July 2009 Letter from Susie:

Dear All,

Greetings to you from Tamazunchale! I have not had opportunity to write a formal update from home, so I will type something out here while I sit at a computer at my favorite internet cafe!

These are exciting times in the Huastecas. This week we will receive a mission team from Westminster Presbyterian Church of Rockford IL who will be working with the Santisima Trinidad Church of Chapulhuacanito as we celebrate VBS. Classes will be Wednesday through Friday with both morning and afternoon sessions in order to complete the five day program in three days. Our kids don't get out of school until Tuesday afternoon. Swine flu caused a 10 day extension to the school year. The men of the church continue to donate their time Fridays and Saturdays to the kitchen-fellowship hall construction project which is advancing nicely. Each week they spend down the church's treasury, but God keeps replacing it. ( ;

Also this week, the Santisima Trinidad Church of Frijolillo will pour a new concrete roof on their sanctuary. 7 weeks ago they tore down the existing roof and began the rebuilding. Since then, between 15 and 30
men of the church (with men from other churches in the community volunteernig as well) have volunteered their time working on the project 5 days a week. Several of the women have also donated their time and resources to provide lunch for the men each of those days. Many of the materials have been donated by the mayor of our municipality, though we still await the cement and gravel. He may or
may not fulfill his promise but it appears that the congregation has raised enough money through their own efforts and those of their children in Mexico City and Monterrey to purchase the materials themselves if the mayor does not provide.

Please pray for the Frijolillo church. As it has expanded its evangelistic efforts, Satan has also stepped up his fight against them. Church leadership has had to deal with some very difficult issues over the past couple of months. Please pray for Pastor Abel and the elders, that they might face these challenges with both spiritual integrity and mercy.

One of our students at the Bible School for Missionaries in Mexico City graduated on July 4th. She will be doing a three month mission service in Guerrero and then return to the Huastecas in October. Please pray for Carmelas health and safety and ministry as she serves far from home and pray for the presbytery leadership as they discern her best placement within the presbytery when she returns.

Our other three students (Madai, Sareth, and Abigail) are home and resting this week before doing itineration around the presbytery, assisting local congregations with VBS programs until their August 16th return to Mexico City.

I was in the US for two and a half weeks in June, visiting NE Georgia Presbytery, FPC of Greenville SC, and Covenant PC of Charlotte NC. Wonderful visits indeed.

Since coming home I had a series of foot, digestive, and back problems, but all seem to have been resolved at this point. I spent a good deal of time coming back and forth to Tamazuchale for tests and
spent more money than was necessary, but at least all my tests came back negative and I am feeling better.

The week of the 19th I will be in Frijolillo teaching VBS. After a team cancellation, the church has now been blessed by the compassion of the presbytery's three missionaries (read: female lay pastors). Sister Raquel, Sister Saret, and I will be the teachers for VBS this year. Stepping in with the program we are doing at their home congregations: Moses, Called by God.

The week of the 26th, a team from Castaos, Coahuila and San Antonio TX will visit the church in Huitzitzilingo to provide VBS for the 150 children there.

Other upcoming events are the PW convention July 31 and August 1 in Octlamecayo, BIble Institute classes in Frijolillo the 5th and 6th of August, and the Prebytery meeting also in Frijolillo the 13th through
the 16th.

All are welcome to join us for our 25th Anniversary Service in Frijolillo the 16th. The work of the Presbyterian Church in the Huastecas is decades old, but we are celebrating these first 25 years as an independent indigenous presbytery here in the Huastecas. A united choir with voices from all of our congregations is preparing special music for the event. We will also be preparing the children throughout the presbytery so they can participate as well. Join us for worship, fellowship, and the best mole you have ever had! Please let me know if you are interested in attending this event which is expected to draw 800 people from throughout our Presbytery plus a few Presbyterian 'dignitaries' from Mexico City.

Last Sunday was election day in Mexico. It is amazing how quickly we allow politics to divide us as Christ's body. May we all each day set our eyes and hearts upon the Kingdom of God, announce its presence among those ignorant of the love and grace and peace of Christ, and learn to rest in the sovereignty and grace of God in the midst of a very complicated and distrubing world.....

I will write more soon. Thank you for your prayers.

Toteco metch tioxihuas.

Susie

News from Suz April 2009 "Open my eyes that I may see the wonders of your law."

Greetings from Chapulhuacanito! I trust you found this Lenten/Easter season to be one of spiritual rest and reflection. This spring has hardly been one of rest, but the Lord has been so very faithful in luring me into reflection with Him even in the midst of the furry. My schedule has only become “busier” in the past few months which has provided the push necessary to make significant changes to the way I handle ministry invitations. I am trusting God that these changes will lead to a more restful pace and more focused and effective ministry.

Permit me to give you a quick update on events and news from the Presbytery of the Huastecas.

During a March extraordinary meeting of the Presbytery, we held graduation ceremonies for four students completing their studies in the Bible Institute. Lay pastors Crescenciano Hernández of the La Laguna congregation, Santos Tomas of Totomoxtla, and Benjamín Pascual of Macuilocatl as well as Moisés Hernández, Deacon of the Frijolillo church were the happy grads.

The Presbytery also granted Lay Pastor Martín Hernandez of Octlamecayo his Preaching License, which is similar to the US’s final candidating stage before ordination. He is expected to be ordained this summer during the Presbytery’s 25th anniversary celebration.

During Holy Week, the presbytery’s three active ordained pastors conducted a special training campaign at the Divino Salvador Church of Tezapotla which included preparation for baptisms, professions of faith, and elder training. The church has never had an ordained pastor and recently the need for such training came to the presbytery’s attention. Courses were well attended and the officiating pastor for the church will lead a celebration of baptisms and professions of faith during the month of May.

