Note: A printable PDF version is available here.
Greetings from Tulancingo! It’s great to be in touch with you once again. God is so good and we’d love to take a few minutes to share with you some of the ways we’ve seen Him working in and through our lives during the last few weeks.
Celebrating 30 Years of Marriage
On June 12, we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. What a privilege to be able to say that I married my first and only girlfriend, and that we have been honoring God and each other, loving and building a life together with the help of the Lord during the past 31 years (1 year of dating plus 30 years of marriage). I am so thankful for all the ways in which the Lord has blessed us and helped us throughout these years. What started out as a dream of sharing our lives together has become a reality, little by little. I am thankful for a wonderful wife and a loving family!
Our Church Construction Project
In our last newsletter, I mentioned that we had to take a short break from the construction project because of some issues with permits. We’re happy to report that everything is now in order again, and we are continuing with the construction.
In May, the state environmental inspectors came by and halted the work, supposedly because we needed an environmental impact permit, which we didn’t have. However, after much investigation and the help of several people, another arm of the state environmental agency determined that the permits are not applicable in our case. We are currently building walls around the property, a garden and an area of bathrooms/offices, and the permit is not required for this. We praise God that He helped us to get through all the “red tape” of bureaucracy so the work can continue.
We were making really good progress until May, and we are praying that we will still have time to finish the project during the next few months, before the rainy season is over.
In the mean time, we continue to have our church meetings in different locations including both weekly and monthly gatherings here at our home.
A Breakfast for the Ladies
Sara organized a wonderful breakfast and ministry time for some of the ladies of our church. After some delicious fruit, coffee and chilaquiles, Sara, Anna and some of the other young girls ministered to the group of women. Anna led worship and a personal ministry time, and Sara shared from the Bible.
The tables were decorated so beautifully! Sara has become skilled at setting up the room, making her own floral arrangements and making everything look so nice. A few of the young men came to help me as waiters.
God really touched several of the women, especially through the time of personal ministry. I believe that many of them could perceive how God is so good and has His eyes on each one individually. No matter what they may have gone through, He loves them and wants to reveal Himself to them through Jesus Christ!
Building the Online Bible School
The last couple of months I’ve been working full time on the Bible School. We finished another good semester in June with around 150 students concluding successfully.
Even before the spring semester ended, we started working on material for the fall semester. We are currently putting together two new courses. I’ve been updating the online platform with software and programming upgrades. And Anna and Stacey Brown have been recording new courses. Anna has also been translating and editing almost 400 pages of teaching manuals over the last few months. It’s amazing how much work it is to create these courses well. However, we’ve discovered throughout the years that it is a very worthwhile investment!
So many students use our material, not just to learn the Bible and ministry principles for themselves, but also to train others. Our students include many pastors, youth leaders, cell group leaders and others. When we train leaders, entire churches receive the impact.
We’ve been designing a couple of the most recent courses to be useful especially for young people, those who work with young people (youth leaders) and to help disciple some of the young people. In June, Anna recorded a course consisting of 24 lessons on some of the most important topics in the Bible. Stacey Brown is currently in the process of recording 24 lessons on Bible principles for relationships, and I know these two courses will have an impact on the future generations.
It’s been a good couple of months, and we’re believing God for greater things in the next few months – more of His presence, more of His power, deeper growth and more impact and Kingdom influence!
Thanks for reading!
There is so much to share, but these are some of the main things I wanted to share with you today.
Thanks so much for all you do for us. We’re so blessed to count on you as partners and friends.
We pray you’ll have a wonderful week!
With love,
David and Sara Lont with Anna