Nothing Can Stop God
Not Even a Global Pandemic
God of Miracles
By Heather Hunsaker
Missionary in Mexico
Building homes for families in need here in Mexico is one of our favorite parts of being on the mission field. In 2020 the coronavirus threatened to prevent us from doing our favorite ministry, along with all the other ministries we typically participate in each year. At first, 2020 was looking to be a great year with 22 ministry teams scheduled to come to Puente de Amistad. These teams’ schedules were filled with ministry opportunities at several locations throughout Tijuana. In addition to those opportunities, there were a few special projects planned, including nine houses slated to be built for families in need.
When the world began to shut down in March, we found ourselves in the same boat as everyone else. Missions team leaders began cancelling their trips to Puente as different states and countries were being put on lockdown.
As the directors of Puente de Amistad, my husband and I were concerned for our small, primary staff of five people who depend on the work the ministry teams provide by coming to Puente. We were also concerned for all the families that were waiting expectantly for a new home. Many of the people who qualify to receive a home from Puente do so because their living conditions are substandard. Typical homes in Mexico are built out of available materials such as planks of wood, metal scraps, cardboard pieces, and blankets. They lack basic features such as flooring (they have dirt floors), sanitation, electricity, and real protection from the weather. Some families rent a single room in an overcrowded house and must share the facilities with everyone else living in the house. A single mother who was scheduled to receive a home in 2020 was desperate to receive a Puente home. Her landlord had begun making inappropriate advances towards her. How could we tell her she wasn’t going to receive a home?
In the beginning of April, after many groups needed to cancel due to the coronavirus, we wrote a letter to the team leaders and pastors and asked them to consider sending funds to complete the house builds they had committed to before the pandemic hit. We shared with the leaders and pastors that our team here at Puente de Amistad would do the construction, and it would give the team some much needed work. We anticipated that a third to half the groups would respond favorably to this request. God had other plans! By the fall of 2020, seven of the nine groups had sent in money for us to build the homes for their families. We were overjoyed! God also miraculously provided the funds for the two remaining homes to be built.
While we were very grateful for the homes that were built and the work that we were able to provide for our staff, 2020 hit Puente de Amistad financially as it did a lot of other churches and businesses. Let me explain, Puente functions in many ways like your local church or business. The money we earn from incoming ministry groups pays the bills and the salaries of the five staff at Puente for the entire year. For the first time ever, we had to lay off our head of construction, Marcial Morales Chavala. We were broken-hearted. But even in that, we saw God perform miracles! Marcial was approached by a group of people who asked him to work on a list of projects from previous Puente house builds and paid him directly for his work. We have seen the LORD move in some very spectacular ways in 2020, proving to us yet again that we serve a God of miracles! Everything about 2020 should have crushed the ministry of Puente de Amistad. God was very faithful to us and our staff. We give God all the glory for the many blessings of 2020 and for all nine houses built in the middle of a pandemic!!
We are excited to have most of 2021 already booked with ministry teams coming to Puente. We look forward to getting back to our regular schedule and activities. Thank you for your prayers and support!
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3, NKJV)
Travis and I are the directors of Puente de Amistad in Tijuana, Mexico. Our team hosts visiting short-term missions teams and individuals and provides opportunities for them to be the hands and feet of
Jesus in Tijuana by ministering in orphanages and men’s and women’s rehabilitation centers, feeding the homeless, and building homes for families in need.
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You still have time to help equip India's next generation of pastors and leaders by joining the Mission India team and making a donation that will be used to build a Bible college.
Be Ready in Season and Out of Season
By Okon Obot, National Missionary
Field Director for Open Bible Churches in Nigeria
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season”
(2 Timothy 4:2, NKJV)
The year 2020 is a year to remember. Millions of people around the globe were affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic. To some it was the most terrible year in recent history and to others it was a year to give testimonies of God’s goodness. Nigeria was shut down by the government like most everywhere else. Government agents monitored people’s activities and movements very closely to ensure strict compliance with the country’s shutdown. Many people moved from their urban homes out into the villages where it was less populated.
Despite the coronavirus shutdowns, Open Bible Churches of Nigeria planted seven new churches between March and December of 2020. We now have more than 920 new Open Bible members. Even during a global pandemic like the coronavirus, God is still in control and nothing can stop the spread of His Gospel.
Two of the seven new churches being constructed by ICM.
Our national convention was held from November 8th to November 20th, 2020. Due to COVID-19 we had to stagger convention times and locations to avoid heavy crowding. We praise the Lord that more than 270 people were baptized during convention, and hundreds of others recommitted their lives to Christ.
We thank the Lord that no one from Open Bible Nigeria has passed away from this deadly virus. The virus is still here and there has been a lot of hardship and increased poverty for the Nigerian people due to the virus. Please pray that the good Lord will provide the necessary help to our members while we wait for a permanent solution through God’s help. Pray also for the new converts, that they will continue to seek God and discipleship, and for those we have yet to reach.
Okon Obot, a native Nigerian, serves as the field director and president of Open Bible Churches in Nigeria. After graduating from Open Bible's Florida Beacon College in Largo, Florida, Okon was granted National Missionary Appointment and returned home to Nigeria in September of 1989 to pioneer an Open Bible church. There are now 81 Open Bible churches in Nigeria, with more than 12,000 members.

Open Bible’s primary ministry in Nigeria is evangelistic campaigns. Many churches have been established as a result. The growth and dynamic nature of the church, in spite of the negative economic and political stresses, is cause for much praise. 

Won't you support Okon Obot as our national missionary to Nigeria, the outreach efforts to spread God’s Word, and help provide food and other needed items to our Open Bible brothers and sisters in Nigeria?
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