Growing in Love

Ryan Van Deusen
5 hours ago
4 min read

Updated: 4 hours ago

Hey friends!

Hope you all are doing well! Thankfully, we are too, and getting back into the swing of life and ministry here in Guasave with the new changes. Last month Daniel and Isa moved back to Merida as they expect their first child and felt it was the best for their growing family. We definitely feel their absence, but we understand their needs and trust the Lord with these changes. We do appreciate your prayers as we make adjustments with the worship ministry, women's ministry, and children's ministry.

-Teaching God's Word-

Ryan just finished teaching through the book of Hebrews this Sunday and will be starting on the book of James. On Wednesdays he began going through Proverbs. Please keep him in your prayers to continue diligently carving out the time needed to be in God's Word and prayer, as he also oversees the cafe.

-Worship Ministry-

With the need for worship leaders, Jasper has started singing with Ryan, Maelvi, and Hector. We appreciate your prayers that God would bless this vein of ministry and worship. I (Esther) am continuing to practice at home on the guitar with the desire to hopefully be of help soon and relieve some of the pressure off Ryan's shoulders with all he is currently covering.

-Women's Ministry/Children's Ministry-

With Isa and Daniel no longer here, our women's bible study will continue on hold as I resume leading the children's ministry. I am so thankful for the leadership of Pastor Chuck and Kay who decided to have Kay focus on their children until they were all young adults before getting involved with women's ministry. It sets a very wise standard to trust the Lord's timing and make sure the spiritual needs of our children aren't neglected for the sake of others' needs.

Praise God for the couple other women that help with the children's ministry so that I too can sit in the service and hear the Word being taught. Please pray that God would continue to cultivate the hearts of the children and those of us teaching them, that we would produce the fruit that our Heavenly Father is seeking.

-Police Department-

We are planning to do another outreach this month with the police of Guasave. We appreciate your prayers as we consider bibles/gospel literature to minister to them, and that the Holy Spirit would continue to prepare their hearts that the seeds would be sown in good soil.

On our drive back to Sinaloa, we once again were stopped by a group of fake police which are really cartel agents. Of course, they try to make themselves look like government officials, but by their outfits and the way they handle their "check point" gives them away. What was interesting was how God answered our prayers as we really didn't want any of their body or wallet searches they put us through. As they had us pull off the road and have a male question Ryan, and a female question me. They both fell silent when they asked where we were going and heard us say "Guasave." The women's eyes filled up with dread and both quickly had us get back on the road. From the info we've heard thus far, the cartel in Guasave has been gaining the upper hand in the cartel clashes as they try to come up on top and be the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel. While it was a relief to quickly get back on the road without any issues, it definitely makes it clear that there is a lot that goes on that we are unaware of. We simply continue to pray and ask the Lord for protection and favor where needed.

Just the other day we saw a post on social media of how a local scientist/professor living in Guasave died from his car injuries falling into a large hole in the road that we have passed by countless times (less than 1 kilometer away from our home). These neglectful kinds of injuries/deaths are sadly common here, and without a work of the Holy Spirit in this city, the future of this place is dreary. But praise God for the love and vision that He continues to strengthen us with.

With a year of Virtue going through countless seizures and the affliction of it all, we have learned to not rush into anything. The way it stripped me of strength has caused me to see that truly God gives strength, health, success, etc. and He decides when and how to take us out of the furnace and out of deep waters. And He remains worthy to be followed and glorified with every fiber of our being, and with every breath in our lungs. So, we continue to take time with the Lord for His vision to be renewed in our motives and goals, that we stay faithful, and that our love remains unfeigned and continues to grow and mature for Him, our family, and these precious souls in Guasave. To Him be the glory.

-Ryan and Esther Van Deusen

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