May/June 2020 Newsletter

    IS THIS REAL?

March 2020 caught most of us off guard. Our regular schedule of activities were programmed and we were working hard to make them work. Our first line of ministry that was moved by COVID 19 was our Christian school. By the middle of March all classes were suspended and schooling went virtual. This was a big change for all of us as we use a hands-on teaching method to be able to mix Christian values in the daily teaching routine. Teaching primary students online is a challenge and more so when their parents haven’t learned online technology. Schooling continues online and hopefully we can be back in the classrooms by the beginning of June.

Our annual youth camp was the next big event we had lined up. After 30 years of just doing a camp for young people (and a separate one for children) we opened up last year to mixing our extreme youth camp with an extreme family camp weekend. It worked out fine and the second one was programmed for Easter week 2020. The week before camp started we had almost 40 youth signed up to attend camp but no families. That same week all meetings, churches and other "non essential" activities were suspended in our State. All the other churches in the city that had programmed camps canceled them but we decided to continue on. Two day before the camp started we had a visit from a government official asking us to cancel the camp. One has to understand that our camp is very extreme. We are up in the mountains where there is nothing but an open field and a spring of fresh water. Everyone that goes is isolated for the 6 days of the camp. We were able to pull some strings and we received written permission to have our camp 18 hours before we started. In all the years we have been having camp this was the best one ever. Over 80 people attended and aside from a scorpion sting the first day we had no one get sick all week, no problems with the campers and life went back to normal for all present. Our camp nurse had nothing to do but pray for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit. God`s presence touched everyone starting the first day and every night the majority of the campers were laid out on the grass as the presence of God touched them.

By the 3rd Sunday of April all our churches were closed as we went into Phase 3 of the lock down. We just multiplied our services in homes and behind closed doors. We cut back on the sound volume and returned to acoustic services with just a guitar and 8-10 people present. Sure we transmitted our online services trying to reach as many of the church members as we could but there is something special about being together. Our work load increased and the finances dropped. Only the churches where the majority of the members work in the fields were not so affected. We also started giving out more food to families that were in need. In Mexico there has been no help from the government for the people that have lost their jobs. Aside from the teachings, we were there to defeat FEAR. With all the supposed news and regulations it is very easy to get bound by fear. This is a real life session of putting faith into action and we are there to help our member do so.

We don’t know when things are going to open up so that we can return to a new type of normal life but until that happens we have our work cut out. The churches continue to minister to the needs of the people and new people are coming in as they look to be freed from fear and they see the peace that the people in the church have.

Thank you to each of you who have partnered with us in finance and prayers for this ministry. We know that a lot of you are struggling financially also but as we continue to give God will bless. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Philip, Lucy, & Vanessa Tolman

March-April 2020 Newsletter

   This year 2020 started out with a long list of things to do. As missionaries our work schedule is marked first of all by the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we see the spiritual needs of the people that need to be supplied. Secondly our goals for outreach, fellowship and unity mark the rest of the week's work.  In December of  2019 we sat down with the pastors in our State that are under our covering and programmed some joint activities to help to bring unity within the different churches.  One of theses meetings we held the 29th of February. 

We had a one day conference that was held at our Christian school. Taking advantage of our warm dry climate at this time of year, we had the meetings outdoors. Of the 15 churches invited to participate, we had members from 14 of them. There were over 250 people in attendance. We made time for a little of everything, There was worship, teaching, games and a time for prayer and ministry for the needs represented. We also can’t forget an excellent meal that was served at our dinner time. This is the first time that we have been able to join the churches in two different States for an  inter-church activity.

After being in a foreign country for many years you find yourself starting to blend cultures and one gets lost in what I call "limbo". One becomes a foreigner in all countries. In our case home is where we live but here we are not natives. When we travel we represent a foreign field that is home for us. In all this mix-up we forget that time is also part of this process. In January we had a funeral for a middle aged man from the church. He passed away at 51 years of age from complications from diabetes, a major problem here in Mexico, and as I did his funeral it dawned on me: "I baptized him as a teenager."  In 1997 he went on one of our missions trips and was active in one of our missions that is now a church.  In 1980 Philip moved to Mexico and that has been home since then. From starting with nothing there are now 12 churches in the State of Nayarit that are under our ministry. That is God`s way of doing things, from nothing he brings everything.

In the first week in March Lucy along with another 35 sisters from the churches here rented a bus and travelled to attend a Women’s conference 8 hours away. A total of 1,200 ladies were in attendance for the 2 1/2 day event and they all returned blessed and motivated. For many of them it was their first time to be part of an event of this magnitude. Every year Lucy along with other pastor’s wives hold a local women’s conference but our State is still under 8 % Christian and with 300 ladies present they have accomplished a lot. What a blessing it is to be part of something that is bigger than yourself. That is what world missions is all about. As you support what God is doing through the missionaries in other countries of the world you become part of that work. Their accomplishments become yours also.

