Experiments of life

 "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."

Acts 2:47 

Happy Spring! This past month we had several exciting events happen here in Tequisquiapan. 

To start off the fun we had a friends event at youth group. Everyone was asked to invite a friend. We planned special games and lesson for them. It was a good evening of fellowship. It was also encouraging to see the kids invite their friends and their peers that they are praying for.      

On Resurrection Sunday we were able to go to church in person again. Jorge lead the service with reading from the last days of Christ. I sang a special song, "Glorious day" by Casting Crowns. It was a great day celebrating our Savior's victory over death for our sins. 

Experiments of LIFE- our biggest event of the year was the kids' three day activity we did in San Nicolas. These three days we presented the Gospel to 47 kids. We were encouraged and surprised by God is so many ways. The first way was all the help and donations we got from our church family. Also two couples, two ladies and two youth came to help us every day.  Another way was the turn out and the excitement of the kids. We had 20 on the first day, we encouraged them to invite their friends and by the last day we had 47! The kids were not only excited about inviting friends but about memorizing scripture. We told them that there was a prize for anyone who could learn all three verses by the last day. The second day we gave them all the verses and to our surprise 6 kids came the next day with ALL the verses memorized!! Praise the Lord for their desire to learn and memorize His word. We made so many contacts in this week. We are encouraged and look forward to visiting all these families. We are planning another event for the kids on May 1st to celebrate Kids' day. 

Prayer requests: 

• Continue to pray for Maribel, she has been very faithful in her bible study. Pray that she will allow the God's word to change her heart. 
• Irma, a friend of Maribel who had started faithfully joining us at bible study. This week Jorge saw her more engaged and open with us and the lesson. Pray for her salvation. 
• The visits we will make in the next few weeks. That God will open hearts and we will be able to start more bible studies with these new families. 
• Youth group- that the kids will be brave and continue to share the gospel with their families and friends. 
• Discipleship- that our current bible studies in Tequisquiapan will continue to grow in their faith. 
• Jorge's visa- the interview is still set for September. Things are getting better and vaccinations have arrived in Mexico, so this should not change. 
• Jorge's english- he takes classes almost daily. He still finds the language challenging. Pray for his learning 
• Support- people who want to join our team and support what God is doing here in Mexico. Wisdom and creativity to share and meet with people in the US while we are in Mexico. 

Thank you for your prayers and support! God is good. 

Blessings,

Jorge and Alicia Ramírez

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

To give financially: www.fim.org/give/whitmore

January and February update

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever!"

Psalm 118:29

We started the year off with several visits. Two of Jorge's sisters and a nephew visited us for New year's along with his mom. Then my parents visited us for a week in mid January, Jorge's mom stayed long enough to see them and do some tourist stuff with us. We greatly enjoyed all the family time we had over the holidays. 

We are still going strong with youth group on Zoom. The kids are faithful and have so much fun together. This past week we invited their parents for a "family" youth group. Almost all the parents joined us and we had a BLAST! This week the youth started a Biblical challenge where they will earn points for doing different things, bible study, memory work, sharing the gospel and doing service projects. At the end the three top winners will win their week at camp paid for. It is our goal and prayer that they will grow in their relationship with Christ. 

This month we also started an english class in our home. For now we have 4 youth from church two days a week for an hour. The first week we started with letters and numbers and this past week have been working on questions and answers. We hope to be able to use this ministry as a way to reach out and meet new contacts and share the gospel with them. 

San Nicolas- This is the first town we have started doing ministry in. Jorge lived here for a time and was leading a small group bible study. We are doing lots of visiting with some of the contacts Jorge has and started one bible study with a lady (Maribel). We are very excited to see what God has in store for us here. 

Once a month Jorge has the chance to preach at church, he just finished preaching a two part sermon on the Holy Spirit. On the Sundays that Jorge preaches or leads worship we go to church in person. As you can see everyone else attends church from home via Zoom. The pastor has made the decision to not open church to everyone because of the rules the Government has in place and because the majority of the people from our church are older or have heath issues. 

God is at work even in the middle of the pandemic. This month we started a bible study with a family that lives close to us (Benita and Pablo). The wife has been connecting for church several weeks, we invited her over for coffee and to get to know her. Her and her husband are doing the bible study with us. Lots of questions and every eager to learn all they can about Jesus and His word. 

Praise from January! After spending two full days in the immigration office I (Alicia) was granted my temporary residency. This means I don't have to leave Mexico every 6 months!! I can renew it each year here in Mexico. 6 years of leaving the country every 3-6 months, I am very happy to have this residency here. God is good!! 

Prayer requests: 

• San Nicolas- A town of 5.500 people where we have started two discipleships and feel God calling us to reach for His kingdom. One discipleship is with Maribel a mother and wife who is very eager to learn about God, please pray for her husband and son, as well as her grandkids. The other discipleship is with a young man Oswaldo a son and the owner of a store and gym. Please pray for his two brothers and his parents. 
• Youth group- Please pray for the two young men (14-15 years old) who have started giving the lesson. Spiritual growth for all the youth. That these young people will share the gospel with their families and friends. 
• Discipleships- Eliel, teen who Jorge disciples weekly. Abdy, teen who Alicia would like to start a bible study with. Benita and Pablo, married couple with 3 children, new in Christ, learning a lot and struggling to leave old habits behind. 
• Jorge's visa, he has an interview in September! Please pray that this will not change and that the visa will be granted. 
• Jorge's english- that he will be able to share with you all what God has put on his heart and be able to communicate easily. 
• Support- people who want to join our team and support what God is doing here in Mexico. Wisdom and creativity to share and meet with people in the US while we are in Mexico. 

