Dear Friends & Prayer Partners -

Mcuhas bendiciones a ti, y tu casa, en el nombre de Jesucristo (many blessings to you, and your home, in the name of Christ Jesus). Oh, forgive me. I forgot we could speak English now   ;-)

-- SPECIAL REPORT --
-- TRIP TO TABASCO & CAMPECHE, MEXICO --

We just got back from another trip way down south in Mexico. This time, we went not only to the state of Tabasco, but to Campeche as well. Where we were in Campeche was really close to the Mexico/Guatamala/Belize border. This trip took us the farthest down into Mexico we've gone.

This was also the spiritually hardest trip we've taken to date. We had to do more warfare against oppression and witchcraft on this trip than we've ever had to before.

For this trip, we were asked by one of the heads of a denomination to go and do pastors conferences in three different cities (in Mexico, there are lots of small denominations, or "movements"). We'd ministered in the mother church before, and he wanted us to minister to some of the 70 pastors that they had in different cities.

The first city we ministered in was Macuspana, Tabasco, where the mother church is. We'd ministered there before, and every time the Holy Spirit moved wonderfully. He did so as well this time. That was the easy part of the trip, the rest got more challenging.

Deborah was excited to be able to do 3 mornings of workshops with the women about marriage issues and emotional healing from sexual abuse (99% of the women we come in contact with have been sexually abused). After 2 hours, she dismissed them, and they refused to leave. Arms crossed, they said they wanted more. After another hour, only some left. The others stayed, and received more "spiritual food." They are now eager to put into practice what they learned to minister to their husbands, and to share it with their neighbors.

A women who had been a Satanist repented and gave her life to the Lord. She wanted to get rid of everything she had that was connected with Satanism. One of the things she had was a ring, which was in some way connected to Satanism. We destroyed it, and scattered the pieces.

From there, we drove seven hours to a little town called "Ley de Fomento." This town is so small (population 365) that it doesn't even show up in my Mexican road atlas. To the Mexican government, these little towns are considered a part of a larger city, even though they may be an hour away (as this one was). The city that Ley de Fomento belongs to is called Xpujil (pronounced Ixspuhil).

Poverty was rampant. Because there had been no rain for 3 years, the only crop they could grow was jalapeno chilies. They saved what they could from this one harvest to try to make it last the entire year. Many people were illiterate, and only one of the pastor's had been able to buy a concordance. They were thrilled to receive the studies that we prepare to pass out to the pastors.

The reason that we were in this tiny town was that the district superintendent pastors the church there. The best way to describe his house is if you can think of an early 1800's plank barn. Our bedroom was a stall, and the children slept in the loft. The only concessions to modern times were a cement floor and electric lights. The water was brought in by truck to barrels in the front yard, and from there you took a bucket to the outhouse for a shower. The kitchen was a large area, with partial walls, dirt floor and thatched roof. They cooked over an open fire, and the pastor's wife had to grind the corn to make the tortillas. Chickens and turkeys wandered in and out at will. Let's just say it was a little rustic.

I must say that God gave us the grace to not only endure, but enjoy our time with those people. Although Debbie's idea of camping is parking the motorhome at a mall, she didn't complain once about being in such remote surroundings. We typically stayed up every night because the pastors wanted to soak up more teaching.

This little town is right smack in the middle of the central Mayan area. The biggest Mayan city discovered to date, with over 6,000 structures, is only about 40 miles away as the crow flies (120 miles by road). Everywhere we looked, we saw unexcavated pyramids. We would pass rows of them as we drove down the road. We would see farms, where the corn was planted in the open areas between the pyramids. They were so common, that the foundation for the road was actually made from pyramid rubble.

Where we were there, we took the opportunity to visit four more excavated Archeological sites. We also visited three different farms where there were unexcavated pyramids. It was interesting seeing things from the perspective of the explorers who found these sites. In one of these sites, we found a large quantity of pottery shards, and in another a partially buried carved stone, about six feet in diameter, which we uncovered (using sticks for shovels, and leaves for brooms) to take pictures.

I really can't tell you yet what we discovered in these sites, because I don't have my pictures developed, or my notes transcribed yet. I'm still mulling over what we learned, and looking for the spiritual significance in it.

The thing that made this area rough for us was the amount of witchcraft in the area. In Mexico, the witchcraft is a carryover from the indigenous groups, specifically the Mayans and the Aztecas. Their priests used witchcraft as a way of controlling the people. The witches today, are the spiritual descendants of those priests, still using the same kind of witchcraft to control the people.

Coming from an American background, it's a little hard to understand how much sorcery, occultism and witchcraft there are in the world. But, once you leave the United States and Europe, it's very common. We didn't realize how common it is in Mexico until just recently. The people, and in many cases, even the pastors are afraid of these witches for the power that they have. This is even truer when you leave the cities and go to the small towns.

