August-September 2026 

The good hand of his God was upon Ezra. He had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach it.”                                        Ezra 7:9–10 

What is it about this place that it has become a training camp for servants who are answering their call to prepare, study, obey, and teach God’s Word? What was it about Ezra’s place that enabled him to set the example?

The IBBM-Tepic OANSA kids learned this past Saturday that it certainly wasn’t about the place. Only the fittest Jewish hostages had survived Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion, the roughly 900-kilometer desert journey to their new location in idolatrous Babylon, and the ensuing 70-year, well-deserved exile. It was a banishment prophesied by God through Isaiah more than a century prior and reiterated through Jeremiah in the Lord’s sacred scrolls. 

    

Ezra was born in Babylon, decades after Persian King Cyrus conquered Babylon and authorized the first wave of Jews to return and rebuild Jerusalem. He was a scribe and a priest, a descendant of Aaron, and Ezra says of himself that he purposed, like Daniel had before him, to prepare his heart to study the law of the Lord, to obey it, and to teach God’s decrees to his fellow Israelites. That was the task, and Ezra accomplished it only because “the good hand of God was upon him.” He was diligent, and God used him mightily. That’s what God does. 

OANSA-Tepic resumed with the great anticipation of eighty kids chomping at the bit to return! The leaders are an army of diligent servants who have prepared their hearts, studied, obeyed, and are now teaching the next generation of IBBM leaders by both word and example. The theme of our first five-week series is “What Are We Talking About?” We’re talking about where and how we got the Bible in our language; why it is our authority, why it is understandable and a light for our path, why it is necessary, and why it is sufficient. 

And now, like Ezra, we can simply “do what it says,” knowing that the good hand of the Lord our God is upon us, too, to teach it where He leads. 

Three years ago, Mirelis and Hector came from their home in Cuba to IBBM-Tepic for a year-long internship before heading to Encarnación de Díaz, “La Chona,” as church planters. Missionaries from Cuba to Mexico! Praise God that IBBM-Tepic has become known for being like the church at Paul’s Antioch where the Spirit of God could say, “I have a special task for sending all kinds of chosen people beyond your own doors to carry the Gospel.” Pastor Martín and Erén and the church family have the vision to roll up their sleeves, learning and taking part in the process alongside those whom God has set apart to take His Word where it is not known, to carry the Gospel where it is not, and to plant a church where there is none. Mirelis and Hector traveled back to Tepic last week for the first time since they left here two years ago. They have spent the week joyfully reporting on what God has done in a very dark and difficult place. They have prepared, studied, gone, and taught His Word. God’s hand is upon them, and the children and leaders of IBBM-Tepic OANSA generously joined the team, giving them a special offering.

Last Saturday, Pastor Manuel from Zapote de Picachos called to ask us to pray for his brother, Martín, from his natal village of Playa de Golondrinas. Martín has contracted hemorrhagic dengue fever. His family managed to get him down the mountain, to the river, and to Tepic, where surprisingly, he was admitted immediately for surgery because of an intracranial hemorrhage. Though the prognosis is not favorable, his family clearly knows that God has a plan that often does not meet our expectations. 

Pastor Manuel and a team of teachers from his church at Zapote had already prepared to leave for the village of Guásima del Caimán to celebrate the anniversary of the baby church there and to teach the new believers the next lessons in the series of Biblical Discipleship. 

The trek to Guásima is long and requires emulating mountain goats for hours; it certainly is not for novice hikers. Manuel told me that he had determined that there is nothing he can do for his brother while he is hopefully recuperating in the hospital, so the trip will continue as planned. They have prepared their hearts, studied, chosen to obey, and they’ll go, and teach. Manuel said he will see his much-loved brother when he returns, or in Heaven. They have learned, for sure, that this life is not about this life…and the hand of God is upon them. 

And speaking of life, this past week marked three score and ten, plus four, for me. They have truly seemed “but a vapor.” Apparently, some of my sweet friends have learned to use AI; this must have been quite a party! I can only bow my head in thanks that the good hand of our God has surrounded me with an army of self-sacrificing, stuff-sharing, Jesus-loving friends and family. May we all continue together to prepare, seek, do, and teach His Truth where He leads. 

See albums of the past two months' activities here.