Desert Streams Ministries

Note: A downloadable PDF version of this update is available here.

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters:

Summer is one of my favorite times of the year. I guess it always has been. As a kid, we always looked forward to getting out of school in June and having about three months of vacation. Since my dad was an elementary school teacher, he also had a summer break similar to ours. Summer was always family fun – camping trips, bike rides, and swimming. But it was also sometimes a bit of work – cutting the lawn, painting, and working in the garden.

Our Bible School is on summer break right now, but for us, it is the time we use to record new courses, create new course content, write material, and update our Learning Management System (it’s best to do this when there aren’t any students, just in case something breaks in the process). It’s time to prepare for the next season.

Summer here is always cooler than spring. The days are often cloudy and it rains most afternoons. The grass and wild plants turn a beautiful deep green. People often complain about the rain, but rain is just what we need during these months. It replenishes the aquifers, waters fields and the forest, helps bring the fall harvest, and makes the trees grow. The summer rains prepare the land for the winter and spring, which in our area are the dry seasons.

In much the same way, our lives need the summer rains of the Holy Spirit and times of refreshing in His presence. These “spiritual rains” prepare us for times when we don’t feel His presence, dry seasons of trials and difficulties. But just as the summer rains soak the earth and provide water for the deepest roots of the trees of the forest, so too, are our lives watered by the Word and the Spirit. And just as the tall trees have deep root systems to sustain them during dry spells, so too should our lives have deep roots in the principles of the Word of God. This is exactly what makes our lives fruitful and stable!

The Psalmist says it like this:

“He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psalms 1:3, NKJV)

Bible School

As I mentioned, we use the second half of June and all of July to work on the development of our Bible School material and the online platform. Anna has been writing a couple of new courses. One of them is our academic orientation course, a simple course to help the students get acquainted with our online system and the way we work. A second course she is developing is on the topic of worship and praise. It has been wonderful to watch her write the lessons, often referencing the same books and teachings that impacted my own life over 35 years ago.

Anna and I started out with a conversation about what should be covered in the course. And now, as she writes each lesson, I review it and find droves of Biblical treasures. She is outlining many of the concepts that I would often teach when we did worship seminars in various churches back in the 1990’s. How the new generations need this same teaching today!

It seems that in many Christian circles (especially here in Mexico), modern worship has turned into more of a “performance” done by a select few on a stage, instead of the experience of the entire congregation participating as a kingdom of priests. How we need to get back to teaching on the priesthood of all believers, and the fact that all of us (even those who aren’t very good singers!) need to join together in worship as the body of Christ. God never intended for worship to be entertainment! Lights, sound systems, and special effects are NOT the essence of worship. Rather, worship is the offering of the broken and contrite hearts of the entire congregation before the person of Jesus.

The third weekend of June we hosted Gabriel and Paloma Ramírez from Morelia, so they could teach a new course on camera. Titled “Ministering to the Needs of People”, this course, written by Bill Scheidler, a former teacher at Portland Bible College, focuses on how to minister and pray for people during key moments in their lives. It is very practical. Gabriel and Paloma, who recently graduated from the Advanced School of Ministry degree program, have been working with us over the last couple of years. They are both excellent Bible teachers and great course facilitators. We will be offering this new course in the month of August.

We will probably be recording a couple of more courses over the next several months, as these will fill in the gaps for our full-time program, which also opens in August.

On the technical side of things, I have been developing all the functionality needed to enroll full-time and part-time students. I needed to make several additions to our home-grown learning management system to be able to track enrollment applications, set up payment plans, send and retrieve personal and pastoral references, and auto-enroll students in the courses they should be taking each semester. I have also been revamping several other details of the software.

Soon we will be receiving our students again for a new semester. Please pray especially for those who may be considering studying in our full-time or part-time certificate programs.

Family

I’d also like to inform you about our family. We now officially have a doctor in the family. Our son David Jeremiah has finished his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering and will be graduating on August 8. Sara was able to attend in-person his doctoral defense in College Station, Texas, at the beginning of June. Anna and I watched live on Zoom from home. We are looking forward to being at his graduation in August.

Our son Daniel, with his wife Elisa, will be having a baby boy in September. This will be their second child. We see Ella, who is 1½ years old, on FaceTime a few times a week. She is so cute! However, we often need an interpreter, because she speaks three languages: English, Spanish, and Japanese. We don’t have a problem with her English or Spanish, but she has been teaching us several words in Japanese. It’s amazing how all of this is just totally natural for a baby.