Blessings, 

Jorge and Alicia Ramírez

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

To give finically:  www.fim.org/give/whitmore

Christmas Letter

"The stedfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him."

Lamentations 3:22-24

September 26, 2020 surrounded by friends and family Jorge and I were married on the beautiful beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We were joined by family and friends here in Mexico as well as several around the world via video transmission on youtube. If you would like to see the video of the wedding, follow this link: https://youtu.be/jLovT9F-ofs Thank you to all who celebrated with us and sent blessings and well wishes for our special day! 

God has called us to the beautiful town of Tequisquiapan. It is located in the state of Querétaro. We arrived here mid October and moved in to our new place, we are currently renting. It is close to church and several other things in town. Shortly after moving and getting settled in we were blessed with an SUV. This is extremely helpful in doing ministry since our focus is reaching other towns. We love it here, are quickly feeling at home and enjoying making this house our home. I do greatly miss my friends and disciples back in Puerto Vallarta and the warm weather. 

This year has been very different from all other years. We have had to quickly learn how to use the internet and lots of new technology. Thankfully Jorge has been able to take his english classes all online and the move has not changed anything for him in this regard. We have been able to connect with the church here in Tequisquiapan weekly and the transition was not so overwhelming, this church has been so welcoming and loving towards me. I already have several friends here and even started a discipleship with a mom and her daughter this past month. Since returning Jorge has been put back on the role for preaching and leading the church services and we are participating in the biweekly bible studies for men and women.  Jorge is also discipleing the pastor's son weekly. We have even sang on the praise team twice. 

Jorge and I have been able to connect with several other courses via internet in the middle of the pandemic. The first was the Pastors conference with Word of Life. This normally happens in a warm beach location. However this year they offered the conference via Zoom. We were able to hear several great preachers share the word of God and encourage us. It was a great time as pastors to talk and seek God's word and wisdom in a very difficult time for so many. We were encouraged and refreshed after these days in God's word with other ministry leaders.

After this conference we headed to the "Con tu consejo" conference. This conference is a week long intensive course with three levels of training in biblical counseling. We were able to participate in the level one week. All the classes were sent to us via youtube links and our workbooks we printed out at home. This was a two week long class that taught us basics for biblical counseling. Again we saw how God is allowing us several different opportunities and preparing us for His ministry in the middle of a difficult year. In both of these conferences we were able to connect with people from all over North and South America. God is good.

Another way we are using technology is connecting with the youth. Jorge and I are leaders for the youth group at our church. The youth were very eager to start back up and connect again. We have about 5-10 students each Saturday evening. We play games, sing songs, have lesson time and small groups. At the end of each meeting we have a hard time getting the kids to say goodbye. They greatly miss being with their friends and find this time very encouraging.  

Prayer Requests: 

• That God would allow us to see a church in each town surrounding Tequisquiapan
• Jorge's visa. We are praying for him to have an interview next year and be able to visit all of you next year as well. 
• Jorge's English, so that he can communicate what God has laid on his heart with all of you.
• Contacts in a few towns that would open their homes to us for bible studies. 
• Our new marriage that has just begun. 
• That soon we can have church services in person. 
• Our righteousness before God. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Thank you for all your prayers and support this year. We thank God for each one of you and hope you have a great rest of the year celebrating Our Savior's birth. 

Blessings, 

Jorge and Alicia Ramirez

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

To give financially: www.fim.org/give/whitmore

Summer fun!

 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

The summer was fast and fun! For three weeks in July we had a daily program for the kids. "Walk through the word" We learned all about the story of the Bible and the kids memorized the books of the Bible in order. Many of the kids were new from the families that received food bags. We played games, sang songs, learned the story of the Bible, did crafts and memorized the books in order. It was a fun three weeks and the kids begged for more! It has been such a blessing to pour into their lives the past two years. I will miss them greatly. 

  

One Friday morning Karissa gathered several of the ladies from church to celebrate my upcoming wedding. It was a fun morning of games, words of advice, stories and yummy food. These ladies are very special to my heart and I am so thankful to have had them in my life these past 2 years. 

Other big news from these past few months is that Jorge has officially been accepted as a missionary with FIM!! After a week of distance learning and zoom calls we presented our future ministry to the board. (please let me know if you would like to see the video we made) It went really well and Jorge was accepted that afternoon. Praise the Lord!! Thank you for all your prayers. We are so excited to see what God has in store for us in the future, thank your for your partnership with us in HIS ministry. 

One note of discouragement is that Jorge's appointment for the visa was cancelled because of COVID. We are still praying and talking with the visa office. We are hopeful that in March he can get his interview and then be accepted for the US visa. Please be praying with us. 

It is September and that means it is wedding month!! Exciting times to say the least!! I am currently in Puerto Vallarta continuing with ministry until the 11th. Jorge is back in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro preparing our future home (God blessed us with a house to rent). We understand that several of you would love to join us in person for the big day but can't for several reasons. We will be transmitting the service live on facebook or youtube, more information to follow. 25 days and counting!! 

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. God is so good and has blessed us so much with each and everyone of you! Praise His name! 

Blessings,

Alicia and Jorge 

awhitmore@fim.org or jramirez@fim.org

To give financially: www.fim.org/give/whitmore 

555 S 24th St

Allentown, PA 18104