 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. -Luke 10:2 Dear Brethren in Christ, We are on a temporary visit to the US right now. There is so much to share and so much to update you on, but I want to announce what appears to be a real answer to prayer for the Lord to send more laborers to help us. Recently, a dear brother in Christ came down to Guadalajara to visit us and spend some time fellowshipping and ministering with us, and it was a blessed time in the Lord. This brother is the one that has translated some of my articles and booklets into Spanish, and in fact, the first time I met him (and the only time prior to this) was when he translated for me as I preached the Gospel at my own wedding. Well, we didn’t know each other very well, and a while back he contacted us saying that he wants to visit with the possibility of the seeing if the Lord was leading him to work with us. So when he came down to visit, I didn’t know him very well, and didn’t even know his exact theological views on some important issues, or even his convictions on many things. And my prayer has been that if the Lord sends someone, they will be equally yoked and we’d be able to be of one mind, especially since it is my heart to make disciples and raise up a more lasting work in Mexico, starting in Guadalajara where we’re stationed. When working with a team to establish a lasting work (i.e. disciples & not just converts), it’s necessary that the team see eye to eye on doctrine and practical issues so that the work can continue and we can keep our eyes on advancing against the powers of darkness without having to deal with internal struggles. So praise God, we were of one mind and one heart in the Gospel, and it appears that the Lord is now bringing this brother to our city to preach with us. His name is Aaron Block, and he spent two years as a missionary in Peru. Some of you may have seen him translating for Charles Leiter at a Heartcry Conference. He has some health issues that have caused him a lot of pain, and almost a year ago he went back to the USA where he’s from in order to seek medical treatment. But when he was with us preaching and ministering there was a lot of grace and he was able to minister without being held back, and really got some good preaching in at the center of our Catholic-pagan city. So that gives you some background, and I will let him tell the rest.  Here is Aaron’s testimony about being led to work with us: It's been almost a year since I've been back in the States. My physical health has seen a little improvement, though it still hasn't been possible to get much funds to treat my ailments. I've been making due with what I've had, working some gigs here and there to make money (hasn't been possible to get a full-time job yet due to my condition), and praying and waiting on the Lord. He has had mercy on me, though, and has brought me to a good local church and allowed me to meet many like-minded believers with a passion for evangelism. So ever since last August, much of the free time that I've had has been spent out on the streets handing out tracts, witnessing to people, and open-air preaching with my brethren. Praise the Lord! Still, however--despite this glimmer of sunlight in the midst of the storm--one night several months ago I found myself on my knees, fighting sadness, confusion, and despair. My heart was in Peru; I missed my country of birth and my dear family in the Lord. I desperately wanted to return. In utter frustration, I cried out to God, asking Him why He hadn't opened the doors for me to go back. I wrestled with God, and finally He gave me the grace to lay on the altar several things in my life I had been holding on to, Lima being one of them. Humbled and broken, I let these things go and sought for His will and not my own. It was immediately afterward that I remembered a missionary couple I knew who lived in Mexico, and the thought entered my mind that I could possibly join them...in Mexico! This was followed by a joy and peace that I had not experienced in a long time, and a couple verses of Scripture that popped into my mind, which exhorted and encouraged me to look to Christ and trust in Him. I continued to pray about this, and eventually contacted my missionary brethren to let them know, and they prayed about it as well. We trusted that if God was calling me to go He would provide and allow me to visit them to discover if this call to Mexico was really from Him. And so He did...and about a week ago (end of Jan.) I flew down to Guadalajara to spend six days with them. It was a real blessing to say the least. I followed them around the city as they ministered in the streets, plazas and markets through evangelism, in house Bible studies, and with their local congregation. I had a blessed time of fellowship with them. Josef and Lina Urban have been in Mexico for more than two years, planting seeds of the Gospel all throughout the country. They have recently moved to this big, bustling city in the state of Jalisco. There the Lord led them to a local church that not too long ago experienced an awakening to the true, biblical Gospel. They're solid in their doctrine, and the pastor and elders are godly men with a desire to radically conform their lives to the Word and be led of the Holy Spirit. It's amazing to see how passionate many of the brethren are for the Lord and for evangelism. God is clearly working in the hearts of this congregation. If I could sum up my time in Guadalajara in one word, it would be, "unexpected". It turned out to be an unexpected blessing--I honestly didn't expect to have such an enjoyable time with my missionary brethren, to be so like-minded with them in doctrine and vision, to meet so many wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord, and to see so many doors for evangelism and ministry open up right before my eyes. And even though, prior to my visit, I was still in my heart holding on to my dream of immediately returning to Peru, I have felt an unexpected peace about staying in this city instead, as long as God wants. He's given me a burden for the people there, especially for God's elect. On top of this, I may even be able to receive the necessary treatments for my condition there, as alternative treatments are more numerous and less expensive in Mexico than in the States. So, God willing, I will be going back real soon, hopefully in a month or so. I'm praying that God would continue to prepare me spiritually and provide the financial means for me to get there. The cost of living is relatively cheap, and I've already looked at a couple possible rooms for me to stay in. I trust that He will make a way for me to live there. Please pray for me, and for Guadalajara. It's in one of the most Catholic areas in all of Latin America, and there is little to no Gospel witness in this great city; most people have not even heard or understood the Good News of the Savior. