News from the field

Haiti

2007-10-22T17:29:00Z

I would like to share a little about Haiti. The Lord has give us the honor to work in that nation where we have found a loving church that embraced us and became part of our ministry. In the picture we can see the Apostle Alberoi Augustine, that is the leader over 8 churches there that became Oasis de la Foi on April of this year (Oasis of Faith) and to whom we are giving spiritual covering. On my trip there many things happened that is not possible for me to share on one single blog, but one thing I can share, we have been sent to make a difference.

One of the things I realized while I was there is how we take for granted how blessed we are, we complain about many things but I cannot see how can anybody complain to the Lord about our problems standing next to people like Alberoi and the pastors and leaders there, that day by day they face not only basic needs but a strong spiritual opression

When you see them, is like if you can percieve in the spirit that you are among seasoned warriors, with banged up armors, and even some rustic tools, but is people ready and eager to be trained, people very aware (more than anyone I have known) of the spiritual battle, people of prayer, people that praise the Lord in a very special way, the kind of praise that feels like an army of dancers is holding your arm and moving you forward into the praise hall of the throne, you have to be there to understand what I´m trying to describe.

When I entered the church on the first night I was there, there was only a dim light, no electricity, the church was fulled of people that one one voice were praising God singing and old hymn in Creole, it was like being in a cave, I remembered the stories of the persecuted church and I cried to see how commited this people was to follow Jesus, and to hear the passion on their voice as they were singing with all of their hearts, it was a time of resfreshment as they were unloading their burdens before the Lord and even the children wouldn´t miss such a special time of worship, they were on first row, and on every service they were the ones showing up before anybody else.

They are part of the Body of Christ, and they need from the rest of the body, they need food, they need training, but most of all, they need commited people to lift them up in prayer. We where sent there for a reason and our hearts have become one, and even we may have limited resources, we have a God that have no limits.

Alberoi, my dear friend, you are not alone, you have been chosen by God, to be a Joshua for your people, you will introduce them into the promised land as God is bring them out of captivity, tell the pastors to be faithful, tell them not to dismay, because on the apointed time the promises that the Lord has giving them will come to pass. Keep walking, knowing that as you intruduce them into a new territory, the army of the Lord is moving and advancing, and we will not be stopped, becasue Haiti is for Jesus!!!

Help me pray that the Lord will release the finances to fix my visa and be able to take an apostolic team there to train the pastors and leaders, help us pray that the Lord will protect them an us from any attack, help us pray that the Lord will strenghten their faith.

I will write more about Haiti soon.
Apostle Raffa

San Marcos

2007-10-22T16:12:00Z

Greetings in the name of Jesus!

What a wonderful time we had in San Marcos this weekend, I loaded the expedition for it's first ministry trip with several men from Oasis de Fe, as well as my son Isaac and Asael, my nephew. We got there on Sat. afternoon and spend some time with a men from the church, his name is Ramiro, he helped us locate the PCV valve in the truck and he was a blessing! On sunday morning, we had a great service and the Lord moved among His people, they were excited to have us again and we delivered a Word of freedom that is transforming their lives, they comment at the end how in certain areas they felt tied up and didn't had the liberty to follow Jesus because of the fear to weare the wrong outfit or putting makeup, it seems like their mindset is being challenged and the boundaries of satan are being destroyed not only on that area but in several others.

I preached about the power of God and how after e find ourselves in the desert and feeling week we come out of it full of power and how his power is being perfected in the midst of our weakness.

So we had a busy weekend again, as I preached there my beautiful wife preached in our home church. I came home yesterday afternoon and as we "rest" on monday we get ready to keep going, looking forward for another exciting week of ministry.

Thanks to all of those that are praying for us.
Apostle Raffa

What a weekend

2007-10-08T12:47:00Z

We had a very busy weekend, as you know we had the 2nd night of the evangelistic crusade in Cardboard City last friday, more people showed up, and it was a blessing, during the timie of ministry the Lord showed me so clear how much he loves them and how much weight they are carrying, it was overwhelming. On saturday night I became ill, as some of you know I have been battling with sickness all of this year and I saw very clear how this was an spiritual attack more than physical. During this time of spiritual warfare on saturday the Lord brought revelation to my life and he told me that I had an open door through the fear, fear of dying, fear of complications, etc. so I repented and my fever went down, thank you Jesus!

