It’s amazing how quickly time flies when you are having fun! While this is a very popular saying, it has been true for us this past year. This month (MAY) marks our first year anniversary living here in Mexico, which is hard to believe. We have been and continue to learn more about their cultural, language, and the way they do things here, almost on a daily basis. Junior and Alison have both adapted very well. Junior has almost completed his first year of kindergarten here, in a school that only speaks Spanish. It’s unbelievable how well he understands and can speak Spanish. Alison can say about 10 words or so in Spanish, and one of her favorite word is, “hola.” She LOVES eating anything that is HOT, which is a sign that she is more Mexican than any of us.

At the beginning of this year, Jorge had the privilege of leading a young man, Eduardo, to the Lord. It has been such an encouragement and blessing to see his faithfulness to the Lord, and to watch him grow spiritually in the things of the Lord. Jorge teaches a discipleship class every Sunday morning during Sunday School, and he usually has between 7-10, adults and teens, and Eduardo is faithful to attend, please pray for this young man and his daily walk with the Lord.

Thank you for your prayers for Iglesia Bautista De Fe, and please keep praying for them. As we have mentioned in the past, the previous pastor of the church was dismissed due to moral reasons. About two months ago, the woman that he was involved with came to church and admitted everything, which was a HUGE answer to prayer. Her name is Lilia, please pray for her, as Aimee and I are counseling with her every week, that God would give us the wisdom and words to encourage and help her. She had a horrible upbringing. Please continue to pray for Juan (the previous pastor), as he still will not take responsibility for his actions. Also pray for Lidia, his wife, as she is suffering and confused at her husband’s response.  

We are happy to announce that Aimee is expecting again, she is due September 18, praise the Lord for an uncomplicated pregnancy so far. Due to her history of miscarriages, our doctor has taken a lot of extra steps to make sure things continue to go well. So at 14 weeks, she started going to the doctor every 2 weeks, which is a little more inconvenient since we drive 45-60 minutes to the doctor, and pay 10.00 in tolls one way. On the plus side we are VERY thankful that our doctor is so thorough, and he speaks English, which is worth almost any price to Aimee.

Jorge, Aimee, Jorge Robert and Alison Rodriguez

In November, we received the approval of our visas, which was a huge blessing, thank you for praying. We also had our first guests from the states. Aimee’s parents came and spent Thanksgiving with us, and her dad spoke in Sunday School, while Jorge interpreted for him. It was a blessing to have family here with us on our first holiday here in Mexico. At the end of November, Alison had a severe allergic reaction to something she ate (either shrimp or walnuts) and after two different ER’s we were finally able to get her some medicine that helped the problem. After having blood work done, she is allergic to peanuts, and slightly allergic to milk. We are now in the process of finding out if she is allergic to all nuts; since she had eaten walnuts not peanuts, please keep this matter in your prayers. It was very scary, since she was covered with whelps, very swollen, running a fever, and parts of her body looked bruised like her circulation was cut off. We PRAISE THE LORD, for his protection and watch over her.

Please continue to pray for Iglesia Bautista de Fe, the church we are currently attending and helping.  The Lord has blessed the church with a great group of people, and we are so thankful to be working alongside them. Jorge preaches nearly every Sunday, and helps with the church leadership. Please pray for wisdom for us as we are instructing the leaders of the Church.  As we have become more involved in the nuts and bolts of the ministry we can see the needs. The basic structure of the church body needs to be molded.  We are coming along side and admonishing them in these areas.   They are open and willing to learn but we have a long road ahead of us. The church is in need of your prayers.

Occasionally Jorge has the opportunities to preach in other churches.  He is still involved in a weekly Bible Study with another church that he attends with the pastor; please continue to pray for this Bible Study that they would grow DAILY spiritually.

Junior continues to do well in school; it’s amazing how much Spanish he has picked up in the 8 months we have been here. This has truly been a blessing to us. He had a Christmas program at school and at church. At our church Christmas program, he had his first speaking part ever, he said, “Este jota es de Jesus, ven a el ahora, “which translates, this J is for Jesus come to him now.  Alison continues to show more and more of her personality every day, which keeps us on our toes. We are thankful for God allowing us the privilege of being parents, it truly is a blessing.