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few! Please pray for laborers, and consider going! And if you can't go, please consider giving. Your generous gifts will help fulfill the Great Commission. The Lord bless you and keep you. Josef again: Well brethren, this appears to be an answer to prayer, and may the Lord use us nobodies to exalt Somebody who offers salvation to everybody. May Christ Jesus be glorified. May the Gospel of the grace of God be preached hard. May the works of the devil be destroyed. May all hear of Him who was broken that we may be healed, who was crushed that we may be made whole, who was slain that we may live, who rose again that we may have new life, and who ascended on high that we may live as pilgrims and strangers on this earth in pursuit of the Heavenly calling. May our eyes be upward, our hearts set to move forward, our hands busy in the Father’s business, and our feet marching forth to carry the Good News of the Gospel of peace. And may God put His words in our mouths that we may utter forth the revelation of His will in the Gospel of His Son among those who haven’t seen or heard. Lord willing, we will be using any abundances in our support to help support Aaron to live in Guadalajara with us. PRAY FOR US! PRAY FOR GUADALAJARA! PRAY FOR THE GOSPEL TO GO FORTH IN UNCTION AND HOLY SPIRIT POWER!!! MAY THE LAMB WHO WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!!! ...IN MEXICO...  MISSION TRIP TO GUERRERO This month, we took a two week trip back to Guerrero, Mexico where we lived for 4 months last year. It was a good time of sowing and watering with the Word of God. The Gospel once again went out to many. CHILDREN’S BIBLE PROGRAM A SUCCESS We were able to travel back to the village along with a team, including two sisters who are teachers of young children who came with us for the purpose of leading the Bible program for the kids in the village. They were excellent at working with the children, at keeping their attention, at teaching them the Word of God, and at showing them we care in the name of Jesus. We were able to use the large arena in the center of the town and have a variety of activities for the children: singing Gospel songs, memorizing Scripture, learning Bible stories, and more. They also allowed us to use the school grounds.   The program went on for 5 days, for 3-4 hours per day. We were originally expecting about 50 children, but on the first day, over 120 showed up, and every day there was over a 100! The sisters did a very good job at improvising and making the materials go a long way and the whole program went very well.     After the 5 days, we had a final meeting where we invited the parents to come and see their children sing and share what they learned. Unfortunately, however, a man in the village had just died and most of the adults were at the mourning site so didn’t come to see. But we were able to give the most receptive children a nice hard-cover personal size Bible to keep, and gave out about 40 Bibles. This is a good way not just to reach the children, but to plant seeds in their parents too, because the children go home and talk about what they learned.  Many seeds were planted and watered and if the Lord tarries, these children are the future of the village. We thank God for the grace He has given us with these children. SPREADING THE GOSPEL IN THE VILLAGE The team was also able to preach to a number of the villagers and share the Gospel clearly. We also had to combat a lot of the lies of the Jehovah-Witnesses, who go into that village every Thursday and poison minds with false doctrines. It’s so sad, but some of the people we had preached to last year have forsaken their Catholic idols after having been awakened through our preaching, only in order to start uniting with the JW’s, looking to hear the Word of God. There is nothing else in the area. No preachers of truth to show them the way. Yet even so, it was a wonderful opportunity to go back and testify to the Gospel of God’s grace once again. We are trusting God to redeem a little flock from that sin-laden, oppressed and wicked village, for the glory of His name. TRANSFORMED LIVES FROM A MEXICAN PRISON Last year there in Guerrero, we ministered in the prison every week and preached for a couple hours every Sunday. There was a real conviction of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of some of the men, a real genuine work of the Spirit. But they were resisting, not wanting to repent. Then, in the very last meeting, after I preached for two and half hours, I closed the meeting in prayer, and God came down. Conviction gripped their hearts. Men began crying uncontrollably. They couldn’t remain in their seats. Several hit the floor in agony of heart, crying out to God loudly to forgive them and save them. Tears flowed like rivers, and cries for mercy pierced the ceiling. Demons began to flee and one man was powerfully delivered on the spot as He cried out to God. This was our last meeting a year ago. I was anxious to see the fruit of this and if these men were following the Lord now. I thank God that it appears that the fruit remains. I was able to enter the prison again and preach in the place of a friend of ours, and was able to talk to one of the men that were in that meeting last year. He’s following the Lord now, reading his Bible every day, and walking in victory over sin, he told me. He even writes down notes and other things the Lord teaches him as he studies the Bible and digs deep into the Word now. Another man that was in that meeting last year, the one who was especially delivered from demon spirits, was released and was no longer in the prison. This is an amazing testimony but I can’t share all the details here because it would be too long to type. But last year his wife was filing a divorce from him and was not willing to take him back, saying he would never change. However, God changed him. He left the prison and never went back to the drugs and alcohol and filthy lifestyle. He got reconciled with his wife and she received him seeing the transformation. According to the word of him and his wife, he’s a changed man. He even looked totally different and clean and shining with joy. He told me that he is now following the Lord and reading his Bible regularly. Both of them want to sell all their possessions and move to a new city and start all over with a brand new life together. I always ask people in these situations if they are reading the Bible. Why? Because I have found that both Scripture and experience teaches that when someone is born of God, they hunger for the milk of the Word. They may have other struggles and other things they’re dealing with in their life, but a genuine convert will always love the Word of God and treasure it and (if able to read) spend time in it regularly. I thank God that these men are continuing to read and follow the Word by their own testimony. There was one other man, a brother in the Lord, that was in that prison through an unfortunate situation but not because of any sin he committed. He is now free, and we visited him and his family in their home and encouraged them in the Lord and were able to teach them a little bit about some important biblical issues. They were very grateful and built up by our visit and the Holy Spirit blessed our time. A FAMILY IS REVIVED TO THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL We were very encouraged to visit a family who lives in the nearby city. A year ago, when we were staying in this area, I preached in a number of different churches. They were members of one church that I preached in. This particular church however, was absolutely horrible –prosperity preaching, almost every sermon about tithing, failure to preach foundational Biblical truth, tolerating serious