Rejoicing in His Birth!
A very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to you! At the close of 2009, my first year serving in missions, I find
myself constantly thanking the Lord for all of you, and your constant faithfulness in prayer and your abundant generosity.
I have been incredibly blessed and privileged this past year to serve our Savior in our brothers and sisters living in northern Mexico. What an immeasurable gift it has been to be called to live with and love the Father’s favorites, out of my own poverty and weakness. Since my last newsletter in September, John-Paul and I were able to go on pilgrimage to Mexico City to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe, and then to visit our missionary family at Big Woods in Louisiana for a week before returning to Mexico. We returned in the first days of October to work an hour from our previous post in Saltillo, in the small desert town of General Cepeda, Family Missions Company’s oldest mission post. We worked under the direction of the two priests in that parish, attempting to meet the spiritual and material needs of the poor in the town and in the surrounding desert communities or ranchos. Each morning we were blessed to eat breakfast with the priests and fellowship with them and then begin our day of ministry, study, and prayer. It was such a great joy to experience this beautiful exchange of friendship and brotherhood with these amazingly holy priests. John-Paul and I spent our first two weeks sorting and giving out used clothing to the poor in over 35 ranchos as well as spending time visiting and praying with the sick and the homebound in town. We also helped each Saturday to bring twelve young catechists to two of the ranchos, and played music for the children and helped give catechism. In the evenings we found ourselves playing guitar and sharing our testimonies in many small prayer groups and we quickly became part of a beautiful family. As much as we tried to bless those we were working with and sharing with, we constantly found ourselves more abundantly blessed by them. We were daily invited to share meals with families from all over town, and we learned the joys of generosity and community. In those we ministered to, we found Jesus, disguised in their hurt, suffering, and poverty, and at the very same time they filled us with joy, smiles, and laughter even amidst difficulty and poverty.
In November the Lord increased our family, bringing the seven new FMC Intake missionaries to us for three weeks as the final part of their three month formation. We were so blessed to lead them in the existing ministries and welcome them into the Mexican family of General Cepeda that had welcomed us. It was so amazing to see the missionaries bloom with the opportunities put before them to serve and love the poor and to give testimony in the evenings at the ranchos. Each night we would head out to the ranchos after a full morning of ministry and formation, to praise and pray with the people, share testimonies and preach the Word, and finally to pray over them for healing and conversion. We also had a Born in Spirit retreat for the Intake missionaries, and John-Paul and I each gave a session and I led the music throughout the retreat.
Over Thanksgiving and then in the second week of December, I was blessed to be able to staff two short term mission groups, translating, leading the work projects, and preaching in the ranchos. With both groups we were able to build two bathrooms and do two roofing projects during the two weeks, and to meet many other medical and spiritual needs of the people who came to the door of our house. Both groups were highlights of this year for me and I was so blessed by their generosity and love for the Mexican people. The 17 Life Teen missionaries that came in December especially
blessed me with the way they delighted in their work each day and joyfully gave until every need was met.
You are all probably now wondering, so what’s next Jon? I am so excited to announce that in January I will be headed with John-Paul and four other “rookie” missionaries to join four of FMC’s veteran missionary ladies in Cordoba, Spain for two months. The veteran missionaries have been in this mission post for the last two years working with university students from the many campuses in Cordoba. Why Spain you may be asking? Spain and most of Western Europe which has been Christian since the times of the early Church are now proclaiming themselves post Christian or neo-pagan nations. These nations were the base on which the Catholic Church in America took its foundation but now it is obvious that they are in desperate need of re-evangelization. Their huge ornate cathedrals and churches are now empty and most of those that continue to hold onto their Catholic religion do so only for cultural reasons. The Church in Spain is crying out for hope and the saving message of Jesus Christ amidst the overwhelming noise of the materialism, secularism, and sin. But how are they to hear if no one is sent to preach to them? (Rom 10:14)
This is why I would like to invite you to join me once again on mission, in whatever way you feel the Lord calling you to support me. I need prayer warriors and intercessors that are willing to fast, pray and sacrifice for the hearts of the Spaniards that will hear us preach. Pray for me and the other nine missionaries that will be living together, that our hearts would be united in Christ. I will also need benefactors who are willing to financially support the work we will be doing. We will be living as simply as possible, keeping in mind the missionary spirit as we live among the materially rich who are so spiritually poor. I thank you in advance for any and all help you are able to give. Know that all your intentions are remembered each day in my prayers and that I think of you all often and thank the Lord for your participation in the sharing of the Gospel.
Rejoicing in His birth,
Jonathan Weiss
