Dear Friends & Prayer Partners;

I don't know about you, but it sure seems to me that time is flying by faster and faster every day. It seems like it was just yesterday when we were starting the summer, and now we're looking at Christmas coming around the corner.

The good news is that the ministry has been growing by leaps and bounds; the bad news is that the day hasn't been getting any longer to get the work done. So, once again, I've been remiss in keeping you up to date on what's been happening with us. Let's see, where should I begin…

-- IN THIS ISSUE --

• SUMMER TRAVELS

• REBEKAH IS MINISTERING TOO

• NEW BOOKS AND MATERIALS

• BIBLE SCHOOLS

• CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE

• PROMOTION?

-- SUMMER TRAVELS --

We spent pretty much the whole summer traveling this year (I know, the summer was a while ago, but I've got to tell you about this). Our first trip was to Toluca, in the state of Mexico. At 9,000 feet above sea level, this is the highest city in Mexico. A couple of days after returning from there, Deborah and the girls flew out to go visit her parents, whom she hasn't seen in several years. When she returned from that trip, she only had a few of days to unpack, wash, and repack for a trip to Tabasco.

These two trips deep into Mexico were probably the best ministry time we've had since arriving in Mexico. A lot of what we've had to do here is breaking down tradition and legalism. But, this time, we were able to concentrate on bringing the people the move of the Holy Spirit. We hadn't seen Him moving so powerfully in several years. There were many times that people were falling under the power of the Spirit without even praying for them, just from putting Rich's prayer shawl over their heads. We even had people falling under the power of the Spirit just from blowing on them (that's never happened with us before).

There were three churches in particular in Tabasco where God moved powerfully. The first of these was Hector Cruz's church. Hector is one of the pastor's under our covering, and we always try and spend a couple of days with him and his church. That group is hungry for God. They literally had to hold the children back from swarming the alter at the ministry time.

Hector's church has grown in the last year from about 120 people to over 800! This has been from a combination of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and "encuentros" (encounter weekends). They have an encuentro every other weekend, and invite people who are seeking something in their lives. Typically 95% of them receive the Lord. Recently, Hector held his first encuentro with homosexual men, not all of them received the Lord, but 2/3 of them did, and they're on fire to minister to their friends!

The second church that stands out was a youth conference we ministered at. The church is part of a denomination that is known for being traditional, and dead. However, in October of last year, the Lord dealt with the pastor, and broke through that tradition. We showed up there to meet the pastor, and he asked us to minister at the youth conference, called "Passion for His Presence" the next day.

All we were supposed to do was a message. But, at the end of the message, Rich felt he should pray for the youth. The Holy Spirit was touching them so fast, the ushers were running to get chairs out of the way (see the pictures below).

The third church was a large church where we've ministered before. We didn't know it, but the week before, another missionary/apostle had been there, and had prophesied that the Holy Spirit was going to bring the River of Life flowing across in front of the altar. Deborah had a vision of the river during the morning service, and told the pastor. He was excited and had her testify to that in the evening service.

During the preaching, my shoes started hurting my feet (which was strange, as they are well broken in). I was wondering about that, and the Holy Spirit told me to take them off. I don't know about everyone else out there, but sometimes I have conversations with the Holy Spirit while I'm preaching. There's just one detail I forgot to mention. In Mexico, you don't take your shoes off in public.

Well, I obeyed, and kicked my shoes off next to the pulpit. Of course, the people were looking at that, and wondering, so I had to say something. I grabbed my shoes and yelled, "You don't wear your shoes when you're wading in the River," throwing them off to the side. That was enough, the people went nuts. When the altar time came, several of them took off their shoes before getting in the river as well.

We spent over two hours ministering to people at the altar. They were falling out in the Spirit so fast that the dozen ushers could hardly keep up with us praying for the people. Not only that, but after they got up, they'd come back for more.

So, as you can see, we had a great summer. Now all we need is the same thing happening here on the border!

-- REBEKAH IS MINISTERING TOO --

Another thing that happened over the summer was that Rebekah was really touched by the Lord. She spent the early part of the summer in Mexico, working as an interpreter for another ministry. When we were getting ready to go to Tabasco, she was tired of Mexico and didn't want to go with us. We decided she couldn't stay home with her brother and sister, and dragged her along with us.

That was the right decision. When the Holy Spirit started moving in those churches, she was one of the first ones hit. For the first time in her life, she was actually drunk in the Spirit!

However, the great part wasn't that she was touched, but that the Lord started using her to minister to the youth in the various places we were ministering. She gave several classes on dance, and conferences on being committed to the Lord.

It didn't stop when we came back from the trip, either. She has had a number of doors open for ministry, including: radio, television, and speaking at a youth retreat! Praise the Lord!