sins in the members, etc. Though this family was really genuine about serving the Lord, they were being influenced by this deception. But it was no doubt the hand of the Lord that led us across their path. Just before we left that region to come to Guadalajara, I saw the urgent need testify against this “gospel” of greed that’s being beamed everywhere in Mexico through the TV networks, so I wrote a booklet and had it printed. We then distributed them to every believer we knew in the area, and gave them to others to take to their pastors. Just before we left, we visited the man of this family and gave him a copy of the book, of course having no idea how it would be received. I also ordered some books by David Wilkerson and had a sister that owns one of the only Christian book stores in the area to start reading and promoting his books. This family received one of those books too, and it started a revolution for Jesus. This was all a year ago. Now, when we just visited them on this trip, they were overjoyed to see us! They said they had believed the prosperity message before, but now their eyes are opened. The Lord not only showed them the truth about that, but many other things as well, and enabled them to have discernment about the error of the churches there and to understand the truth of the Gospel clearly. They ended up leaving their backslidden church shortly after we left the area last year, but they haven’t left Jesus. The man of the family was full of the Word of God when we met up with them, and full of joy in the Lord. He owns a large clothing store, and now every Sunday, they open up a section of it and have meetings in it to teach the Word of God. God brought a personal revival to that man and his wife. It was beautiful to talk with them and to hear what the Lord has shown them over the past year. I was amazed at the things they were saying, that the Lord has shown them. There is such a freedom in Christ once the yoke of religious bondage is broken and one can truly love Christ in the simplicity of the Gospel without being bogged down by false pastors and religious harlotry. THE STATE OF THE VILLAGE This village is in a fairly remote region of Mexico and is not likely to see any other Gospel missionaries passing through any time soon. It is far different from anything in the USA. Here’s various pictures taken from around the village. There’s not much of the people or of us preaching in their homes because we don’t want to intrude and make them uncomfortable and skeptical of us.             This village is in desperate need of a church plant. I don’t know what else to say. This is the same village we just visited again and did the children’s program in. If we moved back there, we would need to purchase land, build a house for us, and build a chapel to hold meetings in and start preaching. There is already a group of Christians who would be the core group of the church to begin with. There are many others that are open to hearing the Word of God and are possibly on the verge of conversion, if somebody would move there and live there and keep preaching to them. The harvest is truly great, but the laborers few. What do we do? The problem is that the need is great everywhere, and I only want to go where the Lord sends us. Please pray that the Lord will build His church in that village. There is land for sale right now in a key location to construct a house and a chapel, but we don’t have the means to purchase them now or else we would, and then move there at a later date. We are praying for God’s perfect will to be done. Your prayers are greatly appreciated! It really seems like the Devil hates us being in that village. There are so many obstacles we’ve faced there. Even just this last time, it seemed like dangers would jump out at us! The last three nights we were there, we ran into three dangerous creatures. The first of those nights, we came back at night into the house where we were staying, and there was a tarantula waiting for us next to our tent! The second night, we came back to the house and in the place of the tarantula, now there was a very large scorpion! I managed to stomp on him and kill him though. “I give you power to trample serpents and scorpions” (Luke 10:19). Then the last night, as we were walking to the house, a large dog was waiting along the road. He came up growling ferociously, and then lunged forward barking and growling at me, apparently intending to bite me. As soon as he did that, I turned to him and said, “Go away in the name of Jesus!” and he backed off. Praise God! You might not think it’s a miracle but when there’s a big ferocious dog ready to tear your leg off and the name of Jesus saves you, you might think differently. This village is not a pleasant place to live, but it is the home of many people who need Jesus. FINAL REMARKS - We are working on obtaining our Mexican citizenship, first for Lina, and then for me. If we’re able to secure this, we will have all privileges in Mexico except for voting privileges. Then there will be no need to cross the border every six months and be unnecessarily attached to the US. It would give us dual-citizenship. Praying that if this is the Lord’s will, He will bring it through. - A brother is coming to visit us later today (Thursday) from the US and will be staying for a week. We’re praying that our time will be edifying and glorify the Lord and further the Gospel here. - We will be visiting Texas in February, possibly driving up to Dallas. If anybody is in that area and would like to host us during that time (one to three weeks) please respond and let us know. We’re not picky, can provide our own food, and can even sleep on the floor. We are required to spend at least a couple weeks there it looks like in order to work on citizenship in Mexico. In Chirst –Josef & Lina Urban More Pictures below: 1. The two sisters who taught the children on the left. Me and brother Luis on the right. I was feeling extremely ill that day! 2. A mountain range just outside our village. 3. A tarantula that we found in our house. 4. A pastor with his family and some brethren with us in their house after a church meeting.     Mission Trip to Guerrero - December 2009 12/17/2009
Brethren and friends, Much has been happening here and the Lord is being glorified. Here’s some highlights: - We are still evangelizing in the city every week with our little group. We are planning to begin evangelizing in new areas in the city starting next month. There are many great places to evangelize in this city and there are countless people. We need more laborers! - I’m still ministering to the youth/singles group in the church. It has been going well. As one brother commented to me recently, it is one thing to be an evangelist and to jump around everywhere preaching to different people but it is entirely another thing to actually get in the church and minister over time to real people and to see all their faults, problems, and struggles. Please pray that the Lord would pour out His Spirit on this group and convert those needing real salvation, revive those who have fallen asleep in the light, and send those into the fields who are called to reach the perishing! - We are also discipling a couple of new believers every week in their home. This has been going very well and they are showing signs of growth in the Lord. We now