Report on Mexico, David Alves Jr

Now, we're going to read a verse that is very well known, but there is something there very simple that I've been thinking about, which has encouraged me as we've labored in Mexico. It is a title, a name that is given to the Lord. We'll read in Luke chapter 10, verse 2. You have similar words in Matthew chapter 9, but we'll read here in Luke, Luke chapter 10, in verse 2. This is just before the Lord is going to send these 70 disciples to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

And it says in verse 2, Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great. And much could be said about those few words there. The harvest is truly great.

And it is overwhelming to think of the need that there is. We wouldn't need to go too far. There are still many here in portage that are yet without Christ.

But the Lord Jesus continues and says, But the laborers are few. And that could also be something that could take us in our minds to dwell on this and to think of the lack of laborers, men and women, that would share the gospel. But the Lord Jesus says, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest.

And as I relate to you what God is doing, I would just simply want to share something about this name of our Lord. He is the Lord of the harvest. And I trust that we would be able to learn something of Him, even in what He is doing in the gospel in other countries and here at home.

He is the Lord of the harvest. It is very encouraging and comforting that He is the Lord of the harvest. How miserable and terrible it would be if it was up to us and it was our responsibility.

But how thankful we can be that even in this day, thousands of years have passed since the Lord Jesus died on the cross, and yet He is still very interested in the gospel that is being preached in every nation. I would like to see, first of all, His promise for the harvest. Christ referred to the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father.

He encouraged the disciples to stay in Jerusalem because the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit was to come, and then they would be able to go out and preach the glorious gospel of Himself. The Lord Jesus was to die on that cross. On the third day, He would rise again from the dead, and then when He had reached His home in heaven to be with His Father eternally, the Holy Spirit would be sent.

And what a promise that was. We know that the Holy Ghost, His responsibility is to reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And we are very thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit and what He is seeking to do in convincing many in this world that they need to recognize their need of sin and to trust the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

And maybe there is someone here in this meeting that throughout this conference the Holy Spirit has been convincing you of these truths, and we trust that you will be saved. Well, we know that the Holy Spirit is also seen by John. He would say at the beginning of His gospel that as many as received Him, referring to the Lord Jesus, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.

And John lists a number of things in which that does not take place, and he says, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And they are referring to the work of the Holy Spirit. Now I would like to share with you how He has been working in Carmen from the beginning of the work there.

You would see there the state of Campeche. There's a little strip. It's an island, and it's called Ciudad del Carmen.

Brother Dave, that was very good pronunciation. But I would like to just share something with you before I go to Carmen. On June 5th of 1988, my parents moved to Puerto Vallarta on the other side, a 20-hour drive right here to Puerto Vallarta.

And I had the privilege of being raised in an environment where others were being convicted of their sin through the Holy Spirit. And yet I wasn't saved. But I thank God that at the age of 13, there in front of a little hall where I would listen to Bible lessons given to us in the vehicle of my parents there on my own, the Holy Spirit reproved me of my sin.

He convinced me of righteousness and of judgment. And there I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. And then I had the desire to be baptized and received into the assembly.

And God had His ways, and He allowed very graciously for me to be a very little part in the work there in Carmen. I was up in Iowa helping the assembly there. They have a number of Mexicans, Hispanic people that live in that town and are in the assembly.

And I was conversing with a man, Mario, and he explained to me that he had his family, his relatives, and friends in this city in Carmen. I had been raised in Mexico. I had lived most of my life in Mexico, and yet I had never heard of this city.

And I talked to an elder in my assembly, and him and I were able to travel there and visit this city. And we visited this man's family, and we were there in April and then in August of 2007. And in some little ways, the Spirit of God was working in those short visits that we made.

There were a couple of people that professed to be saved. There was a woman named Marquesa who would walk long distances to come to the little house meetings we were having. There was a lady by the name of Concha who, with tears on her cheeks, would recognize that she had never heard the gospel.

So it was quite touching to be in a part of Mexico where there had been no gospel activity as we would know it. And we attribute it all to the work of the Holy Spirit and what He was doing. Thank you.

Okay, I didn't get that. Are you sure this is? Okay. So Puerto Vallarta, and there's Carmen.