We had a precious time in church yesterday, while I was in Oasis de Fe, my wife was translating for Bro. Daniel Fonville in Gomez Palacio, and one of my assistant pastors Bro. Manuel Rincon and his wife Eva were ministring in San Marcos, they reported the church is doing great and the people was excited to receive them, they left Torreon on Friday afternoon and minister there on friday service, on a special service on saturday and also on sunday. They are not the techie kind of people so we have no pictures of them on this trip, so I apologize.

We will regroup and get ready for work on this week, we will receive the visit of our Bishop, Bro. Delbert Herrin, our gringos papas Ray and Robin, Apostle Alvaro Robles from the Impact Network as well as some more ministers.

On friday we will have a special celebration service for 7 years of ministry as pastors and we are so grateful for the Lord allowing us to come this far (Eben-ezer) and we are preparing for a very special ordination service in Gomez where we will have the privilege to be anointed into the ministry of an Apostle, this will be held in Gomez also in the church of Apostle Miguel Angel Martinez.

So pray for us as we are entering into an exciting week, I will let you know more details as soon as they arrive.
Be Blessed.
Pastor Rios

God's Blessing

2007-10-05T13:12:00Z

As some of you know, I sold my 1996 minivan last Sunday, it was one of the finest vehicles we have had, very clean and dependable, but I knew I needed to sell it, it was getting older and I knew I wasn't going to get as much as what I paid for, and besides that it wasn't filling the current ministry requirements, as you know we are pastoring a church in San Marcos Durango, that is under Bishop's Greg Holley covering, and part of the road to get there doesn´t have asphalt, so we needed a taller vehicle with third row seats and it is here, Aleluya!!

Now, the report for last night evangelistic event.
We had sick people in the local church in the cardboard city area, and God performed a miracle, we even videotaped it, a young man had a leg shorter that the other, for about an inch and we saw it grow!! also several people received healing of pain in their shoulders, a knee and a lady was healed of tumors on her breast, she said she felt the touch of God and she checked and couldnt feel the bumps anymore neither the pain
you can see her in this picture next to the man God healed of his leg, he has a puma on his shirt. It was a time of worship and God moved among His people in a mighty way, I cant wait to see what God is going to do today.

Today we will be sending a team to minister in San Marcos again as we keep working and ministring locally, so please keep praying for us.

Have a wonderful and blessed day

Pastor Raffa

Cardboard City

2007-10-04T18:17:00Z

Tonight we will go to Zaragoza Sur, also known as cardboard city where we will held an evangelistic crusade in the local church. Daniel and Mindy Fonville will be the ones delivering the Word from heaven, so help us pray that many people will come to the

knowledge of our Lord through this activity. This is an area of such spiritual and physical dryness that has been on our hearts for quite some time now, and we believe that out of this place a spring will come forth that will transform the whole area and will be an example of what the Lord can do in an area that has been forgotten by many. We have many testimonies, but I remember a comment a man did as we were giving him a meal, he said: "everybody has forgotten us, even God", what an oportunity this was to share with Him about the good news of Jesus and the fact that God loves Him so much that God have His only Son to die for Him.


We have seen many come to Jesus, entire familes have received the Lord and many lives have been transformed. Sometimes we limit ourselves because we focus on what we have, or what we don't have, but once we come together in unity there is such a strenght, just picture this, the enemy is afraid of you because he know you are a son and daughter of God, and He lives in you, now if one can put a thousand to flee and 2 can put 10 000 to flee, that gives us a pretty good description of the impact we have against the enemy when we are walking in Divine autority.

We will keep walking, we will not desist, if we stop, somebody else will pick up the work but the beautiful thing is the fact that He chooses who whe wants, and you have been chosen so, be encouraged. I will post some more pics about Cardboard City, I hope they impact you to keep us in your prayers, especially for the activity tonight. I will let you know how it went.
Be blessed
Pastor Raffa





This is Pastor Gerardo from Casa de Oración church in that area.