have about 4 or 5 months meeting with them. Part of the Great Commission is not just to preach and to make converts, but to make disciples, to teach them the Word of Christ and to obey His commandments. One true disciple that bears lots of fruit for God’s glory is better than a hundred converts that show little fruit. - A young woman from the city where we evangelize has now been coming to every meeting in the church and is being discipled by the older women. She has shown a great hunger for the Lord and is showing a lot of signs of genuine devotion to Christ. - We just finished the evangelism teaching meetings in the church after concluding by teaching for the past month and a half about Roman Catholicism. Most of the people here in the city are Catholics, so we studied their doctrines in comparison with the Word of God in order to know how to best reach them with the truth of the real Gospel of God’s grace. Many were edified and blessed by the teachings, and I believe are gaining confidence in sharing with others. - I’ve been seeking the Lord for direction about ministry plans for the new year, and it is our desire to continue working in Guadalajara at this time. We have some brethren from the USA coming to visit us early next year, and I still need to work on my Spanish, in addition is our desire to see a more solid work established in this city that will bear lasting fruit. We are making disciples, not just converts. So we need more time here in this city to see a more solid, deep, and thorough work established. I don’t want to move on anywhere else until I see that what we’ve done here will continue to multiply significantly in our absence. I don’t know what the future holds, just trusting the Lord to lead us to do what He wills. MISSION TRIP TO GUERRERO The inner regions of the state of Guerrero, Mexico is like a world all of its own. It is about as different from Guadalajara as India is from England. It is rural Mexico where there are still many villages isolated from the Gospel and without any solid Christian witness in their midst. We lived there for 4 months, and now we’re going back for a short visit. So we’re planning on taking a one-week trip back to the village. We’ll be there from December 26 thru January 3. It is an 11 hour drive from here into the heart of Mexico through the Sierra mountains. This time, we are bringing a team from our church, a group that consists of a couple professional teachers of young children (who are solid Christians) and a couple of brothers. We are excited to go back for a visit and to see the brethren there we know. We are taking these teachers to the village to conduct a one-week Bible boot camp for the 50+ children who would come to our meetings when we lived there. We’ll be using the town hall in the center of this small town of 600 persons in order to conduct activities with Bible teaching every day for 5 days straight. We have the whole curriculum planned out with activities, and most of all with teachings from the Bible. We’ll also be bringing gifts for the children as well as free Bibles for them to have. When we were staying in this village, we saw the children as a key to reaching the adults, and sure enough, as we ministered to the children, some of the hearts of their parents would soften to the Gospel and they’d want to hear us preach too. Reaching these children is crucial for the future of the village if the Lord tarries, so this is an important ministry. We must suffer the children to come to Jesus. Please pray for us as we go. We will also be going around to houses and sharing the Gospel with the villagers when we’re there, especially me and the brothers while the women are ministering to the children. I may also be preaching in some churches when we’re there and visit the men in the prison we used to minister to in the nearby town to check up on them and see where they’re at with the Lord. One of the brothers from the prison has been released and he begged me to visit his home when we go so he can have a feast for us and rejoice in the Lord! He wants to buy and slaughter a goat to eat (a delicacy here in Mexico) and have us preach to him and his family. I’m looking forward to it. This brother was in tears when we left to come to Guadalajara, so it will be great to see him again and exhort him in the Lord. Since we left this area, a couple of sisters in the Lord have also made an exodus from a horrible church they were a part of. The culprits behind their leaving is the truth of the Gospel and some books of sermons by David Wilkerson that we gave them. Now I don’t go around recommending people to leave their churches, but when the church is dead and the leadership is unconverted and more lies are preached than truth and almost every service is a manipulation tactic on behalf of the leadership to extort money from the people, the Word of God commands us to separate from it. So we hope to visit them and see how they are doing in the Lord. We are hoping to have a safe and fruitful trip. The area is very dangerous, from scorpions to mafia, so please pray for us all to have a safe and successful mission. The Lord’s will be done. THE NEW YEAR Another year is coming, and what will it hold? Only the Lord knows. This last year we have seen the Gospel preached to literally thousands of people. Preaching in the city almost every weekend, twice per week, we have seen a lot of people hear the Gospel. Most of them, however, are not from the center of the city but from places farther away, and so it’s hard to keep contact with them. If we had our own meeting place to preach the Word and worship the Lord, I’m am sure we would be able to see more visible fruit from our evangelism. This next year, Lord willing, we may do just that. We had a few steady followers when we did early this last year, and they were very sad to see us stop the meetings in the hotel conference room when we did. So we’re praying about starting a new work, separate from the established church we’re a part of right now. Church planting is a serious calling, and we can’t do it alone. If it’s the Lord will, He will send more laborers to help us. My Spanish is definitely improving. I’m now at a basic conversational level. I’ve been able to witness and share the Gospel with people all by myself now and understand their conversation. This new year, Lord willing, will see my first sermon preached entirely in Spanish. I’m excited about it. It’s certainly been no easy task thus far. We must press on in the Lord, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith! In Christ –Josef & Lina Urban A Few Testimonies... 11/09/2009