Sara continues to teach English at two elementary schools in the community. She has been enjoying this very much, and has also had the opportunity to substitute-teach at one of them. She also continues her studies, and is getting closer and closer to receiving a university degree in Christian Counseling.

Our Church

In the month of May, I had the privilege of baptizing about a dozen believers in our church. Among them were many young people, as well as some who are older, but just recently committed their lives to Christ. It is wonderful to see how the Holy Spirit works in their lives.

Also, in June we celebrated all those in our church who successfully completed Bible School courses online. We had a good group that accepted the challenge and stuck with the weekly course work during the entire semester. It was especially neat to see one young man, Emiliano, take on six courses at once (a full-time workload) and complete all of them.

You may also remember that in the last newsletter, we had been asking for prayers for Karla, who needed a kidney transplant. The transplant was successfully done in the month of May, and both Karla and her father, Javier, are recovering. Karla still needs prayer. She has been in and out of the hospital over the last several weeks, battling a couple of different infections. In order to receive the transplanted organ, the immune system must be medically suppressed, and this opens up the body to developing
infections very easily. Please continue to pray for her.

Thanks!

Sara and I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and support. We are very grateful for each of you who remembers us, gives, and prays for the ministry we are doing. Mexico needs Jesus! And we aim to be vessels of honor to carry His name to the nation.

With love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna

Note: A printable PDF version of this newsletter is available here.

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

It’s been a wonderful and busy spring season for us. The Lord has blessed the land with spring showers. This reflects His goodness and His wonderful blessings which He so generously showers upon us! Here in the spring, all the leaves of the oak trees turn brown and fall off. Then, within only a few weeks, the new leaves return and the forest fills with life again.

Last year at this time, we had just finished cutting down several hundred pine trees. They had all been infected by a pine beetle and had died. Then, over the next several months, we planted several hundred new baby pines. How they have grown! Several of them are already over 4 feet tall! We are looking forward to the rainy season, starting in June, so we can plant more.

Just as we have been planting trees, we have also been planting the seed of the Word of the Lord in the lives of many people over the last several months. Let’s dive into our latest update.

Bible School

When I last wrote to you, we were beginning our spring semester with Fundamentos Ministeriales, our online Bible school. Most of the students who enrolled are working hard on their studies. We are now in the final month of the semester, and we see much good fruit. Many of the students are so hungry for God’s Word and dedicate much time and energy to their studies.

Sara has been facilitating the course “The Life of Christ,” and Anna has been facilitating two courses—The Local Church and Social Roles and Relationships. Both Anna and I have also been working on new course development and planning things for our first full-time semester, which will begin in August. We have developed a few new courses over the past several weeks, including “Building Strong Churches,” which will complement our current Local Church course; The Tabernacle of Moses, which examines the types, shadows, and symbols in this Old Testament structure, relating them all to the cross of Jesus and the New Testament Church; Christian Counseling; and Personal Ministry. Anna is also developing a couple of new courses, including our Academic Orientation course for new students and a small promotional course called “Christ Throughout the Bible,” which will give an overview of several of our other courses, a bit like a “free sample” for anyone interested in studying with us. There are several people who are interested but want to see what our courses are like before committing to a full semester. This course will allow them to try it out and get a feel for how our system works.

I have also been working on the technical side of things for our online software, adding many new features needed to host different types of courses and to deal with full-time students on a daily basis. This includes tracking of the student’s practicum (service in their local church, for which they will receive academic credits) and several new accounting functions.

Our goal is to prepare servant-leaders for the local church. We want to come alongside pastors, leaders, and others with a call of God upon their lives and help to equip them. We now have over 30 courses as part of our program, have had over 1,000 students go through courses, and look forward to continuing sowing the Word of the Lord into Mexico and many other nations.

Local Church Ministry

The church here in Tulancingo is doing well. We are blessed with a wonderful congregation—people who love the Lord and want to grow in Him. I’ve been teaching a series on the Ten Commandments, inspired by the work of the well-known Australian theologian Kevin Conner. As Christians under the New Covenant, we are no longer under the ceremonial or civil laws of Old Testament Israel, but Jesus Christ and the Apostolic writers of the New Testament reaffirm and even expand upon all of the moral laws, including 9 out of the 10 commandments. Israel was first rescued from slavery in Egypt, then they were given the Ten Commandments so they would know how to live as a redeemed people. In a similar manner, God first rescues us from slavery to sin, then He gives us His commands and His Word so we can live a lifestyle of the redeemed.