You can also check a video here

Visit

2007-10-03T13:10:00Z

We have the honor to have in our house a very special couple. Daniel and Mindy Fonville. They are here after a ministry trip in Canada, but they live in Florida. I know them for a few years and they have always blessed us with their hunger for God, for wanting more in their walk with Him, and that encourage us never to settle for what we have, never to settle for what we get on our day, but to look for a deeper relationship with Him.

I want to know Him more, walk with Him in, feel more aware of His presence, and I feel it is happening, but also know there is a long way to go, until I hug Him, until I am in His Presence on the full view of His Glory, but for now, I will keep walking, I will keep search for Him, I will not desist, I will not surrender, I want to keep being transformed untill the world sees Him in me, and not a little piece of me.

We will have a full week, tonight I need to translate for Bro. Daniel on Torre Fuerte Church, and tomorrow and friday we will have a crusade in Zaragoza sur, also, on sunday we will go minister on 2 different churches. So please keep us in your prayers.

Have a blessed day.

Pastor Raffa

El Señor es bueno

2007-10-01T18:34:00Z

Que tiempo de bendición tan especial acabamos de tener este fin de semana. Tuvimos la visita de 3 hermosas guerreras en el Reino de Dios. Nuestra madre espiritual la hermana Robin Posgay, la hna. Debbie Russell y la hna. Sunni.

Todo empezo el Viernes en la mañana con la cruzada "Hermosa Guerrera" donde tuvimos el honor de recibir a damas de diversas congregaciones, y fue un evento en el cual la vida de ellas fue marcada hacia el cambio. El evento continuo a las 7 de la noche y una vez mas tuvimos casa llena. Que bendición fue para mi el casi poder ver como cadenas de esclavitud caian de los hombros de las hermanas que estaban ahi, fue un precioso tiempo de reconciliación y descubrimiento de su identidad en Cristo.

No cabe duda que El Señor imprimio un mensaje fresco de Liberación en el corazon de la Hna. Robin y fue un evento que marco un cambio hacia un comienzo nuevo en sus hijas.

La otra bendicion fue ver a nuestras Hermanas Debbie y Sunni, la Hna. Debbie ministro tambien en la Iglesia "Palabra Rhema" de el Apostol Miguel Angel Martinez y se reunio con el equipo de alabanza de la Iglesia Oasis de Fe el sabado en donde impartio una fuerte enseñanza de la importancia de la adoración profetica. El Domingo ministro en el servicio y el fuego de Dios nos envolvio al empezar a adorar a Dios con cantico nuevo.

Que bendicion fue tambien conocer a la Hna. Sunni, tiene un gran corazon de sierva y un amor enorme por el cuerpo de Cristo, esperamos verla pronto entre nosotros.

Estas dos semanas que vienen estan llenas de actividades, las ire describiendo en mi proximo blog.

Dios los Bendiga ricamente

Pastor Rafael Rios

The Lord is good

2007-10-01T18:21:00Z

We are very excited as we are getting ready for the next couple of weeks, we just had a Beautiful Warrior Crusade for Ladies in several congregation, it was a time of reconciliation and disovering their identities in Jesus, we had tears as we saw almost like heavy chains falling off their shoulders as the Word was being given. It was delivered by our spiritual mother Robin Posgay, and what a Word!! it really brought deliverance. My beautiful wife Argentina was glowing as she ministered along with her, and I realize once again how blessed I am for having such a woman next to me.

Along with Robin, we had the privilege to receive a dear friend , sister Debbie Russell, she ministered also in the church in Gomez, with Apostle Miguel Martinez, and she met with our worship team and gave us a powerful teaching about the importance of flowing in the prophetic worship, she ministered on Sunday and it was a blast, the fire of God moved among us, Aleluya!

We had the honor to meet for the first time to a dear woman of God, sister Sunni, what a blessing she is, what a servants heart, it touched us to see her burden for the body of Christ. We hope to see you soon Hermana, we love you and remember you have a family in Torreon.

Like I mentioned at the beggining, the next couple of weeks are full of activities, I will write a little more about it on my next blog. Be blessed.

Pastor Raffa