I would like to share a few testimonies from our inner city evangelism as of late. DOES JESUS STILL HEAL PEOPLE? Recently, as I was open air preaching and Lina was translating, we finished by inviting people to come forward to hear more about the Gospel, have their questions answered, receive Gospels of John, or to receive prayer. An old man came forward very slowly, limping and stumbling very slowly, obviously having a great difficulty walking. As he approached, he told us that he had a sciatic nerve problem and that nothing he does can cause the pain to be relieved. No matter which way he stands, or sits, or lays, it hurts just the same, and he could hardly walk. So in faith, the man asked for prayer. We prayed and laid hands on him in the name of Jesus, and the pain ceased. He told us that it felt warm when we were praying, and that it doesn't hurt any more. Then he quickly walked off without limping and without any difficulting walking! Actually, he walked off so fast that we didn't even get a chance to talk to him any more, and barely managed to get a Gospel of John in his hands! OPEN AIR CAMPAIGNERS We have also managed to meet another brother that open air preaches in the city. He is with the ministry, "Open Air Campaigners". These guys are known for their sketch board method, where they paint and preach at the same time on the streets. This brother brings a blacklight and florescent paint and as it gets dark in the city squares, the paint glows on the board and it attracts a lot of people. We have been meeting up with him lately to preach. Just this last weekend, they had a whole team come in from Canada and do an evangelistic campaign in the city. It was a great time of witnessing to all the people that gathered, and all of us had some really good conversations with people about their eternity. We have a couple of contacts from this outreach of people requesting that we come to their home to give them personal bible studies. EX-DRUNKARD STILL CHANGED Some of you reading this may recall Javier, the man we talked about around 6 months ago. He was a man that lived on the street, homeless, and was one of the worst drunkards we ever saw. He couldn't even eat without washing his food down with strong liquor or else he would get the shakes and vomit. As we would preach in the city, he would frequently stand by weeping and crying out to God for forgiveness. During that time, not only was he homeless, in bondage to alcohol, but he was also violent and suicidal. It was just a matter of time before he died on those hard streets. But one day when we were preaching he finally said he wants to change. So we took him to a Christian rehabilitation center in the city and get this, they rejected him, saying he was too far gone. They told us to bring him back in a few days if we can manage to keep him sober for that long. So having no other choice, we took him into our home. During that time, he wept constantly. He went through withdrawls, through shakes, through mood swings, etc. But every time he would get bad we would pray for him and he would feel better. Well, after that few days of staying in our house, he was sobered up and feeling better. Now he didn't want to go to that rehab center any more. So we put him on a bus and sent him to his parents' house. Now his parents had rejected him and kicked him out of their house because of his drinking problem. But now that he was sober, he was going to try to go back. Since then, we hadn't really heard from him. Last night, we ran into him as he was walking through the city. He actually stopped to hear the brothers with us preaching, and we saw him there. He looked different! No longer dirty, smelling like alcohol. He was clean, nice clothes, and had glasses on his face! He would always tell us that he wanted glasses so he could see but he didn't have any money, and he wanted them so bad that we prayed and asked the Lord to give him glasses. Well, now he had them! He told us that he was now living in his parents house, which means that he's not drinking like he used to. And also, he had found a job at a tire shop and was working. His next step is to learn how to read. It doesn't appear that he is converted yet, though it is hard to tell seeing that even if he was, he wouldn't be able to read the Bible and so his spiritual growth would be greatly stunted. He has heard the Gospel numerous times and even seen evangelistic films about the life of Jesus, so he does have enough knowledge of the Word to produce saving faith if the Lord grants it. But all this is a tremendous miracle to the glory of God. This man appeared to be past hope, the worst of the worst, the most filthy of all people in bondage to sin, but the Lord has done a work! Christ died to save sinners! He is the Great Physician to those who are sick! TWO YEARS IN MEXICO! -October 2009 10/22/2009
2 YEARS IN MEXICO On October 26, it will be two years since we moved to Mexico. How time flies! I still remember the day we crossed the border into Tijuana, Mexico. We had one contact, a pastor of a tiny church that we knew. As we came into Mexico it was getting dark, and we had no idea where to stay or what to do. We stopped at a pay-phone and called this friend of ours, and he answered! Within 10 minutes, he met us at the gas station and escorted us to his house, providing us with a room and hospitality until we could find another place. It was 5 days later, on Oct. 31st, that I preached my first sermon in Mexico in the church that this man was overseeing. And within the next few days, I had preached in a couple of other churches as well, seeing the hand of the Lord at work. But despite being in my element of preaching, I had suddenly found myself in a whole new world, completely different from anything I had known. All my words had to be translated as Lina faithfully acted as my mouthpiece to the people. I could no longer communicate as freely as I’d like. The food was strange and different from my typical Ohio-style dinners of country-fried steak, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes! And tortillas with every single meal? –How strange, I thought! Corn tortillas, flour tortillas, even red chipotle tortillas and green jalapeno tortillas! And, when we get tired of tortillas, they can even fry it and then call it a “tostada”! I stood out like a sore thumb, and heard my fair share of words like “gringo”. The social customs were different, and everybody had to be shown extra warmness and greeted when I walked into a room (in Mexico, it can be a big offense if you don’t greet everyone in the room personally, even if there’s 10 or 15 people!). The language was so difficult for this high-school dropout that failed Spanish class in high school that I had quickly despaired and stopped trying to learn it, relying on my wife always to translate and focusing my time on other things. And there was my biggest mistake. Now we had preached all over, yet it was always through the translation process, and largely still is. For over a year, I had not committed to language study, nor tried to absorb what I heard others speak. And so in the language process, I have lost over a year. I didn’t start really studying Spanish until January of this year, 2009. So, as I could be semi-fluent by now if I had studied the entire time, I am still very limited in my communication abilities and have to devote myself for hours every day to study it. Language is such a huge barrier and it’s difficult to break through it. So this is my greatest regret thus far, and I’m laboring to conquer it, growing slowly but surely. Now you have to consider that I never attended a mission school to learn about how to be a missionary, nor did I ever study missiology or missionary methods for embracing another culture and reaching the people on their level. My whole theology of missions was to GO and PREACH, have Lina translate, and trust the Holy Spirit to back it up with power and give the increase to our labors. And the Lord has certainly used this! But there’s still that barrier until I’m able to speak fluently with the people and I