We will be holding a baptismal service in a couple of weeks, and there are about 10 new believers who will publicly identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, confessing His name before the congregation. What a blessing!

I’d also like to share a need we have. Karla, a 22-year-old medical student and a member of our church, experienced kidney failure over the last several months. She has been on dialysis, but last Tuesday received a transplant from her father. Please pray for this entire family. They have been members of our church for just over a year, and they have been through a lot. They are trusting in the Lord for Karla’s recovery, as well as Javier’s.

Family

Sara has been teaching English classes at two public primary schools in our area. She has about 130 students and is a big blessing to so many of them. This has been a unique opportunity for her to connect with some of them and their parents, being a light in many dark situations. She really likes teaching little children!

David Jeremiah, our son, will be graduating with a doctorate degree after studying engineering at Texas A&M over the last several years. We are planning on being with him in August for the ceremony.

Daniel and Elisa are expecting their second child in September. Our granddaughter Ella is about 1 1/2 years old and calls us every few days on FaceTime. Sometimes she wants to see Grandma, sometimes Aunt Anna, and sometimes Grandpa. However, she also always wants to see Willow, our dog! She is so cute as she learns to talk, speaking a mixture of English, Spanish, and Japanese!

Finally, Anna continues to be a huge blessing here. She leads Bible studies with the youth, teaches monthly in our church, leads worship, and helps run the Bible School.

Thanks!

We would like to express our most sincere thanksgiving to all of you who are supporting us, praying for us, and blessing us. Thank you for partnering with us as we share the Gospel here in Tulancingo and throughout the nations. Thank you so much for your participation!

In His Love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna

Note: A printable PDF version of this update is located here.

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters,

March has arrived, and with it comes one of our favorite reminders of God’s faithfulness. The earth is waking up again! New life is returning right on schedule, just as it does every year. And every year, without fail, this season points us to something far greater: the truth that Jesus Christ came into this world to bring us that same kind of new life, a life that does not fade with the cold or wither in the drought. Just as the earth cannot hold back spring, the tomb could not hold back our Savior. We are grateful to be entering this season with you alongside us, and we want to thank you sincerely for your prayers, your Christmas cards (yes, we just received a few a week ago!), and your faithful support. You are a blessing to us!

Advanced School of Ministry

The last several weeks have been among the busiest of the year for us. The Advanced School of Ministry conference came first, and we are glad to report that it went very well. Between 700 and 800 pastors and leaders attended this year, the week ran smoothly from start to finish, and we heard wonderful reports from many who were encouraged and genuinely impacted by the seminar. There is always something special about seeing so many men and women of God gathered together in one place, hungry to grow.

The weekend before the conference, we had the joy of hosting Paul and Janice Mainse from Canada. They joined us here in Tulancingo for a couple of services, bringing such a warm and servant-hearted spirit with them. After they preached with us on Sunday morning, we drove them to Mexico City so they could continue ministering there that same afternoon. Then on Monday, we all met up again in Cuernavaca for the conference itself. They were truly wonderful guests, and their depth of experience and genuine humility were a gift to all of us.

We ended the conference with a large graduation ceremony. Fifty students received their bachelor’s degrees in theology, and another 90-plus completed specialized ministry diploma programs. After all the hard work these students have put in over the years, it was a joy to celebrate with them. Following the conference, our team gathered to discuss the future direction of the Advanced School of Ministry. A few significant decisions were made, including the transition of the degree program from the American college that partnered with us for about 35 years to a Mexican Christian university. We are also making some adjustments to the conference schedule going forward. We are looking forward to what this new chapter holds.

Online Bible School

As soon as we returned from the conference, there was no time to slow down. Online enrollment opened just three days after the conference ended, so we immediately got to work editing videos and preparing material to include the conference content as one of our many online courses. Students who complete assignments based on the conference material, along with other online courses, can enroll in diploma programs and receive their diploma at next year’s conference.

Our spring semester officially started on February 11, and we now have just over 180 students enrolled from three countries. Anna and Sara are facilitating some of the courses again this semester, alongside our dedicated team of 8 additional facilitators and other helpers. It is a full and busy semester, with many new students joining us for the first time. We are also hard at work developing new material so that by August, we will be able to launch our full-time two-year program for the very first time. We are excited about what the Lord is building through this school!

