one way and 10 hours back. -What love does!- They are married now and are moving to Puebla and are joining our church.

Saturday Soulwinning

Last Saturday Brother Aguiar went with me soulwinning. We were able to lead a young girl to the Lord. We were very happy about this, but also, it was saddening that we were able to talk to a young man. Maybe 18 years of age. He said that he went to a Catholic School were nuns thought. He listened for quite a while until his mother came out the door and told us to leave. She said they were Catholics and they did not need our religion. Then she sent him away to the store. As we continued knocking on doors, he saw us, and he gave me his cell phone number. He told us to visit him in the afternoon, during the week, when his mother was not there. He wanted to know more on how to get saved. Then he hurried to go back to his house as his mother was waiting for him. Please pray that we can find him and tell him about a Saviour –and not a religion– who saves!

Please continue to pray for our church and specially our need for a bigger auditorium.

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We are back from our quick trip to the United States. We needed to go to renew the permit of our van for another 6 months. This time, is under Nicole’s name; this way, after we get her FM3, we don’t have to go back to the border. Instead, we can extend the permit for the van in Puebla, as long as Nicole has a valid FM3 visa.

Also, during this trip, I was able to preach the last Sunday of the year 2009 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Which is a border town… with lots of crime and violence.  And the first Sunday of the year 2010 the Lord gave me the opportunity to preach at Beautiful Gate Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas, where Pastor Joe Carrizales is the Pastor. During the week we were able to see Nicole’s mom and dad and sister who flew from San Diego, CA to see are family. It was a lot of fun! Walking in the River Walk and spending some time together.

Nicole was not able to walk much or do lots of shopping because she… is, ready? Expecting baby #7. She had been in bed rest, and her doctor recommended that she needed to travel laying down and not to do a lot of walking. Praise the Lord she was fine for the trip and she was able to see her family.  Please pray for her health. She is due July 15th. Right now she is still in bed rest, but not a rigorous bed rest. We are very excited for this new baby coming to our family. The kids are also excited and we already have some names for he or she. Now the question here is… What name do you like for a baby? Maybe you can leave us some comments and tell us what names you like for a baby.

And lastly, on January 4th, during our stay in Donna, TX with Bro. Shue, we met Bro. Tim Aguiar, missionary to Puebla, Mexico. And, praise the Lord, after a long wait to see missionaries in Puebla, we were able to “help” Bro. Aguiar to cross the border and travel with him and his family all the way to Puebla. Puebla, believe it or not, is the 3rd largest city in the country of Mexico with only 1 missionary family (us) and 2 Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. The largest city in Mexico is Mexico City with maybe 10 or 12 IFB churches. Then we have Guadalajara with maybe 8 or 10 IFB churches. The 4th largest city in Mexico is Monterrey with over 100 IFB churches (no body really nows the exact number, if you do, please let me know).  So pray for us and for our city. We need more missionaries in Puebla, Mexico. Pray for the Aguiar family as they learn Spanish in Puebla. And pray for our church, so the we can keep reaching this forgotten city with the Gospel.  This year alone, we would like to pass out 70,000 tracks in our own city.

Ah… I almost forgot. We had a good Sunday yesterday. It was a cold day (Not as cold as in the States) maybe 60 F. And we had 3 young people getting baptized. Tomorrow we are driving to San Luis Potosi, were Bro. Luis Ramos is the Pastor, to take 5 of our young people to Bible College. Plus 2 more are leaving in one more week to go to another Bible College in Tijuana, Baja California where Bro. David Cortes is the Pastor. And we also have 1 young lady in Elgin, IL in Bible College where Bro. Elmer Fernandez is the Pastor. Please pray for this 8 young people so that they can finish the race on Bible Institute and that they can serve the Lord in an exceptional way.

God bless you and thank you for your prayers.

Don’t forget to add your email to our list on the top right, and also, give us some ideas for a name. (see above).

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During the last 10 Wednesday nights we have had a class called: First Steps, in which new believers take a Discipleship lessons. We only allow them to miss one class and Praise the Lord, all of them were faithful during all 10 weeks!

We will post some pictures later.

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Missions Conference

One of the highlights of our church is our Missions Conference. This time we had Missionary Ron Goodman and Nick Sutmaier. They did a very good job, and at the end of the conference, God allowed us to double our Faith Promise for the year from $6,000 dollars to $12,000 dollars. Lord willing we will be able to take on more missionaries.
Also, next semester we are having 5 of our young people going off to Bible College. We already support 3 of them with $50 dollars a month, and this will allow us to help the other two.

Faith Baptist Institute

We are now in the second year of our Bible Institute of our church. This semester we have 12 students that are studying hard in the institute. Three of them come from one hour away three times a week from a little town. They are a very poor family but are excited to learn in our institute. The cost for each student is about $100 dollars a month per semester. If God puts in your heart to help any of these students, it will be a real blessing for them.

50K Tracks For The Next Day Of The Dead

Every year, during The Day of the Dead, we give out 20,000 to 30,000 tracks at the main city cemetery. This coming year we would like to invite churches from the States to help us give 50,000 tracks during that same day, but in different cemeteries. It will be an exciting time to see all those souls going to the cemetery to place food in the tombs of their loved ones, and be able to give them a gospel track and try to win them for the Lord. Also, if your church could help us buy the tracks, which cost about $100 dollars per 10,000 tracks we will appreciate it!

Two Services For Sunday Morning

Starting January 17, 2010, we are planning to have two services for our church, since we do not have enough space during our Sunday morning meetings. The first service will be at 8:30 am, then we will have Sunday school, and then our 2nd service will be at 11:00 am. We ask you to pray for this as we need space and money to be able to build and expand our current auditorium.

Expanding Our Current Auditorium

Our small auditorium can seat about 100 people right now. We have about 150 people that come Sunday mornings and we don’t have any room available now. We are running out of space. We would like to build an auditorium that can seat 250 people plus a second floor with 7 classrooms to teach Sunday school. We have saved $5,000 dollars and we need an extra $15,000 to expand the auditorium and build a second floor for our church. Please help us to pray for this.

Subscribe To Our Blog

We would like to invite you to subscribe to our blog: www.reachingpuebla.com. We will be adding our prayer letters, pictures of our ministry and more current updates of the work here in Puebla. You can even drop us a note and maybe let us know that you are praying for us. We certainly appreciate your prayers and support!

In Christ,

Arturo Munoz

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