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Raul & Kim Solis
(Toluca, Mexico)
Raul & Kim have been misionaries in Toluca for several years. Kim came to Toluca as an AIM student in the early 90s and later married the reciently converted Raul Solis. Now, with their three children they faithfully serve the church is Toluca. |
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Posted 10/12/04
"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul?
Only servants, through whom you came to believe
- as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.
So neither he who plants nor he who waters in anything,
but only God, who makes things grow."
I Corinthians 3:5-7
God Has Given Growth
 We are se excited to share with you the names and faces of 5 new souls who have now been addes to the kingdom in this past week. On Saturday Tomasa was baptized. Tomasa is the gradmother of Ivonne, a young lady who was converted last year and who has brought her mother, sister and brother to church along with her brother's family. Now her grandmother is part of her Christian family too!
 Then, last Sunday we saw Polo baptize his daughter Ada Laura. She is about 25 years old and a dentist. Ada Laura had been baptized before when her parents were baptized, but after hearing the series that is being preached on the book of Acts, and especially after the lesson on Acts 19 when some men in Ephesus were re-baptized, she realized that her baptism had really been more from the emotion of the moment and not a personal desire to follow Jesus. She decided that it would be better to be baptized again now that she really had full knowledge and conviction of what baptism is really about.
Later, on Tuesday, Raul baptized Victor, a wonderful young man who has been transformed by the classes he has been taking in the Bible Institute and through his one-on-one studies with Raul. He is one of the English teachers in Philadelphia, the christian school here at the church building. He has a large family (in one of the pictures he is with his mom, two sisters and a brother) and actually is one of 10 kids. He hopes to bring his whole family (and extended family) to church too! Please pray for his family. They have invited us to eat with them next Saturday and seem very open to us, to the church and to God's word. Even though his family had never come to church, they appeared very content and excited for Victor.
 Finally on Friday night, a mother and daughter were baptized into God's kingdom. A month or so ago, Roberto Rubio and his family came to Toluca so that Roberto could study in the Bible Institute. He had been living in Ft. Worth and had been encouraged by friends at Richland Hills to go into ministry full time. They are helping him study here in Toluca (and he is giving it his all in the classes and spends lots of extra time helping out in the Institute offices with the correspondance school materials.) One of his concerns was that his family had yet to make the decision he had in following Jesus and had not received the forgivness for their sins through the waters of baptism. After studying with Liberato, Roberto's wife Esperanza and his daughter Leticia made the decision. Friday night Liberato baptized both of them with Roberto looking on, his face aglow with joy.
May God bless you all in your service to Him. We love and appreciate you all very very much.
Love, Kim |
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Dearest brothers and sisters, friends and family, We are glad to write to you again to share all that is happening in Toluca. We have had a busy month and have thought many times of writing but wanted to wait until this last Sunday so that we could tell you about all that has been going on.
VBS At the beginning of the month we had the great pleasure of hosting a group of 38 youth and adults from 3 different congregations in Oklahoma who came down to put on a VBS for our kids and to do some service projects around the church. It rained every afternoon, which made working outside difficult, but they all kept positive attitudes and really left an impact on the congregation. What a blessing it is when you all show such an interest in what is going on in Toluca and when you take the time to come and visit and encourage us! It really gives us all a boost and it seems to do the same for those who come! God is good; our Christian family is wonderful no matter what the language and culture! Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
Marriage course Last week we finished another 8 week course for married couples. We had 10 couples in the course and several of these couples were members of the church, while 4 were new. One of the Christian couples, on the brink of divorce, said that the class had helped them tremendously and they are now on the path to recovery. This course has been a great evangelistic tool and in this class we confirned that while it also brings people to the church, it is also a great tool for church members as well. We all have a lot to learn in this journey of marriage! May God bless us as we continue to participate in this ministry.
