The Brethren Church

Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus. We pray that you are well as you enter this New Year. May God bless each of you during this New Year.

Looking over the past year, we have seen God work in so many ways. We would like to share a few of the highlights from 2006 with you.

Kid’s club continues on and we have a constant group growing in their faith and relationship with God, though attendance dropped some during our trip to the USA. Also, the fact that Jen is leaving Mexico has impacted the kids. We have a young lady – from our church – named Rocio that wants to head up a team to lead Kid’s Club. We hope that this year will be a stronger year for the group and we hope to see real advances.

There were several guest speakers, Americans and Mexicans that came to share God’s word with us and to minister this past year. One Pastor from the USA lead a healing service where we saw God’s power released in powerful ways. One elderly lady entered the church walking with at cane and hunched over, but she left without the cane and upright. Another young man came that had cerebral palsy, his leg straightened out more and his shoulders actually straightened so he could walk correctly. Several people that had back pains from accidents or injuries had their spinal columns straightened and pain relieved. It was such a blessing to see this God’s power so evident and to see the impact this had on the believers…and especially those that didn’t know Christ yet.

Our women’s group finished Elizabeth George’s study, “A Woman after God’s Own Heart”. It served as a good discipleship tool and many of our women showed real growth. Since we currently don’t have a men’s group, even a couple of men began to attend because they didn’t want to be left behind. Next week we begin “the Patriarchs” by Beth Moore. Tracy is currently taking it in English and will be translating all the video material into Spanish for the ladies (and maybe men) in our church.

In October and November we held the 40 Day, Purpose Driven Life series. It was 40 days of blessing, excitement, enthusiasm, and commitment for the entire church. We are still in the process of getting things together to open new areas of ministry, train new leaders, and branch out into new outreaches outside of the church. About 12 cell groups opened up during this campaign, and continue. Please pray that this growth and excitement will continue and that God will continue to stir up leadership and volunteers.

In February we will be distributing the Samaritan’s Purse Gift of Hope Boxes in Kid’s Club and our church. These are the boxes that the Billy Graham Association collects and sends to needy kids around the world. We were able to get the boxes this year, but weren’t sure when they would arrive…so we couldn’t make plans to distribute them for Christmas. We are going to restart our Kid’s Club – after a winter break – with a special evangelistic service and the packages.

During Christmas and New Year’s break, we were able to finally take a breather and spend some time sort of vacationing. I say “sort of” because we still held Sunday services, and there were still some responsibilities with the church, but it was a much less busy time. We really didn’t leave the city, but were able to do some fun activities as a family and with our neighbors here in the apartments where we live. We took one day to attend part of a 4 day youth conference held by some pastors we know here in the city. There were about 9,000 youth packed into the event, and boy was it powerful to see this generation of young people committing themselves to Christ and Christian service. It would have been nice to be able to attend more days. It was very refreshing and spiritually filling. We as a couple (with small kids) rarely get the chance to attend such events together.
Well, I’d better go. Thank you again for your support and your prayers. We thank God for you and your partnership in His Kingdom’s work. May God bless you richly.

In Christ’s bond,
Todd and Tracy Ruggles

Dear family and friends,

As I reflect back over the past 13 years, I am amazed at what we have seen, experienced, and participated in. While writing this I have looked through the thousands of pictures we have taken through the years, and am amazed at the number of lives our lives have touched. But, in the past six months I have seen a greater expectancy and passion in believers that spreads across denominational barriers. I have also seen a greater openness in the unbelievers than ever before. I believe that we are on the edge of revival in Mexico, and I am truly grateful to God to allow me to be here and live in such a time as this!

Transformations in Kids’ Club! Kids’ Club is an outreach to kids living in a poor neighborhood about 30 minutes drive from our church. The “Clubâ€? is based in the home of one of our church members, Reina Gómez, who had the original vision to help the kids in her neighborhood. Reina and her husband José opened their humble home and their hearts to the kids, and we have been meeting pretty much every Saturday morning since August, 2003. Jennifer Thomas is currently overseeing this ministry and the volunteers that go from our church to help teach, watch kids, and to feed the kids each week. We have had as many as 60 kids attend, though we normally have about 25 kids. Ages range from 1½ to 13, which is a challenge, because we only have enough teachers and space to divide the group in two—older and younger kids. Each week they gather to sing, to receive biblical teaching, to memorize Scripture, to make crafts, to pray, to play, and to have a good meal.

The transformation of these kids is remarkable. In the first meetings the kids were foul mouthed, misbehaved, rude and mean. A few months after beginning, one 11-year-old actually showed up drunk! Today, the kids are polite (usually), they clean up every week after the meeting and meal, and more importantly, they are beginning to really trust and believe in God! The kids have prayed several times now for healings or provision for family members or other kids, and God has answered them in miraculous ways. Infections have been cleared up, warts have disappeared, tumors have shrunken, and even the bones in one girl’s foot were realigned!

About two months ago, the grandparents of one girl took her to a witch doctor. She was sick and they thought the witch doctor could help. She absolutely refused to enter the witch doctor’s home. They pressured her, and she said, “God won’t be happy if I visit the witch doctor.â€? Her grandfather scolded her and said, “Oh, I forgot, you’re one of those ‘Hallelujahs’ now, aren’t you?â€? She answered, “Yes, I am, and if God wants to heal me he can. If he chooses not to, he won’t, but in any case I won’t go to the witch doctor!â€?

A “Buildingâ€? Blessing. Since Tracy and I were married in 1989, we have always rented the homes that we have lived in. We have never lacked in the provision of shelter, but one of the desires of our heart was to be able to have a place to call our own. We wanted a place we could fix up and decorate and especially to not have to move every time a landlord wanted to sell his apartment. Last year God granted the desire of our heart. We were able to get a loan and to buy an apartment in the same complex that we have been living in since our last move in 2000. The apaartment had some water damage and the owner was in a hurry to sell, so we were able to get it at a good price. From May through early September—among all the other activities—we were buying and also completely remodeling our new home. It was a crazy year, but well worth it. I can also say that it has cured me of one of my dreams—building my own house. After seeing how hard it was to juggle time between family, ministry and remodeling the apartment, I’ve lost interest in building.

Please pray for … Pepe, the son of the woman that Jen lives with. He is now cancer-free after prayer and chemotherapy, but in the process he had a stroke and his health was severely affected. Please continue to pray for his salvation and his healing … For the raising up of new leaders and better leadership for the church. We could start planting a church in Santiago now if we had sufficient leadership … For the Purpose Driven Life campaign we are planning for October … For our church during our absence while we are in the U.S.

God bless you all!
Todd