During the Christmas season, we invited 6 of our neighbors over for a dinner as a way to get to know them better, we had 3 of our neighbors come, and had a great time talking with them.  Jorge was able to share his testimony of how he came to Christ, and how Christ has helped him grow into the man he is today. One of the ladies that was here was quick to tell Jorge that she is Catholic, but listened to every word he said. Our church had a special Christmas service, and another one of our neighbors, Corina, and her son, Jorge came with us. Her son had been to church with us before, and comes over many times during the week to play with Junior. We are happy to be planting seeds in our neighborhood, and can’t wait to see what God will do.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

We are praising the Lord for our house. It has three bedrooms, two and half baths, a good size kitchen, living and dining room. Also separate from the house, there is an additional 2 room/1bath, which typically serves as a maid’s quarters; however, weare using it as an office and storage space for now. Eventually it will be our guestbedroom. We did not move into the house until June 3, because the house was not ready. It was frustrating at times, but we are so thankful that the Metzes (my parents) had sufficient space for us to stay for three weeks. We only have a few boxes to unpack, which belong in the kitchen. Currently we have no kitchen cabinets; this is very typical of the kitchens here in Mexico. Our landlord promised the cabinets would be done a month ago, so now we are just waiting “patiently,” or at least trying to wait patiently. During this process, we are learning more and more about their culture here and ways that we can adapt to it.

These past two months have been really busy. Alison turned 1 on June 16; Junior turned 4 on June 30. Jorge celebrated (for the first time in his life) his birthday on July 8, and we celebrated 5 years of marriage on July 9. We thank God for each of these milestones. Between the birthdays/anniversary, we have really focused on getting settled into our house and re-learning how to get to and from places like the grocery store, church, and where to pay our bills. We live in the same general area that Aimee lived when she was here back in 2003-2004, which has proved to be a huge blessing, since she already knew the general area.

We have also had the opportunity to help my parents with three groups this summer, during a five week time period, which included exposing the kids to Mexican culture and a different way of life. The groups were a blessing to us, and we were glad to participate in the activities.

We are currently attending Iglesia Bautista de Fe (Faith Baptist Church) in Nicolas Romero, which is the same church that Aimee and I attended in 2003-2004. It has been great to see old friends again, as well as meet new ones. Please pray for the church as they are going through a very difficult time right now.

I have also had the privilege of attending some Bible Studies with Pastor Juan Carlos, which I have truly enjoyed. At the beginning of August, I will be meeting/mentoring a man named Manuel, who has a desire to work with the youth. This coming Wednesday I am going to visit Veracruz, Mexico, with Pablo, a good friend and a deacon at Faith Baptist Church in Nicolas Romero. The trip is only 8 hours by bus. Please pray for safety and a good visit. Also pray for Aimee and the kids as I will be gone from Wednesday to Monday.

Jorge, Aimee, Jorge Robert and Alison

praying for us the way our needs were met.   On the trip through, the trailer had THREE blown tires. The second blown tire was the most challenging one because the temperature was 100 degrees and we were in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town with a place to replace a blown tire was 2 hours away.  The “good” thing is that between these towns the government has assig

ned patrol vehicles to help people who would breakdown in this long stretch of road. Unfortunately the second patroller did not do a great job in helping us. So we were “left to ourselves” to find a solution. The only one we knew was for Caleb and me to stay with the Explorer and trailer while dad & mom drove to Ciudad Victoria, which is 2 hours away. “Prayerfully” dad gave me a Leatherman knife in case something happened. The Lord answered prayer again

and 20 minutes down the road there was a small town that had a back-wood tire “repair” place which sold and mounted a used tire that was the right size. Isn’t God Great!! Dad also had the opportunity to give the man a Spanish bridge gospel track. This process took about 1 ½ hours or more.  We called it a day and took our time to get to Ciudad Victoria and we stayed at a hotel.

The next day we had a nice hot breakfast and put gas in the vehicles and headed to Mexico City.  We drove through two stretches of beautiful mountains with high altitude and had no problems, for which we are thankful. As we were a little past San Luis Potosi, the supposedly new tire that we bought the first time blew up like noodles.  This part of the highway was very busy with hardly any shoulder to pull over. I flagged a pickup truck that took me to a nice tire repair place, which was 1 mile down the road, praise the Lord!!  David, the owner of the tire place, drove me back, took off the shredded tire and replaced it with a new, new tire. We also had the opportunity to give David a bridge gospel track and 2 cold mountain dews. The process took about 1 ½ hours.

