Dear Friends & Prayer Partners -

Peace, joy, love, and blessings to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus, the Christ.

We are back in south Texas for a short time after out trip to Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. It seems like we've been running constantly since we got back, and will be running unitl we leave again next week.

-- IN THIS ISSUE --

• Trip to Villahermosa

• Spiritual Roots

• Trip to Toluca

• Orphanage (opportunity)

• Personal News

-- TRIP TO VILLAHERMOSA --

Our trip to Villahermosa (city), Tabasco (state), Mexico went wonderfully well. We preached every night, with the exception of one night, for three weeks, and three times every Sudnay. Part of that ministry time was three separate leaders conferences we gave in three different churches.

Although we went there thinking that the whole trip was planned and prepared, it turned out that it wasn't. The family we were supposed to stay with wasn't even at home, and we didn't find them for four days. However, God came through, and provided us another family to stay with. We've become good friends with them and are looking forwards to seeing them again.

God moved marvelously while we were there. Every service was different, with many manifestations of the Holy Spirit. There were salvations, healings, people set free, and a lot of prophecy.

Although many of the pastors were leery of us at first, they all invited us back. Actually, we have so many invitations to return, that we could easily spend more than a month solid ministering there. Some of the churches want us for several days, and one in particular wants us to do a week long pastors and leaders conference.

We'll probably return there sometime in the fall. At this point, we're not sure of the date, as a number of things have to be worked out. Please pray for God's perfect timing for this trip.

-- SPIRITUAL ROOTS --

As part of the intercessory prayer work that we've been doing here on the border, the Lord has been speaking to us about the spiritual roots of Mexico. Unfortunately, the history of Mexico is very ugly. The indigenous Indians had a plethora of "gods" which they worshipped in a very bloody manner. Later, when the Spanish conquistadors came, they added the Catholic religion and many character problems to the culture of Mexico.

Basically, the principalities in any area are there because of the covenants that the ancestors made with various spirits. The religious, and cultural celebrations of that people group give continuing power and authority to those spirits. We need to understand these roots, so that they can be broken.

In Mexico, because of the background, those principalities are very strong, and very evil. The spiritual realm is very close, with a lot of witchcraft and occultism. This is part of their Indian heritage.

Almost all the family related problems in the Mexican culture trace their roots to the conquistadors. Basically, the Mexican race came about from the conquistadors raping the Indian women. They passed on to those children, the macho attitude, sexual problems, violence, and much more.

We hope to have something written up and on the web site soon on these spiritual roots. Please help us pray against these principalities, and the generational curses over the people of Mexico.

-- TRIP TO TOLUCA --

We will be leaving the border area again on this coming Monday, to travel to Toluca. Toluca is about one hour west of Mexico City. There is a pastor there, who we met several months ago in the church of a pastor friend here on the U.S. side of the border. He'll be dedicating his new church next week, and asked us to come minister. We'll be ministering both at his church, and several others in the city.

Please pray for this trip; specifically for God to open doors, for His Holy Spirit to move, and for protection on the journey. We are believing that God will again do wonderful things while we are there.

-- OFPHANAGE --

Another Mexican pastor has come to us and asked to come under out spiritual covering. This pastor, and his wife, have an orphanage outside the city of Reynosa, Mexico. There are about forty kids in this orphanage, with more coming all the time.

We were able to set up a chicken operation at the orphanage with the help of another missionary, Clause Rivest, from Canada. Claude has done this with other families as a cottage industry. The difference this time is that we don't expect the orphanage to sell the chickens, but to eat them.

For about $80.00 per month, we can provide them with 80 chicks, and the feed for them. This, along with other things (like the pigs they've been given), will provide them with enough chicken to feed the kids.

Although we are not in the habit of asking people for money, we are making an exception in this case. We would like to ask for a church, or possible some individuals who would like to adopt this chicken project, and provide the necessary funds to support this work.

-- PERSONAL NEWS --

Jenni will be starting college here in August. She has received enough scholarship money to cover all of her costs for the first year of school, along with buying a laptop computer, and a keyboard (music). She has also already received 12 semester credits for her score on the SAT and three Advanced Placement tests that she took. Jenni's plan is to go to Oral Roberts university for the second (and subsequent) years of college. Her goal is a degree in Christian Counseling, with a minor in Worship Leading. Please pray for God's continued blessing, as ORU is a rather expensive school.

Josh has become permanently attached to his guitar. He actually puts it down to eat, which is almost amazing. All this time with a guitar in his hands is paying off though, he's become quite a good player.

Rebekah had the opportunity to ride a horse three times while we were in Villahermosa. That was the high point of the trip for her, as she loves horses. She is totally bi-cultural, as comfortable in Mexico as she is in the United States.

We are still believing God to provide us with a piece of property (1 - 2 acres) with a house for the family and the ministry headquarters. Please keep this before the Lord in prayer, as it can only happen with the Lord's help.

Blessings,

Rev. Rich Murphy