Dear Pastors, Friends and Family,

April 1, 2023 (Feb. – Mar. ’23)

Greetings in Jesus’ Name from Mexico City! Spring has officially arrived, but we don’t notice it since the weather here changes very little. Since our last prayer letter two months ago, Mary continues to have intestinal problems & pain. She continues to take natural medicines for the parasites & digestion, but we have found no other medical solution, so we continue to ask for your specific prayers. We have researched specialists and would travel for help but know of no one with guaranteed success. You may recall that last year just before her parasite & bacteria problem, she had jaw problems which also affected her ability to eat. We are thankful that she no longer struggles with that as before, but she remains very careful when eating. It seems we are always faced with challenges here as God is doing a great work and we know the Devil is not happy. While passing out tracts in the new area near our apartment, Mary & I were both bitten on our calves by a dog. Mary normally wears boots due to the poor sanitation here, but not that day. Thankfully the bites didn’t draw blood. As we quickly moved away from there, God allowed us to witness to a 21-year-old young man named Christopher a few minutes later, and after hearing the gospel, he trusted Christ as his Savior. I had a guy texting me for some time who received a tract from our church. He said he was fed up with his sin and wanted help. I kept inviting him to church and he finally came. His name is José and praise the Lord, he was ready. I preached the gospel and after church he said he wanted to be saved, and he received Christ as His Savior. I then gave him a Bible. Then after the second service, we went as a church to the open-air markets to preach, witness, pass out tracts, etc., and José went with us, helping pass out tracts. What a blessing to see a new Christian in action with the gospel the first day of his new spiritual birth. He continues to come to church faithfully.

Gabriel received a gospel tract in the market recently. He read it and came to church that night because of the invitation to come but also because of the gospel he read in the tract. That night after hearing the gospel again, he trusted Christ as his Savior and was born again. We are thankful that we regularly have first-time visitors. Along with seeing people saved, we have been able to baptize & disciple them, too. Recently while at a large indoor market, I met 29-year-old Juan, and shared the gospel with him. He listened intently as I witnessed. Afterwards, I asked Juan, “Well, what do you think?” He said, “It is not what I think, but it is what I now know. I KNOW I need to be saved” and he then trusted Christ as His Savior. While in a mountain village, Mary stopped to talk to Abelino. He was blind but had his ears well-tuned to the gospel message as Mary witnessed to him. Then God opened his spiritual eyes to the need of the gospel, and he trusted Christ as Savior. A man named Saul came to church recently and heard the gospel message in the sermon. After church I sat down to talk to him for a minute and asked him how he was doing and he said, “Bad; real bad.” He then said, “But I came here looking for answers.” I told him “Jesus is the answer to every question.” He stayed for the second service, heard the gospel again, and trusted Christ as Savior. Like God changed the Apostle Saul, to Paul, God changed this Saul, too. Wednesday night about a week ago a young lady named Madai came to church, heard the gospel and Mary led her to Christ. Madai told her best friend Yamale about it and invited her Sunday, and Mary witnessed to her and she got saved, too. I like what missionary Hudson Taylor once said, “Would that God would make hell so real to us that we cannot rest; heaven so real that we must have men there, Christ so real that our supreme motive and aim shall be …the conversion to him of many.”

Our volcano, Popocatepetl, has been extremely active with violent explosions recently. One day it recorded 215 eruptions in 24 hours with a tremor-type earthquake that lasted 30 minutes. When the skies are clear due to wind, you can see the volcano erupting and spewing lava & plumes of ash close to where we live. But protection is of the Lord. According to nationworldnews.com Mexico was recently recognized for having 9 of the 10 most dangerous cities in the world. For this reason, we always ask you to pray for our safety (and health). There is still time and space available for those who are interested in taking a mission trip here with us this year. Just let us know. Mary & I are glad to be your representatives here in the mega-metropolis of Mexico City, and love reporting first-hand the great things that the Lord is doing here. We appreciate your prayers, support and encouragement. Thanks for everything. We are “…your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

Bro. Mike Wallace & Family