Thank you to each of you who have partnered with us with finance and prayers for this ministry. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philip, Lucy, & Vanessa Tolman

Newsletter- January/February 2020

   We mentioned in our last newsletter 3 different special activities that we had programmed for the month of November. Let us give you an update on these events. 

The first one was a women's conference held in the city of Tepic where over 290 ladies were in attendance. Lucy was in charge of making the event work along with other pastors' wives from the city. The two days of services were packed with life-changing teachings, evangelism and good Christian fellowship among the participating churches.     

          

The second event was an evangelistic outreach in the town square of Tepic that was programmed for November 9^th. Once again we worked along with other churches of the city's Pastors Alliance in this outreach. At the last minute the city changed the date of our permit and we weren't able to hold the outreach until the 30^th of November. Once again a double purpose was fulfilled. We were able to reach out to people that had never had the gospel shared with them but also we were blessed to work together with other churches in our area in this endeavour. Lastly we held our men's retreat in November up in the mountains in a town about 4 hours away by car. One of the biggest goals met was that the retreat was programmed and carried out by the men's group in the church. Philip did not attend on purpose so that the leaders could expand their leadership skills without his help. The main purpose of the retreat was fulfilled and hopefully this year, 2020, we will be able to repeat this activity.

December came with a flurry of activities, Christmas get togethers and services. It is culture here for each church to have a Christmas church party and in the larger churches each department wants their own party also. Over 20 parties were held in the churches, of which we were only able to attend about half of them. Aside from the Christmas parties each church continued with its regular services and activities. Philip was also able to minister in 3 different services in churches that are not under our pastorate. The last one was at
a church along the coast that was celebrating its anniversary. Philip was able to preach there in the morning and then make it back to the Xalisco church that same day to officiate a wedding in the afternoon.

Not all ministry is, as we say “fun and run”. There are times of tears, struggles, personal differences and domestic issues that need to be attended. Within these last months we had one of these times. The wife of one of our village pastors passed away after struggling with cancer for over 6 months. We know that this is part of our life but when we preach a God that heals and suddenly He has other plans, it is sometimes difficult to explain that to people that have never had a personal relationship with Christ. We felt the need to dedicate special time to our brother after his wife's death.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers for this ministry and your financial support. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philip, Lucy, & Vanessa Tolman

September/October 2019 Newsletter

   Life is not a moment in time and is it more than what happens today. Life is made up of a lifetime of experiences and many years of living. There is a promise in the Bible that states that we ALL will reap what we sow. We cannot determine the quantity nor the time frame but the time of reaping will come.

   In the year 2013 we were offered support to help “high risk” children in our Secondary school. In the high sierra of our State of Nayarit the indigenous children fall into that category because of the drugs grown in the mountainous areas. We brought three students in from the sierra. It was a challenge since we had to arrange room and boarding as well as some one that was responsible to look after them and arrange weekend activities. We were able to get it all together and they started classes. About two months into the project we found out that the support for them was not going to come in. We had the option of paying for it ourselves or sending them home. We decided to make it work and they were with us for two years. There were two boys and one girl, her name is Fidelia, or as we called “Fide”. The children never became Christians and when they returned home we lost track of them.
Fast forward to 2018. Fide calls us and tells us that she, her husband and 2 children are moving to our town (the girls in that culture marry between 14-15 years of age). After moving here they went to church a couple of times and then stopped coming. At the beginning of this year they start coming to the church once again and Fide's husband Blas felt God's presence touch his life. That changed everything. They are now constant in church and they are preparing themselves for making a lifelong commitment to Christ. What we sowed in Fide's life years ago is staring to give fruit. This is just a beginning and we know that a lot more reaping is coming into our ministry.

Four siblings on the couch and one in the picture 

   As I am writing this letter my siblings who can come are joining us in Mexico to say “goodbye” to Dad. He slipped into semi consciousness this past Sunday, the 8th of September as he reached the final stretch of his race to be with the Lord. He converted to Christianity at the age of 17 along with his first convert, who later became his wife. Four years later he was on the missions field running in the front lines of God's army. He was raised hard-line holiness Pentecostal but he was able to break the chains of legalism and touch lives through many denominational lines. He carried many coats through his years of ministry; pastor, missionary, missions ambassador and teacher. His heart was in teaching and through his classes he formed many people. There are so many things that I could mention about him, as I really got to know him these last 16 years as I became his caregiver. Two things stand out in my mind above all. The first one is that he ran this race as a Christian for 70 years. His faith was strong and God honored his faith and his faithfulness. The second thing is that he made me the missionary that I am today. I am a living example of his calling and his vision to reach the lost. “Dad it is hard to say goodbye as I sit here and cry but I want to follow your example of being a faith warrior right up to the end. Thank you for making me the person that I am.”