One of the things that encourages us most is how many students keep coming back. Several who already graduated with their bachelor’s degree in theology have returned to study our newer courses. There is a real hunger for learning among so many in our student body, and that is a beautiful thing to witness.

Family

Our family is doing well, and we are thankful. Our son David continues to press forward in his doctoral studies at Texas A&M, and Daniel, Elisa, and little Ella are all doing great. Ella is 15 months old now and growing so fast! It is hard to believe how quickly time passes. Anna has been working in several areas, contributing to the Bible School, facilitating small group meetings, and also ministering regularly at our church here in Tulancingo, where she leads youth Bible studies and worship. We are proud of her and the faithfulness she brings to each of these callings.

A Note From Anna

When Faith Runs Out, God Has Enough for Both of You

“Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it… Your descendants will be so many that they will be impossible to count!” (Romans 4:18)

What if we took God at His word the way Abraham did? Many of us pray without expecting answers, believe without expecting to see results, and speak without knowing if it will come to pass. But Abraham believed against all odds. What if we did the same?

What does it mean to have faith? Faith is made up of hope, trust, and belief. But life has a way of wearing these down. When we’ve hoped and been disappointed, dreamed and failed, or trusted and been betrayed, our faith suffers, sometimes without us even noticing. Over time, we lose the ability to dream and trust in God.

But here’s where God’s character shines through: when we lose the ability to believe in Him, He has enough faith for both of us. This is the faith of God, not our straining and striving, but something that originates in Him and, by His grace, can be born in us. It goes beyond our own hopes and dreams precisely because it doesn’t depend on them.

Remember the man who came to Jesus asking for healing for his tormented son? After years of dashed hopes, his faith was shaken. When Jesus asked if he believed, the man cried out with tears: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24)

This man had no deep-seated faith of his own. But Jesus had enough for both of them. His faith and compassion were enough, even when the man had nothing left to give. Jesus healed the boy. The man’s honest, willing heart mattered more than mountain-moving faith. What does this teach us? God can give you some of His faith until your heart knowledge catches up with your head knowledge.

Notice that this is the same God who met Abraham in his impossibility, centuries earlier. Whether it is a desperate father in a crowd or an old man waiting on a promise, God shows up the same way: with more than enough faith to cover what we lack.

God keeps His promises. Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it. Whose job was it? God’s. And today, fulfilling promises is still God’s job, not ours.

Our role is to believe. When we can’t believe, our role is to hope. When we can’t hope, our role is to trust. When we can’t trust, we look at God and say, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

Faith that pushes through disappointment will eventually see fulfillment. Don’t give up before you see God’s promise come to pass. If it hurts too much to believe right now, come to God with that pain and trust He will have enough faith for both of you. Remember: Abraham’s God is your God, and He still fulfills His promises.

My prayer for you is that you will be encouraged, take heart, and find courage to take God at His word once more. He is for you!

Thanks for reading,
Anna

Prayers and Thanks

We are so thankful for each of you who prays for us and supports this ministry. One thing we were especially grateful for during the conference season was that we all stayed healthy and traveled safely. That is never something we take for granted, and we give thanks to God for His protection over our team.

There are some urgent prayer needs on our hearts right now, and we would love for you to join us in bringing these before the Lord.

• Please pray for Karla, the 22-year-old daughter of Javier and Angelica, who are dear members of our church. Karla is facing severe kidney failure and is in urgent need of a donor. Her mother Angelica had been prepared to donate, but then suddenly became ill herself and can no longer qualify. Please pray for a new kidney for Karla, and for peace and strength for the whole family during this very difficult time.
• Please pray for Maria and Alicia, two women in our congregation who are currently undergoing chemotherapy. Pray for their healing, and for God’s comfort and strength for their families as well.
• Please pray for our Online Bible School students, that each one would grow deeply in the Word of God and walk in faithful service in their own local churches.
• Please pray for safety and peace in our region. Violence has broken out in many parts of Mexico recently, and we ask for God’s protection especially over our area and over the people we love here.

Thank you again for everything. Your prayers and support make this work possible, and we do not say that lightly. We feel it deeply, and we are grateful.

Thanks! It was wonderful to connect again. If you can, please drop us a note and let us know how things are going for you!

With love,

David and Sara Lont
with Anna

Note: You may download a printable PDF version of this update here.

Dear Friends and Family,

A new year has begun, and we are excited about what God has in store! As we step into 2026, may the Lord cover your family with His grace and wisdom.

