UTRI News

Hurricane Dolly

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:08:04 -0500

On Tuesday we knew that we were going to sustain a direct hit from Hurricane Dolly. At the time it was a category one but grew into a category two just before making landfall. Tuesday night everything in the valley shut down. You know that when Walmart closes their doors and boards up that you might be in for something a little crazy.

Our team from Praise Assembly Springfield, MO made the decision to ride out the storm here with us. They do not do mandatory evacuations unless the storm is a category 3 and we were confident that we were safe at 50 miles inland. So on Wednesday we woke up and all went outside to find the rain beginning. At 7:00PM the eye passed over Alamo and we had 75 mph winds and heavy rain. We praise God that he protected everyone. Other than some missing roofs, flooded homes and toppled trees, everyone was able to say that they survived the storm at the end of the day.

With the National Guard here to help, the valley has begun the process of clean up. Yesterday was spent helping our neighbors and the elderly with debris clean up and tree cutting. Thank you God for your protection!

Carnival

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:50:51 -0500

Fifty seven of our friends from First Church of God, Greeneville, TN arrived last week to put on an evangelistic carnival for the people living near the dump in Reynosa. We spent 2 days preparing for the event by passing out invitations and going door to door talking to people. The event was held at a baseball field with hundreds of people in attendance. There were carnival games, door prizes, free food, a prayer tent, children’s ministry and constant worship and preaching from the stage. It was awesome!

Outreach To The Valley

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:04:22 -0500

This week we helped host our first Vacation Bible School in Alamo, TX with the help of our friends from First Church of God Bristol, TN. Even though we had torrential rain fall the first few days, our team pushed through the rain, mud and Texas sized mosquitos to share the love of Jesus with kids that really needed it. Thank you Bristol!

We are praying for more opportunities to minister with our teams here in South Texas. With statistics showing that 50% of the children here in the Rio Grande Valley are hungry, we know that there is a real need for help and hope. Please contact me if your are interested in working alongside us here in South Texas.

Families on mission

Thu, 3 Jul 2008 01:20:47 -0500

What a week! We had families ministering to families with a Vacation Bible School, a men’s Bible study and a women’s Bible study all at the same time. To top it off, everyone received a hot meal afterwards from our friend Aurora’s kitchen. Many of the children from Pastor Jonatan’s colonia arrived the first day wearing the shirts they made last year. They definitely remembered their friends from IBC. Lives were definitely impacted this week.

It was such a blessing for our staff to have children here with their parents and to watch them have quiet time together as a family, to minister as a family and to yield to the Holy Spirit as a family. Thank you IBC for your example to us and to the people of Mexico!

Truckin’ for Jesus

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:24:10 -0500

This week our good friends, Jerry Whitener and Ray Gerber, traveled all the way from Indiana to deliver spanish Christian literature, medical supplies, pews and other donated items to help us with our work in Reynosa. Jerry works with World Missionary Press and he and Ray joined efforts with them to deliver (at no charge to UTRI) Spanish New Testaments, Tracts and Bible Study booklets. The pews which were donated by a church in Indiana have already been put to use in two local churches. The medical supplies will be used by our medical team in October as well as given to a free clinic in Reynosa that is always in need of equipment. God is so good to continue to provide us with good friends that desire to serve God every way they can. Thank you Ray and Jerry! Thank you World Missionary Press! And thank you to every person that donated an item, loaded the truck and provided the financing for this effort. May God bless you!