Christmas and New Year

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Things have been very busy around here the last two months, having a baby will do that I hear. We also had a great time with lots of family in December. Alicia's parents came for 10 days to meet Boaz and to help, then my mom and sisters came for the same reasons and to celebrate Christmas with us. They were all a huge help to me because ministry did not slow down over the Holidays. The weekend before Christmas the kids in San Nicolas presented the Nativity to family and people from the town. We also played games, had a light meal with them and I shared the Gospel. It was a great evening and several new people were there. 

The very next day the same kids presented the skit again in the church here in Tequisquiapan. One of the best things about this play was that the kids memorized Scripture because we told the story right out of the Bible. 

We have been having a good number of people come on Sunday evenings. Mostly adults and they are faithful. I am currently teaching on the book of Peter. 

I continue to preach at our local church in Tequisquiapan, one to two times a month. In December I was invited to preach at one of our sister churches in Bernal. 

Andrea, 8 years old, lives a few houses away from the church and is one of our most faithful kids' club and church service attenders. I lovingly call her Andrea because she never comes to church alone, just like Andrew in the bible who brought his friends to Christ. Andrea brings her friends, her cousins and even her uncle. I am pretty sure she had the most guests at the Christmas program too. Andrea had never memorized a Bible verse in all our kids' club meetings, Alicia was hesitant to give her a speaking part in the program for that reason, but we did anyway with a back up for her part. Two weeks later she came to practice with her part totally memorized!! Did I mention that she has learned to read in the past year as well? God is working in the life if little Andrea. 

If you would like to be apart of what God is doing here in Mexico and in bringing more kids like Andrea to salvation please let us know. We are faithfully praying for God to add to our monthly support so that we can continue to bring the good news of salvation to more people here in Mexico. Please contact us if you would like to learn more. Our email addresses are below. 

Enjoy our digital Christmas card pictures below. Feel free to print one out if you would like. 

Prayer Requests and Praises

• Praise that the Christmas program went well.
• Pray that the local church in San Nicolas will grow and establish well.
• Our daily walk with the Lord and our marriage 
• Legal paperwork for all three of us. Alicia is working on her permanent residency in Mexico. Boaz needs his US citizenship and passport as well as his Mexico passport, we have an interview in Guadalajara on the 31st for him. Jorge is working on us Green Card for the US. Please join us in praying for all these interviews and paperwork. 
• Our disciples: Maribel, Isabel, Martin, Fernando and family, Irma and family, Paloma, Jatziry, Eliel, Leo and Rocio. Possible new discipleship with Christian and his family. 
• Christian and his addiction, pray for his salvation. 
• Our monthly support. God is faithful in opening doors and bringing us the support we need to do His work in Mexico. 
• Amealco, a new town that we hope to start working in this year. There are hungry believers there without a pastor and people to teach them more about Jesus and the Bible. 

Thank you for your constant support and prayers. We are truly blessed by each and everyone of you. 

Blessings, 

The Ramírez family 

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

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

Proudly Presenting...

 "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward."

-Psalm 127:3

We proudly present to you...

Boaz Antonio Ramírez Whitmore

Arrived Tuesday November 16th, 2021 at 10:40pm

Weight: 2 kilos 720 grams / 5 lbs. 4oz

Length: 51 cm / 20 inches

Moments after being born

Resting at home in his bassinet 

The happy new family 

Baby Boaz Burrito

Boaz means redeemer, he was Ruth's husband in the bible. When Boaz married Ruth he redeemed her, showing us the same kind of redemption that Jesus gives us through the cross.  Antonio is Jorge's middle name and Jorge's dad's first name. 

Thank you for your love and prayers! We are so happy and are extremely blessed to have our baby here in our arms. God is so good and we thank him for this wonderful gift. 

Blessings,

The Ramírez family 

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

Faithful friends

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness."

Lamentations 3:22-23

Happy fall to all! We have been busy with family and ministry. At the end of August Alicia's mom came down for a visit and we celebrated our baby in Guadalajara with my family. We feel so blessed by all who have showered us with their love. 

