Please click on the link below to read about what the Lord is doing in Chiapas, Mexico!

Merry Christmas from the Cooks!

PAM newsltr December 2012

December 2012

Dearest True Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Here’s hoping that you have time to listen to Handel’s Messiah again this year, and so contemplate the wonders of the Child that came. (Or if not, attend a Christmas musical nearby!) To start off our holiday season right, we listened after our Saturday morning pancake breakfast to a couple of songs from a Christmas CD, and then read from Isaiah nine. Brings tears to the eyes…

All three of us have been busy, busy, busy unto (what feels to us like) exhaustion–I mean that all we want to do after getting home and finishing our activities is sleep.
According to the Latin Tico custom, I had a Christmas party every day of this past work week, mostly to finish a course of Historical Panorama of the Bible with a Fiesta de Alegría. Therefore I ate “arroz con pollo” and “tamales” as well as our fill of cookies as last Saturday Lydia, Mirlenia and I made about ten batches of Christmas cookies (saving some, of course, in hopes of giving a Christian testimony with small gifts of delight to others around us. )

But at last most of our major pre-Christmas activities are over and we have a chance to slow down to communicate and fellowship once again.

Almost fifty people here in Costa Rica have now read through at least HALF of the Bible using the PHB courses, for many of these it is their first time reading the Bible through. Students have told me that they had no idea of what taking Panorama would involve, and they have never learned so much before in their lives!

Please pray also for my “bus-train tract” ministry. Almost every time I go to the Costa Rican Bible Society I have the opportunity to give a tract to someone. The noise around is usually so great that I can’t go into any intimate details with my fellow seat companion, but I am so hoping that nevertheless, God will use my smile, some kind words, and His Word to save some for heaven.

Lydia is still working on completing her tenth year of high school by internet. Leslie is still working hard at the Pan American School, teaching the children of Costa Rica’s elite. For instance he has the step son of the Nobel prize winner, Oscar Arias, in his classes! Pray for him as in these modern days where almost all Christian beliefs are called into question, Leslie can give a witness as he works in this influential school.

Guess what, all of us (except for Leslie), that is I, Lydia, and even doña Maruja, have been on TV within a year’s time. Costa Rica is that small, and their TV news broadcast coverage is never too far from us. This week the SINEM orchestra that Lydia plays in again performed on TV!

We had the privilege of having my smart and talented niece, Rachel, stay with us for the last three months. Please pray for her as she heads off to Golden Gate Seminary as she seeks to prepare herself even more to be able to fulfill her call to Missions.

We so appreciate any financial gifts that you can send on our behalf for Pan American Missions. Also, we do have a small prayer request, Lydia’s band director has asked her to get another trumpet. She has had two used ones so far, and the current one is on loan basis through January. We are hoping that we can get the funds toward getting her a new instrument.

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting to hear from all of you. So put a picture on Facebook, or send us an email, or even the old fashioned sending of quaint Christmas cards will be sure to delight us and help us not be so lonely from our far-away friends and family.

Merry Christmas. God bless and keep,

(Leslie and) Claudia Gomez

Part of our ministry in Puerto Madero, Chiapas, Mexico, is to help others and give them shelter.

We are currently housing Veronica and her four children: an 11 year girl and three boys ages 9,4,2. We do not know how long they will be with us.
They had been living in with her husband/father in a small one-room house. Veronica left her husband since he was a very lazy and irresponsible man, who simply did not look after their needs and does not want anything to do with the Lord.

Veronica has accepted the Lord into her heart and is very happy here with us. She helps at the mission, and her two eldest children are going now to school. We, Pan American Missions, are able to help her with a a salary of $40 dollars a week. Here at the mission home, she and her family get all their meals and she does not pay rent.

Please, help us pray for Veronica and her children. Also help us pray for her husband so that one day he changes his life and accepts Christ. It is a blessing to see Veronica getting discipled here at the mission, and seeing her relationship with the Lord grow!

We also have Agustin, 23, living at the mission. Agustin is deaf in one ear due to child negligence by his parents when he was a child. He’s so dynamic at our church! He has a deep love for God. He too receives all his meals and helps at the mission and Emmanuel Church.

Thank you because through your support, we are able to provide refuge to those that need it, food, an education, and most importantly, share the love of God while taking care of their basic needs! Families and people come and go from our mission home, and it is our only hope and prayer that once they leave us, they will not look back at their old lives, but embrace their new life in Christ!

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

What a blessing it is to be the son of God and to be able to trust in Him in through all situations!

Yes, the earthquake in Costa Rica this morning was pretty strong, they say above 7.6 in the epicenter (in the Pacific Ocean). Damages or deaths, as far as I know, there weren’t any, at least not until right now. I suppose that there must be affected areas in the Pacific coast.

