We pray that everyone’s Easter, Passover, and Resurrection Sundays were blessed. Semana santa was awesome here! Thank you so much for all of your prayers!
We really are thankful for all of your support, and we want you to know that it is already making a difference here in Mexico. It’s amazing how God has the ability to work through such unqualified people as ourselves! We continue to be in awe as we watch God work in and around our family.
Much of our time is spent in Las Glorias, and we have begun to find ways to minister to the people here. We believe God has placed us here for a specific purpose. We see our house as a prime location for reaching out to passersby. Our home is located on the main boulevard on the corner of one of the most-used beach access roads. When we first moved into this house, we saw many people pass our home each weekend on their way to wherever they were going, and we saw great potential for an outreach…particularly during the week of semana santa. We envisioned a live band on the porch during the holiday, but God had bigger plans!
Twenty believers from the church in Guasave, Coloradito and Alomito came to the Petit’s and our houses on the Friday before Easter. They arrived early and we were able to share breakfast and then have a great prayer and praise time. After that, teams divided up to walk the streets and beach to distribute fliers. The fliers, in addition to being an invitation to come to our house to listen to music and watch “El Pasion de Cristo”, also contained the gospel message. We passed out 10,000 fliers. Between the fliers and the program on the roof, we are sure that close to 100,000 people heard all or some of the gospel message. We won’t know in this lifetime all the work God did in people’s hearts during the outreach.
If you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, had not answered God’s call to support us and send us here, the holiday would have passed as many others have, without any of those 100,000 people hearing the truth.
Romans 10:13-15 “For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How, then, shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”
The traffic had not stopped -- it was bumper to bumper from sun-up till 3am Friday and Saturday both -- but there was a peace surrounding our corner which had not been there the whole week. Our corner is a notorious “gathering spot” for people to drink and listen to really loud music. Even the traffic seemed quieter -- no spinning tires or incredibly loud music throughout the movie. We spent much time in intercession and in prayer against the darkness and evil, but it would have been interesting to see (literally) the spiritual battle taking place during the weekend! I would say that, because of the peace that we were experiencing, God was victorious.
It was wonderful having all the people visiting for the weekend! Graziano, his wife Diane (pronounced Dee-ah-ney) and their twin babies stayed at our house. Graziano is the pastor of the church in Coloradito, which is a fishing village about an hour from here. He brought some of the biggest fish I have ever seen to BBQ for lunch on Friday. Saturday’s lunch was fish that had been caught when Doug, Graziano’s brother-in-law and Esteban had gone out fishing a few weeks before. We had great fellowship during the mealtimes and afternoons. And had lots of opportunities to practice Spanish.
While the men worked on disassembling the equipment on the roof, Sarah was able to give some rides to the kids. She and Becca Petit gave pony rides on the boulevard on Thursday and had a really great time together. Sarah’s horse broke through the fence that Wednesday and it took us the better part of the day to find him and bring him home. Apparently it is very common for people who are drinking to see a horse tied up or in a pasture and decide that they want to ride it. They may even cut the fence just to let the horses out “for fun”. Sarah’s horse had run to Alomito (about 5 miles away) with another horse who had been cut out of his pasture that night. After the fact, we learned that they had been in a farmer’s corn all night and eaten a LOT of corn. It is hard not completely understanding the culture here. We offered to pay for the corn the horses had eaten, but it was turned down. We aren’t sure, but we think it was because we are Americans. Esteban said it was because we were “hermanos” or Christian brothers. We were afraid that to insist that he take the offered money would insult him more than the horses in the corn.
Our understanding of the Spanish language is improving daily. Now we are at the point that we catch most of what is said. What we miss are little words that indicate when things happen and to whom. Kind of important little words that can dramatically change the meaning of the sentence. Pray that God would continue to show favor on us as we learn!
Here are some other ways you can continue to join us in prayer…
- We are wanting to get our visas changed from tourist to FM3 (basically, a green card). There are some details in that which need to be worked out. Such as needing to be sponsored by a recognized Mexican religious organization and additional funds needed for the lawyer and paperwork. Pray for wisdom for us and for God’s provision.
- God’s continued supply in our ministry and lives here in Mexico.
- That God will keep drawing Esteban and his family to Himself.
- For wisdom and direction in our long-term ministry plans here.
- An upcoming evangelistic crusade involving many of the churches in Guasave. Our family will be doing a “puppet drama” and music. Pray that we will be “understood” and that God will continue to work in the hearts of the people of Mexico.
- We want to continue to be an encouragement to you our supporters. Pray that God would show us how to do that best.
- Half of the family (Doug, Caleb, Jessee and Seth) continue to suffer from allergies. Big surprise. The dust here is pretty heavy at times.
In Christ,“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Forever and ever! Amen!” Ephesians 3:20
The Coult Family
Doug and Rebecca, Sarah, Caleb, Jessee, Seth, Andrew and Evie
P.S. I wanted to throw in a picture of our friend, Esteban. Someone tried to steal his bike during Semana Santa. I don’t think they would try it again!