am seriously laboring to break through. But on a more positive note, as I look back on these last 2 years, it has been an amazing adventure. I have stories to tell that would fill a volume of books. And I could testify all day and all night to the Lord’s faithfulness to us since being in Mexico. We have been able to preach the Gospel to a countless number of people in this country. The Lord has opened doors, closed doors, guided us and even miraculously provided for us. We did not raise a support base before coming to Mexico as almost all missionaries do prior to leaving their home country, we just went and the Lord provided. It’s amazing. We have lacked nothing we need for 2 years and all this apart from popular missionary fundraising methods. Many times we don’t know where support is going to come from, but it comes by the hand of God’s faithful provision every time, and it’s always just enough for what we need to do! I think of our journey thus far: the bustling city of Tijuana, and ministering in a slum village to poor families and children and drug addicts. I remember preaching in a drug rehabilitation center every week ministering to some of the most burnt-out drug addicts I’ve ever seen in my life (and I say this as one that spend a couple years in Detroit among the homeless ministering to them!). I remember feeding and giving Bible studies to poor children that though they lived with their parents, they were at the same time abandoned by their parents. I remember traveling to Oaxaca, and preaching in the market of a city there, and then traveling to a group of un-reached people that speak their own dialect and being able to share the Gospel with several there who spoke Spanish. I remember the small towns of Guerrero, the cowboys, the guns shots piercing the silent countryside every night interspersed every now and then with the sound of the “hee-haw” of a burro, the goats and chickens and herds of cows marching right down the street in front of our house. I remember preaching in the churches there, and visiting people in their houses to share the Good News with them, dealing with mosquitoes by the thousands and insects that I never knew existed in addition to combating frequent illness. I remember showing the Jesus Film to our village where nearly the whole village showed up to watch it and heard us preach the Gospel afterwards. And now I think of our time in Guadalajara, this huge city, ministering in the city, open air preaching, and ministering to the church, teaching and endeavoring to see the Body of Christ brought to maturity and fullness in Christ. This is God’s work, and it’s a wonderful privilege to be allowed to have a small part of it. I’m not worthy to be an ambassador of Christ, but even so, I thank God for the precious blood! As I’ve been thinking and seeking the Lord, I believe He has not only been refining and purging me, but also giving me more vision for Mexico. This includes too much to share right now, but one thing we want to do is find a solid Christian orphanage in need that we would be able to help and to generate some support for. There are tons of abandoned children in Mexico and ministry to them is a great need and one that the Lord is behind. I hope to search around in the near future in the attempt to locate and identify such an orphanage somewhere around here. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to the perfect place. CURRENT WORK We are still holding our youth/singles meetings every week at the church here. I have started a series of preaching expositionally through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7). It has been a great blessing to minister to these young people and to study this discourse of our Lord in depth as I prepare to preach it. After a month of preaching on it, we are still not even half way through the Beatitudes. The Lord’s hand has been in it. We are praying that the Lord will open doors for us to build more relationships with young people in Guadalajara and enable us to preach the Gospel to them. We are also preaching and teaching in the Evangelism class every weekend. We are also still evangelizing in the city. A man I talked about several months ago that was diverted from suicide through our preaching and is now seeking the Lord instead of killing himself is still coming around. We sit down with him on the side and give him personal Bible studies when he comes. We have had many great conversations with people about the Gospel and have been able to preach to many. I have been devoting much time lately to studying Spanish. I had hoped to be fully conversational and able to preach by myself by 2010, but it doesn’t look like I will quite meet my goal. While I can conversate with people, it’s still on a basic level, and not where it needs to be to minister effectively, to understand everything and to be understood in everything. There is so much more I could share but I don’t want to give personal information about people and situations we find ourselves in. DANGERS OF DENGUE There is a plague of dengue fever going around right now in Guadalajara. I marvel that the news has not been covering it and warning about it like it did the “swine flu”, but then again I know who the news is run by. We know a number of people in our personal acquaintances who have contracted the virus. For those of you who don’t know what Dengue is, it is a very serious virus that is contracted through mosquito bites. There are currently two different strands: one is the regular one and the other causes hemorrhages. The regular kind puts you into a bed for 8 days of torment with a high fever and has killed young children and the elderly. The other kind is even worse and is very life-threatening, causing not only a fever for so long but it severely reduces your white-cell blood count and causes blood hemorrhages. And it’s only just a single tiny little mosquito that causes such devastation. One little bite could kill within 10 days. But the bad thing is, the more people who get it the more it spreads, because when a mosquito bites someone infected with it, then that mosquito becomes contaminated and spreads it to others. And there is no medicine, antibiotic or remedy for it. There are several in our church alone who have caught the virus lately. Please pray that this thing stops, and that we wouldn’t catch it! We do not fear, knowing that all is in the Lord’s hands, but it is wise to pray. In Christ –Josef Urban www.puregospeltruth.com We are now back in Guadalajara, Mexico after a month-long excursion to Texas, Ohio and Michigan. It was a blessing during our time back to the USA to see some brethren in the Lord and spend some time in fellowship with them. I was also able to visit much of my family and even to testify to some of them about the truth of the Gospel. But even though it was good to visit friends and family, I must be honest, my heart was still here in Guadalajara. We have such a precious blessing here. A solid local church to be a part of, a body of believers to fellowship with, Godly men who are elders in the faith to be encouraged by, a harvest field to labor in amongst the lost of this city, an evangelism team to equip and train, individuals to disciple unto fruitfulness, and a youth group to minister to with the hopes of seeing Christ worshiped as King of all, obeyed as Lord of all, and