Jesus told us to go to Samaria, but where is it?  For the hearers in Palestine at that time it was not too near yet not too far away. It could be reached in a one day trip for them. So when Jesus said in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”, where would the “ Samaria ” be for 121 Community Church?

We have defined our Samaria as Mexico.  Our church does work locally and in the ends of the earth, such as India and Russia, but we don't want to leave out the intermediate part of Samaria.  

When we started 121 Community Church we began taking teams to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico for three day mission trips. We also went on two summer trips to Sombrerete, Mexico for a week each.  

We developed a great relationship with Luis and Marisa Martinez. They are native to Mexico and were members of the local church. They were our mentors and guides.

When they moved to Acuña, Mexico we followed them there to continue work with them. Every year we have taken 2 or 3 trips to Acuña to primarily do Bible distribution in support of starting churches in new areas of Acuña.      

A group recently returned from a “Vision Trip”  on September 1-3 to Mexico to meet with Luis and Marisa. It was a time of celebration for the Martinezes and for us in that we were with him on his first day of a new job.

He left his secular job in Acuña to work full time for Crossvision. We partner with Crossvision work in Mexico.  He can now spend his full time coordinating mission work. Trip participants were Rodney Howell, Renee Berlandier, Claudia Chamma, David Gaona, Lauren Estep, Hua Wei  and Bob Beams.   

Our group went with the Martinezes to meet the workers in a Baptist church in Morelos, Mexico.  We are working on building a relationship with them so that we can partner in various projects. The first project may be helping to start a church in the community of Jiminez which is 30 miles East of Acuña. We spent time praying in the community and seeking God's guidance for us.

There are no firm commitments or agreements at this time, but we have great hopes for working with the church in Morelos. The name of the church (in English) is Believe the Impossible. There were about 100 there on the Sunday when we visited. They have a passionate love for God and a desire to reach out to other areas in Mexico.  If God continues to develop our relationship with them, we may partner in work near the border and deeper into Mexico. We will be able to make trips of 3 or 4 days to the border areas and trips of 7 to 9 days to areas in the interior.

One advantage of participation in trips to Mexico is that we can drive there and save the cost of airfare.  Also, the overall cost to the individual is much lower. However, the cost is not our greatest concern. Our primary desire is to obey God's word and follow the example of Jesus. It is a huge joy to be a part of carrying out Acts 1:8. Have you asked God if He wants you to serve in Samaria?