And the Spirit of God then had worked way before we had ever been there, so we are thankful for that. In December of 2007, the Lord opened the way for there to be a series of gospel meetings there and a distribution of texts. And I'm very thankful for people like Ross who were there at the beginning.

They were a great help. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries and others, a group from Venezuela, and other people from Mexico and from other countries that came and helped us. And we rented a little home where we had these series of meetings.

Right across the street from where this house is, we live in that house right now. The assembly now meets in a hall. But there's a little corner store and it's called The Blessing of God.

And there weren't multitudes coming to the meetings. There weren't many people that were attending the meetings, but God was working. And we are thankful for the dealings of the Spirit of God and people that were so needy in a spiritual way.

Carmen is a city where, on the side of Mexico, there would be about just over 200,000 people on this island. Obviously, there would be a lot of fishing, but over the years, this has diminished because of one of the reasons they would say is there are 400 oil rigs in this part of Mexico. And that has caused the fishing industry to go down quite a bit.

But we saw God working there in those meetings. And I would just like to share with you a few people that were there and how their lives were changed, obviously, through the help of the Holy Spirit. During those meetings, there was an old lady.

Her name is Elsie. Elsie had had a very hard upbringing. When she was only 13 or 14 years old, she was forced to be locked up in a house.

And men would come and use her in a very terrible way. And just for you to have in mind what kind of a home she was brought up in, her own father came to that house. And he was surprised to see that his own daughter was there.

And he rescued her from that. And Elsie lived a life in sin. She looked for answers in a movement that we're going to talk about later on, the Pentecostal movement, and Dan was mentioning this yesterday.

She had been a Catholic, and then she had been attending with these people, and she was saved in those meetings. And we're thankful for the way that God has changed her life. We think of a couple that has been a tremendous help in the work there in Carmen.

Their names are Fausto and Martha. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffries met their daughter, Laura, and Laura showed an interest in the gospel, and then this allowed the parents to hear the gospel. Fausto had been brought up in a small indigenous community in the center of Mexico, near Mexico City, in a city called Puebla.

At a very young age, he was able to make quite a bit of money, but that wasn't good for Fausto. He became to be very addicted to alcohol, and he lived a life of sin. And just two months before we went to Carmen with the gospel, obviously not a coincidence, but God had moved Fausto and Martha to Carmen.

They had lived in a city nearby. They wanted a change. They were tired of the lives they were living, and they started to come out to the meetings, and they listened attentively, and short after that, they were saved.

And they have been a great asset to the assembly there. So, we are thankful. Yesterday, someone was mentioning that they're thankful for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and that is something to be thankful for.

But we're very thankful for the activity of the Holy Spirit in the harvest. And in such a loving and tender way, He convinces men and women of their need to be saved. And then, just a few months after that, those meetings went on for 19 weeks.

In the month of April, there was another series of meetings that lasted a month, and a young believer, Raul, he was already attending the meetings, and he went to school with a young man, Abraham. And we talked to this family, and we invited them to the meeting. Abraham came out for the first time.

His family was not very interested in the gospel. His mother, a middle-aged woman, had lived a lifestyle that is not ordinary for a woman. And I won't go into the details of that, but the Spirit of God was working in her.

And slowly she gained confidence, and she was able to come out to the meetings. And God worked in their souls, and they were saved, and they have turned out to be believers that have also been a tremendous help to the work there. Not only does the Spirit of God in the harvest convince you and I, and everyone that is to be saved of their need to be saved, and we know that He does not reveal Himself, but He reveals the man of Calvary, and He guides people to Golgotha, and He helps them understand the substitution, the substitutionary work of Christ there.

But how marvelous it is as well that the Spirit of God is the one that gathers these believers to meet to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read that in Acts chapter 9, that the Spirit of God was aiding the churches throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and they were edified, and they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. And it was very precious to see that group of believers saved, and to teach, and there was Dan and other missionaries from Mexico that came, and I'm very thankful for their help, that came for short visits.

