A Lot to Celebrate

Dear Ricardo and Beth,

Ricardo is on his way home after attending the Annual Meetings in Creative Access Country X*. Here is his report:

The theme of the weekend was "Celebrating God's Faithfulness" and there was certainly a lot to celebrate. They celebrated the ministry of Pastor Casto, who has served in the roles of Superintendent and Pastor for the past 18 years. They celebrated the Free Methodist Church's multiplying ministry in that country for the past 40 years. They celebrated the newly elected Superintendent, Pastor Ivan. He came to the Lord late in life through the Community Church Planting (CCP) movement so he is in his second career. He will continue championing the CCP movement there! We all celebrated the induction of 12 new ministerial candidates and ordained one elder. The celebration will continue in the flourishing mission district, with 13 more ministerial candidates to be received this weekend!

It is great to see what God is doing in the midst of chaos. Ministry is truly a team effort there....they are developing healthy leaders, multiplying disciples, groups and churches and they are empowering them for holistic transformation. The conference is flourishing in all aspects…children, youth, and adults. They are growing deep as they expand so it is sustainable growth.

*Please pray for this country that is under governmental oppression. For these reason, we have reverted to using the creative Access Country name. It was harder for Ricardo to get in and out of the country than ever before.

What is happening there is a reminder that God is able to do much more than we can ever dream or imagine! Keep reading for more things to celebrate! Note: For those who attend Wilmore Free Methodist and would like more details, come to Sunday School this week and Ricardo will give you a complete report with pictures and videos.

Partnership Praise

In addition to ongoing ministry in Latin America, we have dedicated a large portion of this month to partnership building. We were at Harvest Chapel in New York two weeks ago. (We forgot to take pictures at church but the sunset over Lake Erie was beautiful!) I taught Sunday School at Wilmore FMC last Sunday and Ricardo will teach there this Sunday. Then we will go to Michigan and speak at the Arbor Church before going to Kansas the first weekend of November to share at McPherson FMC. If you area in any of those areas, we'd love to see you.

Normally when we speak at a church, we don't get much feedback on our message. However, this week Pastor Jim Lebarr wrote to tell us that one of the parishioners prayed for the opportunity to speak to someone on the margins (in response to part of our sermon). Immediately after the service he met a homeless man and was able to pray with him. We celebrate that God answers the prayers of all believers!

Matching Campaign Complete

Just one more thing to celebrate! Not only did you meet the $10,000 challenge but you surpassed it by about $1,200.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for responding to the invitation to help increase our support. This is a great boost of encouragement to us and a boost to our support. Please continue to pray that the rest of the funds will come in this year so that we can finish the year with no negative numbers. We trust that the Lord will provide.

Give Now

Thank you for celebrating these things and more with us! We ask that you would also pray with us as we prepare to move back to Colombia on November 6th. We will actually go first to Uruguay and then back up to Colombia. Both kids seem to be adjusted to living in Kentucky but your prayers for them are also appreciated.

Many blessings,

Ricardo and Beth Gómez