   We want to thank all of you for your prayers for this ministry and your financial support. Thank you also to each one of you that have kept supporting Dad right up until the end. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Philip, Lucy, and Vanessa Tolman

July/August 2019 Newsletter

Prosperity really has nothing to do with money. Joseph as a slave in Potiphar’s house was prosperous. God's blessing was on his life as he fulfilled God's calling on his life. It is when we step outside of God's calling on our lives that we lose or true prosperity.

In the month of May we held a men's conference together with other pastors in the city. Our night speaker was a pastor from our city that I will just call David. David went to our Bible school after becoming a Christian and then worked full time as an evangelist under our ministry. He is a gifted evangelist. He got married after becoming a Christian to a dedicated Christian woman and had two children. As things happen, David had an invitation to minister in what appeared to be “greener fields”. In the next 15 years of his life we lost track of him and his family as they moved out of State. David and his family got sidetracked along the way. David never stopped preaching nor serving God but his wife and children did. A couple of years ago David came home a broken man san wife and children. The Lord has been good to him as he is now pastoring in the city of Tepic under our covering. His wife and children are back with him as they go though the hard process of restoration. David preached an excellent evangelistic message at the men's meeting and when he made an alter call at the close of the meeting almost every man in the building responded by coming forward for prayer. David came home with nothing in the physical sense but he is prospering in ministry once again.

Another school year has ended as we are coming up on twenty years of running a Christian school in a State where they don't exist. This year was our hardest year because of the small enrolment of students that we had. We ask you to pray with us that the Lord will open the door for a much larger enrolment (we need a minimum of 40 students). In March, though a church in the USA ,5 students now have scholarships for this next school year. This will help us to reach our enrolment goal in August.

On the home front, our youngest daughter Vanessa graduated from High School with a 9.9 average, (we are bragging) which is a 4.0 in the USA. She is going on to University and her goal is to study at least two years in the States. Her two older siblings both studied outside of Mexico. Foreign study permits are not as easily available as they used to be. Since Vanessa is not a US citizen we have to apply for her as a foreign student. Even though we started her application process in November we were not able to get her a visa for this school year so her first year in University will be done in Tepic.

Thank you for your prayers for the ministry and your financial support make you part of what is happing here in Mexico. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philip, Lucy, & Vanessa Tolman

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A Tribute to my dad, John David Tolman

Dad is in his last stages of life as he struggles with the demons of Parkinson's disease and dementia. He is walking an uncharted path that could last days, months or years. Much of his life he followed an uncharted path. He used to be in charge of his decisions, but disease has now taken choices away from him. A physically frail version of him still exists but the man that I knew as Dad has left us.

He was born July 1^st 1932 (Canada Day) in Toronto, Canada to Siemon and Eveline Tolman, the second of four children. Dad met Mom, Mary Elizabeth Devins in High School in the town of Aurora just north of Toronto. Mom's parents were town doctors, her mom being one of the first woman doctors in Canada. Dad witnessed to Mom and she was saved when she was 17 years old. Four years later on April 4^th, 1953 they were married and remained so for the next 60 years.

The adventurer spirit in them, along with the calling of God on their lives led them to South Africa for two four year seasons between 1954 and 1962. Their three eldest children were born in South Africa. After returning to Canada, Dad and Mom worked, studied and raised 5 children while continuing his missions calling by promoting missions in various churches for the next 14 years. On June 30^th 1976 Dad and Mom started a new adventure along with their three youngest children. They moved to Guadalajara, Mexico where they would minister for more that 30 years as Bible teachers in the churches. My brother Stephen and myself still work under of the covering of Seedtime and Harvest Ministries, which was started by Dad and Mom.

Dad and Mom semi-retired in Tepic and lived next door to my wife Lucy and me for 12 years before Mom died in 2013. Months before Moms homecoming, Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Dad was never the same after Mom left and we all thought that he would follow soon after her in death. That was not the case, however and over these past 6+ years, I have been able to serve my Dad and to be with him in his time of solitude. I know that any one of his 5 children would have gladly done the same but I was chosen to be the caregiver. These last months have been especially hard as Dad is slipping away and it is frustrating that I cannot be part of the world that he know lives in. Gone are the conversations in the car as we drove together, the times of taking him out to eat or just sitting with him at home and talking. His body is still here as we bathe him, dress him and feed him every day, but that Dad I knew and loved in my own special way is gone.

He and Mom touched many lives, helped untold numbers of people and more than anything they taught me what living by faith is all about. Dad and I were at odds for many years but now I can truly say “Dad I love you and I miss you even though physically you are right beside me.”