And the truths of baptism were explained, and it was a joy to see these new believers, these young believers, obeying the Lord in this manner. Elsie, the old lady that I mentioned, the old sister, when she was being baptized and when she was brought up, at the beginning of the work, we had no baptistry tank in the house, obviously, so we went to the ocean, it's an island, so there's a lot of water around us, so we would go to a nearby beach, and when Elsie came out of the water, she was singing, At the cross, at the cross, and I don't sing this often in English, and I've forgotten the next, where I first saw the light, and the burden of my soul rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day.

Is that it? I don't know. But it was a joy to see that, and in July of 2008, just seven months, maybe a bit too early, a bit too late, I don't know, but the Spirit of God had worked in the lives of these believers, and they met for the first time to break bread. There was a brother that was so nervous about us breaking bread for the first time that he asked me, David, would there be a possibility that we practice this before we actually do it? But that same brother got up, not at the practice meeting, but at the real meeting, and it was very precious to hear him read Isaiah 53.

And these believers had changed their habits, they had gotten married, many of them lived in common law, they had left addictions, that didn't come easily, and they were now starting to read their Bibles. Very precious to see them gathered to the name of Christ and to honor Him. Now I'm going to go back to Carmen in a bit, but I would like to move on.

In, I think it was July of 2009, we traveled to a very small town right about there, the name of it is Emiliano Zapata. And just with what I have tried to keep in mind throughout this message, long, long before we went to Zapata, God was already working. There was a man named Alfonso, and 30 years before we visited that town, surprisingly, though he was a Catholic, and he was at a Catholic meeting, he was able to understand that Christ had died for him.

And 30 long years went by, and he knew that he was not in the right place. He became very antagonistic towards those that would come and try to share the Word of God with him. And it has been very neat to see how the believers in Carmen, some of them have helped with the work there.

It's about an hour drive. And a young brother, and I see the penners here, they were also a tremendous help in the work here. We're thankful for them.

I was up getting married when this work started, but the believers there in Carmen had gone to visit. I had gone there only a couple of times to have a house meeting. But the believers in Carmen went over, and they had a meeting in the town square.

There's only about 700 people there. And only three people attended the meeting. And I hear this a lot, and you are not to blame, but I just want to comfort you that it is difficult, not only in Portage or wherever you are from.

You are not the only city or town where small numbers are seen of unsaved at the meetings. You come to the south, and there are many, many people that are not saved, and yet there are many people who are not interested. But out of the three people that attended, one of them was Conchita.

And that led to us being able to preach in the home of Alfonso. Alfonso is her husband. But the Christians went, and they tried to visit them, but Alfonso was very reluctant.

He really had no interest. But it was a joy. In the other home we were having the meetings, it was a joy to see them come out.

And Alfonso came out with his wife. This is a man in his late 50s, I would think. I've never asked him how old he is.

His daughter Martha, maybe in her 30s, came out, and she brought her daughters along and other family members. Anyways, this has turned out to be a nice little family that has been one for Christ. And they have a desire to keep going on for the Lord.

Now, something very interesting about comparing Carmen and Zapata. Carmen, as many other cities in Mexico, would be very Catholic. Carmen is actually a name for the virgin that they venerate in that city.

There are hundreds, I don't know how many, but there are many, many representations of the Virgin Mary whom they would worship. So, I mean, I wouldn't say there would be other cities in Mexico that would be more Catholic per se than Carmen, but it would be Catholic. Once a year, all the fishermen go out in their little boats into the ocean, and they transport the idol of this woman out, and they do their thing.

But now, Zapata would be very different. Even though it is a very small town, the Catholic hall is a very small place, and I haven't seen too many people there. Now, I want to be careful with anybody who would be in the meeting today, but I believe with all my heart that Satan has used Pentecostalism to blind people from the truth.

I don't know what it is like up here, but in Mexico it seems to be very, very, very contrary to the Word of God. They are enslaved to believe that their tithes will get them to heaven. Baptism, and you know it.

There's actually a man that has just begun to preach not too far from us where we meet in this home, and he's there with a very loud speaker. My dad is actually there, and he told me a few days ago that he was yelling that we were the legalists. And it is very sad to see most of the town corrupted by this false doctrine.