believed as Savior of all. My heart longs to see true conversions take place from amongst the perishing, true discipleship in practice amongst the Lord’s people, and biblical Christianity demonstrated by the church. The task is great, the stakes are high, the opposition is tremendous, yet the recompense is promising and the Lord is worthy of receiving the reward of His suffering. We are called to be aflame for God and shine as lights in this dark world, glorifying His holy name to the uttermost. Can we settle for anything less? Oh, that He would cause His love to burn in our hearts, our eyes to be single on His glory, our minds consumed with His Word, our hands to be strengthened in His work, our ears quickened to His call, our foreheads set like flint against the wicked, our feet swift to run with His Good News, and our voices amplified to cry aloud and spare not, to proclaim the Everlasting Gospel of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ! The Lord is doing something in our midst. He is stirring us up to believe for greater things. May it please God to grant that our own eyes see the day when His Spirit once again moves in the midst of His people as in times of old! How I long to see the Apostolic faith proclaimed and lived and demonstrated in power (not the Apostolic faith of the denominational, oneness sort, but that of the Book of Acts sort). We need to beseech the throne of grace with earnest petitions until the Lord looks upon us and rains down righteousness once again like a mighty river. But where, oh where, are the preachers sent of the Holy Ghost who are divinely commissioned to break up the fallow ground and prepare the way (Hos. 10:12)? Raise them up, oh Lord!!! Make your people willing in the day of your power! May the Lord reach down in sovereign grace and raise up laborers for His harvest! May the Spirit of God do a work to convert these heathen who grope about in the darkness of their sin, that the scales of their blinded eyes may fall off that they may too behold the beauty of the Son of God! Dear brethren, pray for God to move in our midst! And pray that God-sent laborers would be raised up to labor in this wicked fallen nation to turn the people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God! We are getting settled right now back into our humble abode in the city and preparing to resume the ministry. Up to this time, we have been buffeted with numerous infirmities and sicknesses akin to the foreign field, mainly with stomach illnesses, and request your prayers for our health that we can labor more effectively in the Lord’s service. Within the next couple of weeks, we are planning on resuming the teaching, preaching and evangelism. The youth group meeting has truly been blessed of the Lord thus far. We were able to hold several meetings on a weekly basis prior to our departure to the USA, and outside of these meetings, spend some time with some of the young people. Some good fruit has already come forth from this, and we are praying earnestly that more would come. Some of the parents of these youth have already been testifying to us of positive changes they are seeing in their sons since coming to the meetings. Some of those who always seemed apathetic and indifferent during the other meetings are now appearing to become attentive to the Word with some level of interest. We are looking forward, if the Lord is willing, to minister to these youth much more. We also have had a Catholic lady come into the meetings and by her own testimony it appears that she was converted. –I don’t know exactly the means of her conversion, or whether it was the result of these meetings, but I do know that she has expressed an earnest desire to serve the Lord and is very receptive to the Word in the meetings now. She came in one week saying she was a Catholic and then came in the next week testifying of knowing that Jesus saved her and having her eyes opened to Scriptural truth that will get one kicked out of the Catholic church. She originally came because of an invite by someone else in the church, and has since had some kind of conversion experience and her apparent zeal now seems to exceed that of the ‘sister’ that invited her! Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord works? Our evangelism training meetings have also seen the hand of God upon them. Generally, I will teach a foundational lesson on the Gospel (how can you evangelize rightly if you don’t even know the real Gospel?), on presenting the Gospel, or on some practical matter of evangelism, and then afterwards we will have a time of corporate prayer before dismissing and meeting the team in the downtown area of the city to put it all into practice on the streets. We have from 20 to 50 people show up at these meetings every week (the numbers have been increasing). As we unite in prayer after the teaching, we pray for ourselves, for the church, and for the outreach. In these prayer meetings we’ve seen the hand of God move unexpectedly, and come down with a peculiarly strong presence of the Holy Spirit. Seemingly out of nowhere, various persons will break out into loud weeping, and confessing their sins with a remarkable degree of desperation asking Christ to pardon them. The Lord seemed to really be searching the hearts of men in these meetings, and exposing secret things, deep heart sins, that no one ever knew about except that person and the Lord, and the person will confess it openly in fervent prayer. The Lord has been in the midst and we worship His holy name. Also, there is another apparent conversion that had taken place recently. A woman who grew up in the church and claimed to be a Christian all her life appears to have finally been converted after many years of such religiosity. As we met with her and explained what real repentance, faith, and regeneration are, she realized she was undone and unsaved. She went before the Lord and surrendered herself to him with a sincere heart confessing her sin, and has testified to experiencing peace and joy in the Holy Spirit in knowing her sins were forgiven. This was about two months ago. She has since continued to bring forth fruit, have a hunger for the written Word of God, and experience the Lord working in her life in practical areas of sanctification, thereby giving visible evidence that a real work of grace has indeed taken place. The angels rejoice to see such things. We now meet with her on a weekly basis to teach her and her husband from the Bible. There is one more individual that I’d like to share about. This testimony was encouraging to me. Often times, when people see that we preach in the open air and that many people mock and only a few stop to listen, I am asked if any good comes out of it. Many people, even Christians, think that it is almost a waste of time. But we have seen the Lord use such “foolishness” (of preaching) for His own glory! Recently, Lina and another sister that evangelizes with us ran into a man who was in the square to hear us preach. As they engaged in conversation with him they quickly learned that he had testified to being converted. He began to share how. He told them that some time prior, he had listened to us open air preaching in that very square, and after we finished, we invited everyone to come forward to receive a free Gospel of John. So he came forward and took one. He proceeded