Mexico - First Time English Territory

We hope you are all well. We hear Portland is getting some interesting weather, stay safe. We look forward to catching up with all of you in a few months when we come back.

We had the privilege of assisting in some first time worked English territory: A group of about 20 of us met up with a couple from Melaque, Jalisco (the state about 45 minutes north from where we are in Manzanillo) in the town of Cihuatlan, Jalisco where the territory hasn’t been preached to in English yet. It was like being assigned to preach in Unassigned Territory for a day, it was very encouraging.



One experience really stood out to us: Two from our group (Crystal Dobbs and Joan Bryant) were at a door and found a fireman who spoke fairly good English. They had a nice discussion with him and he asked for someone to come back. A couple of doors down the two ran into two other sisters preaching – only they were with the Spanish Congregation. They greeted each other with hugs and excitement. The fireman observed while these 4 strangers met for the first time, hugs and all.

Here are some of the Sisters from Spanish with Joan


The two from English spoke no Spanish and the two from Spanish spoke no English but they wanted to know more about each other so they all went over to the fireman and enlisted him to be their interpreter. The householder was so moved when he realized that they “knew” each other even though they had never met before. He was also very impressed that the message being preached by the Spanish sisters was the exact same message that was being said by the Americans. He was so impressed in fact that he accepted a study from the local Spanish sisters right then and there. This was a real testament to the brotherhood and how our love for one another will show who we really are – Jesus disciples (John 13:34,35).

Crystal and the Spanish Sister who started the study along with the fireman - notice the Bible Teach book in his hands :-)


Emilio Lopez is getting a ride and Juaquin (his Dad to the right) is hungry and tired but no one would give him a piggy back ride


The experience we mentioned is just one example of how the territory is here in Mexico. In fact the English territory is exploding with growth. And the brothers and sisters are responding from all over the world – Europe, Japan, the Americas... to fill this need. The Mexico Bethel Branch is overwhelmed with the response right now. To give you an idea of this, there is a brother in charge of helping the friends find areas that have a need in the English field that also fit the circumstances of the friends wanting to help. Well he is receiving 200 inquiries every day from those who want to be a part of this growing work down here. They can’t keep up with all the interest. And Manzanillo is one of the top places that need help.


A common doggie sight in Mexico

We had a visit from a dear sister and now friend Gloria, who we stayed with in Los Mochis on our drive down to Manzanillo. You may recognize her from one of our previous posts.

With one of our pioneers – sweet and mild mannered Lyndsay Kuhn


Karina Lopez is a delightful, precocious young girl in our hall. And a great snuggler! The fourth member of the Lopez family – Mira the mom is in the first pic above – hugging Karina.


After this encouraging day the group of about 25 of us went to a beach just past Melaque near the territory, called “Boca De Iguana”. An interesting highlight of this was that we had to cross through a 2 foot deep water lagoon, which had a sign saying “Warning, crocodile seen in these waters”. The local English brothers were not worried, so we just went with it. Well long story short – I'm (Dane) now missing my big toe and we have crocodile meat in the freezer :-) No, just kidding nothing happened – besides there were small children with us, they would have been goners first, hehe.





I agree with this shirt Eric is wearing :-)



My buddy Emilio from our congregation and I are playing Frisbee and he is celebrating with a long range "knuckle bump" - sweet.

Some of the wildlife we enjoyed...




This cave had an interesting sight




The wind down after a long service day... Me and my Guinness loving friend Eric soak in the rays. Which is good, you may have noticed my super-white complexion :-)

Emily and her buddy Karina




As far as us goes, we are enjoying the ministry immensely. We really feel Jehovah's hand in the work down here. Our place is mostly set up, enough for us to feel like we can function. We're still getting it somewhat furnished, like a couch, TV, chairs, etc… We're being patient for the right price / deals. We just got two beds for the second bedroom so guests can visit (hint, hint). We just had our two first visitors for one week – Shaye Eller and Elizabeth Peters – they just went home Sunday. It was great to see some of our Portland family. We had a blast showing them some of the sights (some were the first time for us too). Another plus was that they brought us some of our favorite foods from The States including some chocolate and my favorite Sunflower Seeds just to mention a few... We'll have some highlights of their visit in an upcoming post.

We love and miss you all very much. May Jehovah bless you in all that you do.

Much Agape,

Dane & Emily