Wow! It is so exciting to serve the Lord Jesus Christ! The Bible says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Truly we have a great God Who hears and answers prayers! Thank you so much for praying about our permanent visas to be here in Mexico, as well as the many details that were involved. The Lord completely answered your prayers and provided over $3,500 to pay for our permanent visas, legalization fees for our van and trailer, etc.
We are so grateful for your continual prayers for God’s power, protection, and provision for our ministry. In April we had an incredible evangelistic campaign in Monterrey, Mexico. We preached the Gospel to over 7,000 people; and, praise the Lord, around 4,500 people trusted Christ as their Saviour. To God be all the glory!
Later, in a church that you helped us to establish in Irapuato, we did another evangelistic outreach. This is an amazing story. The year before, we actually gave the Gospel to over 3,000 people. So I gave them a great challenge: Why don’t we try to preach to 5,000 next year, based on the feeding of the 5,000 and Acts 4:4, where 5,000 men got saved? The pastor and church took the challenge and prayed and worked very hard. They called it, “The Feeding of the Five Thousand.” There were over 30,000 invitations passed out in schools, public places, house to house, etc., as well as over 100 posters put up in strategic places in the city. The church sacrificed and labored, and the Lord blessed. The day before the evangelistic rally, we did several evangelistic Bible Clubs in different parts of the city, preaching the Gospel to over 1,000 people.
The evangelistic rally was truly an amazing day! We had three evangelistic services that day. In each evangelistic service, we preached the Gospel message two times—at the beginning and the end. So we preached the Gospel 6 times—well, actually 7, because so many people showed up at the end after we were done that we couldn’t just let them go away without giving them the Gospel! We had a mechanical bull, as well as five huge inflatable games, and there were three entertaining clown shows too. (The people of Mexico really love clown shows.) So during the campaign we were able to provide 5,000 meals, each with a Gospel tract, and also preach the Gospel to almost 7,000 people, with the majority of them trusting Christ as their Saviour! Praise the Lord! How true is Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
Truly God is doing some great things, but there are also great expenses. Please continue to pray for the finances to be provided to keep this soul-saving ministry possible. Once again, please pray for God’s power, protection, and provision for this ministry. We could not do what we are doing without your faithfulness.
Yours for souls,
Darrell Ratcliff
