March 2023 Prayer Letter

Before we give you our report on the ministry, we want to thank the Lord for you. You are a special blessing to the Ashcraft Family and Mount Hebron Training ministries. Thank you for taking the time to pray for us. Prayer is a missionary’s lifeline. Without prayer, we are powerless in the face of the enemy, the Devil. Your prayer sets a compass of God’s protection around us. We know that God has sent angels to guard our daily ministry and we know that it is because of your prayer.

We are in a strategic season of ministry. This is a bit of a “downtime”. There is not a lot of hustle and bustle aside from the routine work of serving people. However, this is a time of planning and preparation. In a few short weeks, there will be a burst of activity. Please pray for our upcoming Spring Program. We are praying for the Lord to allow us to preach the Gospel to 5,000 people and see hundreds baptized. The Lord has put in our hearts to have a big day on April 16th with a goal of 1,000 in church and scores baptized on that day.

We have a list of projected expenses for this campaign and estimate it will cost $2,079 US Dollars. Our church on the mission field is going to give a large chunk of the money needed for this. This list of expenses includes renting additional buses and vans, the cost of gasoline for transportation of workers (we are paying $5 US Dollars per gallon here in Monterrey!), and the cost of printing 21,000 tracts for the week.

Please consider giving an offering toward this need. Thank you!

Last Wednesday we had many visitors to our mid-week service, as usual. After the service, a visiting couple approached me and asked if they could get some counseling. I directed them to my office. They were dealing with some difficulties and our time together was helpful to them. After going over the plan of salvation and explaining baptism, Luis and Maria followed me back to the auditorium where a custodian had to unlock the doors and turn the lights back on so we could see. While they were getting ready to be baptized, I sent for the Bible institute students so they could be witnesses, and at about 11 p.m. my assistant, Bro. Carlos baptized Luis and Maria. What a thrilling experience! Luis and Maria, both were emotional — a mixture of tears and laughter!

On Thursday afternoon I invited them to join Jenny and me for discipleship, along with Froilan and Lidia, another couple I have been discipling. I gifted them each a Bible and we spent about an hour teaching them about God’s Word. After discipleship, they went soul winning with us!

These are sweet experiences that make any difficulty in the ministry worth it!

Please pray for Jenny and me as we continue to win souls, baptize converts, and make disciples. Please pray for us as we train nationals to plant churches.

You are very special to us. If you are on our prayer letter list, we pray for you!

Thank you for the time to read this letter.

Jonathan AshcraftComment