~ Making disciples in the city of Maguey, Jalisco Mexico ~
Daniel and Mari Fontanez
Totolan, Mexico.
Greetings from Tototlán, Jalisco México. As 2 Thessalonians 3:1 says: “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you”. We want to thank you for taking time to join the work here through prayer. We hope that the following report will fuel your prayers on our behalf.
PRAY FOR OUR COLLABORATION WITH THE ARANDAS BIBLE CHURCH
Arandas is a large town about an hour northeast of Tototlán. There was a sister church there before there was one in Tototlán. When we were doing our VBS outreach, Natznel, one of their leaders, came and we talked about helping them with their Kids Club in Arandas. We will be helping them kick-off their outreach on Saturday January the 6th with the material we developed for our VBS. Our prayer is that what we have prepared will attract many kids to join the Arandas Kids Club at the park where it will be held. The Arandas church will meet with the kids through the 23rd of March. We will only be joining them on some of those Saturdays to add something different to the mix of their regular activities. Pray for conversions, not only of children but of entire families. Pray that our Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified through this outreach.
PRAY FOR THE TOTOTLÁN BIBLE CHURCH
Miguel, Alexis and I have been teaching the church for several Sundays concerning biblical eldership. Our goal is that the church would be equipped to recognize those that the Lord has given us to lead in the local church. This Sunday Alexis will be teaching the last part of this short series, and then we will give the church time to digest the teaching and to scrutinize possible elders. Pray that we would follow the Lord’s leading in this process.
The men’s Bible study has been going strong for several months now. We have studied the doctrines of Scripture concerning the Bible, God, creation, providence, man, the fall and Christ. It’s been exciting to see the men come to understand these truths better and then take them home and teach their families. Attendance has dropped a bit, sadly, but most men are at the meetings regularly. Please continue to pray for this Bible study.
Pray for the Griffith family. They started meeting with our church a little over a year ago. Mari and I started an evangelistic/discipleship Bible study with them, and although they profess faith in Christ publicly they still haven’t submitted to baptism. It seems that a big struggle for them comes through the wife’s family and friends. They are a near constant source of temptation, pressure and attack. Pray that they would be firmly rooted in Christ, and willing to lose friends and family for Christ’s sake.
Pray also for Lesly. She is about 14 years old and attends the church meeting sometimes with her believing grandma. She does this against her mother’s wishes, and most times without her knowing. Her mother has threatened her several times already, and has strictly prohibited her from meeting with our church. We aren’t sure that she is yet a believer, so please pray that she would come to saving faith in Christ and that she would be willing to forsake mother and father for His sake.
The Tototlán Bible Church has, for the first time, taken on the challenge of organizing the annual family conference for the sister churches. It is the largest event of the year. We expect to host about 300 attendees. The date will be the 13th through the 15th of September 2024. One of our greatest challenges will be securing the main speaker. Please pray for us.
PRAY FOR THE FONTÁNEZ FAMILY
Our oldest daughter Daniela, will be entering preparatoria (high school) this next year. She spent this year validating her home school education. Now that that is done, she will embark in a new challenge. She will still be studying online and at home, but she needs your prayers for the challenges that “prepa” will bring.
Pray for Mari’s health and spiritual strength. Last night after the prayer meeting, I took Mari to see the doctor because she suffered a strong headache during the day and right before leaving to the prayer meeting she noticed that her right eye wasn’t blinking like the other one. The doctor diagnosed her with Bell’s Palsy, gave her medication and recommended that she get rest, avoid sudden changes in temperature and try to not get stressed. Please pray for the Lord’s grace on her life. Pray that she would soon heal, that she would be encouraged in the midst of this sickness and that I would not stress her out too bad.
Thank you all for joining in the work through prayer.
Write to:
danifontanez@gmail.com