Ministry is getting busier as the days go by. We are discipling several people, visiting new families and getting to know more people in San Nicolas. The kids' club is growing and we have several faithful kids each week. Our numbers are between 12 and 16 each week. The kids LOVE to memorize scripture and help their friends learn too. Last week almost all the kids memorized the verse. God is good and we can see Him working in the lives of the people of San Nicolas. 

As Christmas approaches we have started practicing for the Christmas program. The kids are every excited and are quickly learning their parts. They will present the nativity story on December 18 and 19th for all of their families and church members. Please pray for this event, that many will come and many will be saved. 

One of the families from kids' club has allowed us to come and visit them in their home. I shared the gospel with the grandmother who is in her final days. She is very hard of hearing so I basically shouted the good news at her. We had a nice time talking about her life with her and her daughter. The kids are very faithful and soak in everything at kids' club. The parents don't come to church but are warming up to us. Please pray for this dear family that soon they will all come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. Their kids are in the photo below, Fernando and Daniela.

I continue to preach and lead worship at the church in Tequisquiapan. Services are still on line and in person. It is so nice to be back in person and seeing more of our church family. 

The church in San Nicolas has been meeting for 5 months now. We have faithful people who join us every Sunday. 

Time is quickly approaching as we near the date to meet our little baby. My wife is doing great and so is our little one. November 27th will be here before we know it. We are both excited and nervous but every so grateful to God for this blessing. 

Prayer requests

• Continued praters for the church in San Nicolas, that it will grow and establish well. 
• Christmas program in San Nicolas (December 18-19)
• Our daily walk with the Lord and our marriage. 
• Jorge's legal situation in the US, so that we can soon travel to the US. The visa was denied at the beginning of September. God is opening other doors for us. 
• The birth of our baby in November. Healthy and safe delivery for baby and mom.
• Our disciples: Maribel, Irma, Isabel, Eliel, Martin and Roy.
• God's faithfulness in adding supporters to our team. We continue to share what God is doing here in Mexico with family, friends and churches. If you would like to know more about how you can join our team please let us know. We are praying for our current and future supporters, you are all such a blessing to us. 

Thank you so much for your faithful support and prayers! 

Blessings,

Jorge and Alicia 

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

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

 

Busy Summer

"Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me."

John 14:6

What a busy and fruitful summer we had. We started off the fun with a day trip to Word of Life Bible Institute in Bernal to see the kids show. 20+ kids and their parents joined us for this activity. We rented a bus to take us. The show explained the Gospel with pirates, Indians and town people. After the show the actors shared the Gospel again with small groups of kids and also shared with the parents. The kids loved this trip and ask us often when we are going again. This was a great way to get to know some of the parents and share the Gospel with them too. 

Towards the end of July we had a great time at VBS. The theme was "The greatest gift". Over 20 kids joined us for the week. They learned about Jesus and how the gift of salvation is the greatest gift ever! We played games, sang songs, did crafts and as usual their favorite part was memorizing the bible verse. You can see in one of the pictures new friends are helping each other learn the verse. The Lord is good and we see His hand working in the lives of these kids. 

After VBS week we took a group of 20 youth to camp in Guadalajara. Six adults from our church went to serve. My wife and I served in the counseling part. It was a very blessed week. Over half the youth there were nonbelievers and by the end of the week most had accepted Christ or shown interest in learning more. It was a very exhausting week but well worth it for the Kingdom work. 

Ministry in San Nicolas keeps growing and showing fruit. We have a steady 15-16 kids each week at Kids' club. Three members of the Tequisquiapan church have been helping us weekly with the kids. The kids love them. One of the ladies taught the kids a new game to memorize the bible verse, I think it is their favorite time of the day. 

Sunday service is growing. We have more regular people from the town each week. I am still preaching weekly and my wife has her Sunday school class with about 4 regular kiddos. 

Between camp and these weekend activities we have more discipleship opportunities. I have started meeting one on one with two youth from the town and my wife now meets weekly with one of the moms who brings her kids to the kids activities. Thank you for your prayers and support, God is using them in bigs ways in this small town. 

