Mexico: Report and how you can participate through material offerings
To the saints in the Lord ́s recovery,
This is a report of the earthquake which shook parts of Mexico on September 19, 2017 and the follow up of the saints for the Lord ́s move in these circumstances.
We feel that this is the month of the gospel, we started the first weekend with gospel workshops and it seems that the Lord cooperated to open people ́s hearts. We need to take advantage of this to reach all those whom the Lord has chosen.
• It was a trembling quake with a magnitude of 7.1 degrees on the scale of Richter.
• Date: September 19, 2017, at 1:14 P. M.
• Affected states: Mexico City, Mexico state, Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, Oaxaca.
• Most affected delegations in Mexico city: Benito Juaréz, Cuauhtémoc, Coyoacan, Xochimilco, Tlahuac.
• Collapsed buildings: 42 in Mexico city and 46 in Puebla.
• Affected buildings: 87 about to collapse.
• Deceased: 288 in total so far, 143 in Mexico City.
We thank the Lord for covering the saints. Both training centers were not damaged.
Actions taken by the church in Mexico city:
This information was sent out to the districts in Mexico city: Dear saints in the churches of the metropolitan area:
We need to grasp the opportunity to go out and shepherd the people with the gospel. The way to support is as follows:
1. We’ll have two collection centers to receive the supplies: The building at Av. Universidad #1846 starting at 11:00 a. m. until 7:00 p. m. in Mexico city and the other one in San Lucas meeting hall, Juarez 11, in Tlalnepantla.
2. We want to give the people a bag with a bottle of water, a 250 ml. juice, an easy to open can of tuna, a plastic spoon, a granola bar, a chocolate bar and a package of crackers together with a gospel tract. These bags have to be prepared by the saints before bringing to the collection centers, and the number of bags depends on every family and their possibilities.
3. The gospel tracts will be ready in the previous mentioned meeting halls.
4. All the saints who would like to participate in going to the shelters, parks,
affected areas, etc., are welcome to come according to their capacity and time. We will start with this tomorrow, Thursday at 11:00 a. m.. The meeting points will be University Av. And Tlalnepantla.
5. Also the saints who can participate with taking the supplies in their trucks are welcome.
6. In order to do this in an orderly manner, it ́s necessary for the church and district leading brothers to assign a meeting point to receive the supplies and get them to the collection centers so that the supplies of those who are not able to bring them personally would arrive on time.
On the day of the earthquake, Sept. 19:
3 students from the UNAM and a full time serving brother joined the brigades to help.
Report of the first day of labor:
On September 20, 13 full time serving saints and 5 college students went out with food supply to one of the affected areas in colonia (neighborhood) del Valle. They handed out food and analyzed the best way to be able to reach people.
They also helped affected people, cleaning and helped in a general way.
Testimony:
The atmosphere perceived is of much tension. Many families are affected and I strongly believe that this will open a big door for the gospel in the whole city. I was among those who gave medical support, holding up a sheet for an hour while they assisted the people that were being rescued from among the rubbish, making a wall so that those from the media could not take pictures. I kept praying for those around me but due to the environment and situation it was not easy to talk to the people at that moment.
By September 21 we started to labor in the following way:
1. Prayer and coordination meeting.
2. Preparing the gospel material.
3. Reception of packages coming from different churches.
4. Going to three different areas: About 70 saints went out in teams and handed
out 550 packages with two gospel tracts each.
6. People saved: We have information of 17 so far.
7. Participating churches: Ecatepec, Tlalnepantla, Toluca, and Mexico City.
8. This is the old hall that we purchased for the new training center. There was not any damage. Thank You Lord!
5. Approximately 200 brothers from the metropolitan area participated in the development of the packages.
Testimony 1:
We went to the shelters but they already had much help so we decided to inspect the area around Benito Juarez delegation. We found some evicted buildings because they are uninhabitable. There we found many people from those buildings. We gave them food supply and preached the gospel to them.
Testimony 2:
We went with a group of 10 trainees, 2 campus serving ones, and 1 student from UNAM. The soldiers let us go in because we said that we ́re from the local churches in Mexico. On an upper floor some other soldiers asked us for the purpose of our visit. We said that we came to encourage the victims. They agreed and let us go in . We were with 12 who were neighbors and relatives (their surname is Vargas); their homes had collapsed. We gave them packages of canned food and made a circle to pray for them. After that, they received the Lord. At the end, we taught them how to call on the name of the Lord, and called out audibly and taught them how to pray. They were very thankful and tomorrow we will go back and bring them things that they really need.
Testimony 3:
They will give us permission to bring sisters to a shelter to tell Bible story to the refugee children…
Testimony 4 (from a college student):
The soldiers didn’t let us enter the place they were watching the food, but when they knew that we were saints from the church, they let us in…
Testimonio 4 (Director of ETCMx) :
Tomorrow we will send all the trainees in two groups to two different places in the city where they will spread in more groups in order to reach people, those who are open to the gospel.
If you desire to participate, you may send the offering to the following account stating that it is for the earthquake relief:
ACCOUNT FOR MEXICO RELIEF from the USA
(Field 57) Beneficiary Bank
Recipient Bank: Citibank NA
Aba: 021000089
Address: 111 Wall St, New York City, NY 10005. United States
(Field 59) Beneficiary Customer
Recipient information:
Beneficiary or recipient: CIBANCO SA
Account: 36888793
Address: Av. Paseo de las Palmas 215, Lomas de Chapultepec, Miguel Hidalgo (11000)
Ofrendas para ayuda por causa del sismo en CDMX, Puebla, Morelos, Chiapas y Oaxaca.
Banco: Banamex
Numero de cuenta: 4861 – 8200
Las Iglesias locales en México, A.R.
CLABE: 002180486100082004 (total: 18 números)
-from the serving brothers