As we got closer to the city dad remembered that we might get pulled over by the police upon entering the city, which would not be good.  For now, we cannot drive the Explorer in Mexico City on Tuesdays, but we did not think about the trailer. Its license plate number ends with a 5, which means it, cannot circulate on Mondays a non-driving day. Dad realized this about 7pm and about 1 ½ hour from the checkpoint that enters the city limits. Our minds started turning in figuring out what we were going to do.  We were tired, we didn’t want to have to deal with the police, and the other solution was to wait until 10pm to cross the checkpoint in order not to be hassled. Then we noticed the dark clouds ahead.  Dad said to me, “if it only rains specifically at the check point so the transit police would not be on look out, that would be great.” I started praying for such a cause.  About 20 minutes later it started to pour with about almost an hour to get to the check point. Dad ask me if I was praying… ,” too soon for the rain,” he said. He doesn’t like driving in rain, especially hauling a trailer through heavy traffic.  My response was I am praying that it rains the whole way there. And it did for the most part. By the time we got to the checkpoint there was no police. We were relieved and almost sang the Hallelujah course.

By the time the third tire was broken we started to scratch our heads and wonder what all of this was about? Dad jokingly said that maybe we were supposed to leave the trailer behind. My thought was that Aimee would be extreme unhappy but that was tempting.  We do not know for sure why the three tires exploded, but we knew that there was a reason. Four opportunities were given to us to share the good news.  I don’t think that was a coincidence.  Don’t misunderstand me.  Having the tires explode was getting old quickly. Some of us were losing our enthusiasm about the trip. Yet we had another great opportunity to ask our redeemer for wisdom and guidance.

Our main concern was the process at the border before we started this journey. The paper work went so well registering the car, the trailer, and paying for the stuff, and getting the temporary visas that we could not believe it. To make the process even better the gentlemen at custom gave me 180 days on the visa. We knew family and friends were fervently praying because the process went better than we expected.

Co-Laborers,

Jorge & Aimee Rodriguez

Dear Pastors and Friends,

“Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Ps 37:4-5 We have placed our prayers at the Lord’s feet in the beginning of our deputation journey to not only be blessed with new friends all over the North and Southeast of the USA, but also have new partnering churches. Even though the journey was not easy at times and though we are facing some paper problems, our Lord has/will continue to bring us through them.

“Delight…in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” We have GREAT news, we are done with deputation and getting ready to leave for Mexico City. We have finalized our departure dates. Aimee and the kids will be flying to Florida April 27 to spend some time with her family. I will start driving May 3 with Pastor Auckland to the border and arriving in Mexico City May 11. Then Aimee and the kids will join me at the end of that week in Mexico. What a blessing that the Lord has already provided a house for us to live in, for a great price and a great area. In our next prayer letter, we will include our updated address.

Prayer request: This is funny but it also brings many complications. Some of you have heard that about three weeks ago I found out that the birth date I’ve been celebrating for the past 36 years is wrong. The birth certificate I’ve had for a while had me registered on the 16th of July and born on the 18th of July, which is impossible. I recently applied for a new birth certificate and found out that I was actually born on the 8th of July and registered on the 16th, which means I need to renew all my legal paperwork such as my license, passport, social security, and basically any other document that I have ever put my name on. The process is tedious and time consuming. We know that the Lord is in control over EVERY situation, and we are learning to trust him DAILY.

As we mentioned in our last prayer letter, we STILL need a sponsoring church in order to stay in Mexico for long periods of time. This is a very urgent need. Please join with us and help us pray that God would open up the doors so that the Iglesia Bautista de Fe en Nicholas Romero would be recognized by the Mexican government. The church has been faithful in working toward that goal for over seven years and will be so thrilled when that takes place. Pray that the Lord would provide with another church.

Please pray that the Lord would provide the remaining needed monthly support to help us reach our goal. Even though we don’t have 100% support yet, our mission director has given us the green light. We are taking another step of faith and trusting in the Lord that the rest of our support will come in as He desires. We are currently at 92% support, which means that we need an additional $400 a month to reach the goal. There is still a need to help with our outfit and passage fund. If any of you would like to help us in this area, we would greatly appreciate it. The next time we write you, it will be from Mexico.

Jorge, Aimee, Jorge Robert and Alison

We are most grateful for your faithful prayers and giving.  We are especially thankful for the many churches that have been with us since the beginning of deputation. This is an awesome reminder that God is in control even through the rough economy as God’s people have stepped out in faith and committed themselves to partner with us. We have been blessed with ten new churches and one individual partnership in 2009.