I was with my group of 18 students in the 7th grade, and the emergency exit to safer grounds was pretty good and organized, although I lost three of my students that got so scared that they ran to the exits without awaiting any instructions.

At home, I had to wait some time since the phone lines get busy, but thanks to the Lord everyone is good, and to Him we owe gratitude, honor and glory. My mom, due to her age, says her legs trembled when she got very nervous.

This week we are going to celebrate Claudia’s and Lydia’s birthday.

Leslie Gomez.

Mission trip temptative schedule
Puerto Madero and Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.
Dec. 27th – Jan. 9th

Thu Dec 27th: Leave from Tijuana in the morning, arrive to Tapachula in the evening. Travel to Puerto Madero, where we will be staying at Pan American Mission’s home for the most part.

Fri Dec 28th: A day to settle, get ready, and explore!

Sat Dec 29th: Visit Peniel Baptist Church in Tapachula, where we will have a mini festival with the members of the church. Our festival will consist of a small devotional, sharing testimonies and worship in English and Spanish, clowns, face painting, and food! We will also be sending a donation ahead of time to this church for a construction project, so we will get to see what was able to be done with our donation!
On our way back to Puerto Madero, we will stop by “Jesus the Good Shepherd” shelter to drop off all the medical supplies, clothing, personal hygiene articles, shoes, blankets and what not, that we gather for them. We won’t get to interact much with the people at the shelter, so this will be mostly a humanitarian project for us to do, if we choose to do so!

Sun Dec 30th: We will attend Emmanuel Nazarene Church in Puerto Madero for a welcome service, in which we will also share some of our testimonies with the congregation, followed by lunch with the church members and activities.
In the evening, we will leave to downtown Tapachula and stay in a hotel to prepare to leave early the next morning to a coffee farm.

Mon Dec 31st: Leave early morning to Finca Irlanda, a coffee farm 3-hours deep into the tropical forest! Settle in, scope the area, go on a tour through the tropical forest, plan our activities and distribute flyers advertising our festival the next day.
In the evening, have a nice New Year ’s Eve dinner with the team and a time to fellowship to welcome the new year, 2013!

Tue Jan 1st: Prepare for our festival. The idea here is to have some awesome-looking clowns, gather all the children up and share the gospel with them using an Evangecub for children, which presents the message of salvation in a unique way. We’d like to share songs with them, hopefully distribute toys and candy, play some games, perhaps a soccer-match (watch out for these kids! They are GOOD), do face painting.
After the festival, we will have a tour through the coffee farm’s factory and learn about how coffee is grown.

Wed Jan 2nd: Leave back to Puerto Madero, visit small pre-mayan ruins on our way there, grab some carne asada and go souvenir shopping!

Thu Jan 3rd: Start our day camp with the youth of Emmanuel Church at 9:30 a.m., until 1:30 p.m. Alongside with the youth ministers of the church, we will put together some cool, team-building games, also share in small groups with them, and have a small devotional. The theme of the day camp still needs to be assigned by the Pastor of the local church. We need two speakers per day to be our guest speakers 
In the evenings, at 6:00 p.m., we will have evangelistic services to which everyone in town will be invited. We will share a message, worship, and our testimonies with the congregation. Be prepared, these services last at least 2 hours long. 

Fri Jan 4th: Day camp in the morning, and evangelistic service at night.

Sat Jan 5th: Day camp in the morning, and evangelistic service at night.

On Saturday evening, we will have a HUGE festival at the central park of Puerto Madero. There we will also share testimonies, our talented people will be able to be a part of a talent show and skits, and other activities. The purpose here is of course, to bring Jesus to the streets as well to try to reach out to new people to Christ! We expect hundreds of people to be there.

Sun Jan 6th: Attend morning service at Emmanuel Church, conclude our day camp, and enjoy of the good-bye program planned for us.

Mon Jan 7th: Leave at 5am to San Cristobal de las Casas. It’s 7 hours away from Puerto Chiapas.
We get the day to explore the colonial-style town, souvenir shopping, etc.
San Cristobal, believe it or not, gets ridiculously cold in the winter. PREPARE!

Tue Jan 8th: Cielo y Tierra Tours will take us on a phenomenal and one-of-a-kind Tour to San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan, Chiapas. Here, we will get to experience first-hand how the indigenous communities of Chiapas still live today, and will get to interact with them. A
San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan, considered to be part of the highlands of Chiapas, is where the persecution of Christians takes place today. (Don’t worry, we will not be in danger, since we will just be tourists!).
If you want to read detailed information and reviews from worldwide tourists that have visited these places about what this tour has to offer to you, I strongly encourage you to read ALL the reviews provided to you in the “Cielo y Tierra Tours” handout. It’s also in our facebook group page! This will give you an idea of what to expect when you visit these places.

Wed Jan 9th: We have the morning to enjoy San Cristobal. We will flight out of Tuxtla Gutierrez in the afternoon, and head home!