The Jesús el Buen Pastor Church of Chancuetlan has moved into the final stages of its sanctuary reconstruction project. Contributions from throughout the presbytery and many churches and individuals in the US will make the roof possible. The plan is to pour the roof the last week of May in conjunction with a visit from brothers and sisters of Westlake Hills PC of Austin TX and Dripping Springs PC of Dripping Springs TX.

The Santisima Trinidad Church of Chapulhuacanito began construction of a kitchen/dinning hall/classroom building during the month of February. They hope to complete construction in November with the help of brothers and sisters from Nevada Prebytery.

A few of you received news from me about troubles some of our Baptist brothers and sisters were having in the community of Cuamecaco (there is no Presbyterian Church there). Those involved in the case are fine, though resolution is still pending. As I am told, Protestants in the community had never NOT paid fees charged to community members for Patron Saint celebrations. One brother this year felt convicted about paying for religious ceremonies in honor of idols. He was arrested (tied up), but hours later released. Local and municipal authorities have until now refused to recognize the protestants’ legal rights to not participate in these celebrations and they are awaiting the intervention from state authorities. Please pray for your brothers and sisters in Cuamecaco and communities like it throughout Mexico that are in similar situations.

The churches of Frijolillo, Chancuetlan, and Huitzitzilingo have recently had very positive response from unbelievers in surrounding communities. In Frijolillo, the majority of people who were not church goers, though had a Protestant family heritage, have recently given their lives to Christ and have become active in worship and discipleship programs. The Frijolillo church has also been working hard evangelistically in Potejamel, Petlacatl, and Zacapilol. The Huitzitzilingo church continues in 4 year spiritual battle for the souls of Cojolapa and the church of Chancuetlan is visiting those sensitive to the Gospel message in Saucillo and La Laguna. Join us in praising God for placing a burden the hearts of believers for sharing the Good News in these communities where there are no evangelical churches and for the Spirit’s move upon the hearts of those being prepared to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Please pray for these congregations. Where the Lord is at work, the enemy is also stepping up his tactics, creating strife among brothers and sisters and tempting others into sin. Pray that church leadership may confront these challenges to their unity and purity with love and mercy toward one another.

Pray also for all of our congregations and presbytery leadership as they consider the feasibility of pastoral changes within the presbytery. Our congregations cannot afford to pay pastors from outside the region and the most effective ministry is done by those from within the culture. However, most of our pastors and lay pastors have been ministering to the same congregations for 15-30 years. Changes within the presbytery are possible, but have not been part of the organizational culture and will require a lot of work since most pastors today can supplement the small stipends they get from their churches by working their own fields. Most congregations do not have pastor housing or the income to provide a full time salary, yet they are in need of the challenges a new pastor might bring to them, especially one who is not attempting to profesy to his own people. Please pray that the Lord would give very specific guidance to all who are part of this feasibility study. These are at the same time exciting and scary times. But we are trusting God to provide us with the answers we need.

In closing, some of you may have noted that I was in the United States for 19 days in March, visiting churches in central Texas and Holston and Abigndon Presbyteries (VA and TN). Forgive me for “flying under the radar”, it was not my intention, I simply never sat down to type out an update. The visits were both a joy and educational, as all but one of the churches I visited were new to me. I had also never been in the region before so I enjoyed the beauty of rural TN and VA as well! So many similarities to the Huastecas!

What Appear to be God’s Plans for Me the Next Few Weeks.

This week I am in Chapulhuacanito, working on “paper work” and enjoying my job as transportation specialist and friend to Sister Raquel’s four sisters and one niece who are visiting from Oaxaca. Two of her sisters had eye surgery yesterday in Ciudad Valles and over the weekend they hope to do a bit of a singing tour to a few of our churches (the Bonilla Gonzalez sisters have beautiful voices and hearts that seek to praise God)...thus the need for my truck (or at least its “handiness”. Of course I have grown close to all of them during my yearly trips to Oaxaca with Sister Raquel, so it is a joy to be here with them.

On Saturday I will give a spiritual disciplines workshop during a presbytery-wide Presbyterian Women’s retreat in Tezapotla.

Next week I will be in Barco to work with the newly formed Presbyterian Women’s organization. The specific need is to prepare one of the women to give the messages during each PW gathering (worship context), help other leaders understand their responsibilities, and encourage them to seek God for ways He would have them minister to other women in their community.

After a couple of days of rest in Frijolillo I will be in Huitzitzilingo to give a teacher training workshop for Sunday School teachers, a preaching workshop for youth, and preach during a few services. These back to back visits to congregations are part of the presbytery’s desire for me to spend at least a week in each of our churches this year.

Early May will also include invitations to speak during the Week of the Christian Home (May 3-9) and the first day of the new school year for the Bible Institute of the Huastecas (6 and 7). I will spend the remainder of the month of May in Chancuetlan working with the PW group, teaching literacy classes, and preparing the congregation for a visit from brothers and sisters from Texas.

Somewhere in their I hope to improve upon my Nahuatl. I have given up on the idea of finishing my master’s degree this year due to the presbytery’s desire for me to spend more time in each of its churches (rather than be based in one place) and the total of 10 weeks of Mission Interpretation I need to do in the US this year. The final coursework for the MA can wait til 2010.

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and partnership with us in ministry here. May the love of Christ dwell richly in your hearts today and every day.

With gratitude in Christ,
Susie Frerichs
PCUSA Mission Coworker National Presbyterian Church of Mexico
Christian Educator and Partnership Facilitator in the Presbytery of the Huastecas