August 2019 Missionary Letter
Updated: Aug 27, 2019
Beloved in the Lord;
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Carmen and I continue praising the Lord for His many blessings toward our family, ourselves and into the ministry to which He has called us to serve Him. I am writing to you all from Jakarta, Indonesia, where I am participating in the General Assembly of the World Reformed Fellowship, institution which Dr. Rick Perin (now with the Lord), Dr. Paul Gilchrist and myself organized about 30 years ago. This week we have celebrated our general Assembly with around 1,500 participants from different parts of the world. Dr. Paul Gilchrist was not with us because of health issues. The meeting was held at The International Reformed Evangelical Church (Messiah Cathedral), here in Jakarta, Indonesia. I have been involved in the development of the World Reformed Fellowship since the beginning in Manila Philippines about 30 years ago. Today we have over 800 members from around the World and it is becoming to be the main "FORUM" to discuss and continue the development of our reformed theology. Please pray for us as we continue facing different issues in the growth of the Reformed Faith.
In a meeting with the Officers of the General Assembly of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, we agreed to work with them in the area of Theological Education. If it is the will of the Lord, they will be using our study program of our "Seminario Teologico Virtual Juan Knox" to be implemented in their Seminaries, and Presbyteries. PRAISE THE LORD!
Also, another good news which I want to share with you is that another missionary couple is joining us as part of our team. They are Guillermo and Jenny Salinas. They have been PEF missionaries in Mexico for over 20 years. Guillermo will be involved in coordinating the new work with the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. Please pray for them. And another good news is that the Lord has provided another special leader to help us in the continue development of our work. Dr. Linda Harley will invest her expertise in helping us in different capacities with the continuing development of our work. Please pray for her asking the Lord to guide her in the development of this work.
Dr. Guillermo DiGiovanna, president of our Virtual Seminary, send information about another group of students that started in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. They are pastors and leaders from Bahia Blanca from different denominations.
Professor David Gomex, from Guatemala, also reports of good progress in the groups of pastors and leaders involved in this country. We will be graduating some of them this coming year. Please pray for the leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Guatemala. They have closed one of their seminaries y Guatemala City. They are asking us to help them as they face difficulties in this area of ministry. If it is the will of the Lord, we will respond to their request by helping in the education of their leaders. Praise the Lord! Please pray for this need; we will need more funds to answer those requests from the field.
From Cuba we received good news also. Two couples, students at the Seminary that we organize in Cuba, ECETE continue working in one of the new house churches organized by them. Three other house churches are being started by other students from the ECETE Seminary, as you know, we have organized this seminary some years ago. Part of their curriculum in the main program in this seminary is Church Planting using Evangelism Explosion tools. They are doing a very good job, praise God.
We still have study groups as part of the Seminario Teologico Virtual Juan Knox in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Barcelona, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, and now we will begin in Mexico. Others will be open soon. Please pray for all these study groups. If it is the will of the Lord, we will open some other study groups in other countries. Please pray for this matter.
Once again, Carmen and I would like to express our deepest gratitude to you all for your prayers and your financial support. May God bless each of you in a very special way. If any of you would like to make a financial contribution to this work, please send it to REF (PEF) in Bristol TN, or you can send to my PayPal account: woodyla1669@gmail.com
Sincerely yours in Jesus,
Woody & Carmen Lajara