May/June 2019 Newsletter

   The longevity of a project or a ministry is based mainly on its ability to be constant. There are lots of things that we start that we do not continue doing. Sometimes it is because the project just didn´t get up and go. Sometimes it is because we get tired and we cannot continue on. One of the blessings of life is to be able to see a project run its course and impact peoples' lives.

This year was our 31^st year of holding our Easter week youth camp. There have seen lots of changes over the years and what we called normal has now become extreme. I remember 30 years ago, our second camp was held on an island just off land in the Pacific Ocean. There was no problem with anyone leaving the camp without permission but I still remember that the mosquitos and the No-See-Ums that ate us up.

This year we had 42 campers at our youth camp up in the mountains. Some things have not changed such as sleeping in tents, no electricity and cooking over open fires. Also God´s sovereign move on each camper that opens his or her heart has not changed. This year we made another change. Some of the couples in the church were saying that it was not fair that only unmarried youth could attend so we opened the last 3 days of camp up to everyone. The youth continued with their activities and we also had classes and activities for adults and children. All together we had over 80 people attend camp.

The week after Easter we held our annual 3-day children´s camp. At this camp we have different churches that work with us run the camp at our school facilities. This year a new church ran the camp and they did an excellent job. Almost 50 children between the ages of 6-13 years old attended. The comment of the children was that they couldn’t stop crying when the presence of God touched their lives. That alone is worth the whole effort.

We learn from our mistakes or at least we hope we do. Over 20 years ago I was offered a property to build a church on. It wasn’t very expensive but it was in the middle of nowhere and I didn’t take up the offer. Today that property has a large Catholic church built on it and it is in the centre of a very highly built up subdivision of the town of Xalisco where we have a church. As I look back I see that I lacked vision. 

A couple of months ago we were offered another property to build a church on in the middle of nowhere and we took up the offer. The new subdivision just outside of Tepic is programmed to build just over 9,000 homes in the next 5 years. Half of our State population lives in Metropolitan Tepic. The cost for the property was just under $12,000 and we have already had one church that sent us a $3,700 offering for the down payment. Our plan is in 4-5 years to start a building project, plant a pastor there and have him raise-up a new church. We have 4 churches that we have planted in the city of Tepic from our church and only one of them has its own building. They have it only because years ago we did exactly what we are doing this year. We purchased a property to build a church on. The only difference there was that we personally started that church.

Thank you for your prayers for the ministry and your financial support make you part of what is happing here in Mexico. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philip, Lucy, & Vanessa Tolman

Camp Photos!

March/April 2019 Newsletter

 Life has its ups and its downs as we see it but God sees it in a different way. As we look at God's way, for those who are in Christ Jesus, life has its ups and its times of preparation for the good times, If there is no preparation, the good times will pull us down. There are times of action and there are times of preparation for action.

On the home front, the last two months have been times of preparation. In the month of January we were able to attend and be part of two missions conferences that were blessings to us as we hope we were a blessing to the churches. The churches here have continued with their regular activities (we have services or church activities seven days a week) as we work with our leadership team in their abilities to work with the church family. On February 14th we held a special dinner for the couples of our Xalisco church and had evangelist Ronnie Casillas here to speak to them.

For the following 10 days, Brother Ronnie ministered over 12 times in our different churches, blessing the people and praying for the sick and needy. The people were blessed through his ministry and we were blessed to have him stay in our home. We were able to fellowship with him and share our life experiences together.

Now that the month of March is here we are gearing up for our annual camps that are held over the Easter holidays. Here in Mexico they are held during Easter and are not just a Spring break. This year we are doing something different. Aside from our usual youth and children's camps we are also going to have a mini family camp for 3 days. We have never done this before but a number of the parents are envious that their children get to spend a week in God's presence and they don't. Actually they have never had this type of experience since the majority of our church members are first generation Christians. In our next newsletter we will be giving you a report of our experiences at these camps.

Life is full of stories, some sad and others joyful. Both are needed to give life a balance. This next month we will be celebrating the wedding of a young lady from our church. She was saved under our ministry when she was 15 years old, the only Christian in her family. In her late teens she left the church and got involved in what we call a “toxic” relationship that left her devastated. About 4 years ago (she was 24 by then) she returned to Christ and the church and made a 100% commitment to serve. We sent her to Bible School in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she spent 2 ½ years preparing for ministry. This last year she became part of our leadership and ministry team and is very active in the church. Once she gets married she will be leaving us. Her future husband is a fantastic Christian from another church and they will be attending and ministering there. We hate to see her go but this is where we understand that we are raising up Kingdom workers and not just church workers.

Thank you for your prayers for the ministry and your financial support make you part of what is happing here in Mexico. We bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Philip, Lucy and Vanessa Tolman