Not Catholicism, but these other teachings that they have received. And in some ways it is harder to see them reach with the gospel than a person who claims to be a Catholic, because really they are not very faithful or devout to that. The Lord had us somewhere else.

There were things that took place which kept us from being in Carmen for some time. And while we were away, the believers in Carmen traveled to Zapata, and they saw the joy of seeing five of these believers baptized. So it's encouraging to see, even in that little town, people that are desiring to be baptized.

I was there when the believers were interviewed. Fausto and I sat down and we talked to them. And Alfonso, the man whom I have mentioned, he told us how he was saved.

And after, at the end, I don't think he had ever heard any ministry on what an assembly is. And with tears he said, I long for the day when there is an assembly in Zapata. And that is obviously the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now, I don't want to confuse you, but in order to explain this work up in the next state in the northwest, this is Yucatan. This is the state of Campeche. Campeche is the capital.

Carmen is here. Yucatan is right here. The capital of this state is a city, Merida.

Maybe you have heard of it. It is a very large and prosperous city, very nice city. Just an hour from Merida, maybe about there, just across the border into the Yucatan, there is a very small and rural town called Paraiso, the word for paradise.

But I have to take you back in time and take you to a country that is very far from Mexico. And this is another evidence of how it is the Spirit of God that works in what we are doing. Over there in Yugoslavia, John Chauvin was born from a Slovakian background, brought up in a Baptist home.

He was saved, and at the age of 12 years old, his family moved to Argentina because of the political turmoil there. He learned Spanish, and then his family moved to Leamington, Ontario. Down in Paraiso, there was Eduardo.

Eduardo had been brought up in a Pentecostal home. His father was a pastor. He doesn't know how to read, but he is a pastor.

He was very involved in playing with the band and going around several towns there in the south of Mexico, and he was very much so into this denomination. But about 10 years ago, he started working up in Canada in the farms. The first year, he went to B.C., and then God took him to Ontario, and John Chauvin shared the gospel with him.

And Eduardo found out he wasn't saved. And shortly after that, he trusted Christ as his Savior. Could I just remind each one of us that we are completely unaware of the potential that there is in sharing the gospel with someone, and how God arranged all the circumstances.

And though it sounds complicated in our minds, it was all guided by Him. Some time passed, and John and Eduardo would travel back to Mexico. Eduardo works in Canada, here in Canada in Ontario, for about eight months a year.

And they started sharing the gospel with friends and his family. And there were a few that were saved. And then the Spirit of God led John and Eduardo at the same time to discover the truth of the assemblies.

They received an invitation to tent meetings in Leamington. I think it was. And John discovered that these people were practicing New Testament principles.

And so then, Eduardo went back to Mexico wanting to convert his family. They were obviously not saved, but he was trying to teach them New Testament principles, and they wanted nothing with it. He was very excited.

He stopped by to visit me, because it is on the way. But his family, at the end, had no interest in what he had to say. So Eduardo decided that he would have meetings in his own home.

And just a few months ago, I was able to travel there for the first time. And baptism was... They had professed to be saved, so baptism was taught. And with the background that they had and the confusion that there is, with the help of God, we helped them with that.

And Eduardo called me up, and he said that there were some that were interested in obeying the Lord. So we went over, and it was a tremendous joy to see these believers obeying the Word of God through baptism. This is a very Mayan town.

The people actually speak broken Spanish. Their first language would be Mayan. That's what they would be most comfortable in.

When we were talking to the two older ladies that wanted to be baptized, Eduardo had to translate for us because they don't know very much Spanish. And I just think what joy it brings to the heart of God to see people that were once steeped into human sacrifices, blinded by the devil, such a cruel and devil-led civilization, and now they are trying to obey the Word of God. A man, Luis, his wife had attended the meetings, but Luis was completely uninterested in the Gospel.

He devoted his life to drinking, and he even threatened his wife Alejandra that he would kill her. She came home one time, and he was sleeping in the hammock, and he had a machete under him. But God slowly worked in his heart, and Eduardo went over to visit him, and Luis was marvelously saved.

Every Friday we travel there. It is a four-hour drive. It is a long drive, but we feel a need to help them.