to read the whole thing. Then, one day shortly after as he was driving in his car, he shared how the Lord just came down and converted him. While he was driving, he felt like a heat come over his whole body, then immediately a deep-hearted conviction for sin and godly sorrow, and repented before the Lord believing in Christ, all right in his car. He shared how he was changed, and immediately after this, someone gave him a Bible. He said that he had been reading it all the time with a hunger to know God’s will, and proceeded to testify to his family what the Lord did in him, trying to preach to them the little he knew from the Bible. He also expressed sadness though in that he didn’t understand why his Catholic family wouldn’t accept his testimony and began to shun him because of it. Lina was able to encourage him in the Lord and to give him some important exhortations and warnings, especially with regards to keeping guard against false churches and false doctrines and the importance of knowing God’s Word and of following the witness of the Holy Spirit within. People try to tell me all the time that the grace of God is not sovereign in its operations, that it doesn’t operate solely according to the will of God but is subject also to the will, desire and works of man. Yet not only does the Word of God say otherwise, but testimonies such as these don’t support their ideas either. I see in this testimony a man who was on his way in his blindness and ignorance and all of a sudden God just came down suddenly and converted him. Salvation is by the will of God (Eph. 1:11), the redemption of Christ (Col. 1:14), and the power of the Holy Spirit (Eze. 36:26-27), according to free and sovereign grace shed abundantly upon sinners in mercy resulting in regeneration which produces a changed life to the glory of God alone (Tit. 3:5-6). That’s the Apostle Paul’s testimony on the road to Damascus, that’s my testimony on the road to iniquity, and that appears to be this man’s testimony on the road in his car. By His mercy, I will preach sovereign grace until I die, for that is the essence of the Gospel. I’m not talking about debating Calvinism or Arminianism here (and it’s a shame that we can’t even hardly speak of salvation being of the Lord without people itching to attach to us such labels of men) but I’m talking about the Almighty power of God in conversion that can save any man He pleases. I fully admit that man has his own responsibility, but I also say that although man has full responsibility for his own sin, he has no ability to free himself from that sin in his spiritually dead state apart from divine operations of the Spirit of God in opening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, and imparting new life. Man is totally and utterly dependant on the Lord to save him, and thus salvation is of the Lord, and not of the works of man. Thus all men have only to look to Christ, and Christ alone, to be saved. And in order to do so, they must look away from themselves. Thus saving faith in its essence is not a work at all, but is the opposite of a work, it is an act of total surrender and submission to Christ (and, of course, this faith will inevitably result in good works). Well, all this had taken place before we left to the USA. I never had a chance to update you all on these things, so have only been able to do so just now. So this gives you an idea of what is going on and what we are coming back to now that we’ve returned. My Spanish studies are now resumed as I devote several hours per day to studying the language. It’s harder than you may think! At least for me, that is! My comprehension is improving drastically but my tongue is yet so slow to speak. May the Lord help me! In Christ –Josef Urban www.puregospeltruth.com July 2009 Update from the Mission Field 07/12/2009
Dear brethren and friends, MAY 2009 - Laboring in the Gospel 05/28/2009
This month has been busy in laboring in the Gospel. Typically, I have been on a schedule of preaching 5 times per week between the outreaches, rehab-center, discipleship, and Sunday meetings. In addition to this, we have been fellowshipping at a local church in Guadalajara here and meeting with the pastor to pray for conversions and revival. I have also re-enrolled in a Spanish language school and am studying for hours every day of the week in and out of school. My Spanish is getting a lot better, and I am able to understand much of what is being spoken, but still find great difficulty in speaking it myself and am unable to communicate appropriately. At the current pace, I hope to be conversational within 4-5 months, Lord willing. April 2009 04/15/2009
We have had a wonderful month to the glory of God. How can I possibly begin to describe the things the Lord has done? My words fail to adequately detail His mercy and grace toward us and toward the people we have been given the privilege to minister to in the name of Jesus.  These brothers were such a blessing to have around. Saul is originally from Guadalajara here, and so we were able to visit some of his family and share the Word of God with them. His Dad has recently become a believer, and we were able to spend a night with him and share some teachings with him from the Bible (the picture above is from his Dad's property). This was Warren's first time being outside the USA, and he was a tremendous encouragement to us to have his fellowship. Both of these brothers joined us in preaching and evangelizing.    I remember Warren saying how he would read our updates about people breaking down and weeping under conviction when the Word is preached. He thought, "oh that's great" to himself, yet had never seen that happen in the USA even though he goes out preaching every week. Yet when he was here, the Lord allowed him to see more than one person respond to the Gospel in such a way. So many people in this city have never heard the true Gospel and are hungry for real truth that can deliver them from their bondages, burdens and sins. Their hearts are ripe to receive the truth.   PERSONAL EVANGELISM AND SHARING TRUTH  We have all had countless discussions with individuals about the state of their souls before God. It was a blessing to have Chris (on the right above) come out with us and share the Gospel with people, especially since Chris is nearly fluent in Spanish. We also had another missionary, Brian, from the same missions ministry as Chris, come out and preach with us.   A HOMELESS MAN GETS OFF THE STREETS    BIBLE STUDY MEETINGS  Carolina, the young lady who is pregnant whose boyfriend used to beat her (who has since left) has been coming to our meetings. She is ready to give birth any time now to the baby that was going to initially be aborted. She has been coming under conviction and alarm to see that her soul isn't right with God. Please pray both for her conversion and for the safe delivery of the little girl. Back to Guadalajara -March 2009 Update 03/20/2009
We are now back in Guadalajara, Mexico and are getting situated and praying for more open doors to preach the Gospel. If you are reading this and you pray for us, please pray for this, that God would open more doors for us to preach through and grant that we would be faithful to this stewardship. Paul said (Amplified): | Or click here to go to our newsletter page.
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