Thank you for your continual prayers for each one of us. God has placed key people in our paths to help us with specific needs. For example, God has used some dear friends of ours to help us grow in our marriage. These dear friends have been married for over 15 years and we have learned a great deal from them.  Yet there is great deal to learn on my end as Christ is my perfect example. You remember that Ephesians 5:25 said, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it…”

I am not sure if some of you remember, but we need a sponsoring church in order to stay in Mexico for long periods of time. We can still enter the country with temporary visas but to stay long term, a sponsoring church is essential. We are praying that our sponsoring church would be Iglesia Bautista de Fe en Nicolas Romero, and the church has been working toward that goal for a couple of years, but as of yet they are not recognized by the Mexican government. Please continue to pray for this matter.

As some of you know, we have been praying for a newer vehicle for almost a year. While we were in Florida during the holidays, we were able to buy a used Ford Explorer with low mileage. The unique part about the vehicle is that the car is exactly what we have been praying for and looking to buy.  It was the right color (grey), year (2008), V- 6 engine, and good suspension. It should be able to handle the difficult roads and meet unique legal obligations we will face. We are grateful for our Lord’s provision and your prayers.

We are at a cross roads of excitement and wonder as deputation comes to an end.  Excited because we cannot wait to be in Mexico City to face the adventures that await us, and we are grateful that God is willing to use corruptible beings to do his divine work.  We are also filled with mixed emotions as we say goodbyes to our families and friends. We only need an additional $500 a month to reach our goal. Therefore, we are making plans to be in Mexico City in early May.

Some of you have also asked about any further needs we have to get to the field. We have responded that there is a need for “outfit and passage”, expenses that are used for transition (security deposits, moving expenses, visa fees, some furniture, language studies, and other unusual one-time expenses). We are thankful for the gifts received but there is still a need.  Please pray that the Lord would provide for the remaining needed monthly support to help us reach the minimum recommended level proposed by our mission board and friends and family in Mexico City.  Please feel free to contact us (phone, email) if you have questions.

Your co-laborers,

Jorge, Aimee, Junior, and Alison Rodriguez

Even though Thanksgiving was this past month we have so much to be thankful for. We had the blessings of having my biological family for lunch. We had a great time of fellowship and making new memories. As we gathered around the table each one of us shared three blessings. It was a joy to see everyone participate since they are not saved. This occasion was particular a blessing for me since this will be the last holiday we will spend with my family for a while.  Please pray for my sisters (Vanessa and Sandra) and my nieces and nephews who have not trusted Christ. Also pray for my brother, Daniel, who is in State Correctional Institute without parole and who also needs to be saved.

We are particularly thankful for our salvation and how God has worked in our lives bringing us to this point. He has blessed us with two beautiful children, Junior (3 ½) and Alison (6 months), who still need to be saved. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to raise them to glorify our redeemer.

We are praising the Lord for answering our prayers in many ways, but particularly in the new churches which have partnered with us. As you might recall from our last prayer letter, we were praying for 10 churches or individuals that would be able to take us on for financial support for an average of $125 a month, or $31 a week. We are excited to say that New Hope Baptist Church of Goode, VA; Longwood Ave Baptist Church of Bedford, VA;  Faith Community Baptist Church of Downingtown, PA, Community Baptist Church of Branford, CT, and a individual have made us part of their mission family, for which we are appreciative. Thus, our support has increased to 85%. That means that we still need an additional 15%, equivalent to 6-7 churches or several individuals.
 
We have begun the preparation of downsizing. We are trying to be very wise and careful about the things that we will be taking to Mexico. We realize that we can’t take everything with us since our trailer is only 10 x 5. Also, please keep praying for a good price on a newer vehicle, since our current vehicle, Chevy Venture, has a total of 190, 000 miles and will not be able to handle the rough roads in Mexico City.  Feliz Navidad or Merry Christmas!!

Co-laborers,

Jorge, Aimee, Junior, and Alison Rodriguez

Thank you for your faithful prayers for Aimee and Alison, and the recovery process, Aimee is doing fine. We are past the sleepless nights with Alison, which is a huge blessing. It’s amazing how quickly Alison has grown, she is already 5 months old, and can almost roll over and sit up. Junior is also growing and learning. Of course he is non-stop on the go. He is doing well with the A.B.C’s, counting, and his colors. Aimee is already doing some pre-school material with him. Junior turned 3 at the end of June, which has allowed him to be involved in the Awana program. It’s been awesome to see him memorize verses which will eventually lead him to the knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This summer and fall we have had a very full schedule, for which we are so thankful. As we mentioned in our last prayer letter, we are praying for 10 churches or individuals that would be able to take us on for financial support for an average of $125 a month, or 31.00 a week. That would be equivalent to several cups of coffee at Starbucks or Duncan Donuts or the local gas station. Would you please consider increasing your giving for missions? This would allow us to head to Mexico City in January of 2010. We are praising the Lord that one church has already taken us for $100 a month.  Since our last prayer letter our support has increased 4%, which means we are currently at 78% of our needed support. Also pray that as the year comes to a close many churches will be making decisions to support new missionaries, and we are praying we are one of them.