Church-wide meeting Last Sunday we had a church-wide meeting on Sunday night to talk about what our weaknesses and strengths have been as a congregation, to mention plans and new strategies that can help us reach our goals of unity and evangelism and especially to give people to chance to personally comment on their part in the body and the committments they wanted to make to ministry. It was a great night with many new ideas and lots of desires to serve. Often we fall into the trap of letting the same people minister and failing to involve new ones with their new passion and ideas. Sunday night opened the door for more people to serve and hopefully will guide us into better organization of ministries and more involvement from all the members. Please pray for this endeavor.
Jorge Akl I also was encouraged Sunday morning by seeing Jorge Akl, the son of one of the first members of the church here in Toluca, Claudia Akl. Claudia has come on and off throughout the years, especially when her close friend Carla Borja is in town, and I had often wondered how her children were doing. When I first came to Toluca, I would sometimes have one of her kids in my Sunday school classes. I didn't get to teach Jorge, but he was in other classes on Sunday mornings. Then as they drifted away from the church, we ocasionally saw her daughter Diana around, but rarely caught glimpses of the boys Miguel and Jorge. At Carla's wedding in April I was astounded to see them so tall and grown up. I would not have recognized them had they not been with Claudia. I can't believe those little boys I had seen in church so many years ago were so grown up! Have I really been here that long? I guess 12 years really shows on some people! :) But I was so encouraged on Sunday to talk to Jorge when he came to church with his wife Paula. Jorge asked about the Bible Institute and mentioned that what he really wants to do is to become a preacher! I was thrilled! I had heard that he, especially of the three, had drifted away during his teenage years and I wondered since we rarely saw Claudia, how the family was doing spiritually. But to know that the seeds planted in children often, though dormant a few years, do give fruit in the end. Please pray for Jorge and his desire to preach. Raúl is meeting with him this Thursday night to study the Bible together, especially about baptism. And please share with all your Sunday school teachers that they may not get to see the fruit of their labors, but that the seeds they plant in little hearts today are so important for who that person may become tomorrow! Praise God for his love and for all the teachers he has teaching children all over the world! (Attached is a picture of Claudia and her children at Carla's wedding... Jorge is the one on the far left.)
ILEB Today marks the start of classes for the 2004-2005 school year in the Bible Institute. We have several new students: new Christians in the church, members who have decided to study more indepth and even some people from outside the church interested in studying the Bible. We are excited that one of the teachers in the Christian school who is not a member of the church is going to study in the Institute as well. |
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Posted 6/30/04
¡Hola! ¿Cómo están, hermanos? Here in Toluca we are doing fine. We just celebrated the fifth graduation from the Bible Institute. There were 9 graduates: 7 from Toluca and a man and woman from the extension school in Arcelia, Guerrero, Mexico. Now that there are just three instructors in the Institute, there is more work to do. Lord willing, we will be able to prepare more instructors for the future. Please join us in praying for this.
Yesterday, Sunday June 20th, we had two baptisms: Arturo and Andrea. Andrea is a woman who has been coming to services for a couple of months with her daughter. They attended the women's retreat that we had last month and were greatly encouraged by the openess and friendship extended by the women of the congregation. Arturo is an older gentleman who had studied the Bible for many years but who had never made the decision to obey the gospel. We thank God for open hearts like those of Arturo and Andrea. We are also so pleased to have been blessed with 22 baptisms this year. Please pray for these new Christians and that they will grow in knowledge and maturity in the Word.
Please also join me in praying for Kim's trip. She will be leaving this Thursday and will be back July 6th. She is going to participate in the spiritual renewal put on by Come Before Winter in Benin, West Africa. We are excited for her and for this opportunity to serve and to learn about God's work in another continent... but we will also miss her. Please pray for her safety and for me and the kids as we stay here in Toluca.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
With much love in Christ,
Raúl, Kim and family.
PS: The pictures are of the ILEB graduating class of 2004 and of Arturo and Andrea. |
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