Local Church

We have been experiencing the Lord’s blessing on our church in Tulancingo over the last several months. The atmosphere in our services and the response of our people is truly encouraging.

During several weeks in December, Sara, Anna and I taught a theme called “Proverbs Impart Life”, going through some of the most significant and practical proverbs in the book, and applying them to daily life. Our congregation responded very well to this teaching, receiving ancient truths which continue to bring wisdom to their everyday decisions. It’s amazing how practical the book of Proverbs is!

We also had a great Christmas celebration in mid-December. Our church gathered to remember the birth of Christ through a special service focused on praise, worship, and Scripture readings. Afterward, we all enjoyed a time of food, fellowship and a piñata. It was a wonderful time of celebrating together as a church family!

Now that the new year has started, we are placing a special emphasis on the importance of reading God’s Word daily and applying it to our lives on a day-to-day basis. We have begun the year with a Bible challenge we are calling “Twenty Days in the Bible”. We are encouraging our people to develop a consistent habit of being in the Word, and the response has been very encouraging.

Advanced School of Ministry

Over the last several months, I have been focused on preparing the material for our Advanced School of Ministry conference, which will be held later this month in Cuernavaca. This is a significant amount of work, as I am responsible for taking all the teachers’ notes, translating those which arrive in English, formatting them, and creating the final printed and digital notebooks.

I am also working on coordinating many aspects of the conference, including the schedule, taking online registrations, answering email and WhatsApp inquiries, coordinating the graduation, details for the online transmission of the event, and many other parts of the implementation. There is a lot happening behind the scenes to make this conference a success!

We will be graduating about 50 students from the Bachelor’s Degree in Theology program, and many others from our Diploma Program. What an honor it is to see these men and women complete their studies and return to their churches better equipped to serve!

Please pray for this conference and for our team, as we will soon be making important decisions regarding the future of this program.

Online Bible School

On December 16, we finished our semester with the online Bible School. Bill Brown was with us via Zoom from Canada, and shared a great message with our students. It was a wonderful way to close out the semester and send our students off with encouragement.

During the month of November, Anna and I also worked on developing a couple of new courses which we will soon be offering. Anna is doing a fabulous job creating content, and I am grateful for her partnership in this work.

We are planning on introducing for the first time our full-time two-year program in August of 2026. Students will be able to get a two-year certificate in theological studies. For many years, we have been offering courses, but this will be the first time we will be offering a full two-year Bible School program. Many of our students have accumulated credits through the years by taking different courses, but now, they will actually be able to graduate by completing the courses that weren’t yet available. We will also be able to accept full-time students, who will get their certificate in two years of full-time study.

We are excited about what the Lord has allowed us to build and the impact that this school is having in many lives and local churches around Mexico!

Family Time

In November, Sara and Anna had the opportunity to visit Daniel, Elisa and Ella. They went to celebrate Ella’s first birthday, which was on November 20. I stayed home to take care of our church and continue course development, as well as work on the Advanced School of Ministry material. Sara especially enjoyed her time with little Ella!

Our son David Jeremiah came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. What a blessing! He was only with us from Wednesday to Sunday, but it was wonderful to have him here during that holiday. It was the first time in 9 years that we were together with him for Thanksgiving. These moments together are precious to us.

He returned to Texas for 2 weeks, then came back to celebrate Christmas with us, as he normally does. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration and a couple of weeks away from our normal work. It was so good to rest and spend quality time together as a family.

Prayers and Thanks

We are thankful to each of you who pray for us and give financially to support us. Thank you for supporting our online Bible School, for making it possible to reach students across Mexico and beyond, and for helping us train leaders who are serving faithfully in their local churches.

Please pray for the following needs:

• Please pray for our online Bible School, Fundamentos Ministeriales, as we prepare for a new semester, which will start in February. Please pray for our students and staff.
• Please pray for the Advanced School of Ministry conference which will be held from January 26-29 in Cuernavaca. Pray for our conference speakers, for the hundreds of pastors and leaders who will be traveling many miles to get there, and especially that the Holy Spirit would move in power in the lives of all who will attend.
• Please pray for the Advanced School of Ministry team, as we will meet to make some important decisions regarding the future of the Advanced School of Ministry.
• Please pray for our family, that the Lord would grant us vision, safety, health and provision.

Thanks! It was wonderful to connect again. If you can, please drop us a note and let us know how things are going for you!

With love,

David and Sara Lont with Anna

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

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With love,

David and Sara Lont with Anna