-- NEW BOOKS AND MATERIALS --

This has been a busy year for writing and producing new materials. So far, we've published six new books this year, all in Spanish. Since the Mexican's don't read much, we've been producing smaller books, which they are more likely to read.

We have also had the desire to produce materials on video for a number of years. In fact, when I was on staff at the church in New York, the Lord told me that we were to produce a complete bible school (and not your typical dry, watered down one either) on video. The idea is to be able to send these courses to pastors in more remote areas, where they don't have the opportunity to study in a school.

Most missionaries travel "up north" to raise money for their ministries. But, what's been happening with us is that when we take our trips "down south" we always come back blessed financially. This summer, we came back with enough money to buy new computers for the office.

One of those new computers is a HP media center. This gives us the capability to bring video into the computer, edit it, and output it onto DVD. So far, we have two DVDs edited and produced, with another eight recorded. These will become complete courses, with notes, teaching on the videos, and even homework for the students. So, we're well on the way to starting the bible school.

-- BIBLE SCHOOLS --

Speaking of bible schools, I've been doing a lot of teaching lately. Currently, I'm teaching different courses in two different schools. One of them is at the university level, while the other is a two year school. This is actually how we're recording the classes for the video bible school. Since I have to do all the preparation work, anyway, why not take advantage of the opportunity to videotape it?

The two courses I'm teaching right now are on the book of Haggai, and the Old Testament "books of poetry." I just finished a series on the Pentateuch, which is where the two we have edited came from. I also have the notes ready for courses on spiritual warfare, child raising, and marriage.

I'm not sure how quickly we're going to be able to produce these courses; (it's a lot of work to do just one video) but I know that God is in it. We expect Him to help us make this a viable resource for the Mexican pastors.

-- CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE --

After all that, would you believe we're not done? That's right, God is still giving us more to do. This is our third year of the "Un Regalo por Jesús" (A gift from Jesus) toy drive. Last year, we were able to bring 1,860 toys to some of the poorest children of Reynosa; those whose families live and work in the garbage dumps.

Once again, we are trying to show the love of the Lord to these needy children. Along with the help of one of the Christian radio stations down here, several churches, and some area businesses, we are actively seeking toys, candy, and food to take over for Christmas. On the 23rd of December, we will be passing them out to the most needy families we can find.

The city of Reynosa is helping us with this as well. They have committed to loaning us the baseball stadium, free of charge, for the event. They will also be bussing these people in from the areas where they live so that we can bless them. Several ministries, which specialize in ministering to children, will be doing shows, and ministering to the kids, and we expect many people to be blessed, and saved.

If you would like to help with this year's toy drive, we are seeking new $5.00 toys, preferably nothing battery powered. You can either send us the toys, or send us the money, and we'll buy the toys here (that saves on shipping). Just write "toy drive" in the note area of your check, and you can be sure we will use it that way.

-- PROMOTION? --

In order to put the studies we write into the hands of the pastors, I go to several ministerial alliance meetings every month. I am also a member of some of them. Just last week, the Hispanic Ministerial Alliance here in the McAllen area of Texas voted me their new president.

I think this is probably a first, the group is clearly Hispanic, and even has the word "Hispanic" in their name, but I don't look very Hispanic. Even considering that, they overwhelmingly voted me as their president.

Let me explain something cultural here. Amongst the Anglo ministerial alliances it really doesn't mean much to be voted to the board of directors, at least not much more than lots of the other people know you. But, in these Hispanic ministerial alliances, it's a big deal. The Mexican people in general are looking for a leader to follow. Therefore, there's a lot of prestige and influence that goes with being selected as a leader. It was immediately obvious in the way that they treated me.

I'm not totally sure how God wants to use this new development, but I am sure it is from Him. This gives me a greater opportunity to influence these pastors, and their churches. Please pray that God give me clear guidance in how to use this influence.

As far as the family is concerned, everyone is doing well. Deborah is teaching French in one of the local high schools. This is how we managed to move out of the motorhome. It's a lot of work, and of course there is some frustration involved, but God is giving her new ideas in how to minister to the kids in her classes.

Our kids are all busy as well. I already mentioned about Rebekah, but Jenni and Josh are busy too. Mostly, they're busy with their studies and activities at the university. Jenni's a junior this year, and Josh is a sophomore. They're both music majors, so spend hours and hours practicing. Jenni will be starting to work as a teacher's aid, and tutor for choir in one of the junior high's here in the area next week.

Please pray that the Lord help us with everything we need to accomplish for Him. We really need more volunteers to work with us, especially in the office, and to work with the donations we receive for Mexico.

Blessings in Jesus,

Rev. Rich Murphy