Eduardo is not there, so that makes the need even greater. Eduardo is right now in Ontario. He is hoping that this will be the last year that he will be there, and we pray that there would be an assembly there established, if it is the Lord's will.

And just, I am almost done. But believers in Puerto Vallarta have relatives in the city of Cancun. I assume that a number here have been there before.

But just shortly, we went there in December for three days, and we had meetings in the house of Jose. And one morning, there were very, very, very few people that came to those meetings. But one morning, we were having breakfast there in his home, and he was talking like if he had accepted salvation.

And so we asked him, Jose, are you saved? And he explained how the night before, he had been talking to Moses. And if you know Moses from Puerto Vallarta, he likes to stay up late. And he had stayed up late with him, explaining the Word of God to him, and Jose understood that Christ had died for him.

His wife and his children had no interest in the Gospel. We went back in May, at the beginning of May. There was a few that came from Edmonton.

We distributed 5,000 texts, and only two people came out one night. But we had these meetings. He was very kind in inviting his family, and they came to hear the Word of God.

But that is too far, and we really can't. It's a seven-hour drive for us, and that is too far, and we already have a lot in our hands. Just two things before I end.

We have thought for a minute of the promise of the Lord in the harvest. We're thankful for the promise, the Holy Spirit. But I'm very thankful for His possession of the harvest.

For we have read, He is the Lord of the harvest. So when we think of that title, of our Lord, of our God, it is obviously something that is in His custody. It is something that is owned by Him.

And all this is in order to bring praise and honor to Him. And those words in Jude are so beautiful. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.

And how beautiful it is to think that if it's here or in Mexico or wherever it would be, that God is working. He is saving people. He is forming assemblies for His own honor and glory.

And it is even more beautiful to think that that will not end in eternity. God will always find pleasure in what He has seen done. You think of the Lord Jesus, and He shall see the travel of His soul, and He shall be satisfied.

Now, when we think of Him being the Lord of the harvest, this also makes us think that He oversees all things. That all things in the harvest are subject to Him. That each and every situation, whether it be great or small, whether it be important or insignificant in my eyes, it is all regulated by Him.

Now, in the three and a half years that we have been down there serving the Lord, one thing that we have had to learn, and we have much to learn from, I'm not here speaking from experience. There are many others here in the meeting that could share many more stories. People that have shared the Gospel with others that are not necessarily commended.

But although He possesses the harvest, that does not mean that everything will be smooth or effortless or untroublesome. Obviously, I'm not insinuating that we find carelessness on behalf of God. Oh, God is very interested.

He would have all men to be saved. And He desires to see His children go on for Him. We obviously are not suggesting a lack of power in God.

We find much power at the cross for those of us that believe. But there are reasons for the difficulties and the trials that take place. And God is teaching us a few things that we need to learn.

And it is difficult to see a lack of spiritual maturity in some of these new believers. It is encouraging to see some that are going on for the Lord, but how discouraging it is to see them saved and to see a tremendous potential ahead of them. And yet they make decisions in which they will waste if they do not recover or are restored the rest of their lives.

I don't know if this will concern you, what I'm going to say, but this is how I view it. And if you are in disagreement, you can let me know. The devil has used materialism as a tool to distract people from the Gospel up here in North America.

You would agree with that. But the difficulty with believers, which I am speaking for the work that we are involved in. I'm not speaking for all of Mexico.

We're so far from most of the works that we hardly know some of them. But just think of the environment that a believer is brought up in, in poverty. Some of them don't even know how to read.

Those that do know how to read, I don't think I would know one person who has finished a book from front to cover in our area of Mexico. And just think of how that makes things perhaps a little more difficult. We need to rely on men to be raised, to be elders.

We need to rely on these men to raise and be teachers of the Word of God. I'm talking that it took a year or two to have men that could clearly preach the Gospel. And you think, well, that is impossible.

That is something that we face. But we go back to the same. And we are thankful for the dealings of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

And we're thankful for some that can get up and give a decent little word to help others. And in that environment that they're brought in as well, there's a complete lack of stability. And this is not to offend.