Preaching is one of my favorite things. This summer I was also able to preach a few times in the church here in Tequisquiapan. The church service is still some on Zoom and the majority in person. 

Baby bump update. Alicia and baby are doing great! We are already at 26 weeks pregnant. Baby boy moves a lot and we love feeling him kick and roll around. 

Prayer requests: 

• The church is San Nicolas, that it will continue to grow and establish well.
• Healthy baby and healthy pregnancy for my wife.
• Our relationship with God, that it would grow daily.
• Our disciples; Maribel, Irma, Martin, Roy, Eliel, Isabel 
• September 2-3: I have my US visa interview with the US embassy here in Mexico. We will be traveling to Guadalajara and then to Tijuana. I am very nervous, please pray for me to trust in His plan. 
• We continue sharing with churches, families, and friends about our ministry. Please pray that God would add supporters to our team as we work towards meeting our financial goals. 

Thank you for your prayers and support. We could not do what we do without all of you by our side. Thank you! 

Blessings,

Jorge and Alicia Ramírez

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

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

April, May and June blessings

"The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it."

 Proverbs 10:22

Hello from Mexico! God has been moving and doing great things in San Nicolas these last 3 months. We ended April celebrating the Day of the Child. Two days before this event our permission to use the Community Center was taken away from us. Just in time we were allowed to use the house next door free of charge. God is good!! 30 children and 3 women joined us this day and heard the gospel preached. We had fun singing, playing games, doing a craft, memorizing scripture and learning from God's word. 

Shortly after using this space for the Kids' day activity God provided a way for us to rent the garage area and the kitchen/living room area monthly. This opened many doors for our ministry. One of my biggest and long time prayers was answered with this place. On May16th, 2021 our first Sunday service took place. There were 14 people in attendance. Each week there are new people who join us and a few faithful. My wife does Sunday school with the kids. They are studying King David. Praise the Lord for this answer to prayer. 

That same weekend we began a kids club on Saturday mornings. In this time I play a game with the kids, teach a lesson about the book of Mark. Each week we have the story part and the application part. The kids are starting to understand and are now able to tell me what the application is on their own. My wife sings and does a craft with the kids. One thing that has surprised me the most is how much the kids love to memorize the bible verse we give them each lesson. We have about 10-16 kids each week.  

God is also at work in our local church here in Tequisquiapan. Now that the vaccine has reached Mexico and many of the people in our congregation have it we have been able to open up more and more. There are more people attending in person than on Zoom and soon we will stop the Zoom part all together. I am still preaching about once a month and leading worship once or twice a month. 

Defensores: Youth group. God has done great things with these young people this past year. It was a joy for me to be their youth pastor and see them grow. At the beginning of June we had our first and only in person meeting of the year, it was a special night to remember all that God has done this past year. It was also great to see all the youth in person. We finished the school year and will now take a break for the summer. In the fall I will hand over this responsibility to another man from church so that we can spend more time serving in San Nicolas. 

It is with great joy in our hearts that we share with you that God has blessed us with the blessing to be parents. We eagerly await the arrival of our son in late November. Alicia is doing well besides the normal symptoms of pregnancy. 

Prayer Requests: 

• That the church in San Nicolas would establish and continue to grow. 
• For a healthy pregnancy and baby. 
• Our relationship with God, that it would grow daily.
• For our support raising journey, we are currently at 45% and would like to be at 100% by the end of the year. Pray that God will add more people to our support team.
• Continue to pray for Maribel and Irma. They both are faithful in the bible study and church attendance. Pray for their hearts and their home situations, they are both the only believers in their families. 
• Camp- July 26-30 we are taking a group of youth from our church and leaders/helpers to camp in Guadalajara. Pray for safe travel and for hearts to be open to the Gospel. 
• September 2-3, I (Jorge) have my interview with the US embassy for his visa. Pray that God will grant us the visa so we can travel to the US soon. 
• My (Jorge) English. Understanding and motivation to keep learning. 

Thank you so much for your love and support. 

Blessings, 

Jorge and Alicia Ramírez

jramirez@fim.org

awhitmore@fim.org

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