Letting Go

January 2012 Newsletter

The only constant in life is change. Except for God everything around us changes and we have to be flexible to move with the changes. I was sent a presentation a while ago about comments that some people made in the year 1955 about change:

Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $1,000.00 will only buy a used one.

When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.

In the church we have experienced changes. I remember Sundays in church as a child with my suit and tie, the old hymns and the Sunday night revival services that went on well into the night. That is not found so easily now but what we have is good and blessed.

On the home front we are also experimenting change. For many years I was a one-man band, the music, the singing and all the extras well as the preaching. One gets comfortable with that but as growth comes so do changes. I seldom play music at a service now and often I find myself sitting to listen to others preach. My role now as a missionary is being an administrator, councilor, and an animator. Things are not necessarily done my way but I do believe that they are being done God’s way.

The church in Xalisco put on a Christmas musical using the Dr. Seuss story of the GRINCH to portray the real meaning of Christmas. It was presented in a local theater and was professionally done. The two-hour presentation was directed by Damara, with Simri doing the sound and music. Both Lucy and Vanessa were part of the cast and I was one of the fans. The musical was a resounding success and more than anything it made us all stretch to new heights. The most important result was the message that Christmas is not a time of Happy Holidays but a time of celebrating the birth of our blessed Redeemer.

Christmas is a time of parties and church gatherings. Since we oversee six different churches and centers, as a pastoral team, we had a lot fellowship and parties to attend. The food is delicious but the time of sharing and fellowshipping is even better. The Lord has blessed us with the six centers that we pastor, as well as two church plants in the city of Tepic that are functioning on their own. We also give pastoral covering to three other churches in the States of Jalisco and Michoacan. In the month of December,  Philip made a fast 24 hour bus trip to the church in Cuaracurio (it is situated on the border of the States of Michoacan and Guanajuato) to ordain the pastor’s son, Emmanuel, and install him as assistant pastor along side of his father. All of these events mark changes that give life its flavor and mark the continuity of the gospel 


In this year 2012 invite you to invest in change as you support this ministry as it moves forward.
We covet your prayers and your faithful offerings.


Philip, Lucy, Simri & Vanessa Tolman