Note: There is a PDF version of this newsletter suitable for downloading and printing here.
Dear Friends and Family,
Right from the beginning of our ministry time in Mexico 33 years ago, God has been faithful. How precious it is to remember the faithfulness of our God! When we moved to Guadalajara just weeks after getting married, He provided us with a nice apartment, all paid for by the church that we were working with. We raised up a worship team, led a youth group, did camps with them, and became part of the team that made that church prosper during those years.
When the time came for us to move on to the state of Hidalgo, He provided as we began our work in Tulancingo. Doors opened, His provision came, and eventually a small group of donors came together who the Lord used to support our ministry. I remember so well how back in the year 2000 and 2001, we needed a computer and a laser printer to be able to print our own teaching materials. He provided! When we needed a car to travel, He once again provided. When we had the desire to own a piece of property and build a house where our children could grow up just outside the city, He provided. Great is His faithfulness!
Now, many years later, we look back and see how good God has been to us. In 2001, we began a church which continues to be a blessing to many families in our city. Then, in 2014, we started an online Bible School when online education was unheard of here in Mexico. But it caught on, and over 1,000 students from all over the nation (and even other countries) have taken courses with us since then, some even earning a college degree. God is faithful!
Now is a slightly different season for us, a time in which our focus is becoming even sharper toward the fulfillment of our purpose. We are to take streams of living water to the dry and thirsty hearts, the many who have a true hunger to experience the Word of the Lord and His awesome presence for themselves. How we long to see His Word go forth like fire to consume those who hunger after Him, like water to quench the thirst of those who seek His rain. His Word is bread for the soul and His Spirit brings it to life! We need both. We seek both. And He is faithful to provide for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Online Bible School
The Online Bible School semester has been going well. As we mentioned in our last update, we have another strong group of students. Many are completing two of the diploma programs we are offering this year. They will take part in the graduation event in the Advanced School of Ministry in Cuernavaca the last week of January. Others are finishing the Bachelor’s Degree in Theology. Around 50 students will be receiving their degree and over 100 their diploma for specific courses of academic study over the past year in our Bible School.
Anna has been particularly involved as a course content creator. She has worked hard to put together all the material and assignments for a new course we will be presenting in February of 2026 on the Local Church. You may remember us mentioning that Mark Simpson came to teach this material on video about two months ago. The course is now just about ready to present to our students.
Advanced School of Ministry
In mid-October, I took a trip to teach at the Advanced School of Ministry conference which we held in Tijuana. Together with part of our team there and other guests, we presented a three day seminar called Generational Transformation. Around 48 pastors, leaders, and others dedicated three days to seek the Lord and receive His Word on themes related to the transformation of cities and churches as one generation passes the baton to the next. We ended with a ministry time, praying for one another, and praying for our churches and cities, that the Lord would bring true transformation. We received many positive comments from those who attended, saying they had been very much encouraged by the seminar.
I also had the blessing of meeting some of our online Bible School students who live in that area and attended the conference. In particular, it was great to finally meet Jimmy and Romina, and their little boy Elías. We met them online in our school back around 2020, and it was wonderful to finally meet them in person. This couple has a tremendous call of God on their lives and talent to advance the Kingdom of God. Both of them will be graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology in January.
Now I am dedicating much time to the preparations and planning for the Advanced School of Ministry seminar which will be held in Cuernavaca at the end of January. The teachers send me their materials and I prepare it for the student notebook. I have also once again set up the online registration system for the seminar and prepared the website with all the new information. Running a Bible School, a church and leading the Advanced School of Ministry combined is a huge privilege but also a lot of work! However, we know that the eternal fruit in the Kingdom of God is well worth the effort.
Finally, I’d like to share a word of encouragement from Anna.
Between the Promise and the Breakthrough
“But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” – Romans 8:25, NKJV
I wonder how many times Abraham felt like giving up. He was promised a great family who would fill the earth and yet year after year went by with no sign of even one child. Or even the entire nation of Israel, wandering in the wilderness waiting to someday enter the fabled promised land God had promised generations ago. What about David before becoming king? He’d been promised a glorious kingdom, and yet he’d spent years upon years in the wilderness, running for his very life and eventually taking refuge under a foreign king. Here stood the anointed king of Israel, serving a pagan king.