I love Mexico. I was brought up there. And I'm quite sensitive when somebody speaks negatively in Mexico.

But that also is a tremendous difficulty to see a consistency in the lives of these believers where... Well, I won't go into detail. I'll leave it there. But we are thankful for the help of God.

It is also very difficult to share the Gospel. Yes, there are assemblies in Mexico. And yes, there are laborers.

There are many souls that are yet not saved. But I tell you, there aren't very many that come out to our Gospel meetings. I don't know what it's like in the other parts of Mexico, but the assembly in Carmen, we have had to start having house meetings.

Every Wednesday the Gospel is preached in someone's home because people will not go to the Gospel hall. The believers are very keenly interested in going out every Sunday after the ministry meeting to invite people. And yet, very few come out.

And yet, it has been very nice to see a nice little number gather in these house meetings. But He is in possession of it. And He is in control of it.

And that is something in which I should just simply rest. And He is blessing. I don't want to be a pessimist.

All things are not terrible. But I don't want you to go from this meeting thinking that there is just a tremendous interest in the Gospel and that these believers are just living for the Lord like you've never seen before. We are thankful for the blessing that we do see.

Now, I would just like to end with His presence in the harvest. I remember three years ago, I went to Carmen. And there were 30 young people that came.

That was nice to have around. Then the group diminished to a few Venezuelans and Ross. Then the Venezuelans left and it was only Ross and I. And I remember taking Ross to the airport and going through those doors.

And those were hard days. A lack of experience. A lack of maturity.

A lack of wisdom. And yet, the devil was so interested in bringing this encouragement to our hearts as we have heard this weekend. There was a moment, and I'm just saying this in order to be of a help and an encouragement to someone who perhaps is going through this.

I don't know your difficulty. I don't know your trial. But I was so overwhelmed with the need and the responsibility that I booked myself into a hotel.

And I desperately needed time with my God. And you know Him very well, but the Lord used Him from my heart. Very known words.

My reading was in Joshua. Be strong and have good courage. And we're thankful for the presence of the Lord in the harvest.

I'm thankful for Penelope and for her company and for her help in the work. After being in Carmen for I don't know how long it was, a year and a half maybe, we were married. But there have been some experiences which we have gone through, and I'm not Mr. Experience up here.

There are men here that I respect and I look up to. But in our young age and in our very short time there, there have been things that have really been a trial to us. We sing it in Spanish.

I don't know if you sing it in English, but we have been blessed by the words of a hymn. And I remember after one incident which is a tremendous trial for us, there sitting down, we thought of those words. Where He may lead me, I will go.

For I have learned to trust Him so, and I remember t'was for me that He was slain on Calvary. Jesus shall lead me night and day. Jesus shall lead me all the way.

He is the truest friend to me for I remember Calvary. And those words are so well-known, and yet they're so close. They're so comforting.

Lord Jesus said to His disciples when He would go to heaven, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. And there's discouragement. There are difficulties.

And we can be comforted by the promise in the harvest. We can certainly be encouraged by the fact that it is a possession of His. But it is very, very encouraging to know of His presence in the harvest.

And I just simply ask that you would pray for the assembly in Carmen, that elders would be raised, more people saved, that the assembly would be established, and that those little works in Zapata and Paraiso, that the Lord Jesus would be honored, and that believers would gather to Him in those places. And I can't get off of this platform without asking you to pray for laborers. And there's a tremendous need.

John and Rebecca are... I don't even know my geography very well, but maybe somewhere up here. Huh? Higher? Yeah, I guess it's only close to Hidalgo. They're seven hours away from us.

And there's a need in the south. There's a tremendous need. There are four states, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo.

We have talked a bit about these three states, and yet there's a tremendous need in the south of Mexico. And we trust that this very simple report on the work of God has been an encouragement to you, that it has blessed you. Most of all, we do trust that as He has, we trust that in the future, the Lord Jesus will be lifted up on high.

And it will be quite a day to be gathered in the clouds with Him, and to be with Him eternally, and to praise Him. Each one of us, saved from different backgrounds, from different countries, from different cultures, and yet our sight will be eternally placed on the Lord Jesus, for He is worthy.