As we mentioned in our last prayer letter we are also praying for a newer vehicle that would accommodate the family and would handle the rough roads in Mexico City. The Chevy Venture Van has 187,000 miles and will not cut it in Mexico City. Yet we are thankful for the Chevy Venture and praying that the van will last us until the end of the year. Would you consider giving a onetime gift towards our vehicle purchase or to help with our outfit and passage? We appreciate your faithful prayer and financial support.

Co-laborer

Jorge & Aimee, Jorge Robert, Alison Rodriguez

Thank you for your faithful prayers for Aimee and the pregnancy. Alison Grace Renee was born on June 16th, at 8:19am, weighing 8lbs. 12 oz., and 20 inches long via a C-Section. Both mom and daughter are doing great; Aimee is recovering and adjusting once again to the late night feedings. We are pleased and extremely happy with our daughter. She is beautiful. Alison has had two home visits as a follow-up from the hospital and everything was bueno (good).  Junior is also excited to have a little sister, and seems to be adjusting well to another person in the house. Junior will turn 3 on the 30th of this month; it’s hard to believe that at one time he was as small as Alison and as still. Those days are gone for him! We are thankful for him and the blessing he is to us. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for Aimee’s recovery, Alison’s natural growth, and all of us adjusting to being a family of four.

We are also praising the Lord for our van (Chevy Venture) that has over 170,000 miles and is running well. The Lord has placed key people along the way to help with some problems we have had as we travel around. Also, we need to start looking for another vehicle that would be suitable for the rough roads in Mexico. Please pray that a vehicle would be made available.

We are also praising the Lord for the 11 churches we have visited so far and 19 meetings lined up from now until the end of the year. We are praying that 10 churches (average of $125 a month) will take us on for support which would be enough for us to head to Mexico.  We know that this is possible and we are trusting God.  Also, we are praising the Lord for Branch Baptist Church of Lynchburg, VA and Wyebrook Baptist Church, of Elverson PA for their support. They have taken a step of faith in supporting us. Thank you, Thank you!!  This makes our level support at 74%.  We are also grateful for our current churches, their faithful support, and for keeping in touch.

Jorge & Aimee, Jorge Robert, Alison Rodriguez

We are praising the Lord for in these times of economic challenges, Grace Baptist Church of Ramsey, NJ; Calvary B.C. of Lansdale, PA; Faith B.C. of  Phoenixville, PA; Heritage B.C. of Orefield, PA; Albemarle B.C. of Charlottesville, VA, have chosen to partner with us to reach the people of Mexico City, Mexico.  Thus, we are THRILLED to announce that our support has increased to 72%.  As we mentioned in our last prayer letter, it had been about 7 months since we had heard from a new church. This news has been a great encouragement to us.  Continue to pray for the remaining amount of our support that it will come in this year, for our desired date for departure is this December.

We are also excited on Aimee’s pregnancy progress.  She had a level 2 ultrasound in February and the baby is doing great.  The doctors took a closer look at her and the results were a healthy baby girl.  Aimee was almost bouncing of her bed when I walked into the room.  Aimee was really excited and so am I.  As for Jr…he has no idea what’s coming.   Yet, please continue to pray for Aimee and the babies health.

As for Junior (Jorge Robert), he is growing and enjoying playing with dad.  He likes to read, color, hit the balls (basket, soccer, golf, base-ball), and play with friends.  The new highlight is the potty training. He is just flourishing in that area.

Thank you for praying for Aimee’s pregnancy and health.  We know that many of you pray for her.  Also, thank you for praying for Junior’s health, but especially for the challenges with bronchitis and ear infections.  We are excited to announce that he has had only one ear infection this winter and he had his first real cold with no infections at all. God is awesome.  On top of that we have been protected in our travels.  Gracias, Gracias por su horacioness por la familia Rodriguez.

En Cristo

Jorge & Aimee and Junior Rodriguez

January-March 2009