Throughout the Bible, person upon person had valid reasons for wanting to give up. The nation of Israel was persecuted. Daniel was unjustly accused and thrown in a lion’s den. Jeremiah spoke only the truth God gave him and they put him in a cistern. All these people were sent upon a mission which, at first glance, seemed extremely hopeless.
How often do our own lives feel like that—like we’ve been given an assignment which at first sounds so marvelous only to finally realize how difficult it is to stay the course and see God’s vision for our lives come to pass?
We have all received a promise from God. In fact, the Bible is full of them. Some have received a promise of a blessed life or one abounding with joy. Others have received the promise of physical health and wellness. Many have believed God for family members who’ve stepped away from the faith. The list goes on and on. We read the Bible and claim God’s promises, believing for provision, protection, and peace in every area of our lives. And yet, it is one thing to receive a promise, and another to have the patience to keep believing it will come to pass even in the middle of a life that appears to have turned upside down.
As I’ve been thinking back upon the promises God has made me and my family, I am reminded of the need for perseverance built upon faith. It is easy to believe in one moment that we will see God’s words come to pass. But to sustain that belief for a lifetime is an altogether different matter.
In Romans 8:25, the original meaning for the word “persevere” is to stay under or to remain or abide. Paul found himself writing to a church facing discouragement and undergoing persecution. They were trying to figure out whether it was worth it to stay the course and remain faithful when it would have been, temporarily, so much easier to fall back from their faith. But Paul shares with them a powerful message: If you hope for those things which have been promised and you do not yet see, then stay the course, stay under the promise and abide there, waiting for God to break through.
I believe the key here is to abide. The gospel of John had much to say on this. But the key is that in the waiting, and in the trial, it is abiding or steadfastly remaining in Christ which makes all the difference.
What would have happened if Abraham gave up? Even though God could have brought about His will in numerous ways, it probably would have looked different than what we know today. What would have happened if Israel had completely given up on entering the promised land? They temporarily did that, and it cost them forty years in the desert. But after those forty years, could you imagine what would have happened if they’d turned their backs on God? Or what would have happened if David had given up? For that matter, what about all these Bible heroes we so often read about? If they had given up, we wouldn’t be reading about their victories.
Something happened to each and every one of them between the promise and the fulfillment. I believe what happened in between was a persevering faith that refused to give up, even when the going got rough. It was a faith which chose to abide in God, and trust in His grace to bring forth what would humanly have been impossible.
In Hebrews 11, faith is described as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. If we took God’s promises for our lives, and stayed the course under pressure, abiding in Jesus until we see them come to pass, what could our stories be? What would people remember us for?
As the year comes to a close and we begin to reflect on the things we accomplished or failed to do, let us decide to push through and hold fast to the promises of God. Like Abraham, let us believe that He who promises is faithful. Like Israel, let us believe that He who took us out of Egypt is capable of leading us into the Promised Land. Like King David, let us believe that there is victory and a glorious kingdom on the other side of the persecution. Let us cling to God’s promises, holding on to Him, remembering that on the other side of the disappointment, discouragement, or lack of breakthrough, there is a reward and joy to be had.
In your journey to hope for the promise you have yet to see, remember this: If you’ve been feeling hopeless, there is hope. If you’ve been feeling joyless, there is joy. If you’ve been feeling discouraged, there is fresh courage available. Why? Because Jesus Himself, our great example, has walked this very same path before. He knows and understands us fully. Like Him, we can look at whatever cross we are facing, and have joy because on the other side of it there is resurrection. Let us abide in Jesus, fixing our eyes on Him, and run with endurance the race!
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV
-Anna
Prayer requests
- Please pray for our online Bible School students
- Please pray for the Advanced School of Ministry Conference
- Please pray for Sara and me as we make strategic decisions
- Please pray the Lord will raise up more supporters
If you feel led to support this ministry financially, please contact us by email (dsm@desert-streams.org) or on the WorldOutreach.org website.
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We really appreciate your prayers and support!
With love,
David and Sara Lont with Anna