At the church we were ministering in, there was a witch living on the other side of the street, in front of the church. There was another living next to the church, and a third living behind the church. We were literally right in the middle of the enemy's camp. I'm not sure which one of these witches, or perhaps it is another which walks the main street of this town every night at midnight. cursing the people. He needs to do that so that the people will come and pay him to break those curses.

One night, we did an altar call for those who had visited a witch, or curandero (faith healer) sometime in their life, even if their parents had taken them. About 90 percent of the people came up so that we could break the curses over their lives.

There was a man there who had been cursed by a witch. One of his feet was so swollen with infection, that the skin had broken in several places, making half inch wide gashes. God told me to wash his feet and bless them. We did, and the next night we saw improvement.

The church itself even had some symbols inside on the altar. We're not sure exactly what those symbols meant, but we are sure that they weren't anything that God had ordained. There was some plasterwork on the front of the altar, which had been added after the altar had been built, and had some symbols in it. We had to destroy these symbols, break curses, anoint the land, bind spirits, cast them out, and claim the victory of God.

When I was under the altar praying, and breaking curses, the pastor saw something that looked like a large lizard (about a yard long), that scurried out from under a pile of wood and left the church.

There was also a small lake at the edge of the town which the witches used as a ceremonial center. The same day that we were breaking curses and binding spirits at the church, we went down there and broke the curses.

The first night we were there, Debbie couldn't sleep. All through the night, she sensed in her spirit something like a crocodile that wanted to enter our room, through the window. This window faced the lake. Obviously, this was something spiritual, as a crocodile can't enter through a window. After dealing with all the spiritual darkness in the area, she was able to sleep well the next night.

The four days that we were there, we were able to minister greatly to the pastors, leaders, and their wives of the ten churches in that area. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully, the people received, and we saw victory in their lives. We also taught the pastors how to come against the witchcraft in their area. This is a constant, ongoing battle, as the witches don't stop working once we break their curses.

From Ley de Fomento we returned to the mother church in Macuspana, and ministered four days in another city called Cardenas. We slept at the mother church and made a two hour drive in the back and forth ever day. Even though this church was in a city, we weren't as spiritually comfortable staying with them as we had been in Ley de Fomento .

The problem in this place wasn't as much with the witches, as it was the Christians. These people were much more bound in their traditions than in the other two places we ministered on this trip; which was really unusual for this particular denomination.. During the four days there, we had to constantly battle to break down traditions so that the Holy Spirit could move.

The pastor in this place didn't accept us as well, either. The other pastors had accepted us with open arms, wanting our help. This one, acted like he thought we were an interruption sent from headquarters to interfere with the work he was doing.

These people didn't even know what praise and worship is. They sang what they called "songs of joy" which weren't really praise, or worship. They were of a Christian theme, but instead of glorifying God, all they were supposed to do is make the people happy.

Thank God for Joshua, who had come with us. Before the trip, he prepared a notebook with words and music for Spanish Praise and Worship songs. For the six services we had there, Josh became the worship team, and the worship leader, playing his guitar, and singing in Spanish. God anointed what he was doing, and by the last service, the people were entering into the worship.

Although I believe we did what the Lord wanted us to, we weren't able to minister as deeply to these people as we could in the other two places. Neither the messages, nor the ministry time at the altar were as powerful as they had been in Ley de Fomento.

-- OTHER MINISTRY NOTES --

• We're still believing the Lord to buy our property and start building the ministry center. If you haven't seen the plans yet, they're online at: www.MaranathaLife.com/min-ctr.com. Please be praying with us for the provision we need to start this project.

• Late last year we started giving discipleship classes at one of the churches that's under our covering. We've decided to make this more formal, and are turning it into a school for preparing leaders. We hope to be able to produce something that all the churches in Mexico can use. Many pastors are asking us for this material. If you have an extra copy of a discipleship manual that you use in your church, we'd appreciate it if you'd send it to us. We don't have all the ideas in the world, and if there's something in that which we can adapt, it will save us some work.

• Jenni is determined to go to Oral Roberts University next year. This is a very expensive school, but undoubtedly one of the best Christian universities in the U.S. Please pray for the financial provision that she needs in order to go.

• Our web site is now ministering to over 14,000 people per month, worldwide. We receive e-mails from pastors in many different countries, asking for advice and prayer. Unfortunately, there aren't enough hours in the day to minister to all of them.

• Rich will probably be going to Columbia, South America in August, or September to visit a pastor there who has come under our covering. Please pray for God's perfect plan for this trip, and for the financial provision needed.

• In January, we reported that we were ministering to 270 pastors per month, that number has now gone up to 280, and may go higher very soon.

• We still have a desperate need for people to help us in the ministry. Please be praying that the Lord send us the people we need who will volunteer to work with us.

Hopefully, we'll write again soon. Meanwhile, please keep praying for us, and the work that the Lord is doing in Mexico. Happy Passover!

Blessings in Jesus,

Rev. Rich Murphy